You REALLY worried about the power Fermi Uses?

Granted I realize the draw that the new 400 series cards pull is a sharp increase over the last, but how many of you truly care about the current draw? Are you REALLY complaining about the electricity bill? I bet many of you have several computers with HUGE monitors running all day anyway. A TV in the background that on with Family Guy reruns, a few hotpockets in the microwave next to your power chair with the speakers in them. That dusty old *** ink jet thats in the corner with the huge power inverter still plugged in? I can go on forever with this...

The lights in your house, they are all changed over to halogen right? I mean if you were really concerned about the cost of running these cards then I'm positive there are some simple things you could do to MORE then offset the cost of these cards. Like, close the furnace air vents in rooms not used and close the door.

I know this is a general opinion and does not apply to everyone but I think most of us it really won't make much of a difference. More powah!!

Now that heat issue? That thread is already started.

I use halogen light bulbs. I have my A/C turned up to 76 degrees. My computer goes to sleep mode after 30min. The monitor goes to sleep after 15 min. I don't eat hot pockets nor do I own a printer. I don't have cable TV and I watch Hulu on the same monitor that I compute on.

All that said, I do not have a Fermi card, but I do run GTX 260 SLI = GTX 470 Single.

Happy Earth Day!

It doesn't really cost me anything to run the pc in winter, as it goes to heating my room

Badbonji said:

It doesn't really cost me anything to run the pc in winter, as it goes to heating my room

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+1

Badbonji said:

It doesn't really cost me anything to run the pc in winter, as it goes to heating my room

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I've noticed that also when I moved my PC into one of my bedrooms. I never opened the vents in there and after 30 minutes of gaming with 2 8800GTS's I had to open the door to drop the room down from 80 degrees. I can only imagine what this thing is going to do.

Using halogen bulbs? Talk about throwing away money on electrical bills and possible fire hazards.

I on the other hand, prefer fluorescent p ) bulbs as they are more economical over the long run, although the initial cost can be abit high.

Now if only I can get the idiot downstairs to stop turning the bulbs out (and breaking them in the process ) because they believe that all those 13W bulbs that are on for probably a total of less then 2 hours a day (if even that much) are using too much electricity and affecting the bills, while they see no problem using the 32" tube TV for 12 hours straight a day, using the washer near empty almost everyday, or tons of other stuff that really add onto the bills...

Yes, fluorescent, that's what I was meant to say. =) [

I think the power/heat thing is blown out of proportion. You want performance, you pay.

-D

We have flourescent and I'm going to be switching to LED here's sooner or later. Heat is set to 70 and rarely comes on in the winter, the AC is a different story as I don't know how the house reacts to the 24x7 folding of an i7 920 @ 4.0 and 3 g92 GPU's we'll see

I absolutely do care about power consumption.

I'm an avid Folding@Home user (top 100) and run four systems (signature) full time. Even small power differences with components can make a big difference. My power bill is high, very high, but F@H is very important to me as I derive pleasure from the competitive aspect of it and enjoy contributing to basic science (basic research, protein molecule folding). Although philanthropy allows me to accept a high power bill, I do what I can to keep it from creeping even higher. For instance, three of my machines are in the bottom floor of the house (three floors). In the winter, the heat from the downstairs office winds its way upstairs and contributes to keeping the upper floors comfortable. Even though I'm in Alaska, I do not have to turn on the heat in the downstairs in winter! Electrical heat is way less efficient than our gas-fired furnace, but at least the waste heat from Folding isn't a complete loss.

In the summer, we don't need AC, just open the windows. Summer outdoor temps on the mountain where I live are usually about 60-65F.

Our heating is baseboard-glycol and most of our lights are fluorescent (we went fluorescent 10 years ago, before it was trendy), but still, multiple high powered components can wreak havoc on a power bill. My wife is a former nurse and understands Folding's contributions to science, so she is understanding about the power bill.



Update: If I were a gamer and only ran one computer, I really wouldn't care about power consumption, as I'd only have the computer on when working on something or gaming.

Wish I could use part of the power bill as a "charitable donation" when I prepare my federal tax returns.

i guess i have more power friendly GTX 480 (2 x gtx 275)

I dont care a single bit about heat or power consumption!
For one.. my 480 runs no hotter than my 5870 did, nor my GTX200 series cards.
Two... regardless of how many PCs I run, how long, or what they are doing, it doesnt even make a dent in my electric bill. People caring about power consumption have always confused me. Unless you live in LA and pay out the butt for elec. who cares?
Do people that buy a corvette care about the gas mileage it gets?

mxthunder said:

I dont care a single bit about heat or power consumption!
For one.. my 480 runs no hotter than my 5870 did, nor my GTX200 series cards.
Two... regardless of how many PCs I run, how long, or what they are doing, it doesnt even make a dent in my electric bill. People caring about power consumption have always confused me. Unless you live in LA and pay out the butt for elec. who cares?
Do people that buy a corvette care about the gas mileage it gets?

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Yeah in Canada/Ontario, electricity is pretty cheap. My kitchen lights use more power than my gaming rig.

-D

Running temp has little to do with power consumed.
The gtx480 eats 60w more then the 5870 if you look at TDP and aren't running math programs.

BEEAH said:

Are you REALLY complaining about the electricity bill? I bet many of you have several computers with HUGE monitors running all day anyway.

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I live with my mother at home, and we own 3 computers, one of which is my Voodoo AMD Quad Core, one is her new Gateway Intel Quad Core hooked up to our 46" TV, and an old school Intel Pentium III 500Mhz downstairs that rarely gets used.

All of this is going to our hydro bill, and we aren't complaining!

diaz said:

I think the power/heat thing is blown out of proportion.

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Of course it is. The only people who really use it as an arguing point are AMD/ATI people.

Im running a 5850 right now, and while I love the card, I hate CCC. So I am considering going back to Nvidia. I like that the 5850 is cool, and a power saver, but it isn't really a selling point in my mind.

Personally I am not concerned haha, I'm not really sure why someone would be worried about the amount of power this draws when they are willing to drop $500 on a video card haha,.

mxthunder said:

Do people that buy a corvette care about the gas mileage it gets?

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Most valid point in the whole thread... Literally. +1.

mxthunder said:

Do people that buy a corvette care about the gas mileage it gets?

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ChanceCoats123 said:

Most valid point in the whole thread... Literally. +1.

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+2 What is 60 watts more, when you have the king of video cards.