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Measuring PSU output

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Mad Butter

Mad Butter

Member
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Joined
Jul 24, 2001
Location
CT
Hi everyone. Does anyone know if there is an application or widget that measures how many watts your computer is consuming from the psu? So I have a Thermaltake 550W but I want to see how much my computer is using to see if I can put more devices in or if i should buy a bigger psu. I know you can measure the output using electronic tools but I didn't know if there was an app can could do it also.

Thanks.
 
There isn't a way for it to read from the power supply without a device specifically made for doing just that.
 
is there a device specifically made for that??? i have a kill a watt but i would love to have a app that monitors it on my pc :)

maybe some kind of kill a watt device that connects to the pc for data logging?
 
+1 to thiddy... nothing really software. A $20 KillaWatt does the trick though.

But your System isnt putting out close to 550W...350W MAYBE.
 
I wouldn't bother with a Kill-a-Watt unless you just want a ballpark that's +/- roughly 20%. Save your $20 for a decent DMM.

Are you wanting to measure your AC wattage, from the wall outlet or your DC wattage, for all of your components?
 
I take it that what you are trying to do is measure the power consumption of the motherboard and other parts. I doubt there is any product to do this, what you can do is use a kill-a-watt device to find out the power draw of the PSU and then look up the efficiency of the PSU and do the math, just be aware that the psu has different efficiency levels at different power draws, so you will have to adjust for that.
 
Jmtyra said:
I wouldn't bother with a Kill-a-Watt unless you just want a ballpark that's +/- roughly 20%. Save your $20 for a decent DMM.

Are you wanting to measure your AC wattage, from the wall outlet or your DC wattage, for all of your components?
Click to expand...
A DMM wont do it though. A DMM will measure a single component, if there is a measuring point available, but not total system output.

And though a KaW isnt terribly accurate, its the best he has and will be surprisingly accurate for his needs.
 
I was more thinking along the lines of a clamp meter. True, the KaW is cheaper, but there have been many threads about it's lack of accuracy.

For a ballpark figure, it'd be OK though. ;)
 
Jmtyra said:
I wouldn't bother with a Kill-a-Watt unless you just want a ballpark that's +/- roughly 20%.
Click to expand...
If you check their website, they say it is good within +/- 3%. It works fine. Well worth $20 since you can measure anything with it.
 
Yeah, its well within the 20% number mentioned above according to the post I quoted. ;)

15W difference at 600W is about 3% actually. So "surprisingly accurate for his needs" sounds aboooot right. :)
 
EarthDog said:
Yeah, its well within the 20% number mentioned above according to the post I quoted. ;)
Click to expand...
So I might have been just a smidgen off on my estimate there. :p

I'd have to go dig up the posts, but IIRC the numbers were more than 3% off. But....I've had :beer: since then, too, so don't quote me. ^.^
OH! I might have to pull out my clamp meter and do some measurements! Fun fun! :D
 
You wound me to the quick, sir! No Christmas card for you this year. :rolleyes:

OP, sorry for the dribble; has your question been answered regarding measurement?
 
Haha... Im sure your testing will be fine, honestly. But the exerpts have answered. Curious to see if your results jive though...
 
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