How can you calculate Kilowatt Hrs. for a cruncher??

[beau_safken]

I'm just trying to cost the increases in my electric bills given the hardware I have. How would you calculate the energy consumption of a computer? Could you just generalize based off of PSU and a couple major components??? If so how? I want to justify the increases with concrete numbers so my room-mates won't have anything to complain about when it comes to elecrtic bills and stuff....? Thanks ahead of time

 

[A380]

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[Ned Slider]

I'll try to answer this but please feel free to correct me if I get this wrong.

Your PC has a 300Watt PS, but it's likely to be only using about 200W (the PS will be over spec). So lets assume your PC is using 200W continuous. Your monitor (CRT) will be the other big user of electricity. This can range from 100-250 Watts (you could look this up in your manual) but it propably won't be turned on 24/7 - right. (Flat panels use less, typically 25-50 Watts)

I'll assume the cost of electricity to be $0.10 KW/h

So, your PC is using 0.2 KW/h = $0.02 per hour = $0.48 per day if left on permenantly.

Say your monitor is also using 200 W but is only on 6 hours per day, this would equate to a further $0.12 per day.

All your other external devices etc are unlikely to contribute much more than another 10%.

You're probably looking at an increase in the region of $10-15 per month depending on the cost of your electricity and how much you use your monitor.

Hope this helps

Ned

 

[Mictlan]

The above post is right as a general info, if you need a more accurate reading, you should get the following data:

1.-Voltage over all the rails of your PSU (you can read them in MBM)
2.-Amperage of each of the above lines. This is the tricky part. I think that your need a multimeter to read this.
3.-Potency factor, when in doubt use 0.8

To calculate to wattage, this will be Voltage*Amperage/Potency factor. Sum this figure for all your rails. This should be your total consumption of your PC.

You need to factor in the consumption of the monitor (this should be on your user manual both the normal and the energy saving readings) and all you peripherials like speakers, printer, etc. The follow the proceadure above described and you should know how much power you are drawing from the grid.....

If this seems to be to much trouble, you can get a wattimeter to can plug between your power surge protector and the electrical installation that should count each and everyone of the system components.

 

[Wolverez]

Watt Meter

/\By using the above item/\, you can show your roommates just how much electricity each one of you rigs use.
and with no guess work involved, there will be no arguments over the bill.
It cost a bit up front, but will save you from any arguments/headaches in the end.

Here's a cheaper one

 

[JimmyG]

Wolverez makes a very good suggestion, but if money is the factor, then the calculations done by Ned Slider are probably close enough to make a decision.

 

[Wolverez]

Wolverez makes a very good suggestion, but if money is the factor, then the calculations done by Ned Slider are probably close enough to make a decision.

Take a look at my 2nd link, Much better price.

Here's a cheaper one

 

[beau_safken]

thanks guys that helps quite a bit.

 

[Ned Slider]

Update:

I checked the logs from my UPS last night and my rig is using 150Watts with the monitor off and 200Watts with the monitor on (17" CRT), so I may have over estimated the monitor usage. All other stuff is plugged directly into mains so I don't know what that uses.

Ned