700W PSU and the eletricity bill

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w1ngzer0

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Messages
426
I never understood the 700 W rating, on the power supply, as far as the electric bill. If i were to run my machine for 24 hours, how many kWh would i consume?

Trying to figure out if i can afford the electricity bill that comes with a game rig, if there is one.

Q6600
4GB PC800
HD4870
700 XT power supply 80% efficient rating.
24" LCD BenQ
APC battery backup

Thanks for the help
 
Buy a $20 Kill-A-Watt and you'll see how much kWh your rig will take.
 
really... i was hoping for an estimated guess. I don't understand the power supply rating, as far as consumption.

It has a max supply of 700W, if my power supply was maxed out. Would this be consuming 700W every... 24hrs? 30 days?
 
Watts aren't a measure of time, or a measure of power consumed in a given amount of time. It's a static measurement of electrical power (in this case, anyway).

As for how much your PC is contributing to your electric bill, I couldn't say. Your PC doesn't automatically use 700w just because it has a 700w PSU inside. Modern PSUs will use however many watts all of the components in your PC need plus around 20 percent extra depending on their efficiency rating.

Given the system you've described, I'd guess it uses around 200 watts at idle (at the desktop, surfing the web or whatever) and around 450w under full CPU and GPU load. That's not counting your LCD, of course.


A 'Killowatt Hour' is the amount of power a 1,000w device would use in one hour. So if your PC 'uses' about 250w most of the time it's running, then it would have to be running 4 hours to use 1kWh.

Or if you left your PC running at full load and it uses about 500w at full load, that's 2 hours of run time to use 1kWh of electricity.
 
wow... sounds like i need to downgrade to a laptop. It was nice while it lasted.

Thanks blue.
 
w1ngzer0 said:
really... i was hoping for an estimated guess. I don't understand the power supply rating, as far as consumption.
Click to expand...

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...eon-hd4870-512mb-graphics-card-review-20.html

PALITHD4870-73.jpg


PC: 300W during a gaming load
LCD: 55W

355/1000*24*365*.15=$466.47/year or $38.87/mo.

Since you probably won't be running @ max load all of the time you're probably looking at $30/mo to run your entire rig 24/7

It has a max supply of 700W, if my power supply was maxed out. Would this be consuming 700W every... 24hrs? 30 days?
Click to expand...
If you had a 700W load on the psu you'd factor in the efficiency of the unit (80% efficiency means 20% wasted as heat) which would equate to 875W from the wall for however long you have it plugged in and using electricity.
 
the math figures you added into the load, what are they? im assuming .15 is 15 cents per kWh?
 
w1ngzer0 said:
the math figures you added into the load, what are they? im assuming .15 is 15 cents per kWh?
Click to expand...

Yes, which was probably the national average like 5 years ago... LOL.

God electricity in Texas seems expensive...
 
interesting... my computer takes more then an electric stove?

Sorry if im breaking into an off-topic type subject... It's .22 on peak in Phoenix,AZ
 
w1ngzer0 said:
interesting... my computer takes more then an electric stove?
Click to expand...

A stove is only on for a few minutes a day. A PC in on anywhere between a few hours and around the clock. A stove is less efficient (by design, of course) but in the long term the PC uses more power.
 
On a plus side... I've had to switch on my central heating...hmmm two days this last year! I just let the computer warm the place!

Then again I'm in a coolish climate, I'd hate to think your paying twice or three times the wattage for cooling it in Texas!
 
Lets assume the computer pulls 400W from the wall, a reasonable figure for a machine with a 700W supply. Lets add 100W for LCD monitor and misc crap and mainly to make the math easy call it 500W pulled from the wall to run the machine and its accessories.

Lets assume (gaming was the OPs intent) computer runs 4 hours weekday nights and 10 hours on Sat and 8 hours on Sunday and lets assume every month has 4 standard weeks. This is not correct but in general is a reasonalbe estimate of machine use. That is 38hours a week x 4 = 152 hours a month.

Watthours is 500w x152h = 76,000wh = 76Kwh

Above someone said power in texas was .22 per Kwh, lets use .25

76 x .25 = $19 of power cost for a month.

What if you forget and leave a closet light on for a month ? (assume a 30day month).
75W x 24hr x 30 days = 54Kwh x .25 = $13.50

My point is, a couple of those compact flourescent bulbs, tuning off lights you dont need (like your mom and dad used to yell at you about), make sun tea instead of firing up the stove to boil water, put you porch light on a motion sensor etc etc. it would, for most of us energy hogs, be very easy to conserve the cost of running a PC through changing usage patterns and a little care and thought. (most of us run our freezers/refigerators too cold, get an accurate thermometer and measure and adjust the thermostat, should be done/checked twice a year and keep the coils clean of dust. )
 
This thread makes me glad my utilities are included in my rent, since I run my PC and air conditioner 24/7. :D
 
The idle power on a lot of machines is funny for video card reviews...because they freaking overclock the CPU to ZOMG levels with fairly blazing equipment (mobo's with a done of extras, raptor drives, etc). A modern PC @ a reasonable CPU speed + video card might pull 100W from the wall idle.
 
UrielDagda said:
This thread makes me glad my utilities are included in my rent, since I run my PC and air conditioner 24/7. :D
Click to expand...

Now, now, the idea is to conserve the planets resources as well as take it easy on your pocket book. Making my land lord pay for my abuses would leave me with a guilty conscience. Maybe I watch Planet Green on cable too much! :D
 
Replace your lightbulbs with compact florescent's and forget about how much juice your computer is using. While you are at it get a programmable thermostat and set it to keep the house a bit warmer when you are at work. Doing both of these dropped my power bill about $30 a month.

Yep power in Texas is expensive, about 1.5x what I was paying back in Indiana.
 
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