• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Kill A Watt

CPU AMD Opteron 170 @ 2990 mhz
Evga 7900GT SLI (1.55v) @ 745/830
Total HDD = 2
Total Ram = 2x1g (246mhz)
Aditional PCI Devices = 0
Fans + Size = [using Scythe I-cute controller: 3 x YL 120x25mm @ 64cfm], 1 x Denki 120mm x 38mm, 1x80mm generic. 2 x 70mm x 15mm Panasonic using Scythe I-cute controller)
PSU Watts = 500 (rated)
Motherboard = Ultra-D
Water Pump = Mcw 655 (16w)

TOTAL Watts Idle = 200+
TOTAL Watts Load = 460 average (500 to 560w peaks, depending on tests, vcore)


Btw, I've always notice that the loads seem higher when a single app is being run instead of multiple apps. I've alwayes used 3dmark06 as being the test to completely blow out my psu to it's maximum. The Lochness monster is the highest test of any for peaks being graphical, cpu burns, memory tests, etc.

I'm not using "Killawatt" I'm actually using the Seasonic Power Angel which has similar accuracy. Undervolting during downloading and 2d underclocks gives 149w idle.
 
Asus L1N64-SLI
Two FX74 CPU's
4GB DDR2-1000 (4 x 1GB sticks)
Two eVGA 8800GTX
Two Seagate Barracude 7200.10 750GB drives
BenQ DVD640
Ultra M998 case w/ X3 1000W PSU

From the wall: 636.9W

Update.... I updated the drivers, BIOS, etc. and now I'm pulling > 700W from the wall. 787.3 at one point!

3DM'06 scores went up too. :D
 
My new Quad Core SYSTEM:

CPU INTEL / AMD @ Speed = Q6600 @ 3.5GHz
VIDEO CARDs Brand @ Speed = ATI X1900TX 512MB @ Stock
Total Ram @ Speed = 4GB @ 1000MHz
Total HDD = 3 total
Aditional PCI Devices = RAID Card
Fans + Size = 7 @ 120 2 @ 80mm
PSU Watts = 500w
Motherboard = XFX 680i Sli Motherboard.

TOTAL Watts Idle = 250 (average)
TOTAL Watts Load = 330 (average)


Damn man i realize that if i let it run 24/7 for the whole year it will cost me $404 or $33.67/Month.

I am shutting it OFF :D
 
guys, single 3dmark might not load some modern pc's to the max, i've tried. try orthos + 3dmark.
 
How can i save energy from this setup. I mean i wanna run it 24/7, should i run it @ stock.
 
to lower power consumption you need to drop the vcore.

how's the nvidia overclocking tools? can you drop the clock and the voltage from windows? you could underclock and drop the voltage even more if that's the case.

oh yah, disable the screensaver. have you measured how much energy screensaver eats?
 
I don't believe underclocking the CPU and GPU is going to make a computer more efficient when running day to day applications.
 
not sure how the efficiency will go clock for clock but lowering voltage will lower power consumption.

when not running anything that needs much of any computing power that it. how much speed do one need to post on forums ? :p
 
Sure. I agree with you in that respect, but on that same note it brings up yet another double standard.

You have the one double standard:

"I've got the QX6800, a pair of 1950XTX cards, 4GB of Dominator RAM, four Raptor hard drives.... I only have $50 to spend on a PSU."

And the other double standard:

"I've got the QX6800, a pair of 1950XTX cards, 4GB of Dominator RAM, four Raptor hard drives.... I'm paying too much on my electric bill."

Umm... want to pay less? Should've saved some money and bought a slower, lower power CPU, one, lower power video card, less RAM, fewer drives.......
 
LOL....

You suggest running at a lower vCore. They may or may not be running at stock. If power consumption was really such a concern, why pay so much money on a high speed, high power consumption CPU when a slower one that consumes less power would suffice.
 
jonny - seems there's a little miscommunication. maybe i am not expressing myself too clear.

let's try again.

annaconda posted a question: "How can i save energy from this setup"

so, we have an existing setup and he wants to know how to save some money on an energy bill.

i am replying that running q6600 @ 3.5GHz might not be needed for all the tasks. one doesn't need that much speed to browse forums or write an email. at this point downclocking and lower vcore will save energy and reduce heat. when one wants to play a game, watch a movie, fold, etc, one can go back to 3.5GHz and get the benefits of the speed it provides.

not exactly a novel idea - all oem boxes have speed step, C1 state, C&Q enabled by default. as a result, those pc's run at two different speeds depending on load.

for overclocked rigs we usually tend to disable those futures. it could be possible to approximate it using nvidia software; not too sure though, that's why i asked about it.


my "huh" was about "the one double standard", btw.
 
No, I understand what you were suggesting.

My response was more off topic than anything. Just an observation that came to mind from your suggestion, but certainly not anything negative directed towards your suggestion or annaconda's situation.
 
The reason i bought Q6600 is because i want to able to run my server + vista + solaris + exchange, + some games (when i get time) + watch HDTV on one machine instead of 2 machines or more.

Which is saving me some electric bill not to mention the space, and i am doing this by using virtual pc 2007.

I am running now my system @ stock every thing.

Now my watts usage decreased dramatically.

Idle = 189watts

Minor load, e.g downloading etc = 199watts

load = 213 watts.


I came to realized that my pump MCP655 is using almost 25 - 30watts from the total wattage i listed up there. Amazing huh, i never thought pump would take that much power. By decreasing pump speed from 5 to 4 result in 5-8 watts decreased, but i cannot do it because of the to many things in the loop.

Now my question is HOW can i can undervolt the video card or save some watts from that end? It is x1900xt 512mb video card.
 
can't say for sure about vid. card. you can downclock it but not certain if you can change voltage for it. as such, not much would be saved there.

try enabling speed step and C1 in bios, see if it gets you some more power savings.
 
Yes i do have speed step + C1 enabled in bios, and cpu runs @ 1.6ghz when idle most of the time. I am going to unplug the video card to see how power it is using.
 
The reason i bought Q6600 is because i want to able to run my server + vista + solaris + exchange, + some games (when i get time) + watch HDTV on one machine instead of 2 machines or more.

Which is saving me some electric bill not to mention the space, and i am doing this by using virtual pc 2007.

I am running now my system @ stock every thing.

Now my watts usage decreased dramatically.

Idle = 189watts

Minor load, e.g downloading etc = 199watts

load = 213 watts.


I came to realized that my pump MCP655 is using almost 25 - 30watts from the total wattage i listed up there. Amazing huh, i never thought pump would take that much power. By decreasing pump speed from 5 to 4 result in 5-8 watts decreased, but i cannot do it because of the to many things in the loop.

Now my question is HOW can i can undervolt the video card or save some watts from that end? It is x1900xt 512mb video card.


This is exactly the reason I'm debating Quad vs Dual this July 22nd. I know everyone says the TDP will be 95 watts on the new quads, but I have my doubts that that 95 watts actually even applies to a Quad core running sp2004 on all 4 cores maxed out even at stock settings. If so then that is really energy efficient to have each core only pulling 24 watts at load. I doubt it. Once overvolted I'm sure that quad is going to yank a minimum 300 watts from the wall while all 4 cores are burning. I want the quad, but at the same time I don't want a system that is going to use more energy than what I currently consume (450 watts load on gaming, overclocked/overvolted and about 220 at idle overvolted/overclocked). At the same time I don't want to have to spend the extra money just to buy a internet only computer and use up my already limited space to put that computer.
So, my only option to have both a powerfull computer for gaming and to keep as green as possilbe is to 1) use the computer as little as possible 2) undervolt and underclock as low as possible when surfing/downloading.

The later has worked fairly well on my system, dropping my system consumption from about 170 watts idle at stock to 144 watts idle at 0.925 and 800mhz.
I hope that I can keep the same if I choose quad when I download. If I actually use more than I've accomplished very little except to please only myself when gaming and, unfortunately waste too much.
 
I'd like to give a number but I have 64-bit ubuntu. Anyone have a bunchmark for me? I own a kill-a-watt & dual opteron 285's, 7800GT, lsi logic sas controller, 3 36G 15k drives, and a 3ware 9550sx-8lp (currently no drives on it).

Rob
 
I think mine is acting up..

Monitors and speakers and peripherals on, computer off: 128w draw
Monitors, speakers, peripherals, and computer on: 108w draw

Test float time?
 
Hate to burst your bubble, guys, but Kill-a-Watt is not very accurate.

Mythbusters tested light bulb power consumption a few months ago. One of the bulbs they tested was an LED bulb, with 172 separate LED's on it. They estimated, based on the KaW's readings, that it drew around 1W total. I can't find it now, but my dad and I were both intrigued by their results. We tracked down the bulb to its manufacturer: 10 watts!

I think KaW can only measure resistive load, not capacitive. Your electric company bills you on TOTAL consumption, not resistive alone.

First, do you have the power consumption of the load tested against a known good meter?

Kill-A-Watt is a single range meter with a wide dynamic range.
Kill-A-Watt is rated up to 125v 15A, 1875W, so complaining over not being accurate at low load is like complaining that a truck scale can't accurately resolve your weight to 1/2 lbs.
 
Back
Top