Power Usage?

[Mike Armstrong]

I'd like to ask a 'basic' question concerning power usage and PSU's. I have a PC Power & Cooling 550w PSU. When my PC is on is it using 550watts of power? Or is that 550watts 'available', and not being used, depending on what components my PC has in it? I leave my PC on all the time, even when I'm not home. Burning 550watts all day, everyday seems like such a waste of money. I initially bought this PSU thinking I would need it for SLI, more drives, ect,ect, but my system specs never changed. I was thinking about buying a cheaper, much lower wattage PSU, one that would be plenty enough to run what few components I actually have, say, 300watt?, just to be a little more sensible in terms of my electric bill. Thanks


DFI LP NF4 SLI-DR (BIOS 623-3)
AMD Athlon 64 3700+ 939 90nm 1mb L2 cache
2GB (2x1GB) Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC4000
1-BFG GeForce 7800 GTX OC 256mb
WD 74 Gb SATA 10,000 rpm Raptor
NEC 3540A DVD RW
Mitsumi Floppy 7 in 1 USB Card Reader/Smart Media
Creative X-FI Fatality
PC Power & Cooling Turbo-Cool 510 SLI
Lian Li PC-60B Plus case
XP x64 Pro

 

[Dangman]

I'd like to ask a 'basic' question concerning power usage and PSU's. I have a PC Power & Cooling 550w PSU. When my PC is on is it using 550watts of power? Or is that 550watts 'available', and not being used, depending on what components my PC has in it?

That's 550W available, not 550W all the time. A PSU only outputs the amount of power that the system actually needs. So if your system only takes 300W, then the PSU will only output 300W. Though I don't recall there ever being a 550W PC P&C PSU. Only ones I can think of is the 510W SLI and 500W Silencer.

I was thinking about buying a cheaper, much lower wattage PSU, one that would be plenty enough to run what few components I actually have, say, 300watt?, just to be a little more sensible in terms of my electric bill. Thanks

Going to a lower wattage PSU won't necessarily lower your electric bill. Going with a more efficient power supply will lower your electric bill. Dunno the efficiency of the PC P&C 550W(?) PSU you have so can't comment on how much money you'll save by going with a more efficient PSU.

However there is a very small chance that it might be more practical to just keep your current PSU since a new more efficient PSU might cost about the same as whatever savings you have with the electric bill.

But assuming that your PSU has horrible efficiency, I recommend this PSU as a cheap but efficient and great quality PSU:
Antec Earthwatts 650W PSU - $70

 

[Bruce2]

I would just keep the PC P&CTurbo-Cool 510 SLI in saving the money and trouble. Plus any smaller would be below recommendation for your setup.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Thanks Danny, makes sence.


Mike