Cost of electricity for computer

wideweb 4 Feb 2013 07:51
I've just bought a new computer with 700 kw power supply.
At $0.2 per kwh, that means that I spend $100 per month just for the food of the computer!
I have to make 3-4 sales just to feed the beast!

Did I miss anything?
zygistudio 4 Feb 2013 08:39
Sure: just divide by 1000 and you'll be OK.
Zygis
wideweb 4 Feb 2013 13:04
Sure, I have removed the wrong K from above, but still the bottom line is the same! Let me rephrase my question:

I've just bought a new computer with 700 w (0.7 kw) power supply.
At $0.2 per kwh, that means that I spend $100 per month just for the food of the computer!
0.7 * 24 * 30 * 0.2 = $100.80
I have to make 3-4 sales just to feed the beast!
TheEngineer 4 Feb 2013 14:42
Hi wideweb your calculation is flawed for several reasons.

Your power supply has to have enough power to drive all the components in your computer at the same time and usually a bit left over to allow for any peripherals or devices like external hard drives that draw power from a USB port.

700W is the maximum power output - it doesn't mean it is using it all the time. It may only use a fraction of this if you have a "power saving" mode.

Obviously you may have a team of people working 24/7 editing complex files that are being copied in from external hard drives and DVD copies being made non stop - in which case you may use $100 a month.

In reality you are probably using between a quarter and a third of the figure you calculated.

TE
RekindlePhoto 4 Feb 2013 16:06
Maybe you can save some money by unplugging the computer and rubbing two sticks together, using a slide rule or drawing animations of all you clips ;)

I never turn my computer off. It runs 24/7 with just an occasional reboot to clean things up.
Vla__Dimir 4 Feb 2013 18:05
Interesting thought either way. It doesn't hurt to save up a few bucks :P
wideweb 4 Feb 2013 19:27
Thank you TE. My computer uploads at nights, but true, I don't burn DVDs all the time. So in either case, I think 2 sales are wasted every month just for electricity. Add to that the cost of the computer, cameras, travel - life is expensive.
vadervideo 5 Feb 2013 16:08
I have an APC 1500W backup and along with it came some cool free software that lets me monitor usage etc... I have two computers (I7, 32 gb ram with GTX 670) and then just a workstation I5 - between the two and a color laserjet, external raid, Cable modem-router, and a switch it tells me I am using only 117.95 KWh for last month (Jan 31 days) or an approximate cost of $13.95 for power for all my stuff. If you are spending $100 bucks plus, then either move to a better area or get software to measure the real usage. And by the way, my I7 has a 750 w power supply. If I had a 750 kw power supply I could power my whole house. :)
wideweb 5 Feb 2013 16:15
I will try to find this amazing software.
vadervideo 5 Feb 2013 16:35
If you have an apc it is called "Powerchute" - http://www.apc.com/products/family/?id=129
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