Check how much power your power supply is actually using!!

[RU482]

This device monitors the AC input to anything, such as a computer power supply. Monitors current power consumption in watts, max load in watts, total energy consumption in kilowatt hours, and can even forcast how much it the device will cost to run per month or year.

I just thought it would be an interesting way for people to gauge how large of a power supply they actually need

 

[cliftonite]

Damn, thats cool. Is there a way to check all this through a program?

 

[RU482]

Actually, what I was thinking of doing was using the current measuring function of a multimeter to do the same thing, the using the RS-232 output to my computer to read the data in real time. Problem is, a multimeter with RS-232 out or similar usually runs around $150+++. But if you've got it...hey!

 

[Rickr]

I got this device from the "Natural Wonders" store, and it works very well.

My Internet router PC, which I would like to be as energy-efficient as possible, currently uses 33 watts. That is pretty much as low as I can get it. I haven't measured by Athlon XP system yet. I bet it uses a lot more than 33 Watts!

Using this device, I discovered that ALL Nvidia cards are power hogs. Even a Geforce2MX makes my router above jump to 55 watts.

 

[RU482]

Originally posted by: Rickr
I got this device from the "Natural Wonders" store, and it works very well.

My Internet router PC, which I would like to be as energy-efficient as possible, currently uses 33 watts. That is pretty much as low as I can get it. I haven't measured by Athlon XP system yet. I bet it uses a lot more than 33 Watts!

Using this device, I discovered that ALL Nvidia cards are power hogs. Even a Geforce2MX makes my router above jump to 55 watts.

I assume you mean your machine that acts as a router...right?
wow, 33W...that's pretty damn good.

how much did you pay at the natural wonders store??

 

[boi]

Natural Wonders aye. Hmmm... I might pick one up for myself as a Christmas present =)

 

[RU482]

is natural wonders a store or a website?

 

[aceO07]

That's pretty cool. I've been wondering how much power my computer w/ flat panel, speakers, router, dsl modem and printer are taking. Now if someone can invent a money saver. Saving too much money this month.

 

[WebDude]

If you happen to be running off an APC UPS, you can get a relative idea of the power you're using from the "powerchute plus" software that monitors the UPS. I wasn't aware of it until I added a second monitor and an extra burner, and started to get "UPS output overload" messages from the software. So I went into the program and saw you can have a bar chart of UPS stat's, like line voltage, output voltage, etc. My output load was running over 95%, and occasionally going over 100, hence the warning messages. Anyways if you have an UPS something to think about. But having a lcd readout of actual wattage is cool.

WebDude

 

[Jhhnn]

Nice gizmo- Maybe the price will come down to $20, bringing them into widespread use.

You realize, of course, that it'll kill the sales of 400+W PSU's.....

 

[sharkeeper]

My UPS shows the power consumption on the LCD on the front panel. Of course, there is quite a bit of stuff running off the (hardwired) unit so guaging a single PC is difficult. I can say that the power increase on a dual MP 2200+ from no CPU load to 100% (both CPU) running SETI jumps over 130 VA! :Q

Cheers!

 

[Rickr]

It was $30 at Natural Wonders.

The 33W machine consists of a P3-733 running on an old Abit BX6-2 motherboard, Savage 4Pro graphics, a DSL card, a network card, a phoneline networking card, a AC97 sound card, and a 15Gb hard drive. The only fan in that machine is the power supply fan. I am running a cpu cooler program (AMH Refridgerator), and that makes a serious difference in the amount of power used.

Originally posted by: redly1

Originally posted by: Rickr
I got this device from the "Natural Wonders" store, and it works very well.

My Internet router PC, which I would like to be as energy-efficient as possible, currently uses 33 watts. That is pretty much as low as I can get it. I haven't measured by Athlon XP system yet. I bet it uses a lot more than 33 Watts!

Using this device, I discovered that ALL Nvidia cards are power hogs. Even a Geforce2MX makes my router above jump to 55 watts.

I assume you mean your machine that acts as a router...right?
wow, 33W...that's pretty damn good.

how much did you pay at the natural wonders store??