Does a Desktop computer really cost $20-$30 *in electricity* per month?

[Northern Lawn]

I mean if you leave it on 24/7?

I was watching a podcast Eli the computer guy he said that, knowledgeable guy to, but he said if you replaced a desktop with a NUC computer you would get your money back in about a year just in electricity costs.

I figured my computer was about $5-10 to leave on constantly.

Sometimes I think this guy talks out his ass that's why I'm asking, not looking to save any money or go to a small computer or anything. I need a desktop.

 

[sandorski]

no, 5-10 sounds about right.

 

[BoomerD]

The last time I measured my PC draw with a Kill-a-Watt, at idle, it draws about 100 watts. That work out to about $7.20/mo if it runs 24/7 at idle. Gaming runs the power draw up to about 350-400 watts...but that's only for a couple of hours per day max...of course, booting takes a bit more power for that short time as well.

 

[FalseChristian]

It depends where you live. In North Korea it costs $380000 wankers every 23 days.

 

[Doppel]

The last time I measured my PC draw with a Kill-a-Watt, at idle, it draws about 100 watts. That work out to about $7.20/mo if it runs 24/7 at idle. Gaming runs the power draw up to about 350-400 watts...but that's only for a couple of hours per day max...of course, booting takes a bit more power for that short time as well.

This. Also, if you're in a cold climate the waste heat is somewhat mitigated by warming your house. If you heat with electric and don't have a cheaper gas option you normally use, well then the waste heat is totally unwasted, so it's really irrelevant during the winter even if the thing cost $50/month.

 

[Mai72]

When I saw the 20-30 per month I thought u were buying a computer thru rent a center. Lol

 

[highland145]

The last time I measured my PC draw with a Kill-a-Watt, at idle, it draws about 100 watts. That work out to about $7.20/mo if it runs 24/7 at idle. Gaming runs the power draw up to about 350-400 watts...but that's only for a couple of hours per day max...of course, booting takes a bit more power for that short time as well.

Who knew solitaire sucked so much juice.

 

[Northern Lawn]

Does anyone here watch that youtube thing called Eli the Computer Guy? At first I found him interesting but it's getting very hard to sit through one of his videos, they're over two hours each. I'm sure he could edit it down to an hour but then he'd be left with 45 mins of commercials and 15 mins of info.

 

[Schfifty Five]

When I saw the 20-30 per month I thought u were buying a computer thru rent a center. Lol

Same here.

Misleading title OP. Please change it to add in "in electricity" at the end of your question.

 

[Krazy4Real]

No, it doesn't cost $20-$30 a month to run your computer 24/7 unless you leave it folding or something in the background when you're not using it.

 

[sdifox]

I mean if you leave it on 24/7?

I was watching a podcast Eli the computer guy he said that, knowledgeable guy to, but he said if you replaced a desktop with a NUC computer you would get your money back in about a year just in electricity costs.

I figured my computer was about $5-10 to leave on constantly.

Sometimes I think this guy talks out his ass that's why I'm asking, not looking to save any money or go to a small computer or anything. I need a desktop.

err, no.

 

[consolibyte]

I have two computers on at all times, plus a router, switch, and separate wireless router. I pay less than $60/month consistently.

 

[Train]

To hit $20, even at a high rate ($0.16/kwh) your computer would need to pull 168 watts around the clock, for 31 days.

Not out of reach for a beefy computer.

 

[BurnItDwn]

I have a pair of 6870s in my gaming rig with an I5. Around 2 or so years ago I ran bitcoin mining on it 24/7 for a while (initially, to burn in the video card and test for stability with my OC), but then I let it run a bit more since I saw it was mining decently well. Once ASIC's came out, I stopped mining since at that point the $20 or so per month to run it was more than the rate at which it would successfully mine.

I used my bitcoins back when they were going for around $130USD a piece and bought some cigars from puroexpress.

Anyhow, I'm not involved in cryptocurrencies any longer, though maybe It might be worthwhile to run a "scrypt" based one these days ... not sure if it's worth the trouble...


EDIT: Sorry got sidetracked.
My whole point of the post was that you are only going to spend $20 or more per month to power one PC if you have a lot of hardware in it and it's running hot.

I pay like 8 cents per kwh here, and with the 2 video cards spiking, even with a 95ish% efficient power supply my electric bill was up around $20-25 per month.

 

[unokitty]

I mean if you leave it on 24/7?

I was watching a podcast Eli the computer guy he said that, knowledgeable guy to, but he said if you replaced a desktop with a NUC computer you would get your money back in about a year just in electricity costs.
.

It depends.

Each user will have their own variables. Two large variable are kilowatts consumed and electricity cost.

Columbia had the following to say about kilowatts consumed

A typical desktop PC with a 17" flat panel LCD monitor requires about 100 watts -- 65 for the computer and 35 for the monitor. Doesn't sound like much? Left on 24/7 for one year, the system will consume a whopping 874 kWh of electricity.

EIA.gov lists electricity cost by state here:
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_5_6_a

Taking the cost figure from the EIA for Maryland gives an annual cost of $117.99.
(874 X .135) Cost of electricity in Maryland where Eli is located.

However, your cost will depend on your computer and your electricity supplier.

In a broad sense, I think that Eli has a valid point. Though, whether or not it holds true for an individual depends on several variables.

Uno

 

[Sonikku]

It depends on where you live. Some states like NY charge twice as much per kilowatt hour compared to neighboring states. NYC in particular charges 3x.

 

[smackababy]

It really depends on your energy costs. My electric bill is around $35-45 a month in a 2 bedroom condo. I don't pay for heat or washer / dryer running cost and my computer is on 24/7.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Mine might!

 

[ch33zw1z]

Last time I did the math, it was about $10 per month. This PC does everything though, server, remote console (because i can't use my work machine for personal use), file storage, etc...

edit: Guess I should include specs...

mobo: Asus P5K
CPU: Q9550
RAM: 4x2GB DDR2-800
PSU: PC Power and Cooling 1000W
GPU: Geforce 275GTX
Hard drives:
1xWD Black 750GB (OS)
2xWD Black 2TB (Storage)
1xWD Black 1.5TB (additional storage)

no cd/dvd rom, OS is Ubuntu 12.04

 

[vi edit]

I'd say back in the day of highly innefficent power supplies, tube based CRT monitors, and mechanical hard drives that you could fry and egg on, that would be a reality.

With much more efficient CPU's, PSU's, HD's and LCD's power consumption is fraction of what they used to be.

 

[Puppies04]

I was watching a podcast Eli the computer guy he said that, knowledgeable guy to, but he said if you replaced a desktop with a NUC computer you would get your money back in about a year just in electricity costs.

BS. The only way to get those numbers to add up is to compare a gaming rig running games 24/7 vs a NUC comp running firefox 24/7.

Compare a system without a GPU (a much fairer comparison) running idle 16 hours a day and running medium intensive tasks for the other 8 hours and you are going to pay your investment back in about 5 years.

Start talking about someone who uses their pc for a few hours per evening and on weekends and then turns it off and you will be looking at about a decade to make your money back.

 

[Imp]

AT 300W and $0.10/kWh

0.3 kW x 24h/day x 30 days = 216 kWh x $0.10/kWh = $21.6

I guess it could... but that's assuming you're running at load 24/7.

 

[ultimatebob]

You should ask the Cryptocoin miners... I'm sure that some of them know how much power they are using to the cent.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I pay around $25 a month to leave three Core 2 era computers on 24/7.

 

[John Connor]

Don't mean to get political, but if Obama has his way you will pay out your ass for electricity. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlTxGHn4sH4

Long live coal, natural gas and nuclear!