OCed system and electric bill

[nyker96]

Any of you guys notice a huge jimp in electric bill after setting up a highly OCed system or two? A friend of mine claimed his E6600 and Opty 165 both OCed, along with X1900XT 79xx cards , about 5 HDs, 4 DVDs (combined from two systems of course). had made him pay like 30 bucks more a month in electric bills. I do know he sometimes run the system 24hr/day for download, but not everyday. Wonder if this is the case for most people here with a heavy duty loaded OCed system.

On a side note, I read that even though C2D even though the chip runs cooler, the boards tends to be consumer more than AMD boards, so overall C2D systems actually eats more watts.

 

[Technonut]

I found This Article interesting regarding the subject....

The cost to run the PC 24/7 under the Reasonable Load Power Consumption is:

(0.636 KW * 720 hours * 12 cents per KW/h) = 5495 cents = $54.95 / month!

 

[harpoon84]

O/C or no O/C, a modern high end rig with a fast CPU/GPU and multiple HDDs/optical drives will consume a fair amount of power. Overclocking just adds ~50W more on the CPU side and ~25W more on the GPU side. A 75W difference isn't going to break the bank anytime soon. To put it in perspective - imagine you have an extra light globe in your house - I don't exactly think your power bill will skyrocket due to one extra globe.

In regards to overall power draw, AM2 and C2D systems is actually quite similar, I think C2D is slightly lower but not by much. AM2 is slightly lower than C2D if you use the EE (Energy Efficient) line of X2 chips.

 

[imported_lavalamp]

Originally posted by: Technonut
I found This Article interesting regarding the subject....

The cost to run the PC 24/7 under the Reasonable Load Power Consumption is:

(0.636 KW * 720 hours * 12 cents per KW/h) = 5495 cents = $54.95 / month!

I'm not really sure where they got the figure of 636 W, but with most systems (even high end ones), the power draw is likely to be closer to 1/4 - 1/2 of that, and therefore the price too.

0.300 kW * 720 h = 216 kWh

216 * 0.12 = $ 25.92

Even my file server with it's nine HDD's, and a 6800 Ultra (not currently installed) runs perfectly fine when playing games, and it's powered by a MERE 470W PSU.

Edit: Oh, I see, they tested a system with three monitors, and calculated the total power draw including ALL three monitors (of different shapes and sizes), and worked out the cost for a month. That seriously skewed the results because all those monitors put together actually draw more power than the PC. Seriously, who just leaves their monitors on all the time? Even if you don't turn them off manually you'd still set your OS to turn the screens off after a while of no activity so they go into stand-by mode.

 

[myocardia]

Yeah, used normally, an average modern PC should use ~$30 a month worth of electricity, even if left on 24/7. Of course, that will be higher for Folders, since their systems will be running at 100% 24/7. Overclocking doesn't add all that much in power usage, except that most people have to turn off Cool n Quiet (or EIST), so they run at full speed, even while reading/posting on AT.

 

[imported_lavalamp]

Just an update for us UKers (I know there must be some on here somewhere), the average cost per kWh of electricity in the UK is approximately 8p. So the cost for running a PC in the UK 24/7 for a month would be around £17.28 (for a 300W PC).

 

[pm]

I measured my system this morning using a La Crosse Cost Control.

145W boot (no monitor)
105W idle (no monitor)

205W idle w/ 22" NEC Multisync FP1355 CRT monitor
246W running orthos -blend w/ 22" NEC Multisync FP1355 CRT monitor
238W running Oblivion w/ 22" NEC Multisync FP1355 CRT monitor

13W stand-by

155W monitor - initial power-on surge - no computer
100W monitor active - no computer
0W monitor stand-by - no computer

I have a:
Core 2 Duo E6700 (stock)
2GB Crucial ECC 533 DDR2
BFG GeForce 7600GT PCE-E
DFI Infinity 975x
300GB Maxtor Diamondmax 10 hard disk

and an Inwin 400W power supply (75% efficient w/ active PFC)

In Colorado, we pay $0.08/kWh. If I ran Orthos -Blend 24/7 for a month, it would cost me $10.40. And Orthos is the most power-hungry app that I have found.

 

[nyker96]

Tx fpr the link Technonut, seems the article claims 600+ wattage on a high-end computer (X2), if this is true it'll really cost anyone between 50-75 a month if left on 24/7. I think the electricity is like 19 cents/kWatt at where my friends live. So even he didn't leave both on for 24/7, it probablly still cost him a ton a month.

No he doesn't run any folding@home stuff that drives things to 100%. I heard that FOH has a ATI version now that not only drives CPU to 100 also drives GPU to 100 now. That would be a lot of electricity running 24/7!

 

[akshayt]

High end PCs at stock would generally consume around 100-150 watts or more at idle and 200-400 or more under full load. OC may increase your comp bill by maybe 20-30% at max, and that is worth it if you really ask me.

 

[tvdang7]

yall are forgeting they are measuring the monitor AND an external hardrive for the 635W figure. so thats not ur rig thats everything. i dont have an external so im cool. and im not running 3 24 inch lcd's lol.

and that power measuring device thingy looks really cool. any other brands out there and possibly cheaper?

 

[Technonut]

Originally posted by: tvdang7
yall are forgeting they are measuring the monitor AND an external hardrive for the 635W figure. so thats not ur rig thats everything. i dont have an external so im cool. and im not running 3 24 inch lcd's lol.

and that power measuring device thingy looks really cool. any other brands out there and possibly cheaper?

The Kill-A-Watt is $23.95....

 

[Xenoid]

6.33 cents per Kw and 2 awful 8 year old computers makes me not really care about costs for now.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: tvdang7
yall are forgeting they are measuring the monitor AND an external hardrive for the 635W figure. so thats not ur rig thats everything. i dont have an external so im cool. and im not running 3 24 inch lcd's lol.

and that power measuring device thingy looks really cool. any other brands out there and possibly cheaper?

17" LCD is 22w on my PC.
Idle is ~150W idle for PC only, ~200W under load, plus speaker and monitor power consumption.

 

[Whitedog]

My Aquarium cost me $75 a month in electricity.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Whitedog
My Aquarium cost me $75 a month in electricity.

Wow, you should consider getting a computer for entertainment, then.

 

[Whitedog]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: Whitedog
My Aquarium cost me $75 a month in electricity.

Wow, you should consider getting a computer for entertainment, then.

I have 4. (well, 3 + A docking station setup for my work laptop.)

Computers aren't entertainment though, they are a royal pain in the neck! They comsume our lives! hehe