Power Consumption?

[GoldMember]

Ok, I was wondering if someone here can give me a rough estimate on my watts per hour usage. Here is my setup.

172W Peltier running on a 24V 12.5amp external DC PSU. I have the PSU running at a full 24V.
Tbird 1.4ghz OC'd to 1,580Mhz
Asus A7V266-E default FSB speeds
ATI Rage 128 32mb PRO (Temp till I get my leadtek GF2 Ultra back this monday)
Digi Doc 5 (I usually keep the backlit LED display on all the time)
5mm blue power LED
120mm 114CFM 12V Sunon fan
80MM 12V generic fan
Sound Blaster LIVE! Value
Linksys 10/100 NIC
2x 20GB 7200RPM ATA-66 HD's
Epox RAID controller running raid 0
12X LG CD burner (It's only used when needed.. hardly at all really..)
40X CD-rom (Usually sits idle...)
USB Intellimouse Optical Explorer
431W Enermax PSU

That should be that.. I water cool.. and I use this damn Peltier.. so I am just wondering what my estimated power consumption of my PC is by the hour in watts. If anyone KNOWS ABOUT ELECTRICITY.. and can give me a good estimate I'd really appreciate it.
I left my PC on for the past 2 days and most of the time it just sat idle cuz I was DL'in and I was in bed ... and all that was on was the radiator fan and the 80mm fan ... I'm just worried that those 2 days put a bunch of dollars on the electric bill. Anyway.. if some insight could be put on the matter I'd greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

 

[blahblah99]

A quick estimation puts your setup at:

172W Peltier
350W for computer
200W for monitor
-----------------------
~670W at FULL LOAD, but since your computer is just sitting around and you have the monitor turned off, I'm guessing your computer is eating up about 172W + 200 = ~370Watts/hr. Electricity is around 8-10 cents per kilo hr. 24 hrs * 30 days * 370W equals approximately 270kilowatts. At $0.08, thats about $21 per month

Edit: A good estimation is if your room is turning into a furnace, then you know your electricity bill is going to be high

Edit 2: Another way to measure your energy consumption is to measure your energy meter without and WITH the computer on. Subtract the two and you get your energy usage.

 

[Evadman]

Remember, not only is it a computer, it is also a space heater for cold winter nights Who needs a furnace when you have 2000 watts of CPU power coursing thorugh your house

 

[GoldMember]

Blah you are a bit off.. The peltier has a heat dissapation of 172w... that is not it's rated watts. I believe when I talked to the maker of the peltier he said it took around 220w...

My monitor takes 150w ...
I water cool so I use the hot air that comes out of the radiator and channel it through aluminum tubing .. it heats my room.. usually keeps it about 10f warmer then downstairs.

I will watch the meter and see what happens.

Thanks.

 

[Mark R]

I would say that the computer uses about 180 W (based on my measurements of similar machines) - The monitor, probably about 120 - 150 W (for a 21", less for a smaller screen). The peltier, well I don't know, but I'll say 200 W (to include wasted power in the PSU).

Total: about 400 W

Don't forget that if you were in bed, the monitor would be switched off (thereby elminating its contribution), and as long as you weren't running any distributed computing type stuff, the CPU would be idle, and therefore using considerably less electricity (deduct 40 W from computer for a truely idle CPU). With a peltier that powerful, I sincerely hope that it is temperature controlled (otherwise, you'll slowly be rotting your computer with condensation - again with low CPU load, peltier consumption will be less.

 

[LordEdmond]

to prove it its simple to do but may not be practical

turn OFF everthing in the house then go and check the elec meter and take a reading . then turn on the pc leave running for two hours . then take another reading subtract one from the other divide by 2 , that is the consumption of the pc.


note with tests on my pc the input watts rise by 45 watts ( cpu load ) from idle to full load


good luck
LE

 

[Jerboy]

Anything short of a professional grade wattometer won't prove much. They make "Wattsup" thing for school project and crap, but I doubt they're built with enough consideration on compensating for wave distortions and harmonic loads seen with computer power supplies.

Hey you can save up a $1,000 and buy a wattometer instead of a new computer

 

[GoldMember]

My waterblock is 100% completely insulated.. there isn't a single drop of water because of condensation.

So what you guys are saying is that my PC on full load takes 145w?
I know my peltier takes atleast 240w because this PSU ... is just a PSU.. I set it for 24v at 12.5amp... if you do the math that's 300w...
Anyway.. The less it's taking the better... And short of turning everything off in my house (rriiggghttt... puff the magic dragon..) I won't really know just HOW much it really takes.

 

[blahblah99]

Well, you wanted an estimate so I gave you an estimate

If you want a more exact figure, do others have suggested: get a wattometer.

Or for a cheaper method, take measurements of your energy meter outside your house. Record today's numbers and 24 hrs later (with computer off). Then record numbers 24 hrs after that with the computer on. Subtract the two and divide by 24. That's your watts per hour.

 

[CTho9305]

if you go to tedist, and look up their 172 watt pelt, take 18V times the number of amps it draws, that will get you the wattage