PC Power Consumption

[Zak33]

i5 740 @ 3.6GHz
P55
Ati 4770
4GB DDR3 (1600MHz, I think)

Idle is ~120w, full load when encoding video is never more than 220w, playing a game hardly ever gets above 200w.

that's amazing.. shows the huge leaps thenewer hardware has made on power drain. Looks like I'll have to start looking into an upgrade...

edit: wehat PSU have you got? I have a sneaky suspicion my PSU is quite inneficient.

[peterb]

What motherboard are you using?
Thanks

Can't find the box atm, but I think it is

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11212

or

http://www.itx-warehouse.co.uk/Produ...?ProductID=729 (This looks like a later version.)

The most recent uses this

http://linitx.com/viewproduct.php?prodid=11957

As I needed the PCI-E socket (few mini-itx boards have them)

If You are thinking of buying, I have dealt with both these companies - both gave excellent service. (Phone tech support especially)

[watercooled]

Thanks, dual-NIC too could be just what I'm after!

[arthurleung]

that's amazing.. shows the huge leaps thenewer hardware has made on power drain. Looks like I'll have to start looking into an upgrade...

edit: wehat PSU have you got? I have a sneaky suspicion my PSU is quite inneficient.

My X4 620 running x264 (~95% cpu) only use 88W. Probably only half the encoding speed of that i5 though. My C2D @ 3.2Ghz takes 180W doing the same task (also with a 4770), probably 75% of the encoding speed of that i5.

The i5/i7 is quite a power hog, although not as much as a high end gpu.

[GT-R]

Update (new overclock)

123w idle
247w load

[Zak33]

I think my 4870 is to blame.. just tried a little X1600 in it and it dropped to what you're is.

4770 are a lot less power hungry than 4870's

[Breezey]

specs in system tab

Idle : 51w
Load : 110w

[sadbuttrue]

I've been tweaking my voltages for low temps and low power consumption recently.

Similar system to KidChameleon:

i5 750 @ 3.57ghz -> 4.08ghz
ati 4770 @ 250/400 idle, 830/1000 gaming
2 hdds
2 monitors (forced idle clock speed keeps power usage low)

87w idle
~100w light usage
~130w old games with idle clock speeds
<200w gaming
~220w LinX

[badass]

My system, as measured by the UPS:
Idle: 190W
Load: 310W

Girlfriends system:
Idle:50W
Load: no idea - will update when I get round to it.
Specs: Antec NSK-1380, Athlon II 2.8 GHz, 1x2GB RAM, 1x Old Seagate 540GB HDD, Gigabyte 785G motherboard (without sideport RAM )

[KidChameleon]

I think my 4870 is to blame.. just tried a little X1600 in it and it dropped to what you're is.

4770 are a lot less power hungry than 4870's

I was going to say it's most likely the 4770 that makes it seem so low. I'm sure it would easily go under 100w, and possibly under 90w at idle if I didn't have it overclocked and didn't have all 4 hard drives turned on. I've been meaning to check it at stock speeds for a while. I was actually surprised the first time I turned the pc on with the power monitor in. I was expecting around 200w idle and over 400w under load. Turns out power ratings for PSUs really are overestimated. I have a Corsair HX520, about 3 years old now. I wasn't sure if it would be enough for a more powerful graphics card before I checked the actual power usage.

[Glix]

I think my 4870 is to blame.. just tried a little X1600 in it and it dropped to what you're is.

4770 are a lot less power hungry than 4870's

Q9550 stock, HD4870 512mb bios clocked (400/900 1.16v, 790/900 stock volt), 750hdd F1 + 250gb Maxtor 11, P5k/epu, Corsair TX750w.

idle: ~140w
load: ~260w

Knock down the ram speeds on the 4870 to 450mhz shaves off 25w and squeeze the gpu core a little for some more savings plus runs a shed load cooler.

[watercooled]

Just checked power use of my computer (not my gaming rig), idle is 34w!!! It's not an Atom system or anything like that it's using a proper AMD CPU - a 5050e, a 780V Sapphire motherboard, an optical drive, fans etc and a 7200rpm 3.5" SATA HDD. PSU is an Antec MT-350. 720p H.264 takes it to 55, 7zip takes it to 75 and Intel Burn Test takes it to 90w. That idle power is lower than the >40w I've heard first gen Atom desktop boards use!

[GT-R]

Looks like a quality branded 400w is all that is needed for most.

[watercooled]

Oh yeah and it's a shame the big brands only seem to concentrate on high wattage PSUs as a lower wattage PSU would be more efficient (not to mention cheaper) for most people because efficiency tends to drop of towards the lower end of a PSU's capacity. Hopefully the increasing popularity of more low power systems like Intel Atom/VIA Nano for example will encourage MFRs to release more reasonable wattage models...

[ehhhhhhh]

GF's rig:

Athlon II 245
2GB DDR800
1TB WD GREEN
integrated GPU (3200)
Asrock 780G matx mobo
350W Akasa

idle: 45W
Load(Prime95): 120W


If I switch off the main rig then I'll measure it too.

[arthurleung]

i7 950 D0 @ 3.8Ghz 1.2325V
12GB DDR3-1658 @ 1.62V
4x Samsung F2 1T
HD4870 750/900
Asus P6T Deluxe V2
Corsair 450VX

Idle: 188W
Prime: 347W

Quite surprised how much power this use when overclocked. It idle lower than what my Q9550 @ 3.6 did but use extra 50W when priming.