Ways to conserve power in your PC and at home.

CyberCrist wrote:

I used to run my media center, gaming pc, and wifes pc at all times. The beginning of this year, I decided I would only run them "when actively used". My power bill has dropped $48, $42, and $53 per month (Jan, Feb, Mar) from the previous year.

If you dont mind me asking what was your orginal bill on average?

I pay in a 2BD/2BA Apt. ~120ish with a server, 2 gaming rigs (identical), and 2 laptops..

I need to find a way where if my server is sleeping that i can simply throw it back on via a remote connection or something.

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ccoelnslash wrote:

I need to find a way where if my server is sleeping that i can simply throw it back on via a remote connection or something.

See if your network card supports wake on LAN, usually there are 2 types you can use, magic packet where the system only wakes when sent a specific "magic" packet (all will support magic packet), and most also support waking by pinging the machine.

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ccoelnslash wrote:

CyberCrist wrote:

I used to run my media center, gaming pc, and wifes pc at all times. The beginning of this year, I decided I would only run them "when actively used". My power bill has dropped $48, $42, and $53 per month (Jan, Feb, Mar) from the previous year.

If you dont mind me asking what was your orginal bill on average?

I pay in a 2BD/2BA Apt. ~120ish with a server, 2 gaming rigs (identical), and 2 laptops..

I need to find a way where if my server is sleeping that i can simply throw it back on via a remote connection or something.

We were paying ~$130-$150. 3 adults last year. This year 3x adults + 1x 5 month old.

So I bought a corsair TX-850 since I am running SLI. I made the decission based on nVidia's recomendation on their web site, can I get away with less power?

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AGzCaveman420 wrote:

So I bought a corsair TX-850 since I am running SLI. I made the decission based on nVidia's recomendation on their web site, can I get away with less power?

The way you phrased this makes me think we need clarification. By less power do you mean that you want to use less power from the wall or are you asking because that PSU is larger than the PDXLAN limit? The 850W rating is a maximum. You will only be drawing as much power as your PC is actually using. A large PSU is potentially less efficient than a properly sized PSU, but the difference is small so your PC will draw about the same.

If you're wondering if you can get away with a 600W PSU in order to follow the PDXLAN rules, probably. The overclock on the CPU will increase your consumption but if we test you with a Kill-a-watt it should confirm that you won't hit a 600W peak.

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xeromist wrote:

AGzCaveman420 wrote:

So I bought a corsair TX-850 since I am running SLI. I made the decission based on nVidia's recomendation on their web site, can I get away with less power?

The way you phrased this makes me think we need clarification. By less power do you mean that you want to use less power from the wall or are you asking because that PSU is larger than the PDXLAN limit? The 850W rating is a maximum. You will only be drawing as much power as your PC is actually using. A large PSU is potentially less efficient than a properly sized PSU, but the difference is small so your PC will draw about the same.

If you're wondering if you can get away with a 600W PSU in order to follow the PDXLAN rules, probably. The overclock on the CPU will increase your consumption but if we test you with a Kill-a-watt it should confirm that you won't hit a 600W peak.

Basically I dont want to be the one who causes the breaker to pop at our table! If I can I will purchas a 600w PSU so as not to be the one that does. But I want to know if I will have to turn off my SLI so as not to under volt anything?

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AGzCaveman420 wrote:

So I bought a corsair TX-850 since I am running SLI. I made the decission based on nVidia's recomendation on their web site, can I get away with less power?

i had an antec 650w running 2 gtx260's and it worked fine.

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At stock it should be OK; I'm just not sure about your overclock. It can be ridiculous how much power consumption increases with an overclock. If you are willing to drop it down for the LAN that would work. We can even test at the LAN for you to see how much you are drawing before and after overclock if you like.

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xer0
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station...

● ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z ● Intel 2600K ● DangerDen cooling ● 8GB G.Skill Trident ●
● ASUS GTX670 ● Patriot PyroSE SSD ● Antec Signature 650 PSU ● Antec Mini P180 ● [ ASUS G73JH ] ●
Picture Association Thread: http://www.pdxlan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7466

With the heat hitting 90 today and tomorrow, I decided that I can no longer run my portable heat creation box (i.e. my computer), along with the attached 30" monitor. So cleared off the right side of my desk and hooked my laptop up to a puny 22" monitor. It is SO much cooler in my computer room Smile

I'm sure I save a bunch on power too.

On the computer and electronics side of things: If you tend to hard power off (unplug, flip a breaker, etc) you may want to keep in mind that when you turn the power back on you should let your equipment sit idle for a few minutes before hitting the power switch. Those sudden jolts aren't good for most electronics. Also, turning a surge protector off might save electricity but it isn't protecting your equipment. If you turn those off then unplug them too.

If you run multiple systems find out where you can cut the power by undervolting or replacing older hardware. My firewall runs on an Atom CPU vs the 3Ghz P4 it was on last year. Fileserver runs a quad core Xeon (Core arch for power savings and webserver is running a low power quad core with a small SSD. Also, if your hardware supports any SpeedStep or Cool'n'Quiet capabilities enable them. If you're running F@H you can either cut down the number of cores being used or % of CPU/GPU utilized to save there.

Most people didn't go into the "and at home" side of things! Consider placement of things in the home. Are you blocking out the sun on the warm summer days? Drawing cool air into the house overnight with fans? Switching to LED or at least CFL lighting? Mythbusters did a great show on electrical use of lights and found LED the most durable and lowest power consumption. You can get BRIGHT 4ft LED bulb for about $50, a little high but 18w max power. You just have to bypass the ballast in the existing fixture. I'm using LED to light one of my aquariums and it looks great. Also, keep your freezer full. Do your laundry at night in the summer, same with the dishwasher. They're outputting heat and putting a load on the utility infrastructure so better to run them at off peak times. Find a tolerable higher temperature for your AC too. I get by fine at 80 but my wife prefers cooler. She seems to do well at 76 to 78. The rear of our house face east so we run a window AC and draw the air into the front of the house with fans to take the load off the main AC.

Lastly, though I could go on for quite a bit more, don't get too skimpy on cooling your PC. Cool components last longer!! Definitely keep your drives cool if you have multiple drives sandwiched together. Or switch to SSD and laptop drives with mounting kits. That'll give you more physical space too.

Spork wrote:

I turn my LCDs off at night because I value the life of the backlights. Granted packing them around to LANs probably doesn't help backlight life any but every little bit counts. Smile

My old BenQ 20.1 LCD has lasted me a good 6 years, and it's still live an kicking!!! I haven't even noticed it's backlight dimming at all; is backlight dim really that much to be concerned about?

I've taken no extra care with my old BenQ and it's still as good as the day I bought it, besides the nicks and scratches from all the LAN parties : P

Bennyboy wrote:

Spork wrote:

I turn my LCDs off at night because I value the life of the backlights. Granted packing them around to LANs probably doesn't help backlight life any but every little bit counts. Smile

My old BenQ 20.1 LCD has lasted me a good 6 years, and it's still live an kicking!!! I haven't even noticed it's backlight dimming at all; is backlight dim really that much to be concerned about?

I've taken no extra care with my old BenQ and it's still as good as the day I bought it, besides the nicks and scratches from all the LAN parties : P

Given the longevity of LCD the backlight would be the first thing to go. Of course you can replace it but it can be a pain to find one that will work without spending a lot on an exact replacement.

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xer0
A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station...

● ASUS Maximus IV GENE-Z ● Intel 2600K ● DangerDen cooling ● 8GB G.Skill Trident ●
● ASUS GTX670 ● Patriot PyroSE SSD ● Antec Signature 650 PSU ● Antec Mini P180 ● [ ASUS G73JH ] ●
Picture Association Thread: http://www.pdxlan.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=7466

Bennyboy wrote:

My old BenQ 20.1 LCD has lasted me a good 6 years, and it's still live an kicking!!! I haven't even noticed it's backlight dimming at all; is backlight dim really that much to be concerned about?

Probably not, I still have a pair of 17" LCDs that I purchased back in 2004 that still work as good as the day I bought them. Last time I checked the MTBF for a CCFL (measured to 1/2 full brightness) is between 3 to 5 years of continual usage, I figure that if I turn them off when they're not in use they'll far outlive their usefulness and I'll save power.

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I'll be honest, we're throwing science at the wall here to see what sticks. No idea what it'll do.

Wanna save on energy bills? [b]Passive[/b] solar heating and cooling for your home. ask me how! Very Happy

P.S. solar electric does not pencil out. solar hot water does!

Here's an interesting way to look at this issue. The trick is to first understand how much power your PC is using at any given time and then convert that into what the electric company charges you. You should be able to figure out your kilowatt per hour charge by just going to your electric company's website or just call them.

http://peruutilities.com/ElectricRates.htm#appa

Above is my rate at home stated as $00.025796 per kilowatt hour.

Watts = volts times amps

So your PC runs on 120 volts. If you get one of those little current meters and plug your power strip into it you'll know how many amps your rig is pulling. Multiply the number of amps by 110 and now you'll know how many watts your using at that time.

From there, convert watts into kilowatts by dividing by 1,000 and then multiply that number by what the utility company charges you and you'll know exactly what you pay for running your PC.

For example, if your PC draws 2A it would use 220W or .22kW. If you run it for an hour then you're at .220 kWh. If you're in my town it would cost you a little over one half of one cent in electricity.

If your PC draws 4A it would be .44kWh or $.01135024 per hour.

This is the typical range for gaming PCs.

So if you were to game 24/7/365 that would be 8,760 hours. So your yearly cost for a PC that draws 4A would be $99.43.

So if you're at $99.43 per year your gaming PC is costing you $8.29 per month, $2.07 per week, $0.30 per day and $0.01 per hour.

Since no one ACTUALLY games 24/7/365, the last figure is most important.

If you game an average of 4 hours per day 365 days per year I think that's pretty reasonable to pull a typical value. That puts you at 1,460 hours per year or $14.60.

Now we all know that the PC uses less power when you're not taxing it with a game. So if we grossly overestimate the power it needs when idle as one half of the power needed at full power levels then your yearly power bill would be $36.50 for idle times plus $14.60 for gaming time giving you an actual total of $51.10 per year.

So, IMO, the best way to save money is................ listed in the next post.

Drink less beer. Four beers in a regular bar is ten dollars. Your monthly electric for your PC is $10.74. Surely you tip when you get a beer so this more than covers your electricity.

If you have a salary job and commute more than 27 miles one-way to work, skip one day per month and you'll save $10.74 per month in gas. I did not include the extra gaming hours and beer consumption from skipping a day at work.

If you aren't already, substitute a couple meals each month with Ramen noodles.

If you have a big TV, don't watch it while you game. http://reviews.cnet.com/green-.....ion-chart/

That's a pretty good round-up of how many watts TVs use. Surprising to see it's so close to what a PC uses. Turn the damn thing off.

Go to more small LAN parties that don't charge admission. If you don't pay to get in, you aren't paying to use electricity. For PDX LAN, win something while you're there. That way you can say you spent your admission fee on whatever it is you won instead of admission. In that way you're using their electricity for free.

Purchase one less soda per day. Just one less.

Use hookers. When you add up all the money you spend trying NOT to pay women to have sex with you, well, you can not only pay your electric bill but you could hire Darth Beavis to build you a new rig, not give up beer or soda and be the envy of all your friends. Medical technology has progressed a great deal in the last few years and they really can cure almost anything so, statistically, there's nothing to worry about. Including fines from the court in the unlikely event they catch you saving so much money.

http://www.ally.com/bank/high-.....calculator

Fill in the forms for yourself at this page since interest rates change. Today, if you deposit $5,000 into CD and cash it out at the end of a year you'll have made $51.77 which will pay for the electrical usage of your PC.

Using this calculator, http://www.bankrate.com/calcul.....ator.aspx, you might think about paying down your credit card a bit.

If you have a $1,000 balance on your card you're paying about $15 in interest per month. If you give them an extra $285 just ONE TIME. you would pay $10.72 less in interest each month where your PC electricity is costing you $10.74 per month.

In summary, the idea here is that PCs just don't use that much power. There are more ways than I can count to save ten bucks a month. The best ting you can do is just turn it off when you're not using and stop worrying about this so much.

Oh, I just had another thought.

I have an aquarium that has two little heaters in it. If I use the aquarium as my reservoir I could unplug the tank heaters and use the heat generated from my PC and save the electricity.