Jason Holt wrote:
On Sun, 6 Nov 2005, Shane Hathaway wrote:
Some other figures I've gathered: My desktop machine, an AMD64 3200
with a SATA drive and a low-end NVidia card, draws 75W most of the
time and 120W when it's computing a lot. It has a 480W PSU only
because I don't want to worry about meeting the current requirements
for each power rail. The "ondemand" frequency scaling accounts for a
savings of about 8W (it reduces 83W to 75W.) My 19" LCD monitor draws
30W; it replaced a 15" CRT that drew over 100W. My laser printer
consumes 10W when it's idle and 700W when it's heating up.
I've wondered about computer power usage for ages. Thanks for posting
that!
You're welcome. 120V watt meters seem to have fallen in price
dramatically over the past three or four years, so I got one just to
satisfy my curiosity. :-)
However, note that seemingly minor hardware differences change power
consumption significantly. The computer I built for my dad has an
Athlon XP 3000. It draws 120W most of the time and 160W when it's busy,
so it needs much more airflow than mine. (But his cost less than mine
and he uses it less, so it all works out.) His originally had a 300W
PSU, but the PSU died soon after I burned a DVD! Apparently, burning a
disc takes enough power to push some PSUs over the edge.
Shane
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