Average computer power kw. Electricity consumption by computers of different power

The power consumption of a computer will be interesting not only when buying a new PSU or uninterruptible power supply. For economic reasons, many users are very interested in how much energy a personal computer takes on during operation. In this article, the user will be able to familiarize himself with all the methods for calculating the power of a computer.

grandfather's way

If we are talking about saving electricity, then the power consumption of a computer is found out quite simply - you need to disconnect all household appliances from the electrical network, leaving only the personal computer turned on. After that, you need to fix the initial readings of the electric meter and after one hour the final readings. The difference between the received data will be the power consumption of the computer.

However, to conduct this experiment, the user must know that the computer at rest and under active load (for example, while playing) consumes different amounts of energy. Experts recommend subjecting the computer to a workload for one hour - start powerful game or a synthetic test to determine the performance of a video card. Thus, the maximum power consumption will be fixed, which in the future must be used in financial calculations.

About efficiency

The power of the computer power supply is indicated on all devices on the market in the form of a special marking. But buyers should not focus on it, because for computer components active power is important. Without going into physics, the user should be aware that in all PSUs there is power dissipation - heat dissipation and cooling, losses in electrical circuits and similar electrical leaks. In general, experts recommend subtracting 20% of the declared power from the power supply manufacturer in order to get active power.

But if we are talking about such serious brands as Seasonic, Zalman, Thermaltake and similar devices in this gold category, then no additional calculations are required when buying. The manufacturer takes into account all the losses in the efficiency of the power supply and labels its product with real data. Judging by the reviews of many owners of elite power supplies, often the manufacturer's data is also underestimated by 5-10%.

On the beaten track

There are many recommendations in the media for those who do not understand how to find out the power of a computer. Experts advise to completely trust the seller of the store where the purchase of a personal computer is made. After all, more than one sale of a computer is carried out during the day, and the seller knows exactly what power the power supply needs to be installed. An office PC will need 300W, a home media PC should have a 400W PSU, but a gaming PC will need 600W or more, depending on configuration. And the seller will select the best brand, because he has sold more than a thousand such devices, and there is not a single return.

But on the other hand, which the buyer does not know at all, the seller has “stuck” power supplies in the warehouse, which have long been discontinued and do not fit the manufacturer’s official warranty, they need to be urgently sold. Naturally, no one will produce a real calculation of the power of a computer power supply.

simple math

Why not take data from all the components that are planned to be installed in a personal computer? Indeed, according to the standard, the manufacturer is obliged to mark his equipment, indicating its real and maximum energy consumption. It is quite possible to calculate the power of a computer in this way. Even the cooling fans and case lighting are marked with electricity consumption.

Problems in the calculations may arise for the buyer if he purchases inexpensive Chinese products, which are often not labeled. Also, on some components, the manufacturer prefers not to indicate the maximum power consumption. As a result of the calculation, it becomes clear that there can be no talk of any exact data. In any case, the result should be rounded up.

Official data

Many owners are more interested in the question of how to find out the power of a computer without disassembling the case. This is quite real, and the accuracy of the data will be much higher. To do this, you need to refer to the data that is contained on the official website of the manufacturer of computer components. It is considered good form if the manufacturer specifies complete list data to your device, including power consumption, so find necessary information the user will not be difficult. This method of calculating the power of a computer still requires time.

First you need to know the full marking installed equipment. This can be done either by disassembling the computer, or using special programs such as Aida, Astra or Everest.
You need to find the official website of the manufacturer and deal with his work.
Find the right component and rewrite the energy consumption data.
And only then will it be possible to effectively calculate the power of the computer (W).

Efficient Calculators

Calculating the power of a computer power supply can be done easily and simply using a special calculator, which can be found on the official websites of manufacturers that specialize in the respective devices. For example, on the official websites of Cooler Master and ASUS, on start page, the user is prompted to perform such a calculation.

The advantage of the calculator is that it has its own bases for all components available on the market. When new devices are released, the manufacturer immediately updates the database, providing the buyer with up-to-date data. The ease of use of the calculator is obvious: I chose the necessary data from the list - I got the result. In the media, IT professionals recommend increasing the data obtained after calculating the calculator by 10-15% in reserve. In such cases, when you install additional components later, the power consumption of the computer will be within effective work power supply.

What not to do

Many users are interested in how to check the power of a computer using synthetic power supply performance tests. After all, there are many recommendations in the media about this, as well as links to resources from where you can download software for conducting tests. It would be great to test the power supply, determine the maximum power of the computer. Having made your own conclusions, leave the system alone or purchase a new, powerful device.

Even serious manufacturers in the power supply market claim that such testing is a gamble, because the software forces all the components in the computer to work at the limit of their capabilities, which is not done by any program in the world, including the most productive games. The result of successful testing will be a 100% computer power indicator. But an unsuccessful result can lead to the failure of one or more devices in the system. Whether such testing is necessary is up to the user to decide.

Finally

As you can see from the review, the power consumption of a computer is calculated very easily and does not require special knowledge of physics or mathematics. All computer owners, as well as potential buyers, are advised to make their own calculations. In addition, the cost of the power supply is directly proportional to the power, and there is no point in overpaying for some recommendations that are not confirmed by real data. Do not forget that too powerful block power supply leads to an increase in electricity consumption, taking energy for its own needs, and this entails daily financial costs for paying for electricity.

When choosing a "system unit", we usually look only at its performance and memory size. And we think about how much light the computer shakes only a little later.

We must pay tribute, manufacturers are doing their best to reduce the power consumption of a computer, and they do it quite well. If you compare the "dinosaurs" of a decade ago with modern "machines", then the difference will be impressive. Hence the first conclusion: the newer the computer, the less money it pulls out of your pocket.

How much electricity does a computer use

It is clear that everyone has different configurations, so we will consider the three most typical cases as an example.

Medium power computer with moderate use. Suppose he works, on average, 5 hours a day, mainly for Internet surfing, communication and simple games. Approximate consumption - 180 watts, plus a monitor, another 40 watts. It turns out that the entire system consumes 220 watts per hour. 220 watts x 5 hours = 1.1 kW. Add to this the consumption in standby mode (after all, you don’t turn off the computer from the outlet, right?). 4 watts x 19 hours = 0.076 kW. Total, 1.176 kW per day, 35 kW per month.

gaming computer. A configuration with a powerful processor and a good graphics card draws about 400 watts. Plus monitor, 40 watts. In total, the average power consumption of a computer per hour is 440 watts. Let's say our gamer plays 6 hours a day. 440 W x 6 hours = 2.64 kW per day. Standby will add another 0.072kW (4W x 18). Total, 2.71 kW per day, 81 kW per month.

Server mode, 24x7. The PC is the media server in home network, it stores photo and video files. The monitor, in most cases, is not used, from the "stuffing" - HDD several terabytes. Such a system consumes, on average, 40 watts per hour. 40 W x 24 hours = 0.96 kW per day, 29 kW per month.

How to find out how much electricity a computer consumes

When buying a 100 watt light bulb, we know in advance how much it takes per hour. With a computer, as can be seen from the examples above, everything is somewhat more complicated. Consumption depends on your system configuration, schedule, and even what you do.

Even on a PC out of the box, it is not always possible to understand its power. What can we say about those assembled to order, where there are no identification marks on the case at all. You will not disassemble it and look for disk data, video cards ... How, in this case, to find out how much electricity the computer consumes per hour? There are at least two ways.

Accurate. There are special devices for calculating the consumption of electricity. A very useful device can be bought both in our stores and in foreign ones. A simple wattmeter will cost $15, more "fancy" models - from $30. You plug it into a socket near the device you are interested in, and you get data on its consumption in the "online" mode.

Exemplary. We turn off all the electricity in the house, leave one 100-watt light bulb on. We count the number of revolutions of the counter, say, in 30 seconds. We turn off the light bulb, turn on the computer, launch Diablo (or any "heavy" application), again count the revolutions, compare. If much more - you can repeat the experiment with a 200-watt light bulb.

Power consumption of the computer in sleep mode

Modern computers are distinguished not only by low consumption, but also by a variety of modes. Many people confuse them, so let's clarify.

Sleep mode: turns off hard drives, applications remain in random access memory, work resumes almost instantly. Consumes 7-10% of the total system power.

hibernation mode: Turns off the computer completely, data is stored in separate file, work resumes more slowly than after sleep. Consumes 5-10 watts.

Complete shutdown or standby mode, as it is sometimes called, by analogy with household appliances. A full logout occurs, all unsaved data is lost. Work begins with a new system boot. Consumes 4-5 watts.

How to reduce computer power consumption

As you can see, in any of the modes, the PC continues, albeit slightly, to consume electricity. Therefore, try, if possible, to disconnect it from the network. And a few more tips for saving when using a computer.

Buy energy efficient models;
If it doesn’t matter to you, give preference to a desktop PC;
Do not wind "to the full" brightness on the monitor;
Set aside for work or play certain time and then turn off the computer. This is much more economical than multiple “sessions” of several minutes.
Set up a power plan. Set the optimal modes, depending on your schedule and duration of work.

The consumption of electricity by the user's personal computer is directly related to the power of the components that make up the PC itself, as well as to the degree of its workload with various software. Thus, it turns out that, for example, if you buy a powerful power supply, it will consume much more electricity. It is worth remembering that the more processes that are running on the computer, the more power the power supply will consume, respectively, and much more electricity will be consumed. The purpose of running processes is very important, that is, if you just work in the browser, then electricity will be consumed much less, and if you play games or work with demanding graphic applications, then more. As a result, it turns out that all these three factors (the power of the power supply, the number and complexity of processes) directly affect the power consumption.

Computer power consumption

Standard office system unit with working office applications generally consumes 250 to 350 watts per hour. A more powerful computer that runs graphical applications and games will consume more electricity accordingly, averaging 450 watts per hour. Do not forget about input-output devices, which also consume electricity. Modern monitors today consume from 60 to 100 watts / hour. As for printers and others peripherals, then they consume about 10% of electricity, that is, it turns out that they use about 16-17 watts.

average cost

If you calculate the average cost of electricity consumed by a personal computer per month, then it is enough to multiply its cost by 30 days. For example, if we take the maximum cost of one kilowatt-hour at Moscow rates, it turns out to be about 3.80 rubles. Thus, it turns out that if you use the standard office computer at the limit of its capabilities throughout the month and with an electricity consumption of 250-350 watts / hour, it will cost 950-1330 rubles per month (if you work at a computer for more than 8 hours daily, every month). A gaming computer, accordingly, will consume much more electricity, therefore, more money will be spent on using such a device. Of course, the final amount of electricity consumed depends on how long the computer will be used and under what conditions.

The question in the preparation of the article is not idle. There are devices included in the apartment all the time. If there is a computer at home, it works almost around the clock. And then there is the question of money. How to find out how many watts a computer actually consumes in a certain time? You will get the most accurate calculation if you use a Power Meter. The title reflects the purpose. This is a meter of energy consumption by electrical appliances, measured in watts and also shows how many rubles are spent per minute, hour, day, and so on.

If you are disappointed and you are interested in a program for measuring PC consumption, then about it - at the end of the article.

Externally, the Power Metter is a socket with a liquid crystal display. Can be connected through various devices(refrigerator, light bulb, laptop, etc.) and track energy consumption. The cost is not high enough to ignore the rational use of electricity.

There are many other features. Author of the channel “China G.” I tried to understand the device. Instructions for English language. The device is able to calculate electricity consumption based on the tariff, which the consumer independently indicates on the device. In the presented case, 1 kilowatt of electricity costs 2 rubles. 64 kopecks. To program this value, hold down the button. We move with the help of another button. The third indicates the value corresponding to the cost of 1 kilowatt of energy.

The first thing we see in the menu is the number of watts consumed and the price. For example, let's first turn on not the computer, but the kettle. The device showed that the kettle eats one kilowatt, 942 watts. Here we can see what the cost of the electrical appliance for a certain amount of time. The next menu is kilowatt hours. Amount of days. When the value reaches 24, the number of days is applied by one and the counter is reset to zero. That is, this is the time for which the load is connected. This value can be reset with reset buttons. In addition to these indicators, we can see the mains voltage and frequency.
In addition to the current that the load consumes, we can also determine the power factor - the value of the reactive component cosine phi. For example, for an electric kettle, the power factor is equal to one. If connected impulse block nutrition, this figure is 0.53. We can see the minimum consumption, the maximum.

The author of the review will try to turn on the personal computer. It consumes 145 watts. I loaded the video card. The cooler went to maximum speed. Power consumption 545 watts. If you are wondering how much money a PC or laptop eats, how much you have to pay for the operation of a computer, refrigerator and other device, buy this device. It will help you use electricity more efficiently.

The program for determining the power consumed by a personal computer is called Power Supply Calculator. You will find it on the web.

What power does the computer consume?

This question is interesting from two points of view: firstly, to choose a suitable power supply unit (PSU), so that, on the one hand, you don’t overpay for excess power, but, on the other hand, you don’t end up with a computer barely working on a weak PSU; secondly, this question is not so rarely asked in order to calculate the impact of a 24-hour computer on the family budget.

Usually, when you open the “Power Consumption” section in any article, you will see the results of measuring the power consumption “from the outlet” - that is, how much power the power supply consumes from the 220 V network, which is the load on which the computer under test acts. It is very simple to make such measurements: household wattmeters, which are a small device with one outlet.

There are a few things to note about this measurement:

The efficiency of the power supply is not taken into account: say, a unit with an efficiency of 80% at a load of 500 W will consume 500 / 0.8 = 625 W from the outlet. Accordingly, if you get a result of 625 W in measurements "from the outlet", you do not need to run for a 650-W power supply - in fact, a 550-Watt one will also cope.
The result obtained in such measurements is the average, not the maximum value. Modern and can change their power consumption very quickly, however, individual short surges will be smoothed out due to the capacitance of the power supply capacitors, therefore, when measuring the current consumed between the block and the outlet, you will not see these surges.

Why is it necessary to take into account the maximum value, i.e. maximum load?

Most power supply manufacturers indicate high performance, but consumers are far from always able to check them in practice. A partial solution would be to monitor the voltage through the BIOS or a utility motherboard, but even professionals cannot get accurate values under maximum load.

The power supply is a small box that can ruin the whole "life" of your computer. Sometimes it will work fine, but sometimes the computer will start to restart, "fail" and "hang". A similar situation can occur if you equip your PC with a more powerful graphics card or processor, which may cause the system to become unstable. In such situations, the user often sins on components such as the processor, memory and cooling system. But replacing them does not help, and the user tries to find the cause by updating the BIOS or drivers.

Very often, the cause of problems is an overloaded power supply. Many users do not bother to check if it works correctly, although without a good power supply, a stable system cannot be obtained.

The power of the power supply, which is written on the price tag, is the maximum power. For switching power supplies, the rated power is important, i.e. the power at the load at which maximum efficiency is achieved. And this one is very important parameter neither on the price tag nor in the manual.

To move from theory to practice, we will use the results of testing by F-Center.

So, office computer

Very inexpensive, but at the same time a good system unit for office work. Configuration:

Processor Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2220 (2.4 GHz);
CPU cooler GlacialTech Igloo 5063 Silent (E) PP;
maternal Gigabyte board GA-73PVM-S2 (nForce 7100 chipset);
RAM module 1 GB Samsung (PC6400, 800 MHz, CL6);
Hard drive 160 GB Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.B HDT721016SLA380;
Sony MRW620 card reader;
Case IN-WIN EMR-018 (350 W).

Final result:

Obviously, any power supply will suffice for such a computer - even 120-watt units provide a double power reserve. The type of load has little effect on power consumption, since in any case the processor turns out to be the most “gluttonous” component.

home computer

Next we have a PC that claims to be relatively inexpensive home computer, on which you can already play - however, the games are undemanding, due to a weak video card.

Configuration:

GlacialTech SilentBlade II Fan GT9225-HDLA1;
DVD±RW drive Optiarc AD-7201S;
Case IN-WIN EAR-003 (400 W).

Installed on the computer operating system Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) and all necessary drivers.

Final result:

However, this gluttony is very conditional - the entire computer needs about 137 watts in the heaviest mode.

File server

To answer the question, what kind of power supply is needed to assemble a RAID array? Three disks were added to the computer from the previous section western digital Raptor WD740GD. The disks were connected to the chipset controller and combined into RAID0.

Configuration:

CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (2.60 GHz);
CPU cooler TITAN DC-K8M925B/R;
GlacialTech SilentBlade II Fan GT9225-HDLA1;
maternal ASUS board M3A78 (AMD 770 chipset);
RAM 2x1 GB Samsung (PC6400, 800MHz, CL6);
Hard drive 250 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS;
Video card 512 MB Sapphire Radeon HD 4650;
DVD±RW drive Optiarc AD-7201S;
Housing IN-WIN EAR-003 (400 W);
Hard drives 3x74 GB Western Digital Raptor WD740GD.

The Microsoft operating system was installed on the computer Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) and all necessary drivers.

Final result:

The result of the study is only partly unexpected: the hardest moment for a file server is power-up, when the spindles of all disks in the array are spinning up simultaneously. Nevertheless, for our modest three-disk array with not very modest ones, a conventional 300-watt power supply is more than enough - it will “pull out” the computer without problems, and during operation it will provide a threefold power reserve.

gaming computer

The next system is a mid-priced gaming computer, a very popular model among buyers. Such a system allows you to play most modern games at good settings and at the same time costs quite a reasonable amount.

Configuration:

CPU Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 (3.33 GHz);
CPU cooler GlacialTech Igloo 5063 PWM (E) PP;
Motherboard ASUS P5Q (iP45 chipset);
RAM 2x2GB DDR2 SDRAM Kingston ValueRAM (PC6400, 800MHz, CL6);
Hard drive 500 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.12;
Video card PCI-E 512MB Sapphire Radeon HD 4850;
DVD±RW drive Optiarc AD-5200S;
Sony MRW620 card reader;
Housing IN-WIN IW-S627TAC;

The operating system Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) and all necessary drivers were installed on the computer.

Final result:

However, the overall power consumption is relatively low: 189W. Even a 300-watt power supply will provide one and a half times the power reserve, and there is simply no point in taking something more than 400 W for such a computer.

Powerful gaming computer

The penultimate computer, a very powerful and expensive gaming system at the representative newest generation Intel processors - .

Configuration:

Video card PCI-E 896MB Leadtek WinFast GTX 260 Extreme+ W02G0686;
DVD±RW drive Optiarc AD-7201S;

The operating system Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) and all necessary drivers were installed on the computer.

Final result:

However, in general, appetites are so powerful computer relatively modest - 371 watts at the maximum. Even choosing a power supply with a 50% margin, you can safely stop at 550-W models.

Very powerful gaming computer

And, finally, the most serious gaming system - in the configuration described in the previous section, we change the video card to the dual-chip monster ASUS ENGTX295 (as you might guess, GeForce GTX 295). Everything else remains the same.

Configuration:

Processor Intel Core i7-920 (2.66 GHz);
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R (iX58 chipset);
RAM 3x1GB Samsung (PC3-10666, 1333MHz, CL9);
Hard drive 1000 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS;
Video card PCI-E 1792MB ASUS ENGTX295/2DI;
DVD±RW drive Optiarc AD-7201S;
Chassis IN-WIN IW-J614TA F430 (550 W);

The operating system Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 (32-bit) and all necessary drivers were installed on the computer.

Final result:

It is still unclear who needs kilowatt power supplies and why - even for such a powerful gaming system, a 750-watt power supply is more than enough. "Kilowatt" here will provide a double power reserve, which is clearly redundant.

Conclusion

Let's summarize in the summary table, where we give two values for each computer - the maximum (FurMark + Prime "95) and typical (3DMark'06):

Well, even if we take the maximum possible power consumption of the system as a guideline, we don’t see anything terrible. Of course, 500 W is a lot of power, a quarter of an iron, but the power supplies that provide it are not only not uncommon for a long time, but they also cost quite reasonable money, especially against the backdrop of the cost of a computer that consumes so much. If you take a PSU with a 50% margin, then a 750-watt model is enough for the Core i7-920 and GeForce GTX 295.

The rest of the computers are even more modest. It is worth changing the video card to a single-chip one - and the needs are reduced to 500-550 W (again, taking into account the reserve "just in case"), and the more common gaming computers middle class will do just fine with an inexpensive 400-watt power supply.

And after all, this is power consumption under heavy tests, and no real game can be compared with the same FurMark in terms of its ability to load a video card. This means that by taking a 750-watt power supply to our most powerful computer, we will get not even one and a half times, but an even greater power reserve.

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