How much electricity does a computer consume on average? Electricity consumption by computers of different power

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

To its credit, manufacturers are trying their best to reduce computer power consumption, and they are doing quite well. If you compare the “dinosaurs” of ten years ago with modern “cars”, the difference will be impressive. Hence the first conclusion: the newer the computer, the less money it takes from your pocket.

How much electricity does a computer consume?

It is clear that everyone’s configuration is different, so we will look at the three most typical cases as an example.

Medium power computer with moderate use. Let's say he works on average 5 hours a day, mainly for Internet surfing, communication and simple games. Approximate consumption – 180 watts, plus the monitor, another 40 watts. It turns out that the entire system consumes 220 watts per hour. 220 Watt x 5 hours = 1.1 kW. Let’s add to this the consumption in standby mode (after all, you don’t unplug 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 video card draws approximately 400 W. Plus monitor, 40 W. In total, the average computer electricity consumption 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 mode will add another 0.072 kW (4 W x 18). Total, 2.71 kW per day, 81 kW per month.

Server mode, 24x7. The PC is a media server on the home network; photo and video files are stored on it. The monitor, in most cases, is not used; the “filling” is a hard drive of several terabytes. Such a system consumes, on average, 40 W per hour. 40 W x 24 hours = 0.96 kW per day, 29 kW per month.

How to find out how much electricity your computer consumes

When buying a 100-watt light bulb, we know in advance how much it costs 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 looking at 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 body at all. You won’t disassemble it and look for data on disks, video cards... How, in this case, can you find out how much electricity the computer consumes per hour? There are at least two ways.

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

Exemplary. We turn off all the electricity in the house and 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), count the revolutions again, and compare. If it is much more, you can repeat the experiment with a 200-watt light bulb.

Computer power consumption 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 RAM, and work resumes almost instantly. Consumes 7-10% of the total system power.

Hibernation Mode: completely shuts down the computer, data is saved in a 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. The system is completely logged out and all unsaved data is lost. The work begins with a new system boot. Consumes 4-5 watts.

How to reduce your computer's power consumption

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

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

Perhaps everyone is interested in the question: how much electricity does a computer consume? After all, many people have computers that work all day long and consume electricity during the entire operation. Let's look at the theory and the results of my measurements.

At work, I often have to connect computers, or rather, provide sockets in the project for connecting computers. Technologies give the power of one computer to connect 0.5 kW. According to TKP 45-4.04-149-2009, the power factor of computers is 0.65. With these values, the calculated current of one computer is 3.5 A. You can connect 5 computers to one group, on a 16 A circuit breaker, which is how I usually connected it.

3.5*5*0.8=14 A< 16А.

0.8 – demand coefficient, with the number of computers up to 5 inclusive.

In fact, the computer is not such a monster as technologists paint it

As I mentioned earlier, I bought myself a multimeter with a clamp meter. Now I can measure the current of any household appliance.

So how many watts does a computer consume?

1 At home I have an ASUS K53SM laptop.

After loading the operating system, the multimeter showed 0.1 A. While working in AutoCADe, listening to music and working in parallel in other applications, the current consumption did not exceed 0.15 A. The maximum short-term current was recorded at 0.3 A. Unfortunately, I did not I was able to check the current during games, because... I practically don’t play games, and the minesweeper doesn’t eat up a lot of resources

At the time of writing this article, the multimeter shows a value of 0.1-0.11 A. For calculation, we take the average value of 0.14 A.

Р=220*0.14*0.65=20 W. This is the power that the electric meter calculates.

2 As soon as I moved to a new job, they bought me a new and quite powerful 4-core computer with an LCD monitor. In general, now almost everyone has such computers. After loading, the device showed 0.3 A. The average value during operation was 0.4 A. The maximum value that was recorded was 0.7 A. Even during calculations in the Dialux program, the current did not exceed 0.5 A.

Р=220*0.4*0.65=60 W.

Let's calculate how much electricity we will consume per month.

Let the computer work around the clock.

Laptop: 20*24*30=14.4 kW/month.

Stationary computer: 60*24*30=43.2 kW/month.

Now let's theoretically calculate how many computers can be included in one group so that the circuit breaker (16 A) does not trip. In the calculation we will take 0.7 A/computer.

16/0.7=22 computers, i.e. in this case, our design solutions turned out to be 4 times overestimated.

During the experiments, one interesting feature was noticed. A switched-off laptop consumes 0.04 A from the network, which is about 6 W, even if you disconnect the cable from the laptop. Therefore, always unplug laptops, phone chargers and other electrical appliances. This will allow you to save energy.

Watch the video showing how much the candy bar actually consumes:

By working from home, you don’t have to pay for using public transport, you can partially evade taxes and save on much more.

However, the mandatory costs for electricity will have to be borne in any case. Many people don’t even think about it, but if you add everything up, it turns out to be a rather large amount.

How much energy does your computer consume? It is impossible to give an exact figure, since everything depends on the power of the system.

Each PC consumes a different amount of watts, and each person has a different time of using the computer. Therefore, calculations must be made individually.

Computer electricity consumption

Depending on the components of the PC, the data varies greatly. Time passes, technology improves and consumes more and more energy. Let's assume that a regular PC with average components is installed, with a consumption of 300 W.

To calculate the amount spent on electricity, you need to find out the prices in your region. In 2016, Moscow residents pay at least 5 rubles per kWh.

We will build on this. Now you need to determine how long the PC remains on. There are people who have turned their system into a server and do not turn off the computer at all.

Having collected all the necessary data, you can make calculations. The computer consumes 300 W, payment for electricity. energy 5 rubles kWh, the computer works all year round, 7 days a week without interruption. That works out to 13,000 rubles per year and a little more than 1,000 rubles per month. Internet providers charge less.

Calculations are rough and not precise, if you want to find out how much money your PC “eats”, determine your electricity consumption and check what energy tariffs are in your region.

How much energy does a computer consume per hour?

Calculation of individual components allows you to calculate consumption even more accurately. Each component of the system has its own costs. Therefore, a lot depends on the power of the computer.

Components such as motherboard or power supply are not taken into account, since they only conduct energy:

processor 55-150 W;
video card 25-350 W;
disk drive 15-27 W;
hard drive 1-9 W;
RAM 2-6 W;
cooling system 0.5-6 W;
SSD 0.5-3 W.

There are also various peripherals and additional components to consider. The monitor, keyboard, webcam, all of this is powered from the network and consumes additional energy.

In addition to the power of the computer components, consumption also depends on the load. For example, a powerful gaming video card can consume a minimum of energy (40-50 W) in idle mode.

The story is similar with processors, where the number of cores also plays an important role. Simply put, if the PC is not used, then electricity costs are reduced.

How many el. energy consumed by a computer in comparison

As they say, everything is learned by comparison. Watts and all sorts of calculations mean nothing to many people. In our homes there are many more different household appliances that load electricity. net.

For example, modern TVs consume 80-400 W, the figure depends on the technology and matrix size. Plasma TVs consume many times more than LCD TVs.

So that you understand how significant this expense is, let's assume that the TV runs 7 hours a day (daily). Let's take the average consumption value of 200 W, it turns out almost 2000 rubles per year.

Now you know why thrifty people try to choose household appliances in stores that are made using modern technologies and do not consume too much energy. For the same reason, the old generation constantly repeats that they need to turn off the lights and various appliances.

How to reduce computer energy consumption?

Refusing to use sockets in the house is too radical a method. You can save on electricity without sacrificing anything important.

turn it off when the system is idle;
if you can’t turn off the PC, then at least turn off the monitor;
replace old hard drives with modern solid drives;
use new equipment, old equipment consumes more;
through the BIOS, find the ACPI Suspend Type function and install S3 (then the processor will not consume energy in sleep mode);
in the control panel there is a section called Power Options, configure settings there to save money;
If all the power of the computer is not used, then it is better to use a less powerful system.

Try using these tips for a month and the next time you go to the housing office to pay the bill, compare the data. It is advisable to multiply the difference by 12 and calculate expenses for the year ahead.

Every home has a computer, sometimes even several. Many people don’t even want to think about the pennies spent on electricity. However, if you add up the costs and calculate everything, you get significant savings.

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

Old-fashioned way

If we are talking about saving electricity, then the power consumption of a computer is determined quite simply - you need to disconnect all household appliances from the electrical network, leaving only the personal computer on. After which you need to record 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, during a game) consumes different amounts of energy. Experts recommend subjecting your computer to a workload for one hour - running a powerful game or a synthetic test to determine the performance of a video card. Thus, the maximum power consumption will be recorded, which must be used in financial calculations in the future.

About efficiency

The power of the computer power supply is indicated on all devices presented on the market in the form of special markings. But buyers should not rely on it, since active power is important for computer components. Without going into physics, the user should know that in all power supplies there is power dissipation - heat generation and cooling, losses in electrical circuits and similar electrical leaks. In general, experts recommend subtracting 20% from the declared power of the power supply manufacturer to obtain 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 need to be made when purchasing. The manufacturer takes into account all 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, the manufacturer’s data is often also underestimated by 5-10%.

Along the beaten path

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 you purchase a personal computer. After all, more than one computer sale is made during the day, and the seller knows exactly how much power the power supply needs to be installed. An office computer will need 300 W, a home PC for multimedia should be equipped with a 400 W power supply, but a gaming PC will need 600 W or more, depending on the configuration. And the seller will choose 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 is completely unaware of, the seller has “stuck” power supplies in his warehouse that have long been discontinued and do not meet the manufacturer’s official warranty; they need to be sold urgently. Naturally, no one will make a real calculation of the power of the computer power supply.

Simple math

Why not take data from all the components that you plan to install in your personal computer? After all, according to the standard, the manufacturer is obliged to label its 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 system fans and case lighting are marked with electricity consumption.

Payment problems 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 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 must 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 possible, and the accuracy of the data will be much higher. To do this, you need to refer to the data contained on the official website of the computer component manufacturer. It is considered good form if the manufacturer provides a complete list of data on their device, including power consumption, so it will not be difficult for the user to find the necessary information. This method of calculating computer power still requires time.

First you need to find out the full markings of the 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 manufacturer’s official website and understand its work.
Find the required component and rewrite the energy consumption data.
And only then will it be possible to effectively calculate the computer power (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 corresponding devices. For example, on the official websites of Cooler Master and ASUS, on the start page, the user is asked to perform such a calculation.

The advantage of the calculator is that it has its own database of 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: you select the necessary data from the list and get the result. In the media, IT specialists recommend increasing the data obtained after calculation with a calculator by 10-15% as a reserve. In such cases, when installing additional components, the subsequent power consumption of the computer will be within the limits of the effective operation of the 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 on this matter, as well as links to resources where you can download software for conducting tests. It would be great to test the power supply to 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 components in the computer to work at the limit of their capabilities, which no other program in the world does, including the most powerful games. The result of successful testing will be 100% computer power. 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.

In conclusion

As can be seen 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 recommended to make the calculations themselves. In addition, the cost of a 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. Don’t forget that too powerful a power supply leads to an increase in power consumption, taking energy for your own needs, and this entails daily financial costs for paying for electricity.

How much power does the computer consume?

This question can be interesting from two points of view: firstly, to select a suitable power supply unit (PSU), so that on the one hand you do not overpay for excess power, but, on the other hand, you do not end up with a computer that barely works 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 “Energy Consumption” section in any article, you will see the results of measuring energy consumption “from the outlet” - that is, how much power from the 220 V network is consumed by the power supply, on which the computer under test acts as a load. It is very simple to carry out such measurements: household wattmeters, which are a small device with one socket.

It's worth making a few notes 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 don’t need to run for a 650-W power supply - in fact, a 550-W power supply will do the same.
The result obtained in such measurements is the average, not the maximum value. Modern ones 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 consumption between the unit 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 specifications, but consumers are not always able to test them in practice. A partial solution would be to monitor the voltage through the BIOS or motherboard utility, but even professionals cannot get accurate values under maximum load.

The power supply is a small box that can ruin the entire “life” of your computer. Sometimes it will work fine, but sometimes the computer will start to restart, “glitch” and “hang”. A similar situation may arise if you equip your PC with a more powerful graphics card or processor, which may result in the system becoming unstable. In such situations, the user often blames 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 whether it works correctly, although without a good power supply you cannot get a stable system.

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. that load power at which maximum efficiency is achieved. But this very important parameter is not written either on the price tag or in the manual.

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

So, Office computer

A 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;
Gigabyte GA-73PVM-S2 motherboard (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 be enough for such a computer - even 120-watt units provide a double power supply. The type of load has little effect on power consumption, since in any case the most “gluttonous” component is the processor.

Home computer

Next we have a PC that claims to be a relatively inexpensive home computer, on which you can already play games - 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).

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

Final result:

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

File server

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

Configuration:

Processor AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ (2.60 GHz);
CPU cooler TITAN DC-K8M925B/R;
GlacialTech SilentBlade II Fan GT9225-HDLA1;
ASUS M3A78 motherboard (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;
Case IN-WIN EAR-003 (400 W);
Hard drives 3x74 GB Western Digital Raptor WD740GD.

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

Final result:

The result of the study is only partly unexpected: the most difficult moment for a file server is switching on, when the spindles of all disks in the array spin up simultaneously. However, for our modest three-disk array with not very modest ones, a conventional 300-watt power supply is more than enough - it will turn on 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. This system allows you to play most modern games at good settings and costs a very reasonable amount.

Configuration:

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

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

Final result:

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

Powerful gaming computer

The penultimate computer, a very powerful and expensive gaming system based on the latest generation of Intel processors - .

Configuration:

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

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

Final result:

However, in general, the appetite of such a powerful computer is relatively modest - 371 W at maximum. Even when choosing a power supply with a 50% margin, you can safely settle on 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 a two-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);
Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R motherboard (iX58 chipset);
RAM 3x1GB Samsung (PC3-10666, 1333MHz, CL9);
Hard drive 1000 GB Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000333AS;
PCI-E 1792MB video card ASUS ENGTX295/2DI;
DVD±RW drive Optiarc AD-7201S;
Case IN-WIN IW-J614TA F430 (550 W);

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

Final result:

It still remains unclear who needs kilowatt power supplies and why - even for such a powerful gaming system, a 750-W power supply is more than enough. The “kilowatt” here will already provide a double power reserve, which is clearly excessive.

Conclusion

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

Well, even if we take the maximum possible power consumption of the system as a guide, 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 no longer uncommon, but also cost quite reasonable money, especially compared to the cost of a computer that consumes so much. If we take a power supply with a 50% margin, then a 750-watt model is sufficient for the Core i7-920 and GeForce GTX 295.

Other computers are even more modest. It’s 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 middle-class gaming computers will get by just fine with an inexpensive 400-watt power supply.

And this is energy consumption under heavy tests, and no real game can compare with FurMark in its ability to load a video card. This means that if we take 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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