Modern computers have components that require lots of power and given that this all costs money, here's our guide to measuring how much energy your PC uses.
How To Measure Your PC's Power Consumption
- Thread starter neeyik
- Start date
DSirius
Posts: 788 +1,614
Great topic which worth to investigate more. So thank you for this article.
A suggestion, which I think will be very helpful, is to report how much power your entire computer system draws for your work or gaming and make a poll.
My whole computer is using approximately 250W for usually tasks like browsing or office, and up to 620W when gaming - tested playing Cyberpunk 2077.
Will be interesting to test how much more power is needed when enabling Ray Tracing in games.
I measured only the computer, with a power meter, without monitors and or speakers.
So, chat, how much power your whole computer is using from the wall?
I bet that the champion of power consumption is a computer which has a 13900K and an RTX 4090, but we can find a lot of surprises here too.
I think that liquid cooling, especially custom liquid cooling will add more than we expect to total power consumption.
P.S.1
Unrequested tech tip: RGB lights consume almost half of the computer power, so a good idea to reduce power consumption is to turn off any RGB lights from MB, videocard, RAM, or fans.
P.S.2 - P.S.1 is a joke - offered by a famous "tech expert".
A suggestion, which I think will be very helpful, is to report how much power your entire computer system draws for your work or gaming and make a poll.
My whole computer is using approximately 250W for usually tasks like browsing or office, and up to 620W when gaming - tested playing Cyberpunk 2077.
Will be interesting to test how much more power is needed when enabling Ray Tracing in games.
I measured only the computer, with a power meter, without monitors and or speakers.
So, chat, how much power your whole computer is using from the wall?
I bet that the champion of power consumption is a computer which has a 13900K and an RTX 4090, but we can find a lot of surprises here too.
I think that liquid cooling, especially custom liquid cooling will add more than we expect to total power consumption.
P.S.1
Unrequested tech tip: RGB lights consume almost half of the computer power, so a good idea to reduce power consumption is to turn off any RGB lights from MB, videocard, RAM, or fans.
P.S.2 - P.S.1 is a joke - offered by a famous "tech expert".
Last edited:
Neatfeatguy
Posts: 1,949 +3,836
Last time I used my Kill-a-Watt was when I was running a heavy 3.7 OC on my PII x4 940 with 2 GTX 570s pushed to the max volt and OC I could muster on them. I want to say I was pulling close to 700W at the wall while gaming.
I eventually moved to a i5-4670k and just ran it at stock, it walked all over the PII running at 3.7. The Kill-a-Watt with the 4670k and same GTX 570s was pulling around 540W while gaming.
Those readings were just the tower, monitor and speakers were not part of the readings.
I wonder what my 5900x and 3080Ti use....maybe one day when I'm not lazy I'll take a look.
I eventually moved to a i5-4670k and just ran it at stock, it walked all over the PII running at 3.7. The Kill-a-Watt with the 4670k and same GTX 570s was pulling around 540W while gaming.
Those readings were just the tower, monitor and speakers were not part of the readings.
I wonder what my 5900x and 3080Ti use....maybe one day when I'm not lazy I'll take a look.
Achaios
Posts: 661 +1,670
4770K - undervolted & OC'd.
Maximus VI Hero
GTX 1080 (Palit Game Rock) - undervolted & OC'd.
2 Samsung SATA SSD's
2 HDD's in Raid 1
6 fans
1 NOCTUA CPU fan & heatsink
CORSAIR RMi 650 Gold
Corsair's RMi 650 allows me to see power consumption in real time.
Max power consumption is abt 300W when I play something like Civ VI but most of the time it hovers between 65W and 200W when I play WoW Classic WOTLK at 3440X1440 100 FPS Ultra.
I don't rly play any modern games and I would definitely never play smt lime Cyberpunk or w/e.
I cross-checked with Killawatt and power readings are in the same ballpark. I would never, ever own a rig that draws like 700W from the wall, I consider that foolishness.
P.S.: Lowest power consumption when idle at the desktop is between 48 and 60W. I have got all my CPU's power saving features turned on when idling/browsing/working through ASUS AI Suite software.
Maximus VI Hero
GTX 1080 (Palit Game Rock) - undervolted & OC'd.
2 Samsung SATA SSD's
2 HDD's in Raid 1
6 fans
1 NOCTUA CPU fan & heatsink
CORSAIR RMi 650 Gold
Corsair's RMi 650 allows me to see power consumption in real time.
Max power consumption is abt 300W when I play something like Civ VI but most of the time it hovers between 65W and 200W when I play WoW Classic WOTLK at 3440X1440 100 FPS Ultra.
I don't rly play any modern games and I would definitely never play smt lime Cyberpunk or w/e.
I cross-checked with Killawatt and power readings are in the same ballpark. I would never, ever own a rig that draws like 700W from the wall, I consider that foolishness.
P.S.: Lowest power consumption when idle at the desktop is between 48 and 60W. I have got all my CPU's power saving features turned on when idling/browsing/working through ASUS AI Suite software.
DSirius
Posts: 788 +1,614
Yep, good old days of computer's low power consumption are gone. Nowdays even a laptop is drawing more power, high end gaming laptops are close to 300W.
Thank you for this very informative article!! It's timely for me because I upgraded to an RTX 3080 to go with my 13700KF 2 weeks ago and the transient power spikes of the 3080 would shut down my 9 year old 750wt Seasonic PSU whilst gaming. Upgraded to an ATX 3.0 1000w MEG 1000ai Platinum(which has the USB cable that plugs into the mobo to show total power) and the shut downs stopped completely. The new ATX 3.0 PSUs can handle transient spikes 3x the wattage of a GPU & 2x the wattage of a CPU. However, the PSU has really annoying coil whine when system is idle... so ordered the BeQuiet Dark Power 13 850w Titanium...hopefully it won't have coil whine!
Incidentally, the MSI software shows my 13700KF & 3080 consuming only 410w-450w total power...so 850w should be more than enough.
The new ATX 3.0 PSUs can handle transient spikes 3x the wattage of a GPU & 2x the wattage of a CPU. However, the PSU has really annoying coil whine when system is idle... so ordered the BeQuiet Dark Power 13 850w Titanium...hopefully it won't have coil whine! Incidentally, the MSI software shows my 13700KF & 3080 consuming only 410w-450w total power...so 850w should be more than enough.
It's still possible to get pretty low idle and web browsing power consumption with recent components. My i7-9700 & RX 6600XT on B360 idles at 25W and rummages around the 30s when web browsing. I come from the NUC side of things where 7W idle is expected so this 25W is high power to me but I understand that it's about as low as can be expected on a gaming PC.
Nintenboy01
Posts: 329 +223
Hwmonitor had some sort of power supply readout, I have to check the exact name later
m3tavision
Posts: 1,733 +1,510
My UPS gives out readings.....
Yes, and HWInfo64 can read and display that Cyberpower UPS info, too. Also, there are cool Rainmeter skins for HWInfo64.
geogan
Posts: 29 +23
You forgot to mention having two or three monitors plugged in and on also adds a lot...about 90W in my case for three.
Also the network devices adds more... about 50W for me.
With all on and just in Windows here typing it is using about 260-270W at the socket (using a power meter on main plug which all devices branch off of on power strips) - for a 5950X (no overclock Eco mode), X570 Hero VIII and Gigabyte 4080 (stock) with 32GB @ 3200MHz
Also this is running Windows in "Power Saver" plan mode.. and also AMD have added a new "Eco-Mode" button to Ryzen Master which I have turned on (no idea what it does)
I am basically trying to run my machine at as minimal level as I can because its on at least 8 hours a day for work, and electricity is costing me a fortune here in Europe now - €0.41 (inc VAT) per KWh not including all the standing charges and other charges added on.
Also the network devices adds more... about 50W for me.
With all on and just in Windows here typing it is using about 260-270W at the socket (using a power meter on main plug which all devices branch off of on power strips) - for a 5950X (no overclock Eco mode), X570 Hero VIII and Gigabyte 4080 (stock) with 32GB @ 3200MHz
Also this is running Windows in "Power Saver" plan mode.. and also AMD have added a new "Eco-Mode" button to Ryzen Master which I have turned on (no idea what it does)
I am basically trying to run my machine at as minimal level as I can because its on at least 8 hours a day for work, and electricity is costing me a fortune here in Europe now - €0.41 (inc VAT) per KWh not including all the standing charges and other charges added on.
We had a sudden slap in the face this mid-winter when our normally painful $200 electric bill jumped $100. The wife was not pleased...
My adult son and a friend both have nearly identical computer systems.
They are on 24/7.
Their usage is approximately:
System A: 5 days a week - 8hrs work / 10 hrs play - 2 days a week - 12 hrs play Corsair 1000i PSU
System B: 2 days a week - 8hrs work / 12 hrs play - 2 days a week - 14 hrs play Corsair HX750 fully modular switchable 12V rails
Both have Ryzen 8 core or higher (I believe)
One has 64Gb of ram, the other 32Gb.
Both have the newest Zotac RTX4070 Ti Super GPU's
Both have hard drives and fairly large SSD's
Each has 3 - 17" monitors (45w each) 270W total just for monitors
One uses a 27" Active drawing tablet - probably 125W
Both have Elgato deck XL
Both have Elgato capture
Both have Elgato Dynamic Mic
HD Cameras
Extensive USB control devices
Separate router - 60W
I contacted the electric company and raised hell. Their "scrip-reading-cretin" promptly reminded me that:
Her: "It's a well known fact that it costs more to heat a home in the winter than cool it in the summer".
Me: "Look, I'm an electrical engineer. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and have had the heat turned off all winter. How do you explain that?"
She couldn't.
Me: "Please connect me to the technical support department."
Her: "I can answer technical questions for you."
Me: "Obviously, you cannot. Please send me to the technical support department, now."
This guy at least acknowledged that there was an un-explainable discrepancy in billing for same then - same now usage. I suggested that their "SMART Meter" was either defective or intentionally ripping me off every month.
He said he would have it checked.
Three months later, same usage and just starting to thaw outside, the bill dropped nearly $100.
No explanation. nadda.
My electric, including all the delivery and taxes (total bill / kwh) came to about $0.22/kwh.
The raw Electric was only $0.09665 at the time (changes 5 or 6 times a year) the rest is taxes & fees.
The rate just dropped to $0.06848, which affects all % fees and overall taxes.
On top of rate changes, there may be a time-of-day variance because of industry usage.
They don't make it easy to figure things out and honestly, I don't trust their SMART Meters at all.
Privatizing the electric supply was the worst idea in the world. The only thing CommonwealthEdison (CommieEd) cares about is their stockholders per/share profit. This is the fundamental basis that the SEC operates under. The only thing holding CommieEd from charging twice or three times that amount is that they are regulated by the state and keenly watched by the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) for devious profiteering. CommieEd has already attempted to overcharge consumers now for upgrades 5 years from now. The state told them it should be part of their current fee schedule to save for those upgrades/updates. CommieEd told the state, "But that will impact our shareholders profit." (paraphrased) A pure case of industrial greed, laid out clearly and with no shame.
Consumers be damned and long live the shareholders!"
The whole economy has gone to sh*te. A McDonald's Double Cheese Burger was $1.00 not so long ago (18 months?) and it jumped to $2.47 just after the minimum wage increase. (stupid, stupid, stupid)
A fast-food meal out that cost $10 then, will easily cost you $18 now.
Currently:
$14/hr full time; $8.40/hr tipped; under 18 less than 650hrs/yr $12
This was a fairly sudden jump from $8.75/hr and many of the workers I've encountered were barely worth that and are now making $14/hr?
Yeah, stupid. Drove the price of everything sky-high and jobs were eliminated in the process.
In a lot of cases, employee B was fired and now on unemployment and employee A is told to do both jobs, which often ends up as a complete failure (to provide quality customer service).
These are the very same people that take your order at a cash register, repeat each item and still enter it wrong so your order is wrong. This happens at least 30% of the time. Even when using Web ordering and Doordash.
The drivers often show up with the wrong bags that ARE CLEARLY LABELED ON THE OUTSIDE.
Lord help us all, we are surrounded by overpaid, incompetence at every turn.
And a common apology from a manager was,
"We are deeply sorry that your order was wrong.They are only minimum wage".
That almost worked at $8.75/hr, it's a total failure at $14 or $15/hr.
Pardon me, I do drone on...
Sorry if it's TLDR.
(not really)
My adult son and a friend both have nearly identical computer systems.
They are on 24/7.
Their usage is approximately:
System A: 5 days a week - 8hrs work / 10 hrs play - 2 days a week - 12 hrs play Corsair 1000i PSU
System B: 2 days a week - 8hrs work / 12 hrs play - 2 days a week - 14 hrs play Corsair HX750 fully modular switchable 12V rails
Both have Ryzen 8 core or higher (I believe)
One has 64Gb of ram, the other 32Gb.
Both have the newest Zotac RTX4070 Ti Super GPU's
Both have hard drives and fairly large SSD's
Each has 3 - 17" monitors (45w each) 270W total just for monitors
One uses a 27" Active drawing tablet - probably 125W
Both have Elgato deck XL
Both have Elgato capture
Both have Elgato Dynamic Mic
HD Cameras
Extensive USB control devices
Separate router - 60W
I contacted the electric company and raised hell. Their "scrip-reading-cretin" promptly reminded me that:
Her: "It's a well known fact that it costs more to heat a home in the winter than cool it in the summer".
Me: "Look, I'm an electrical engineer. I live in a 2 bedroom apartment and have had the heat turned off all winter. How do you explain that?"
She couldn't.
Me: "Please connect me to the technical support department."
Her: "I can answer technical questions for you."
Me: "Obviously, you cannot. Please send me to the technical support department, now."
This guy at least acknowledged that there was an un-explainable discrepancy in billing for same then - same now usage. I suggested that their "SMART Meter" was either defective or intentionally ripping me off every month.
He said he would have it checked.
Three months later, same usage and just starting to thaw outside, the bill dropped nearly $100.
No explanation. nadda.
My electric, including all the delivery and taxes (total bill / kwh) came to about $0.22/kwh.
The raw Electric was only $0.09665 at the time (changes 5 or 6 times a year) the rest is taxes & fees.
The rate just dropped to $0.06848, which affects all % fees and overall taxes.
On top of rate changes, there may be a time-of-day variance because of industry usage.
They don't make it easy to figure things out and honestly, I don't trust their SMART Meters at all.
Privatizing the electric supply was the worst idea in the world. The only thing CommonwealthEdison (CommieEd) cares about is their stockholders per/share profit. This is the fundamental basis that the SEC operates under. The only thing holding CommieEd from charging twice or three times that amount is that they are regulated by the state and keenly watched by the Citizens Utility Board (CUB) for devious profiteering. CommieEd has already attempted to overcharge consumers now for upgrades 5 years from now. The state told them it should be part of their current fee schedule to save for those upgrades/updates. CommieEd told the state, "But that will impact our shareholders profit." (paraphrased) A pure case of industrial greed, laid out clearly and with no shame.
Consumers be damned and long live the shareholders!"
The whole economy has gone to sh*te. A McDonald's Double Cheese Burger was $1.00 not so long ago (18 months?) and it jumped to $2.47 just after the minimum wage increase. (stupid, stupid, stupid)
A fast-food meal out that cost $10 then, will easily cost you $18 now.
Currently:
$14/hr full time; $8.40/hr tipped; under 18 less than 650hrs/yr $12
This was a fairly sudden jump from $8.75/hr and many of the workers I've encountered were barely worth that and are now making $14/hr?
Yeah, stupid. Drove the price of everything sky-high and jobs were eliminated in the process.
In a lot of cases, employee B was fired and now on unemployment and employee A is told to do both jobs, which often ends up as a complete failure (to provide quality customer service).
These are the very same people that take your order at a cash register, repeat each item and still enter it wrong so your order is wrong. This happens at least 30% of the time. Even when using Web ordering and Doordash.
The drivers often show up with the wrong bags that ARE CLEARLY LABELED ON THE OUTSIDE.
Lord help us all, we are surrounded by overpaid, incompetence at every turn.
And a common apology from a manager was,
"We are deeply sorry that your order was wrong.They are only minimum wage".
That almost worked at $8.75/hr, it's a total failure at $14 or $15/hr.
Pardon me, I do drone on...
Sorry if it's TLDR.
(not really)
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