Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Power Consumption of a Typical PC While Gaming

Posted by timothy on from the slurping-it-up dept.

cliffski writes "How much does your PC really draw in terms of power when idle, when in sleep, and when playing a demanding game? I don't trust everything the manufacturers of hardware say, so I thought I'd get myself a watt measuring device and run a few tests on some of the gear I leave on all the time, and the gear I go to the trouble of turning off. The Linksys router drew 8 watts, the monitor drew a fairly noticeable 30-31, but what surprised me was how little power the base unit drew, even when playing Company of Heroes. Also, the variance of power draw for Vista seemed minimal, regardless of what you got the machine to do."

6 of 211 comments (clear)

  1. What about my A/C kicking into overdrive? by CambodiaSam · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What about the thermal impact? I live in a hot climate, so leaving a PC on seems to have a big impact on the temperature of the room. Sure, I might use a couple hundred Watts to run the gear, but what about the electricity required for the A/C to cool the room back down?

    Hey, when it's 100 deg F outside, I notice the difference.

    1. Re:What about my A/C kicking into overdrive? by bughunter · · Score: 5, Interesting
      No kidding. I bought a MBP almost two years ago, and a few weeks after I bought it, I got into the nightly habit of using it on my lap in front of the TV to browse the web and play games while my wife watched her programs.

      A few weeks after that [this is in January mind you] I began waking up in the mornings with an especially acute itchy rash in my groin area, which I had never suffered from before. After a couple of weeks of being unable to cure myself of it, and the rash becoming angry and painful, I finally went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Tinea Cruris . The doctor asked me if I had begun using a sauna or spa regularly, to which I replied negatively...

      He then asked me if I had recently purchased a laptop computer. And that's when the lightbulb went on.

      After four weeks of twice daily showers, blow drying the affected area, and applying Lotrimin, the rash went away. And I no longer rest my laptop on my lap when in use.

      --
      I can see the fnords!
  2. Re:I love kill-a-watt by gEvil+(beta) · · Score: 5, Funny

    My wife is huge into low-energy tools

    Obviously. She married you.

    --
    This guy's the limit!
  3. Re:I love kill-a-watt by bucky0 · · Score: 5, Funny

    >>I can hardly believe that the router mentioned was using 8 watts, what is the time period there?

    8 Watts is probably about 8 Joules / Second. You know, in that ballpark.

    --

    -Bucky
  4. Accuracy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I wonder how accurate those readings are. Cheap power meters often only produce correct values for purely resistive loads. Everything uses switching power supplies nowdays (they're very efficient compared to linear power supplies), and they draw current in peculiar ways (some have power factor correction which improves things). Does anyone have a Kill-a-Watt vs Oscilloscope accuracy comparison for different kinds of loads?

  5. Power consumption of PS3 / Wii / XBOX 360 by IYagami · · Score: 5, Informative

    You should take a look at http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-356-1.htm

    This is the main information:
    Power Consumption in Games
    PS3: 185.9 Watt average
    XBox360: 176,54
    PC (see link for more information): 156,6
    Wii: 16.8