So, does Standby waste energy over night?

NeilF

NeilF

NeilF

Soldato
Joined
15 Nov 2003
Posts
14,473
Location
Marlow
...or at least enough to worry about?

I notice at work a lot of people leave their machines on Standby... Is this ungreen enough to worry about out of interest?

I tried hibernating my HP desktop machine at work, and it wouldn't. Standby is the only it can do...


Also, monitors? I'll swear I did a power test on a HP LCD monitor and it didn't matter if the power botton was on or off, the wattage used was the same!!
 
It dramatically cuts power consumption, from 150+ Watts to about 10 Watts. If you don't want to wait for it to boot in the morning, or you need to leave it on for the admin to push updates (assuming it's set to wake on LAN), standby is the way to go.

As for LCDs, yes they use a significant amount of power. A 20" CRT might use 150 W. A 20" LCD might use 25 - 50 percent of that. They're much more efficient, but are still consumers while powered.
 
BillytheImpaler said:
It dramatically cuts power consumption, from 150+ Watts to about 10 Watts. If you don't want to wait for it to boot in the morning, or you need to leave it on for the admin to push updates (assuming it's set to wake on LAN), standby is the way to go.

As for LCDs, yes they use a significant amount of power. A 20" CRT might use 150 W. A 20" LCD might use 25 - 50 percent of that. They're much more efficient, but are still consumers while powered.
Click to expand...

Are you sure StandBy is that efficient?
 
I think standby power is 0.5Amp at 5 Volts from the PSU so that is in the region of 3-5 Watts at mains voltage allowing for efficiency, LCD in standby another 3 Watts give or take, that leaves printers speakers etc taking another few Watts. Ballpark figure of 100 hours for 10 Pence. CRT monitors used to keep the heater running for a rapid start up (peer through the slots & see it glow) in standby & used loads more in standby than LCD, I think the later CRT monitors got around this.
 
Any power consumption is a waste if the machines are not being used. If the office is empty and no overnight updates happen- get them to switch them off if they don't support hibernation.

Also, waiting for them to boot at 9am is a good excuse to waste ten minutes making a cup of tea :D
 
All new TV/DVD for years etc etc must meet a certain power draw at standby (cant remember name but some offical crap and has a badge on it etc).

In Vista you can choose from Sleep or Hybrid Sleep or Hibernate (some only after you set these options in settings).

Its something i dont use much as PC is on all day and only off at bedtime in most cases, but I leave it on for week(s) if need be.
 
Nick644622 said:
I think standby power is 0.5Amp at 5 Volts from the PSU so that is in the region of 3-5 Watts at mains voltage allowing for efficiency, LCD in standby another 3 Watts give or take, that leaves printers speakers etc taking another few Watts. Ballpark figure of 100 hours for 10 Pence. CRT monitors used to keep the heater running for a rapid start up (peer through the slots & see it glow) in standby & used loads more in standby than LCD, I think the later CRT monitors got around this.
Click to expand...

I suspect these figures are for hibernation. Don't forget in standby mode your PSU is running as per normal, just your hard drive has been turned off. The rest of the machine is basically running as normal...
 
Hibernation is (putting it simply) suspending the contents of the RAM to disk and then copying it back to RAM when it's switched on again.

The power draw of hibernation has to be zero, because you can hibernate a PC, unplug it and then return it from hibernation successfully.
 
NeilFawcett said:
Don't forget in standby mode your PSU is running as per normal, just your hard drive has been turned off. The rest of the machine is basically running as normal...
Click to expand...
Not in S3 Standby it isn't. Everything's silent, the only thing that's being powered is the RAM. This has been pretty much standard on all new motherboards for ages.
 
i use "sleep" on vista which hibernates, then goes into standby so if the power gets cut off it is in hibernate but if it stays on its in standby. computers use next to nothing in standby (less than 10w). i turn my monitor fully off though
 
NeilFawcett said:
I suspect these figures are for hibernation. Don't forget in standby mode your PSU is running as per normal, just your hard drive has been turned off. The rest of the machine is basically running as normal...
Click to expand...

Quality post - have you tried learning about computers BEFORE posting?
 
Energize said:
It certainly is. Don't believe all that energy saving crap about not leaving your tv in standby etc because it uses so much power, the power used is negligible.
Click to expand...

the point of that is that there are like 100 million tv's in the UK, if they are all on standby that it a huge amount of power. to the individual, it is negligible. + more important is during peak times to save electricity, during the night there is a surplus, ie pumped storage
 
NeilFawcett said:
I suspect these figures are for hibernation. Don't forget in standby mode your PSU is running as per normal, just your hard drive has been turned off. The rest of the machine is basically running as normal...
Click to expand...

that's not s3 mode though

in s3 only ram is powered, no fans spin cpu is using 0 power
 
In Vista Hybrid Sleep (the new Hibernate) my PC is essentually dead but I dont think I would unplug the mains as somone above said lol.

No Fans inc PSU, nothing.
 
I bought one of those sockets that power everything off when you turn off your PC, so when my PC turns off, so does the monitor, Speakers, Wireless router and printer.

I have yet to find a need for a PC to start any faster than the 30 seconds or so mine takes from cold!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom