How much does my Imac cost to leave on 24/7?

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF · 29 Jan 2011 at 23:40

I have the latest 21.5 inch Imac and I leave it on 24/7 downloading.The processor down clocks itself to 1.3ghz which it is on constantly, and the screen goes off after 5 minutes. I plan to use it as my home server.

Any help much appreciated? Anyone worked how much it costs them for similar set up? Would just like to know a ball park figure

Cleeecooo · 30 Jan 2011 at 00:04

Out of interest, what are u downloading? Torrents?
It will cost a fortune. Try downclocking it even mkre if you can otherwise try getting some energy saving gadgets.

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF · 30 Jan 2011 at 00:27

Cleeecooo said:
Out of interest, what are u downloading? Torrents?
It will cost a fortune. Try downclocking it even mkre if you can otherwise try getting some energy saving gadgets.

Well I am downloading all my steam games, which in total is about 240gb. As my connection is really slow, around 400kbs. Also I can't down clock even more as its a Imac (cant go into bios).

alexdrans · 30 Jan 2011 at 09:23

It shouldn't cost that much. I leave my computer on pretty much 24/7 and the electricity bills aren't too high.

DBT85 · 30 Jan 2011 at 09:35

I just saw something that said max wattage is about 250 for the 21.5" but i have no idea if that is your model or not.

i dont know how the iMac throttles its voltage or anything so i'll just throw this out there and you can plug in any different numbers if you have them.

Machine running at 150w with screen off
electricity at 10p per kw (usually higher but easier for calcs)
machine uses 1.5p per hour
1.5p*24hrs=36p per day
36p*365days = £131 per year.

Not as high as some but still a considerable amout.

Our electric bill is about £400 a year (I think its a little lower but don't have the numbers right now). If I added your machine to that my bill would go up by about 32%.

I turn my machine off unless its doing something. I have a media server that stays on 24/7 with eco drives and all the throttling enbabled. i do all my downloading on that rather than on my main PC

Tealc · 30 Jan 2011 at 10:06

7 days downloading. That's a long time. Do you really need every single game installed?

Perhaps if you do download them then you should backup the steam folder. It's possible to just copy across a Steam folder from a different hard drive, provided it's your account's Steam folder. Even if it's out of date Steam will download any differences.

So from the calculation above it will cost you £2.50 to download all 240GB. That's not too bad really.

jamesfreddie · 30 Jan 2011 at 10:46

Buy a Electricity meter that you plug into the wall.

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF · 30 Jan 2011 at 13:58

Todge said:
I just saw something that said max wattage is about 250 for the 21.5" but i have no idea if that is your model or not.

i dont know how the iMac throttles its voltage or anything so i'll just throw this out there and you can plug in any different numbers if you have them.

Machine running at 150w with screen off
electricity at 10p per kw (usually higher but easier for calcs)
machine uses 1.5p per hour
1.5p*24hrs=36p per day
36p*365days = £131 per year.

Not as high as some but still a considerable amout.

Our electric bill is about £400 a year (I think its a little lower but don't have the numbers right now). If I added your machine to that my bill would go up by about 32%.

I turn my machine off unless its doing something. I have a media server that stays on 24/7 with eco drives and all the throttling enbabled. i do all my downloading on that rather than on my main PC

Thanks doesn't seem too bad, was expecting it to work out significantly higher. Even at 2.5p a hour it's still quite reasonable.

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:03

Tealc said:
7 days downloading. That's a long time. Do you really need every single game installed?

Perhaps if you do download them then you should backup the steam folder. It's possible to just copy across a Steam folder from a different hard drive, provided it's your account's Steam folder. Even if it's out of date Steam will download any differences.

So from the calculation above it will cost you £2.50 to download all 240GB. That's not too bad really.

This would save a lot of time but sadly never knew about this until now.

P.S I don't actually intend to install every game however I plan to leave the pc on anyway 24/7 as I use it as a home server too. Should have mentioned in title

DBT85 · 30 Jan 2011 at 14:22

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF said:
Thanks doesn't seem too bad, was expecting it to work out significantly higher. Even at 2.5p a hour it's still quite reasonable.

Its perfectly reasonable its its actually in use. Why anyone would leave their machine on idling though baffles me. Over the course of the year leaving it in, and the odd light bulb, maybe having the oven on longer than you need, leaving the electric shower running for 3 or 4 minutes before you get in all add up.

Gammawolf · 30 Jan 2011 at 15:05

You'll be wanting a power meter OP for exact stats, useful to have anyway. Something like this: I personally have this one and its proven accurate and adequate for my house hold needs.

CAPTAINBUMFLUFF · 30 Jan 2011 at 15:43

Gammawolf said:
You'll be wanting a power meter OP for exact stats, useful to have anyway. Something like this: I personally have this one and its proven accurate and adequate for my house hold needs.

Thanks will definitely pick one of those up, seems like the rainforest have a deal on this at the moment.