Does windows 7 sleep mode use power?

paspc · 22 May 2011 at 17:14

When putting the computer in sleep mode, does it still drink power? If so any ideas on relative percentages? (95% less power for example)

theheyes · 22 May 2011 at 17:27

Yes. How much power it uses will depend on the system but it will be in the order of 5-10%

paspc · 22 May 2011 at 17:51

Ok thanks for the info. That's not that much power - think I'll sleep my computer from now on

Amp34 · 22 May 2011 at 18:35

5-10%? Really that high?

From my understanding sleep mode means the RAM is still powered but nothing else although there is a trickle through the Motherboard obviously).

I'd gestimate at it using around 10w or something like that so yep sleep mode is the best bet for most times.

paspc · 22 May 2011 at 18:41

Do you think that sleep mode still trickles power to the graphics card? Someone told me that his graphics card died soon after he started sleeping his computer. Coincidence?

FallshirmjAEger · 22 May 2011 at 18:45

paspc said:
Do you think that sleep mode still trickles power to the graphics card? Someone told me that his graphics card died soon after he started sleeping his computer. Coincidence?

The card will switch off entirely I believe. As has been said, only the ram is left at full power.

paspc · 22 May 2011 at 18:46

Ok thanks for clarifying

SparkyG · 22 May 2011 at 19:00

i think you can get usb port with power during sleep mode as well

kylew · 22 May 2011 at 19:01

It doesn't use anywhere near as much as 5%, never mind 10%. I've put my computer in to sleep mode before, completely unplugged it from the wall, re-arranged my room and plugged the PC back somewhere else and it booted instantly from sleep and was as I had left it.

My PC was totally unplugged for about 2 hours.

westylakey · 22 May 2011 at 19:40

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/01/06/windows-7-energy-efficiency.aspx

approx 3W, looks like I will be sleeping my pc from now on

cheers people!

Burnsy2023 · 22 May 2011 at 19:55

kylew said:
It doesn't use anywhere near as much as 5%, never mind 10%. I've put my computer in to sleep mode before, completely unplugged it from the wall, re-arranged my room and plugged the PC back somewhere else and it booted instantly from sleep and was as I had left it.

My PC was totally unplugged for about 2 hours.

That's due to hybrid sleep. If the machine is turned off and the RAM data lost, it will recover from the hibernation file instead, which takes a bit longer to resume as you need to write everything back to RAM.

kylew · 22 May 2011 at 20:29

Burnsy2023 said:
That's due to hybrid sleep. If the machine is turned off and the RAM data lost, it will recover from the hibernation file instead, which takes a bit longer to resume as you need to write everything back to RAM.

It was still an instant boot up for me, as soon as I pressed the power button, it was at the log in screen.

Lakeland · 22 May 2011 at 20:35

I have a monitor which tells me how much power my house is using at any given time. With nothing but the PC on, it uses around 6-7 pence per hour. When my PC is in sleep mode, it displays 0 pence per hour.

Phil2008 · 22 May 2011 at 20:48

I tested this out ages ago on my pc with a power monitor and both shut down and sleep used 4watts I think it was.

paspc said:
Do you think that sleep mode still trickles power to the graphics card? Someone told me that his graphics card died soon after he started sleeping his computer. Coincidence?

Ive been using sleep now for 3yrs on current system and it hasnt hurt my pc in anyway.. Sleep is my shutdown now, but I restart windows about once a week tho.

BinnsY · 22 May 2011 at 21:01

Have to echo others here, I have one of those british gas energy meters, and the difference with my PC being completley off or in sleep mode barely registers.

theheyes · 22 May 2011 at 21:01

kylew said:
It doesn't use anywhere near as much as 5%, never mind 10%. I've put my computer in to sleep mode before, completely unplugged it from the wall, re-arranged my room and plugged the PC back somewhere else and it booted instantly from sleep and was as I had left it.

My PC was totally unplugged for about 2 hours.

It depends on the system, don't forget Windows runs on the whole spectrum of computers from netbooks to high performance desktops. A newish notebook is going to consume very little (way less than 5%), whereas an older gaming computer is going to be on the higher end of the scale. Your average PC is going to be somewhere in the middle.

I've just tried it out of curiosity on a an i3 system. Idle wattage was around 79w, sleep draw was 5w which is just over 6%.

Phil2008 · 22 May 2011 at 21:18

Also window uptime, doesnt include the standby bits as my pc hasn't been restarted for about 5days and the uptime says a little over 3days. Also the memory gets re-flushed when you wake up the pc(clearing out uneeded stuff)

ShakenNstirred · 23 May 2011 at 05:26

kylew said:
It doesn't use anywhere near as much as 5%, never mind 10%. I've put my computer in to sleep mode before, completely unplugged it from the wall, re-arranged my room and plugged the PC back somewhere else and it booted instantly from sleep and was as I had left it.

My PC was totally unplugged for about 2 hours.

if you unpluged it from the wall it had to be reboot from hibrid sleep
because the power was cut from sleep mode
a laptop would stay in sleep mode till battery ran out , but a desktop will lose power as soon as you pulled plug from the wall

"Hybrid sleep is designed primarily for desktop computers. Hybrid sleep is a combination of sleep and hibernate—it puts any open documents and programs in memory and on your hard disk, and then puts your computer into a low-power state so that you can quickly resume your work. That way, if a power failure occurs, Windows can restore your work from your hard disk. When hybrid sleep is turned on, putting your computer into sleep automatically puts your computer into hybrid sleep. Hybrid sleep is typically turned on by default on desktop computers."

Phil2008 · 23 May 2011 at 12:23

I have got mine so when entering sleep it doesn't store the mem on the hdd aswel and this is mainly because I have a ssd drive. But to be honest I don't really need the info stored on the drive aswel because I have a UPS, that will keep things ticking over during powercuts.

BinnsY · 23 May 2011 at 19:24

theheyes said:
I've just tried it out of curiosity on a an i3 system. Idle wattage was around 79w, sleep draw was 5w which is just over 6%.

Whilst I dont doubt these figures, what is your draw when the PC is switched off but still plugged in? It wouldnt surprise me if it still pulls 3-4W even when switched off.