How to measure power draw?

Martynt74 · 11 Sep 2012 at 12:44

Out of interest whats the best way to measure actual power drawn by components?

I thought about one of those plug in reader things but i suppose that due to inefficiency of the PSU it wouldn't be an exact measure so what do review companies use?

sadbuttrue · 11 Sep 2012 at 13:30

Simply remove the efficiency loss from the power plug reading. Most PSUs have decent reviews showing efficiency ratings at various load levels. If you're drawing 150watts from the wall and the PSU is 80% efficient, then the components are using 150*0.80 = 120 watts.

Admiral Huddy · 11 Sep 2012 at 13:51

Good post sadbuttrue

Martynt74 · 11 Sep 2012 at 13:58

That makes sense. Wasn't sure whether there was anything else available otherwise.

Cheers