Silly power requirements, an over hyped myth?

lay-z-boy · 5 Jun 2007 at 09:29

None really, all it does is slightly reduce the theoretical MTBF (if the temps and load are kept reasonably constant and within correct limits its fine)

cells · 5 Jun 2007 at 09:30

Dureth said:
To factor in efficieny yiou need at least a 500w supply then for that power consumption. Maybe a bit more.

doesn’t work like that

if you are pulling in say 400watts from the wall, and the psu is say 80% efficient

it means you only need a 320watt power supply (the watt rating is what it can give to you, not what it pull through the wall)

cells · 5 Jun 2007 at 09:40

Tom|Nbk said:
Ok so the first test I did was to get into Windows, In windows my pc idles using around 250-260w. This is my power usage at idle when you take into account I have an R600 which is supposed to be some sort of power monster

WOOOOOOW

that is a LOT for idle

£263 of electricity per year assuming 12p per KWh and that your computer is on all the time at idle. if it is on half that time then £131.5 per year!!

you might be better off building a rig to use for general idle stuff. could probably build a duel core rig which idles at less than 70 watts for under £150 (humm reading around, seems even energy effient builds use 125+ watts)

cells · 5 Jun 2007 at 09:52

chaparral said:
If i remember right My system reads 229watts idle and about 360watts load (3dmark06)

C2D 6600 running 3500mhz
8800gtx running 630/950
18watt waterpump
6x 120mm fans
1x 92mm fan
x3 harddrives
1x dvd writer

I check again this evening after work...

Idle wattage....i get a load wattage picture up later

that is pretty scary, i have a 6300 at 3ghz and a gtx so i assume im pulling about the same wattage as you. might build a cheap energy efficent pc for general stuff, should pay itself off within a year!

MikeHunt79 · 5 Jun 2007 at 10:59

cells said:
that is pretty scary, i have a 6300 at 3ghz and a gtx so i assume im pulling about the same wattage as you. might build a cheap energy efficent pc for general stuff, should pay itself off within a year!

I don't have a c2d (yet), but can't you change speeds and voltages in windows?

If you can, then you can run it at say 1000Mhz with low vcore for surfing and things like that, then crank it up when gaming/encoding/etc.

Sir Random · 5 Jun 2007 at 11:27

MikeHunt79 said:
I don't have a c2d (yet), but can't you change speeds and voltages in windows?

If you can, then you can run it at say 1000Mhz with low vcore for surfing and things like that, then crank it up when gaming/encoding/etc.

The C2Ds have a built-in 'speedstep' which reduces the cpu multiplier when there's not much load on it, but most people turn this off in the BIOS so the CPU runs full blast all the time.

Not very eco-friendly, but there was some confusion at first when people couldn't understand why CPU-Z said their CPU was running slower than it's rated speeds (like the countless threads about guys thinking their gpu clock speeds were wrong, because of 2D/3D settings).

Tom|Nbk · 5 Jun 2007 at 12:15

chaparral said:
If i remember right My system reads 229watts idle and about 360watts load (3dmark06)

C2D 6600 running 3500mhz
8800gtx running 630/950
18watt waterpump
6x 120mm fans
1x 92mm fan
x3 harddrives
1x dvd writer

I check again this evening after work...

Idle wattage....i get a load wattage picture up later

My idle wattage is identical to yours, I think mine is a tad lower though :eek:

Tom|Nbk · 5 Jun 2007 at 12:19

cells said:
WOOOOOOW

that is a LOT for idle

£263 of electricity per year assuming 12p per KWh and that your computer is on all the time at idle. if it is on half that time then £131.5 per year!!

you might be better off building a rig to use for general idle stuff. could probably build a duel core rig which idles at less than 70 watts for under £150 (humm reading around, seems even energy effient builds use 125+ watts)

I rechecked and had read it wrong my PC idles around just under 230w. Still fairly high though, may enable speedstep and see how that changes things. Only problem with speedstep is it lowers the clock and not the Vcore (that stays at whatever I had set in the bios)

chaparral · 5 Jun 2007 at 12:24

Tom|Nbk said:
My idle wattage is identical to yours, I think mine is a tad lower though

What are all your PC specs ??.E.G how many hardrives , Fans , DVD writer , CPU & R600 overclocks etc

Tom|Nbk · 5 Jun 2007 at 12:31

chaparral said:
What are all your PC specs ??.E.G how many hardrives , Fans , DVD writer , CPU & R600 overclocks etc

2 HDD'S 7200RPM
2 DVD/RW/CDRW Writers
4 Case fans 2x 90mm 2x 120mm
CPU @ 3.4 1.38v (Actual volts after the droop)
R600 @ Stock.

chaparral · 5 Jun 2007 at 12:32

With my CPU back down to the standard 2400mhz settings

This also includes my waterpump drawing 18watts,plus 3x harddrives (2 7200rpm and one 10000 rpm 150gb raptor),and 6x 120mm fans,one dvd writer..

fornowagain · 5 Jun 2007 at 13:00

Tom|Nbk said:
I rechecked and had read it wrong my PC idles around just under 230w. Still fairly high though, may enable speedstep and see how that changes things. Only problem with speedstep is it lowers the clock and not the Vcore (that stays at whatever I had set in the bios)

Do you have separate options for C1E and EIST in the bios? I've never looked, but maybe the Vcore needs to be set to Auto? That would be a pain in the proverbial.

Tom|Nbk · 5 Jun 2007 at 13:08

fornowagain said:
Do you have separate options for C1E and EIST in the bios? I've never looked, but maybe the Vcore needs to be set to Auto? That would be a pain in the proverbial.

The Vcore has to be set to Auto afaik no way around it, and EIST is automatically enabled I think with my borad and I had enabled C1E yes, then I changed the power profile in Windows and it worked fine (lowered clocks on idle) but the Vcore stayed the same deeming it pretty useless.

xtr3eme · 5 Jun 2007 at 13:26

Very good thread Tom, would love to know how much 2 x 2900XT's took under load... And the best part if my Liberty 620w would power 2 of em...Hmmmm.

Lanz · 5 Jun 2007 at 13:27

I have one of these plug things and my 6300 C2D HTPC idles around 90W. This I dont mind having on 24/7, it uses less energy than my old P4 2.4ghz Northwood HTPC.

But it's just throwing money away having your main gaming PC on 24/7 - And we're meant to be using less carbon aint we??

Tom|Nbk · 5 Jun 2007 at 14:21

Lanz said:
I have one of these plug things and my 6300 C2D HTPC idles around 90W. This I dont mind having on 24/7, it uses less energy than my old P4 2.4ghz Northwood HTPC.

But it's just throwing money away having your main gaming PC on 24/7 - And we're meant to be using less carbon aint we??

Meh. I dont leave my PC on 24/7 :confused:

Boogle · 5 Jun 2007 at 14:28

Lanz said:
But it's just throwing money away having your main gaming PC on 24/7 - And we're meant to be using less carbon aint we??

Switch to alternative power sources, problem solved.

Either way, like Tom|Nbk I only have my PC on when I'm actively using it.

Lanz · 5 Jun 2007 at 14:32

Many people do leave their PCs on tho, and those nutters who think they are saving the world, folding for cancer or trying to find aliens, I'm sure if they turned their PCs off, it would help the world much more

xtr3eme · 5 Jun 2007 at 14:32

Why would someone leave there PC on 24-7 anyway ? Just a waste of electricity if you ask me...

xtr3eme · 5 Jun 2007 at 14:32

Lanz said:
Many people do leave their PCs on tho, and those nutters who think they are saving the world, folding for cancer or trying to find aliens, I'm sure if they turned their PCs off, it would help the world much more

I agree with that.