top end pc's.....power usage....suprising

Supercow · 31 May 2007 at 21:24

Tad OT: Why do you have a 7300gt as well?

james.miller · 31 May 2007 at 21:32

Jokester said:
Can you do it again, with only measuring the actual current used by the PC PSU?

Jokester

i will do. in the next couple of days, ill have the tester for a few hours and ill do some thorough testing on the pc itself

Tad OT: Why do you have a 7300gt as well?

I have (well, had) dual monitors. my 22" dell and a 19" acer that i recently sold. ill be getting either another 22" or a 24" to replace the acer. ive also got my 40" sony which is connected up. my 8800gtx is connected to my 22" and my sony, the 7300gt is for the 3rd monitor

Sparky · 31 May 2007 at 21:37

Thats really very suprising.

Sparky · 31 May 2007 at 21:38

Was there any fluctuations,i mean major ones?

james.miller · 31 May 2007 at 21:42

CS||nuTs said:
Was there any fluctuations,i mean major ones?

not as far as i could see. unfortunately the equipment didnt measure in watts so the best accuracy we had was to withing 0.1amps, 24watts basically. even given that, the total draw was still WELL below with would officially be recommended for the pc. given that the 384w (1.6amps, although in reality it could have been +/-12w of that figure) figure was for everything connected to that strip, its not unfiar to say the draw of the pc could have been closer to 360w or less.

gt_junkie · 31 May 2007 at 21:45

james.miller said:
so what do you think then? and well done gt_junkie and Craig_kennedy83 for guessing virtually on the button

That is simply awesome! Hoped it would be close to what i said but didn't truly believe it would be!

At least it means i won't have to upgrade my 580 watt Tagan any time soon!

Thanks for the info james... that's cheered me up no end mate!

gt

Sparky · 31 May 2007 at 21:49

james.miller said:
not as far as i could see. unfortunately the equipment didnt measure in watts so the best accuracy we had was to withing 0.1amps, 24watts basically. even given that, the total draw was still WELL below with would officially be recommended for the pc. given that the 384w (1.6amps, although in reality it could have been +/-12w of that figure) figure was for everything connected to that strip, its not unfiar to say the draw of the pc could have been closer to 360w or less.

Im guessing that maybe people with less stable rails would see more +/- or would that be wrong in your opinion mate?

james.miller · 31 May 2007 at 21:51

that's certainly possible i wouldnt have thought. also people with psu's that aren't as efficient would see a higher power draw - the corsairs are some of the the most efficient psu's you can buy.

Gonzo0 · 31 May 2007 at 21:52

My jeantech Storm 700W PSU has a power usage read out on the back

PhillyDee · 31 May 2007 at 22:32

PhillyDee said:
im gonna guess at 175W For the rig only. So im gonna go with about 384W full load.

My whole rig as per spec, + speakers, 20.1" tft, modem, router, and cordless phone pulls 280W. Thats idleish though.

Hehe, what about me . . . .

Do i get a prize?

Raikiri · 31 May 2007 at 22:33

Gonzo0 said:
My jeantech Storm 700W PSU has a power usage read out on the back

That's out by around 200w normally

james.miller · 31 May 2007 at 22:35

PhillyDee said:
Hehe, what about me . . . . Do i get a prize?

ha good try but no

Millwall.FC · 31 May 2007 at 22:58

james.miller said:
ok well its been half an hour.. i was expecting more replies but maybe people are worried they'd get it wrong

anyway with the tester plugged in i booted up the pc and straight away we saw a 1.2amp load. 288watts, in other words. that's a fair amount considering it wasn't doing very much and did suprise me some what, but booting in to vista saw a 1.3amp peak (312watts) as the optical drives span up and it did its thing which wasnt a huge increase.

as I ran superpi on one core and 3dmark's nature tests on the other, the maximum peak was 1.6amps, 384 watts. that's it, thats all it could muster lol. This is only a short test but if nothing else it does prove that recommended ratings and 90% of what people will tell you you *need* on a hardware forum.....is complete tosh.

so what do you think then? and well done gt_junkie and Craig_kennedy83 for guessing virtually on the button

i think its flawed you need to test after the psu.

james.miller · 31 May 2007 at 23:06

how is it flawed? i tested the entire draw from the wall socket. you can get much better than that. If you test after the psu then you aren't accounting for additional draw of the psu as it isnt 100% efficient. As you know, the psu is also part of the pc

semi-pro waster · 31 May 2007 at 23:07

Millwall.FC said:
i think its flawed you need to test after the psu.

Why would you suggest that? If you are going on the ratings given by PSU calculators online they always take the worst case scenario when calculating load regardless of the actual power used. Or to put it another way Corsair have demonstrated more demanding systems than james.miller's on their HX 620w and it coped comfortably so I've got no real reason to suspect that PSU meter is out.

Jokester · 31 May 2007 at 23:08

james.miller said:
how is it flawed? i tested the entire draw from the wall socket. you can get much better than that

Yeah, but it's including things not powered by the PC PSU, the monitor alone will use something of the order 60-80W.

Jokester

james.miller · 31 May 2007 at 23:10

Jokester said:
Yeah, but it's including things not powered by the PC PSU, the monitor alone will use something of the order 60-80W.

Jokester

he isnt talking about that jokester, and i did say it was the draw of the entire setup. its not a flawed test as i tested exactly what i said i would

the only thing that you can say for sure is that *** draw of the pc alone would be even less, but that makes no difference to this test.

that IS also why i said i would test the pc separately in the next few days...

Millwall.FC · 31 May 2007 at 23:10

james.miller said:
how is it flawed? i tested the entire draw from the wall socket. you can get much better than that. If you test after the psu then you aren't accounting for additional draw of the psu as it isnt 100% efficient. As you know, the psu is also part of the pc

your only testing what the psu draw's not what it pump's out

james.miller · 31 May 2007 at 23:12

what difference does that make?

Jokester · 31 May 2007 at 23:12

james.miller said:
he isnt talking about that jokester, and i did say it was the draw of the entire setup. its not a flawed test as i tested exactly what i said i would

Ahh I see what he means, if you want to work out the actual power used by the PC just multiply PSU power by it's effiency, typically 70-80%, but it'll vary with power demand.

Jokester