What to do...

[rexehuk]

I currently own 2 x 4890s clocked at 900/4400.

The power bill in the house came in at £500 per quarter so I feel fairly liable for most of that given my new build.

I was thinking about buying a single 5870 to cut some power usage, as the majority of the time my PC is idle doig word processing etc.

Only quarrel I'm having is that WHEN I do game I want to be able to play things like ARMA 2 and 1920x1200 / All very high with 3.5k Draw distance (AA off) with 50/60FPS.

Is this possible with a single 5870?

 

[rexehuk]

Any news on 5890 release date? I'd rather have one of them... Only cause if I waited until their release and it was next year my cards wouldn't fetch anywhere near £110-120 each!

 

[rexehuk]

5870x2 is probably going to come out first. Don't even think 5890 is planned yet. Either wouldn't do anything towards solving your power problem.

I'm not MAJORLY crying about the power issue, id say it was higher this quarter because I was home everyday with computer on from 9am till 4/5am.

I'm back at Uni now 8am til about 12am so I imagine power usage will drop considerably.

Heat is a good factor through, although with winter coming up the 4890s would be nice to subsidize my radiator

 

[rexehuk]

When the hell did I say my PC was costing £500 a quarter to run? I said the TOTAL bill came in at that. Which is way above the average household.

The previous quarter (before I got PC) was like £300/350. And the PC has been on pretty much 19 hours a day since June

That is why I think it's contributing a lot

Oh and I'm using a 24" Monitor (95w) / 19" monitor and Logitech 2.1 system. On top of that I have 4 hard drives.

 

[rexehuk]

Hmm. Well in a family of four... with £350 to £500 bill. A £150 increase is a a majority. Given that it is possibly coming from 1 device from 1 person.

I can't see any other reasons for the increase. It's been summer, no heating on etc bill was meant to go down not up. And I have been the only one home from 8am - 5pm most days.

As for changing power companies... there isn't much point. There is about £30 difference from one end to the other. I find it amusing that ofgen gave up their regulation rights years ago with the view that energy companies would produce their own competition.

 

[rexehuk]

Why not generate your own energy? Either for the PC or for everything but. 300W Solar Panel and a 300W Wind Turbine shouldn't be to expensive. Although an 800W Solar Panel would be in the region of £2500...

I'm a 3rd year Uni student... I don't think I could spend 2.5k on solar panels might as well just solar panel the roof if I was going that route and cut the entire house bill (without me paying for it).

 

[rexehuk]

Can't see your use of pc contributing to an increase of £150 using it only 9hrs a day.

...9? I said I was the only one home between 8-5 lol. PC being on from like 8am until 3/4/5am. So 17+ hours a day.