Cost of Running a PC 24x7

[robbinghood]

Well, this has been a question for some and so its for me too? How much does it cost for running a PC in Indian House holds?

Ok, i exaggerated by saying 24x7 but will be running my PC for 15 hours daily, how much of power consumption would it take?

I run a 450W power supply, I use it for browsing, some application not Power hungry and certainly No GAMES at all

So can anyone give any idea? please do not post complex tips from other websites and all, I want user experience, how many run PC full time, What is approx electricity Bill?


Processor- AMD X4 635
Monitor- BenQ 22 inch LCD
Ram- 2GB (standard quality ram)
PSU- 450W
MB- Asus Standard

Is this enough to pin point Electricity usage?

[ArjunKiller]

Electricity bill will increase 20-30%...

[pimpom]

I run my computer 15-18 hours a day almost everyday with a usage habit similar to yours, but it's not possible to cite an accurate figure for energy consumption without a dedicated power meter. It is possible to make an educated guess - an approximate figure based on estimated power consumption, but you'll have to give your configuration including the monitor.

[mithun_mrg]

Depends upon the config of the PC & application run u have to find out exactly how much watt it consumes

[robbinghood]

@pimpom Do you know the Difference between when you started using your PC and When you didn't have the PC at home?

[pimpom]

Originally Posted by robbinghood

@pimpom Do you know the Difference between when you started using your PC and When you didn't have the PC at home?

Not really possible to say. I've been using computers for a long time and during that time, there have been many other changes in the way we use power in my home.

Just state your config and I or someone else can give you an estimate of the extra energy consumed by your computer. From your usage habits, it may be a low-end system, but we still need details.

[Sarath]

My PC has added some 200 to 300 bucks to the monthly bill is all I know.

[robbinghood]

Originally Posted by pimpom

Not really possible to say. I've been using computers for a long time and during that time, there have been many other changes in the way we use power in my home.

Just state your config and I or someone else can give you an estimate of the extra energy consumed by your computer. From your usage habits, it may be a low-end system, but we still need details.

I did post config, see first post.

Originally Posted by Sarath

My PC has added some 200 to 300 bucks to the monthly bill is all I know.

What is your config? High End?

[pimpom]

OK, but you added that several hours after the first post and I didn't check the top part of the thread when I refreshed the page since you didn't mention it in later posts.

You still didn't mention the HDD, optical drive, whether you have a discrete gfx card, etc. Let's assume that you're using one conventional HDD (not SSD), one optical drive, an IGP, no expansion card and no external drive, low power speakers (if any), one modem and that the monitor is CCFL, not LED, and also that you rarely use a printer. Even the PSU model makes a difference because cheap PSUs waste more power.

Based on those assumptions and your usage habits, my estimate is that your computer consumes roughly 40-65 units (kWh) a month. If the energy rate is, say Rs.3 per unit in your area, that would come to Rs.120-200 per month.

[robbinghood]

Yes your right about rest of my config! that is why i didn't mention any GFX card too!!

[d6bmg]

Power consumption: 400X15X30/1000 = 180 kWh/month. (assuming that your PC consumes 400W.)
Now add price per unit to get correct result.

[sukesh1090]

^^where to add the price per unit?
i don't have any i dea how these monthly charges are calculated.

[guru_urug]

Read this article on Toms Hardware.
Picking The Right Power Supply: What You Should Know : Brought To You By Granny’s Radio

It explains the working of ur PSU and how it consumes power. The graph is definitely not linear...or even standard. To know ur power consumption u wud need a dedicated power meter. No formula is gonna give u proper approximate values, cause every PC component is different,so are the usage scenarios etc.

[pimpom]

Originally Posted by d6bmg

Power consumption: 400X15X30/1000 = 180 kWh/month. (assuming that your PC consumes 400W.
Now add price per unit to get correct result.

I made some assumptions too in giving my own estimate above because it's impossible to know the exact amount without actually measuring the OP's consumption with an energy meter. However, I think 400W is way too high. Power consumption is often over-estimated because many people think in terms of the maximum ratings of the PSU.

The OP's rig does not include a discrete gfx card or other add-ons and with his usage habits, the system will be running at almost idle power most of the time. So I based my estimate on an average consumption of roughly 100-150W.

The OP didn't even want to know how the calculations are done, so I just gave an estimate of the energy unit consumed per month. The only calculation that had to be brought up was that of converting the operating cost from energy units to money. That's because I don't know what the rates are in his area.

Originally Posted by sukesh1090

^^where to add the price per unit?
i don't have any i dea how these monthly charges are calculated.

Look at your electricity bill. The rates are probably printed there.

[d6bmg]

Originally Posted by sukesh1090

^^where to add the price per unit?
i don't have any i dea how these monthly charges are calculated.

multiply price per unit with the wattage measures in KWh.

[anandharaja]

@ robbinghood

in our home the energy meter calculated the power as KWPH (Kilo Watts Per Hour)
Which means 1000W = 1 Unit

in your case if your Pc consume 400W per hour means, it took 2hrs 30minutes to consume 1000W.

So if you use you Pc for 2hours 30 minutes it consume 1 unit of electricity bill.

if you use your pc 15 hours daily means 400 (watts) x 15 hours = 6000 watts totally in 15hours your pc consumes 6000watts is equal to 6 unit.

now 6Unit x 30 days = 180units your pc consume per month.

[ham_007]

i had read sumwer dat it take 9-10units if u run ur pc 24hrs with monitor kept on

PS: sum ppl keep der monitor off n keep pc on for downloading d stuff frm net

[ajai5777]

400W ?? Its the specification of PSU, no home PC's will consume that much power.My PC takes only 117W when in Idle and 260W in load (gaming).I monitor that in APC powerchute software.My guess would be an average 100W x 15hrs for his PC.So 1.5 units per day and 45units per month.So the bill would be around 135/- if the price per unit is taken as 3/-