This might be a dumb question, but does the rating on a power supply determine the energy consumption of a computer? I'm looking to solar power my computer and am trying to figure out how much power I would need for my computer, and I'm not sure if I can calculate my power consumption based off of my 750 watt power supply.
Does the PSU power rating determine the amount of power consumed?
- Thread starter crometer
- Start date
- May 27, 2010
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The wattage rating on power supplies is actually the amount of power they are rated to dissipate. Only the power your equipment actually requires will be used.
Though the larger the supply the cooler it will run at a given load. For 80plus certified supplies, that means they are 80% efficient. So if your total hardware consumes 200 watts you will consume roughly 250 watts at the outlet.
I assume you will be running off of battery, with the battery solar charged. You would need a fairly big array for real-time running.
Though the larger the supply the cooler it will run at a given load. For 80plus certified supplies, that means they are 80% efficient. So if your total hardware consumes 200 watts you will consume roughly 250 watts at the outlet.
I assume you will be running off of battery, with the battery solar charged. You would need a fairly big array for real-time running.
you need to calculate a days usage off your meter you base it off the total system consumption +20%
just use the max wattage your components use most single card systems will top about at around 390w add 200 for every card you have.
low end system should use less.
so for a full day interrupted at max power your would need 3.9KW from your array. in the uk thats about 8-12 panels in the in a sunnier climate you would get a bit more.
just use the max wattage your components use most single card systems will top about at around 390w add 200 for every card you have.
low end system should use less.
so for a full day interrupted at max power your would need 3.9KW from your array. in the uk thats about 8-12 panels in the in a sunnier climate you would get a bit more.
Alright, my setup is as follows:
Thermaltake CHASER A41 VP200A6W2N
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M2 RS720-SPM2D3-US 720W
Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL 140mm UFB CPU Cooler
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
ASUS Crosshair V Formula Gaming Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB
Two: XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Video Card
AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz Socket AM3+ 125W
So with this setup, my consumption would be about 450 watts?
Thermaltake CHASER A41 VP200A6W2N
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro M2 RS720-SPM2D3-US 720W
Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BL 140mm UFB CPU Cooler
G.SKILL Sniper 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3
ASUS Crosshair V Formula Gaming Motherboard
Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB
Two: XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 Video Card
AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz Socket AM3+ 125W
So with this setup, my consumption would be about 450 watts?
- May 27, 2010
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If you goal is power efficiency, you could do a lot better by switching to Intel (55W-84W), and getting a single faster GPU would use less power then two 6870.
i7-3770 = 77W
i5-3570 = 77W
i5-3570P = 69W
i3-3330P = 55W
nVidia takes the efficiency award at the moment. Something in the range of a GTX760 or Radeon 7950 would be a better choice.
i7-3770 = 77W
i5-3570 = 77W
i5-3570P = 69W
i3-3330P = 55W
nVidia takes the efficiency award at the moment. Something in the range of a GTX760 or Radeon 7950 would be a better choice.
- May 27, 2010
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Depends how much of that hardware you already own? Used components don't usually fetch their purchase prices.
$120 for a mid level intel chip, $80 for a motherboard, $60 for 8GB of memory, $300 video card budget. Looking at $600 shipped.
If you can sell your equipment for about that I don't see why not.
$120 for a mid level intel chip, $80 for a motherboard, $60 for 8GB of memory, $300 video card budget. Looking at $600 shipped.
If you can sell your equipment for about that I don't see why not.
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