Disconnect GPU to save on utilities?

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CheesusChrist

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Sep 13, 2013
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10,510
Hey all, I'm in the early stage of planning my first build (rough build at http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1A12t) and saw that the majority of the energy of this PC goes into the GPU. The i5 has a built-in graphics unit that is only a little less powerful than my current laptop's GPU (which is not too bad).

I calculated it out to that if I game for 10 hours/day, the computer alone would cost me ~$10/month, or ~$120/year.

So I was wondering if there was a feasible way to switch to the intel GPU when I'm not gaming and shut down the radeon. Would simply switching the port the monitor's plugged into (into the mobo's port) achieve such a result? Hell, if the mobo has VGA (or HDMI), I could have both that and DVI from the radeon plugged into my monitor at the same time and just switch input... IF that would achieve the desired result.

Thanks!
 
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eatmypie
I have a way more power crazy pc then the one you listed my reading's are only at about 170, if you are really want to save on your energy bill do some research on eco friendly psu's that meet your needs and kinda take build everything around that. What could I do to get the most performance and use the least amount of energy
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xroe

xroe

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Jan 11, 2013
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It will use less energy with less intensive task and more energy with more intensive task. If saving on utilities is that much of an issue you can disable it in device manager when you don't game although that's arduous to do again and again and will reset your desktop icons each time.
 
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eatmypie

eatmypie

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Sep 12, 2013
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I have a way more power crazy pc then the one you listed my reading's are only at about 170, if you are really want to save on your energy bill do some research on eco friendly psu's that meet your needs and kinda take build everything around that. What could I do to get the most performance and use the least amount of energy
 
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CheesusChrist

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Sep 13, 2013
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10,510


Hmm, yeah, I'll do a bit of research into that. But I don't really have much desire to sacrifice capabilities to save a small amount of money. Might have to figure out my priorities.
I wonder, does a 600w psu in a 370w build use more energy than, say, a 400w psu? Is the wattage rating just a max?
 
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xroe

xroe

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Jan 11, 2013
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It may use a tad bit more but I wouldn't skimp on PSU or you could end up with fried parts. Most PSU's now of days tend to only use what they need.
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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How did you get to the 10 a month cost for your pc. If your Local power cost is .13 per kwh you have to use 77 kwh to use 10 bucks of power. Here in mass my two bedroom comdo with my high end pc that all electric for heat an ac runs me 80 a month. My ac heat per month uses more power then my pc.
 
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eatmypie

eatmypie

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Not so much with the newer psu's like any haswell ready psu will have great energy saving capability's because of haswells new power saving features, like it also depends on if it's bronze silver gold platinum, generally these power supplies will have great features for saving power while idle. Like if I tossed a 1200w psu into a i3 build with integrated graphics it would still use the same amount because of the features on that quality psu. I mean the psu will only use as much power as it needs to.
 
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CheesusChrist

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Sep 13, 2013
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Yeah, I definitely didn't want to skimp on a psu... it's kind of an important part :p

hmm.... maybe I just need to suck it up and dish out that money in electricity...
Or I kinda feel like it's definitely possible to underclock the gpu... :p
 
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CheesusChrist

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Sep 13, 2013
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For my build, it's 370w (assuming I'm gaming all the time, i guess). Then you do 370w * 10 hrs = 3700watt-hours per day (if i only run it 10 hours per day). Multiply by 29 days, then divide by 1000 to get to kwh/month. That leaves me with about 108kwh per month.
I then plugged that into the utilities calculator (https://www.csu.org/wa/rate/elec_ratecalc.jsp?rate_code=E1R&usage1=108&billing_period=29&green_power_blocks=)
and subtracting the monthly ~$10 access fee, i get just over $10 per month.
 
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CheesusChrist

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Sep 13, 2013
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10,510


Good to know. Thanks for the reassurance. I wasn't too sure of that fact.
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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If saving money is needed,look to see if your local power company has free energy audits. Swapping out old light bulbs for led. Older home use low flush toilets and one gps or less shower heads. Wrap your hot water heater and on your newer tv that don't turn off use a watt saver power strip to turn them off.
 
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CheesusChrist

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Sep 13, 2013
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10,510


Just found a Rosewill (Capstone 550 M) for just a bit more than my previous selection with Gold efficiency (but I'll still look at the coolermasters). Say I just stop caring a little way down the road and want to do a bit of OCing to the gpu and/or cpu. do you think that'd be enough overhead wattage?

(also, sorry. This is turning into a "help me build a computer" thread >_< )
 
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