PC Power Consumption

andristefanus · Nov 12, 2013

How much power consumpttion for

AMD Phenom ii x4 965 BE
4 DDR3
XFX HD 6670
DVD+-RW
3 Fans

???
because i can't afford power meter

getochkn · Nov 12, 2013

depends how much you use your pc at full load or if it's idle most of the time.

nukemaster · Nov 12, 2013

I would guess under 170-200(depends on your board) watts with full cpu load and under 250 watts with the gpu as well.

This is based on an old 955be overclocked system with a more powerful card. That thing idled nice and low at about 70-80 watts.

Power meters are only like 20-40$ on sale at the hardware store many times. Just in case you thought they had to cost much more.

Hell a multimeter that has an Amperage(amps x input voltage = wattage) setting can be placed in line with the system and get power consumption as well. Please take care with this route as you need to access live wires.

andristefanus · Nov 12, 2013

getochkn :

i play games like COD blackops, skyrim.. about 3-4 or 5 a day, the rest it's just browsing, watch movies.

andristefanus · Nov 12, 2013

nukemaster :

i forgot my mainboar, it's Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P, and my graphic card doesn't have power connector, maybe it's consume from mainboard, no additional PCI cards.

ko888 · Nov 12, 2013

Motherboard: 38 W
AMD Phenom ii x4 965 BE: 113 W
2 DDR3 Modules: 6 W
XFX HD 6670: 36 W
1 HDD: 10 W
DVD+-RW: 27 W
3 Fans: 13 W

Total: 243 W

You would still need to add the PSU's conversion efficiency losses to the above total.

andristefanus · Nov 12, 2013

ko888 :

do you think if I buy 80 plus bronze PSU would be a good choice?

ko888 · Nov 12, 2013

andristefanus :

Minimum of a 300 Watt or greater system power supply with a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 21 Amps or greater.

nukemaster · Nov 12, 2013

ko888 :

Excellent numbers. I just want to note that efficiency does not come into the equation for any purpose other than power consumption by the power supply it self.

Computer power supplies are rated in OUTPUT.

A 300 watt 80+ gold power supply will take less power to make 300 watts, but an old 300 watt power supply will still make 300 watts(assuming the design allows it to deliver what it says) and not stop when it consumes 300 watts at the wall.

I see too many users thinking they need to take efficiency of the power supply(assuming that an 80+ platinum power supply with the same rail ratings as a regular 80+ will put out more power. they will both put out the same amount) into the wattage they choose. This is simply not true.

I am not saying to not get more than you need, It is best from an efficiency stand point(smallest loss of input to output power) to run a PC power supply at about 50-60% load.

andristefanus, The boards PCI-E slot can provide upto 75 watts @ 12 volts(some revision was supposed to be good for more, but no one counts on it)

ko888 · Nov 12, 2013

Power supply efficiency would only need to be taken into consideration if you're trying to determine the power draw at the PSU's AC power plug.

Since the OP was attempting to determine power consumption using an AC power meter then it would include conversion losses.

nukemaster · Nov 12, 2013

Ok. I just wanted to confirm it. I see too many users claiming a 500 watt power supply is 500 watts AC in.

The 955be I had was very good on power. Almost went with an AMD media center, but only found an ITX board for Intel. It worked out even better I think(low power and very cool running).

I also appreciate the massive amounts of knowledge you share here

andristefanus · Nov 13, 2013

i'll i need is a simple answer

, like i said, i'm newbie with hardwares, but i appriciate all of you for the answers

andristefanus · Nov 14, 2013

ko888 :

andristefanus :

Minimum of a 300 Watt or greater system power supply with a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 21 Amps or greater.

what do you think about Seasonic - SS-400ES it has 80+ Bronze.

nukemaster · Nov 14, 2013

Seasonic makes great power supplies(what that is not a top end model it is still up to the task.). I am almost sure the first EA units from Antec are based on that model as well.

It has 30amps @ 12 volts.

Should be good to go.

ko888 · Nov 14, 2013

The SS-400ES is based on the same platform as the S12II Bronze Series.

The SS-400ES is an OEM PSU and uses lower quality electrolytic capacitors (i.e. Japanese Rubycon CE Series 85°C primary capacitor and mid quality Taiwanese Su'scon 105°C rated secondary capacitors). 3 Year Warranty.

The S12II Bronze Series uses all Japanese United Chemi-Con 105°C rated capacitors, so it theoretically should lead to almost double the service life, hence the 5 Year Warranty.

andristefanus · Nov 15, 2013

ko888 :

I ended up buying a Corsair CX500, what do you think?

nukemaster · Nov 15, 2013

It is rated at a lower temperature than some other units, but if will never be loaded that heavy in your system anyway.

I do not think you will have any issues with it.

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