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How can i calculate what my computer costs me?

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EvilEgg   08-13-2003 at 01:25:06 AM

Subject: How can I calculate what my computer costs me?
How can I calculate what my computer is costing me? I don't mean the parts; I mean what it is costing me in electricity to run an ftp server, or to run a gaming server.

I'm not really concerned about the cost; I just would like to know how to calculate it.

Example System: 2200XP+, 1GB DDR333, 80GB HDD, nVidia Ti500, 2 Case Fans, 430W PSU, NIC, Sound Card, USB Card, Firewire Card, Floppy, DVD drive, CDRW drive

Cost per kilowatt: $1.50 (not sure what it is, just as an example)

Thank you,

Thomas

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MaximumGoat   08-13-2003 at 01:39:36 AM
- 0 +

well, work out how much power it uses (maybe 150watts? = 0.15 kilowatts)

and then how much electricity costs you in price per kilowatt hours, this is the amount it costs you to use a kilowatt for 1 hour.

now, multiply price per kilowatt hour by the amount of kilowatts used (kilowatt = watt/1000) and now by time in hours, or 24 to find cost per day

example;

0.15 kilowatts * 7p per kilowatt hour * 24 = 25p per day

but then 150watts may be a bit optimistic, and electricity may be much more expensive for you.

"keyboard error or no keyboard present, press F1 to continue or DEL to enter setup" spot the deliberate mistake

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Flinx   08-13-2003 at 01:58:23 AM
- 0 +

I think someone said it best this way.
<b>Compare your bills before and after.</b>

I'd say about $10-$15/Mth (Say $7.50-$12.00 US) depending on your electricity costs.
I'd be more worried about the depreciation on the value of your computer.
The UPS and perhaps fire hazard.
Internet badwidth if you have limits are are likely to exceed them.

The loving are the daring!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flinx on 08/12/03 08:01 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

Reply to Flinx
Grub   08-13-2003 at 02:51:10 PM
- 0 +

Here's an easy way. Certain online Appliance stores sell power totalizers. You plug your electrical device into it, then you plug that into the wall. It will record and display how much power you use over a certain period of time. They are pretty handy, but expensive.
Another way to do it is measure the current draw your computer uses with a multimeter and multiply that by 110. That will give you power in watts.

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
jp5   08-13-2003 at 04:13:03 PM
- 0 +

It's probably consistantly around 150W. So just think of it as leaving 2 75W lights on all the time. But how can you put a price on gaming pleasure? :smile:

Reply to jp5
jihiggs   08-14-2003 at 12:37:13 AM
- 0 +

how do you measure the draw with a multimeter?

wpdclan.com cs game server - 69.12.5.119:27015

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Grub   08-14-2003 at 02:57:05 PM
- 0 +

Two ways. TThere are inductive current clamps. It's spring loaded clamp that you place around one leg of the power cord going into the power supply. It really measures the intensity of the magnetic field generated by current passing through the conductor...so its an indirect measurement, but accepted as faily accurate. Also you can "jumper" one leg of AC cord with the multimeter leads, but you have to have a good meter that can handle that much current (although its probably around 1 to 2 amps). I wouldn't recommend either way. The first one is expensive, and the second is dangerous. If you are really interested in doing this use the power totalizer I talked about.

Get your own sig!!! :tongue:

Reply to Grub
hatimh   08-14-2003 at 03:53:06 PM
- 0 +

Maximumgoat's reply is the most accurate.

I have a device as someone else mentioned in this thread. I programmed the price per kilowatt hour (5.93 pence UK).

All my PC devices eg speakers router etc plug into a 6 socket power adapter I then plug this 6 socket power adapter into the device.

The device has some function buttons which when pressed change the display to show how much power is being drawn. My system altogether draws about 90w in normal usage and 110w when playing games.

The device times how long since you plugged the device in and gives you a running cost in pence :)

Basically on average my system costs me 1.15 pence per hour to run. that's about 1.7 cents for you yankees. Maybe electricity is cheaper or more expensive for you guys out there.

-----------------------------------
The bigger I am, the harder they fall.

Reply to hatimh
phsstpok   08-14-2003 at 07:21:51 PM
- 0 +

90-110 watts? Sounds awful low. If PCs could get by on this low of a power draw we wouldn't need 300-400 watt power supplies.

Your overclocked Barton is drawing at least 70 watts all on it's own. Your monitor has got be using 60-100 watts (unless you have an LCD panel). Video card 10 to 50 watts. Fans 10-20 watts. Well I think you get the picture.

<b>56K, slow and steady does not win the race on internet!</b>

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hatimh   08-15-2003 at 02:02:03 AM
- 0 +

I get your point, but there's no easy way of proving my device is innaccurate. Until then, I have to just believe it.

-----------------------------------
The bigger I am, the harder they fall.

Reply to hatimh
cdpage   08-18-2003 at 05:49:19 PM
- 0 +

where can one get one of these devices?


ASUS P4S8X - P4 2.4B - 2 x 512M DDR333 - ATI 9500 Pro(Sapphire) - WD 80G HD (8M Buffer) - SAMSUNG SV0844D 8G HD - LG 16X DVD - Yamaha F1 CDRW - Iomega Zip 250 int.

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