Calculating Power Consumption Of The Entire System
In this table, you’ll find a small set of standard components that you can use as a general guideline for power consumption estimates. Standard CPUs use between 65 and 85 watts, while quad-core processors range from 95 to 140 watts.
Hard drives may vary greatly according to age and model; you can get by with 10 watts as an estimate, because drives rarely run simultaneously at full load. The maximum needed is 30 watts for a short time when booting the system; you should allow a safety buffer for this when estimating maximum power load capacity.
The chipset of a motherboard can be crucial, since integrated components such as sound, network, and additional controllers must be supplied with power. While Intel gets by with 20 to 30 watts overall, a larger SLI motherboard with an nForce chipset can easily require twice as much.
Component | Power Consumption (Watts) |
---|---|
CPU Intel Pentium 4 (Prescott) 3.2 GHz | 84 |
CPU Intel C2D E2140-2220 | 65 |
CPU Intel C2D E6750 | 65 |
CPU Intel C2Q Q6600 | 95 or 105 |
CPU Intel C2D E7200-7300 | 65 |
CPU Intel C2D E8200-8600 | 65 |
CPU Intel C2Q Q9300-9650 | 95 |
CPU Intel Core i7 920 | 85 |
CPU Intel Core i7 940 | 92 |
CPU Intel Core i7 965 Extreme | 100 |
CPU AMD Athlon 64 3800+ EE | 62 |
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ EE | 65 |
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ | 89 |
CPU AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ | 125 |
CPU AMD Phenom X3 | 95 |
CPU AMD Phenom X4 9100e-9350e | 65 |
CPU AMD Phenom X4 9500-9750 | 95 |
CPU AMD Phenom X4 9750-9850 Black | 125 |
CPU AMD Phenom X4 9950 Black | 140 |
Hard Drive 2.5" | 2 to 6 |
Hard Drive 3.5" | 10 to 30 |
DVD Drive | 5 to 12 |
Mainboard | 20 to 60 |
1 Memory Module | 3 |
For a standard PC, having a powerful graphics card can easily account for 50% of the total power consumption. The values in the examples are measured liberally: the graphics card test system used has a dual-core CPU (65 nm), X38 chipset, two hard drives, and two memory modules, at 85 watts.
Example For A Standard PC Without Graphics Card | Power Consumption |
---|---|
Dual-Core CPU | 65 |
Motherboard, Intel Chipset | 20 |
2 Memory Modules | 6 |
2 Hard Drives | 20 |
Drive + Burner | 20 |
Total Power | 131 |
Example For A Power PC Without Graphics Card | Power Consumption |
---|---|
Overclocked Quad-Core CPU | 130 |
Motherboard, Nvidia Chipset | 60 |
4 Memory Modules | 12 |
4 Hard Drives | 40 |
Driver + Burner | 20 |
Total Power | 262 |