Quizzes & Puzzles78 mins ago
Energy Use - Computer On Or Off
14 Answers
Is it worth turning off my PC when I stop work for lunch ? Does it take more electricity to turn on, connect to the Internet and get ready to work than to just to leave it on for an hour or two ?
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Sleep is a power-saving state that allows a computer to quickly resume full-power operation (typically within several seconds) when you want to start working again. Putting your computer into the sleep state is like pausing a DVD player—the computer immediately stops what it’s doing and is ready to start again when you want to resume working
Like Ratter15, my computer is normally left on 24/7.
However, unlike (say) turning fluorescent tube lighting on and off (where additional energy is used in the start-up process), turning a computer on and off doesn't involve any additional energy requirements. So you're bound to save energy by turning your computer off when you're not using it. Leaving a desktop computer on for a couple of hours (with the monitor turned off) will probably cost you about 3p. If you leave the monitor turned on as well you can add an extra ½p to that.
However, unlike (say) turning fluorescent tube lighting on and off (where additional energy is used in the start-up process), turning a computer on and off doesn't involve any additional energy requirements. So you're bound to save energy by turning your computer off when you're not using it. Leaving a desktop computer on for a couple of hours (with the monitor turned off) will probably cost you about 3p. If you leave the monitor turned on as well you can add an extra ½p to that.
You've not told us which version of Windows you've got but 'Sleep' is usually an option available from the 'Start' button. In Windows 7, for example, if you click on 'Start' you'll see 'Shut Down' shown there but with an arrowhead alongside it. Clicking on that arrowhead offers you the 'Sleep' option.
To 'wake up' a 'sleeping' computer you sometimes simply have to click any key. With other makes you have to press the power button.
To 'wake up' a 'sleeping' computer you sometimes simply have to click any key. With other makes you have to press the power button.
So does a 400W power supply not actually consume 400W all the time?
4/10 of a kWh would be about 6p per hour, for me. I'd love to be able to afford to throw 50p down the drain, every time I sleep but I can't. Might as well leave the lights on, too.
The thing to bear in mind is "what if 50 million other people behaved exactly like I am thinking of doing?"
Waste not, want not.
4/10 of a kWh would be about 6p per hour, for me. I'd love to be able to afford to throw 50p down the drain, every time I sleep but I can't. Might as well leave the lights on, too.
The thing to bear in mind is "what if 50 million other people behaved exactly like I am thinking of doing?"
Waste not, want not.
Hypognosis:
The power rating of a PSU indicates the maximum power that it can produce without overheating (or burning out), not it's actual power output.
As an analogy, the sockets in your house are rated at 13A (because that's the maximum current that they can deliver without the cabling overheating or, as actually happens instead, a fuse blowing). That doesn't mean that they're delivering 13A as soon as you plug a desk lamp or phone charger into them.
The power rating of a PSU indicates the maximum power that it can produce without overheating (or burning out), not it's actual power output.
As an analogy, the sockets in your house are rated at 13A (because that's the maximum current that they can deliver without the cabling overheating or, as actually happens instead, a fuse blowing). That doesn't mean that they're delivering 13A as soon as you plug a desk lamp or phone charger into them.
@Buenchico
I said power consumption, as opposed to output. I appreciate what you're saying and the rating is more about headroom, for peaks of activity, than any serious intent to churn all day at close to maximum. Not that I've ever been involved with a server setup but they need aircon, to keep cool, so I guess they run at full power a lot of the time? (i.e. office hours)
On the other hand, my point revolved around constant power consumption with any unused excess being dumped as heat. Transformers always give off waste heat.
Maybe one of those LCD power monitoring sockets would settle it?
I said power consumption, as opposed to output. I appreciate what you're saying and the rating is more about headroom, for peaks of activity, than any serious intent to churn all day at close to maximum. Not that I've ever been involved with a server setup but they need aircon, to keep cool, so I guess they run at full power a lot of the time? (i.e. office hours)
On the other hand, my point revolved around constant power consumption with any unused excess being dumped as heat. Transformers always give off waste heat.
Maybe one of those LCD power monitoring sockets would settle it?
The people in this thread
http://
rate power consumption *at idle* (ie this 24/7 thing) at about 100W, or one retro (incandescent) lightbulb (quite literally more heat than light, those things).
Sleep mode consumption can be as low as 3W, which would barely light an LED clock display.
http://
rate power consumption *at idle* (ie this 24/7 thing) at about 100W, or one retro (incandescent) lightbulb (quite literally more heat than light, those things).
Sleep mode consumption can be as low as 3W, which would barely light an LED clock display.
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