How many kilowatts per hour does a computer consume? How much electricity does a computer consume and how much material resources are spent on it?

How many kW of electricity does one desktop computer consume per day?

1. Guys, do not confuse power with electricity consumption. Power, W, kW (figuratively, like the flow of water through a pipe section), multiply by the amount of time (hour) we get the consumed electricity. energy Wh, kWh (filling the pool).
2. Energy is measured not in kW, but in kW-hours. Power is measured in kW. Study your school physics course, son.
3. Some kind of bullshit! I calculated using your methods and it turned out to be 350 kW for running the computer 12 hours a day. And my entire apartment has two refrigerators, two drawers, and a washing machine. machine, stove, lighting consumes 320 kW per month.
4. An LCD monitor is about 35 W, and the power supply of 3-year-old computers is 300 W maximum. In real conditions, depending on what and how much is in the system unit - 150...250W. Laptops are most often 30...80W. Now multiply by the operating time per day, and you get consumption.
5. An average of 250 watts per hour for office and an average of up to 400 for home.
6. I specifically bought a ROBITON PM-2 device to measure power consumption and was slightly surprised by the results obtained for measuring the power consumption of the Monitor (24")
   and the system unit. Everything is connected via a UPS. System on I7-3770S and Radeon 6670 video (in general the video is good, but not gaming). So Windows is loaded and everything is in a quiet state - 90W.
   When running the 3DMark03-135VT test. At maximum processor load with the OCCT-150BT test. I checked the device on a soldering iron, 40 watt showed 42BT. I think the device is normal. I don’t think it’s correct to rely on the power supply; for example, I have 600W, but see the actual power consumption above. and this, as I said, with a monitor. Now multiply watts by hours
7. We multiply the power consumption (from the passport) in Watts by 24 hours - we get the energy consumed in Watt hours. Divide by 1000 - we get kilowatt hours.
8. look at the passport of the monitor and the system unit - the parameters are indicated there, they are different))
9. Regarding consumption... .
   How much the monitor consumes is written on the nameplate behind it.
   A regular monitor (not LCD!) says 240V 1A on the nameplate. That is, 220*1=220W.
   If the monitor is LCD, then it consumes much less, approximately 40-60 W.
   With the system unit it is a little more complicated - it is not known how many devices are crammed into it and in what consumption mode they are in. But you can roughly estimate it by its power supply. Power supplies range from 250W to 600W. That is, this is the maximum power that they can produce. The rated power is 2/3 of the power of the power supply. Let's take something in between. For example, 300W. Even without measuring the current consumption of the entire computer (and you can accurately measure it, for example, with a Chinese digital ampere-voltmeter), we can say that it consumes approximately 400 - 600 W.
   Electricity in our city costs 2 rubles 00k. for 1000 watts. This means that in an hour your computer together with the monitor will consume approximately.... It’s not difficult to calculate further.
10. My old computer (Intel Celeron 1100 MHz) with a 17-inch LCD monitor consumes about 150 W, which, with 24-hour operation, will be 0.15 kW * 24 hours = 3.6 kW * hour. In general, the power consumption of any appliance at home can be measured using an electric meter if it is greater than the sensitivity threshold of the meter itself.

Finding out how much electricity a computer spends is made difficult by the fact that a computer is a complex device. Its power generally depends on the hardware - the installed processor, video card, number of monitors. The second factor is the time and purpose of using the PC. It would seem that the longer a computer runs, the more energy it requires to function. But the system may have a simple office software package open, or maybe a resource-demanding game. Therefore, you should take into account not only purely technical characteristics, but also the software and games being launched.

How to find out and calculate the electricity consumption of a computer? We have identified two main methods:

• using special sites;
• and with direct measurement of meter readings.

To most accurately measure the amount of energy consumed, you need to know the technical aspects of your computer. What program allows me to determine how many watts of power my PC is using? There are sites designed to calculate the power of equipment. We will use the OuterVision service. It allows you to calculate the power of a computer power supply using a calculator integrated into the site.

The site calculates the power of the iron. After all, the more sophisticated the PC, the more energy it consumes. Working with the service is simple - we fill in the table with data about the computer components and calculate its potential power.

Note! There are two types of calculators on the site: advanced (Expert) and simple (Basic). It will be enough for the average user to use the simple mode, especially considering that the site is in English and it can get confusing.

Measuring electricity consumption of a computer or laptop through the OuterVision service

Step 1.

Step 2.

Step 3. Let's start filling out the computer information. First of all, we indicate the type of motherboard. For personal computers, select “Desktop”.

Step 4. CPU – processor data.

Here you can select the number of cores, or find your own processor in the search bar - the site’s database is large.

Step 5. Memory – RAM. Either select the quantity from the first drop-down list, or indicate specifically from the second. We recommend using the second one, since the speed of the RAM depends on the type (DDR) and affects the performance of the PC, and, consequently, the amount of energy consumed.

Step 6. The site allows you to determine the video card with accuracy down to a specific model. The energy that goes into a computer is highly dependent on two key devices: the process and the video card.

The first point is to select the card manufacturer (AMD, Nvidia).

Then we indicate the number of video cards installed in the PC (useful for gamers - often several cards are installed on gaming computers).

The last point is to find your specific model in the list.

Step 7 Storage – we are talking about hard drives. Specifically, about the types of their connection. The parameter is not of fundamental importance - the hard drive has virtually no effect on the energy consumed by the computer.

Step 8 Optical Drives – presence of a disk drive. If you don't have one, skip this step.

Step 9 Monitor. We set the number of connected monitors (the more monitors, the more powerful the video card is overclocked, and other highly loaded processes are connected). For each monitor we indicate the number of inches.

Step 10 That's all for purely technical characteristics. Two points follow:

Step 11 When all fields are filled in, all that remains is to start calculating the approximate amount of energy consumed. To do this, click on the blue “Calculate” button.

Note! To completely change the data in the filled fields and enter them again, click the orange “Reset” button.

Step 12 Let's look at the results. The service analyzes the entered data within a few seconds and displays the result.

Load Wattage is the number we are looking for. This is the amount of energy consumed. In our case it is 265 watts.

It’s that simple, in a few clicks you can determine the power consumption of your computer.

How to find out the power of a computer without using third-party programs?

How to find out how much electricity your computer consumes: alternative methods

There are two more ways to obtain information about energy consumption.

Method 1. Wattmeter. A device designed to accurately measure the electrical energy consumed by a specific appliance. Sold in online stores at an average price of 10-20 dollars. It will be useful for those who assemble “farms” intended for mining Bitcoins.

Method 2. Here you will have to show skill. This method is suitable if you live in an apartment alone. The bottom line: turn off absolutely all devices that consume electricity. The only thing is that you can leave a simple light bulb (then you just need to subtract 100 watts from the calculation). We turn on the computer and note the time of its actual operation. Moreover, you can customize the method for different situations - check the energy consumption when working with office applications, games, or in sleep mode. After the end of the recorded time, all that remains is to count the revolutions on the counter.

How much electricity does a computer consume per hour?

The first way to find out is to return to the OuterVision website and set the Computer Utilization Time parameter to “1 hour per day.” However, we will get a theoretical, approximate result.

The second method is to turn off all devices, mark one hour and count the meter readings. How much electricity does your computer consume in sleep mode?

Sleep mode is a compromise solution for weak PCs.

If you do not use the computer for some time, then turning it on and off takes a lot of time - the system loads internal components, programs open from startup. Sleep mode saves energy; on average, when using it, a PC consumes 100-200 watts. To save even more power in sleep mode, we recommend turning off peripheral devices (printers, scanners) and the monitor.

Should you turn off your computer to reduce energy consumption?

Turning off your computer completely saves energy. However, if you use a UPS (uninterruptible power supply) in your work, the PC will still run the counter. The reason for this is the slow background charging of the UPS battery. If the UPS has not managed to accumulate enough energy while the computer is running, the remainder will be gradually replenished when sleep mode is activated and even after the PC is turned off. Therefore, we recommend turning off the UPS at night or when you are away from home for a long time.

How to reduce your computer's energy consumption

Video - How to find out how many watts a computer consumes

Now every second house and apartment has its own personal computer. Some people have a powerful gaming station, others have a simple office worker. In view of the ever-increasing prices for utilities, many owners are interested in the electricity consumption of a computer - how much electricity does the PC consume per hour or per day, what is the energy consumption in KiloWatts, etc. I’ll help you a little and tell you how to find out the approximate electricity consumption of a computer yourself and without measuring instruments.

How much electricity does a computer use?

No matter what mode the computer is in, it consumes electricity with enviable consistency. It’s just that under some conditions it spends less electricity, and under others it spends more.

Idling

This is a mode when the computer is turned on and ready to work, but no operations are performed on it. For example, you just turned it on or vice versa - you closed all programs and got ready to turn it off. In idle mode, the PC consumes from 75 to 100 watts per hour. Plus 40-70 W eats the monitor. In total we get 0.10-0.17 kW per hour. Roughly speaking, like a powerful incandescent light bulb.

Normal working condition

In this mode, several different programs and applications are executed, the load on the computer varies within different limits, but does not approach the maximum. The average PC consumes approximately 150-180 watts per hour. A powerful gaming computer in this mode consumes more due to the installed sophisticated hardware - on average 200-250 Watts per hour. Don't forget about the monitor. In total we get approximately 0.20-0.25 kW per hour.

When reaching maximum performance, any computer begins to intensively waste electricity. A simple office machine can in some cases consume up to half a kilowatt. Although in most cases the consumption reaches no more than 250-270 watts. With a gaming computer everything is much more complicated. It all depends on the configuration of the hardware that is inside it. Average configurations consume approximately 400 to 500 watts. If the hardware is top-end and the game is very demanding, then the computer literally eats electricity! Consumption can reach up to 1 Kilowatt (1000 Watt) per hour. But I repeat - these are really high-performance gaming PCs with top-end hardware.

Energy saving mode

In this mode, the PC almost completely “falls asleep”, the hard drive is turned off, activity is reduced to a minimum and, accordingly, the computer’s energy consumption decreases. In energy-saving mode, it should consume no more than 10 W per hour (0.01 kW). A monitor switched to a similar mode also consumes about the same amount.

Measuring electricity consumption of a computer or laptop

You can get accurate data and find out how much electricity your computer consumes only with the help of special measuring instruments - energy meters and wattmeters. Such a device can be purchased in specialized stores or ordered online.

There is also a simpler, but also much cruder method of measurement without additional instruments. To do this, you need to turn off all electrical appliances in the house. Then turn on a 100-watt incandescent lamp and count how many times the counter “runs” a circle in a minute. For digital meters, you need to look at the blinking LED. After this, turn off the light bulb, turn on the computer and again count the “revolutions” of the counter per minute. We make a proportion and get the result. Again, it will be rough and approximate, but it will still allow you to get an approximate picture.

How much electricity does our computer consume per hour? We rarely ask this question when purchasing a new system unit. We are usually much more concerned with indicators such as memory size and processor power. We only think about the light it burns every day when we receive another receipt.

In general, we should recognize the obvious truth - modern manufacturers are doing everything in their power to reduce the energy consumption of computers. The results of their work are visible to the naked eye - modern units, in comparison with old machines that went on sale a decade ago, consume several times less electricity. Here it is advisable to draw the first logical conclusion - the more modern the PC, the more economical it is.

Exactly how much electricity does your computer consume?

It is well known that it is now easy to order a computer to suit the needs of a specific user. It is its configuration that determines the energy intensity. Since there are a huge number of options, we will look at a few of the most typical cases.

Electricity consumption for an average power machine used periodically and not too much
active - up to six hours per day, not very large. Its owners are mainly:

• communicate via messengers;
• roam the Internet;
• have fun playing simple online games.

Here the system unit together with the monitor (LCD, of course) will take up to 220 watts per hour. With the operating period indicated above, it will be: 220 × 6 = 1.32 kilowatts.

Keep in mind that the computer wastes electricity even after it is turned off, provided, of course, that its cord remains in the outlet. The average consumption here is within 4 watts.

• from 24 hours we subtract 6 workers;
• the result (18 hours) is multiplied by 4;
• outputs 72 watts;
• 0.072 + 1.32 = 1.392 kW.

It remains to be seen how much the car will consume per month: 1.392 × 30 = 41.76.

Now let’s look at another case: a computer designed for serious online games (it’s called a “gaming one”). Such machines use powerful processors and video cards.

Its consumption volume will be up to 0.4 kW (± 40 watts). Let's count to the maximum, which means that an hour's work on the computer will burn 440 watts. If we assume that the user operates the machine only 8 hours a day, then the result is 440 × 8 = 3.52 kilowatts. Add the time when the machine is turned off (16 hours at 4 W), and the result is 3.584 kW. Accordingly, the PC will spend 107.52 per month.

The power consumption of a computer operating in server mode is not very high, although it remains turned on around the clock. At the same time, the monitor here almost always remains unused, but the power is taken by a powerful hard drive.

So, we take as a basis that a PC server needs 40 watts every hour and we get the volume per day - 960 watts. Accordingly, 29 kW will be released per month.

How to find out exactly how much your PC is consuming

When purchasing a regular lamp, we clearly know what its power is, because it is indicated both on the box and on the bulb. In the case of a personal computer, things are much more complicated, since the overall electricity consumption is affected by:

• selected configuration;
• usage schedule;
• type of problems to be solved.

This statement is true both for a standard machine bought in an electronic supermarket and for a custom-built PC. Thus, determining power is associated with a number of quite objective difficulties. The only thing that can give a general idea of ​​energy consumption is the power of the power supply, the trouble is that the latter is hidden in the system unit. But there are several ways to determine the “gluttony” of technology.

To check consumption as accurately as possible, it is advisable to use a special measuring device - a wattmeter. Now they are sold on both Chinese and Russian sites. The simplest one will cost you about 1,000 rubles; cooler models cost two to three times more. To take readings, simply connect the wattmeter to an outlet located close to the one that powers your computer. Data will begin to arrive to you literally instantly.

If you don’t really want to spend money, but want to know how much light your computer burns, then we do the following:

• turn off all consumer installations in the house;
• we light one light bulb with a power of 100 watts;
• We use the counter to determine the number of revolutions within half a minute;
• turn it off and connect the computer to the network;
• when it loads, launch any program or game on it that “devours” the resource to the maximum;
• count the revolutions again;
• Next we compare the results.

How many kilowatts does a sleeping computer consume?

Even in sleep mode, your PC will consume electricity, although in disproportionately smaller amounts. In this situation the machine:

• disconnects the hard drive from the network;
• all running programs are stored at the RAM level;
• When activated, the PC resumes operation almost instantly.

Here electricity is consumed within 10 percent of the maximum power.

Any computer also has a hibernation mode. In this situation:

• the machine turns off completely;
• all running applications are saved in a separate file;
• takes longer to start.

As a result, the system unit uses energy very economically - consumption here is only twice as high as when it is turned off (4 W).

How to make your computer use less electricity

As you can easily see, in any situation the computer will consume a certain amount of electricity. The only way to avoid this is to always unplug it, which in some cases is extremely inconvenient. It will make the task easier to purchase an extension cord with a separate button - it is enough to place it within reach, and then after work it will be much more convenient to turn off the power.

• when choosing a new car, always give preference to the one that is less voracious;
• reduce the brightness of the monitor;
• switch to laptops;
• try to set aside specific hours for work and play;
• activate a function such as energy saving.

If the car is mainly used at night, consider installing a multi-tariff electric meter.

Previously, manufacturers of computer components thought about increasing clock speeds and the number of cores, while increasing the cost of system power consumption. If the video card or processor was replaced with a newer one, then it was necessary to purchase another power supply, more powerful (about 750 Watt). Now the emphasis is on reducing the technical process and, as a result, this affects energy efficiency. Therefore, there is now no need to replace the power supply. Nowadays, a computer can consume less electricity than the most modern TV. How much is this in numbers?

Motherboard - the basis of a PC

The main foundation of the system, on which its stability rests, is the motherboard. To power it, it requires about 20 - 40 watts - this depends on the functions that are assigned to it. The least functional boards such as mini-ATX and microATX consume a minimum of electricity, and for normal operation of gaming motherboards, much greater energy consumption is required. In the first case, you can take a reserve figure of 30 watts, in the second - 50 watts.

Relatively recently, DDR4 RAM, which operates at low voltages, has become available for sale. As a result, this led to a 30% gain in power consumption, which is less than 4 Watts for two memory sticks.

CPU Energy Efficiency

Significant changes have taken place in the processor market. About 10 years ago, about 100 Watts were needed to power an average processor, and 150 Watts for a more powerful one. We also needed a powerful cooler that would dissipate this heat. Now, for home use and gaming, you will need a processor with a power consumption of only 65 Watts. This happened thanks to the development of the 14 nm process technology. Intel has a 4-core i7-7700 processor in this category. AMD recently launched the 6-core Ryzen 5 1600 processor with the same 65 Watt heat dissipation. For enthusiasts who need 8-core processors or processors with a frequency close to 5 GHz, the cost of power consumption should be calculated starting from 95 Watts.

The processor cooler consumes up to 5 Watts of electricity.

Video card - as the most energy-consuming element

For undemanding users, there are processor options with an integrated video card. At the same time, overall energy consumption costs are significantly reduced, since the most energy-consuming component of the system is the external video card. For low-cost games, a GeForce GTX 1050Ti video card with a consumption of 80 Watts is suitable, but for games at 4k resolution you should look at a video card no lower than the GeForce GTX 1070 with an electricity cost of about 150 Watts. Moreover, in idle mode or when playing video, the consumption will be much less. This is a big step forward in energy efficiency in recent years.

Energy consumption of other peripheral devices

Hard drive manufacturers are also trying to reduce power consumption. Energy consumption in this case is 5 - 15 Watts, and SSDs consume even less - up to 3 Watts.

If the system configuration has a separate sound card, then it can consume up to 50 watts of additional power.

Depending on the operating mode, the DVD drive can consume up to 25 watts of energy.

Let's not forget about the monitor, which is also an element of the system. Let's take its average energy consumption of about 40 watts, depending on the diagonal.

Computer speakers come in a wide variety of models, from all-in-one soundbars to home theater systems. Therefore, their energy consumption can vary over a wide range. For average volume, let's take 20 - 50 watts.

Calculation of total electricity consumption

Above are the main components of a home computer, from which you can roughly calculate its electricity consumption. It all depends on the operating mode and complexity of the devices included in the system.

The maximum energy consumption will be for a computer with an 8-core processor or whose frequency is close to 5 GHz, with a powerful external video card. If we add a separate sound card here, then they will be about 450 watts per hour.

If the computer does not have an external video card and has an energy-efficient processor, then the consumption of such a system will be less than 200 Watts per hour, which is comparable to the energy consumption of a large-diagonal TV.

It should be borne in mind that during idle mode or simple tasks, energy consumption is reduced thanks to energy saving functions built into the BIOS of motherboards or utilities operating under the Windows system.

Therefore, in a month, with 8 hours of daily computer operation, from 50 to 100 kW of electricity will be consumed, depending on the configuration.