Quad Core big electricity usage

[waterprism]

Hi,

Has anyone noticed increased electricity usage after upgrading their computer, especially to a biggish CPU? I've noticed a big spike in my electricity bill since I upgraded from a P3 to a Quad Core. It's an over 100% spike. I was paying ~R250 for electricity before but now it's ~R750 or more. I also got an LED monitor at the same time, but I don't think that would add too much. Is it just a coincidence and I've got something else to look into (the electricity at this place has been a big buggy with unrelated things), or can a Quad Core consume that much more power than a P3?

Thanks a lot.

 

[nelis]

No there might be something else wrong with your power. A PC is the least power hungry in a house

 

[scotty777]

IIRC, a Quad core will only use between 100 watts and 140 watts. The P3's use 13-40watts... so It's very likely that the processor is making a slight power difference... but double power output seems a little otherwise. And furthermore, I think you should look into the new pc as a whole, ie: if it's using a graphics card (the new ones consume monsoon amount of power), and if you leave the pc to run flat out all the time (which I doubt, you probably using the pc for office 2007 ).

anyways, I think you should maybe look into other items that could be faulty...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_III_microprocessors

 

[Archer]

No, there is something wrong there. Average PC use (lets say 4 hours 100% load) should end up costing you no more than R50 a month

 

[HavocXphere]

Everyone's electricity bills are spiking. Its not your quad.

 

[kayvee]

Agreed. Any PC is pretty insignificant in the greater scheme of things. It's more like your electricity "service provider".

 

[scotty777]

Everyone's electricity bills are spiking. Its not your quad.

True that... apparently my folks owe the municipality R70 000 because we've been undercharged on electricity (we already pay R2500 a month) for a few years... However, I think hey just trying their luck, because I did a research projected on my houses power consumption, and in the middle of winter (so we rocked heaters, parties (world cup ) and lots of coffee), and the power consumption projected was about R2000-R2300 a month... Perhaps you should filter through your bills and see if they aren't suddenly adding on power units...

 

[snobee]

IIRC, a Quad core will only use between 100 watts and 140 watts. The P3's use 13-40watts... so It's very likely that the processor is making a slight power difference... but double power output seems a little otherwise. And furthermore, I think you should look into the new pc as a whole, ie: if it's using a graphics card (the new ones consume monsoon amount of power), and if you leave the pc to run flat out all the time (which I doubt, you probably using the pc for office 2007 ).

anyways, I think you should maybe look into other items that could be faulty...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Pentium_III_microprocessors

I was at an Intel Roadshow yesterday afternoon/evening here in Cape Town, and one of the presentations was to show the power usage of an i5. When it was idling it was doing about 30W to 40W. Sleeping it was doing about 1.5W, and in hibernation the Intel Presenter said it would do less than 0.2 of a watt. This did not include the monitor/screen or a high end graphics card.

 

[waterprism]

Hi guys. Thanks a lot for your thoughts.

Yeah, kind of confusing. It seems odd that it would be a coincidence as it started happening as soon as I bought the computer, but I called Acer also and they also said it shouldn't use that much electricity. However, it has been having problems though and is used a lot *during problems*. It's got that Windows 7 audio crackling problem (joy) on some programs which makes the CPU cycle up, and because I use audio in my line of work, I sometimes have to let it run quite a while whilst cycling high and the fans whirring, etc. That got me thinking it also could be the computer. But Archer said even a 100% load over 4 hours wouldn't generate the bills I'm getting (and it only runs at ~3% to ~34% [depending on the crackling problem] anyway).

Pretty confused about this and hope it's not some effing Eskom bug hunt that lands up in the Star Metrowatch before it gets solved.

Thanks.

@Scotty - Thanks. Just standard onboard stuff. I do notice more units on my electricity bill though, though I haven't looked deeply into it. But just say it were the computer, I'd see more units anyway wouldn't I?

 

[scotty777]

Hi guys. Thanks a lot for your thoughts.

Yeah, kind of confusing. It seems odd that it would be a coincidence as it started happening as soon as I bought the computer, but I called Acer also and they also said it shouldn't use that much electricity. However, it has been having problems though and is used a lot *during problems*. It's got that Windows 7 audio crackling problem (joy) on some programs which makes the CPU cycle up, and because I use audio in my line of work, I sometimes have to let it run quite a while whilst cycling high and the fans whirring, etc. That got me thinking it also could be the computer. But Archer said even a 100% load over 4 hours wouldn't generate the bills I'm getting (and it only runs at ~3% to ~34% [depending on the crackling problem] anyway).

Pretty confused about this and hope it's not some effing Eskom bug hunt that lands up in the Star Metrowatch before it gets solved.

Thanks.

@Scotty - Thanks. Just standard onboard stuff. I do notice more units on my electricity bill though, though I haven't looked deeply into it. But just say it were the computer, I'd see more units anyway wouldn't I?

you will see more units, but really, the pc will consume maybe 200watts max, and since 1 unit is 1kWh (or, 3600kJ's of energy), and if your pc is eating 200watts, and you run it flat out for 5 hours a day, then you'll have used 1 unit... project that over say a month, and you've used 30 units...
1 unit of energy via eskom is R0.416 (I think, I can't really be sure) atm... so... that's *drum roll* R12.48 extra, assuming your previous pc ran on love and hamster food.

Hell, lets go crazy, lets say in ideal, you pc burns 50watts (when it does nothing), and you use it flat out for 8 hours @200watts (8 hours assuming you working on your pc for 8 hours... which is extreme).

this means in 24 hours you have used 2880kiloJoules via ideal time and 5760kiloJoules via working time. ie: total energy units used in a day: 2.4.
this over a month= 72 units, which translates to R29.95 more money spent on pc uptake, again assuming that your previous pc didn't use any energy what so ever to run.
(btw, if you ran your pc flat out 24/7, you'll pay R60 more than you would if didn't run the pc at all, crazy shyte hey?)

Simply put, either they calculating your power consumption wrong, you have something that eating up energy like crazy, you've suddenly got an urge to make a cup of coffee... every 5 minutes, or they charging your for units that aren't actually being used up at all (remember, they don't check your meter every month like they should (naughty naughty Eskom... farking swines), they'll check it every 3 months, and create projections... so all they need to do is get one error, and you can have a big stuff up for a few months.

 

[waterprism]

you will see more units, but really, the pc will consume maybe 200watts max, and since 1 unit is 1kWh (or, 3600kJ's of energy), and if your pc is eating 200watts, and you run it flat out for 5 hours a day, then you'll have used 1 unit... project that over say a month, and you've used 30 units...
1 unit of energy via eskom is R0.416 (I think, I can't really be sure) atm... so... that's *drum roll* R12.48 extra, assuming your previous pc ran on love and hamster food.

Hell, lets go crazy, lets say in ideal, you pc burns 50watts (when it does nothing), and you use it flat out for 8 hours @200watts (8 hours assuming you working on your pc for 8 hours... which is extreme).

this means in 24 hours you have used 2880kiloJoules via ideal time and 5760kiloJoules via working time. ie: total energy units used in a day: 2.4.
this over a month= 72 units, which translates to R29.95 more money spent on pc uptake, again assuming that your previous pc didn't use any energy what so ever to run.
(btw, if you ran your pc flat out 24/7, you'll pay R60 more they is you didn't run the pc at all, crazy shyte hey?)

Simply put, either they calculating your power consumption wrong, you have something that eating up energy like crazy, you've suddenly got an urge to make a cup of coffee... every 5 minutes, or they charging your for units that aren't actually being used up at all (remember, they don't check your meter every month like they should (naughty naughty Eskom... farking swines), they'll check it every 3 months, and create projections... so all they need to do is get one error, and you can have a big stuff up for a few months.

Scotty, thanks a lot for all that information. Really good stuff. I was getting the dawning realization that I'd now have to bone up on electricity theory to get to the bottom of this, and you've given me a place to start. Good stuff, bud. Thanks a lot.

 

[scotty777]

Scotty, thanks a lot for all that information. Really good stuff. I was getting the dawning realization that I'd now have to bone up on electricity theory to get to the bottom of this, and you've given me a place to start. Good stuff, bud. Thanks a lot.

np, I spent days on the research project, so it's good to see it's going to good use

 

[PallBearer]

what i would like to know from ESKOM is that we have a 3-phase incomer from ESKOM and we submit our own meter reading everymonth.
So for an average month we use about 3000 units, but they come with thier invoice and they break the 3000 units up into smaller pieces. <50Kwh, 51-300Kwh, 301-400kwh,401-500kwh,501-600kwh and >600kwh.
And it just so happens that majority of the 3000 units falls within the >600Kwh range, majority of the R3K bill.

HOW, do they know what consumption was used at each rate, if the only measuring device they have is the previous meter reading and the current meter reading??????

Pre-Paid here we come.....that way we can't be screwed!!!!

 

[scotty777]

what i would like to know from ESKOM is that we have a 3-phase incomer from ESKOM and we submit our own meter reading everymonth.
So for an average month we use about 3000 units, but they come with thier invoice and they break the 3000 units up into smaller pieces. <50Kwh, 51-300Kwh, 301-400kwh,401-500kwh,501-600kwh and >600kwh.
And it just so happens that majority of the 3000 units falls within the >600Kwh range, majority of the R3K bill.

HOW, do they know what consumption was used at each rate, if the only measuring device they have is the previous meter reading and the current meter reading??????

Pre-Paid here we come.....that way we can't be screwed!!!!

Flip, R3k bill? That sounds excessive . Yeah, I should also consider prepaid, only thing is I've head they are reluctant to give it out when you live in an affluent area (such as myself)... From my predictions, my parent's will say between R200-R300 a month on a heavy month, and close to R800 on a light usage month (ie: a warm light rain month, where there's no heaters/fans going and we sun dry the clothes). That's a lot on money being wasted. What I honestly think is happening is that Eskom needs to overcharge the affluent to pay for the 'underprivileged', that's my opinion at least. Could just be some monkey on a keyboard typing in the wrong numbers because he failed grade 2.

Interesting to note that my friends from the 'wealthy' area's in Johannesburg all reported overcharging . However, my one mate whole lives on his own in a small flat said he found he was being charged fairly accurately. I would be the first to admit I made a mistake with my readings, however, it's difficult to argue with 20 other house holds that show the same results. Prepaid is definitely the way to go, and if you being over charged on a prepaid system, then boom, you sue the company who made the device . You can't exactly sue Eskom seeing as it's in bed with the Government .

 

[ryu]

my quad is on 24/7 i'm always downloading something. my bill is never that high.