[Turing]

Most PCs (with monitor on) consume around 150W while in normal operation. With the monitor off that drops to less then 90W... and in sleep mode that drops to around 20W.

In short, the energy usage is minimal.

Edit:
For reference, regular incandecent light bulbs use about 75W.

 

[Mr.Radar]

I leave my computer on 24/7 folding for the Head-Fi Folding@Home team (don't you?).

 

[GokieKS]

All three of my PCs are running 24/7. One's an HTTP server, which has to be. One is a IRC Fserve server/BT machine, and my primary computer I want to be able to use as soon as I wake up. Do turn monitors off when I'm asleep though.

~KS

 

[Jasper994]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dj_mocok hm... didnt know that... but then again, its still like 300 watts or something in total.. ?

I have my computer (Athlon XP 1900+/Radeon 8500 video card) and monitor (19") plugged into my UPS and between the two I'm still only around 210W. 300 is a bit high, what on earth are you running in your box?

 

[VitaminJosh]

I always keep my systems on. (uptime >= *) The only thing that should concern you is consumer hard drives are not meant to be left on 24/7. Then again, most IDE drives weren't all that reliable in the first place. Maxtor for example makes a special server line (MaXLine), as does Seagate (Savvio), and Hitachi (Ultrastar), and Fujitsu... A desktop PC hard drive usually only has a life time of 1-5 years (usually about 3), with your PC on all the time you shrink that lifetime down. It can be argued that powering it on/off will shrink it's lifetime too, but I think the heads have more of a chance to get stuck without movement - keep it on. It'll die eventually anyway.. The old Conner Peripherals, and Quantum drives were a lot better build quailty than the crap they're pawning off on you now. Most consumers upgrade or replace their systems every 2 years anyway. So it shouldn't matter. Build a RAID1, RAID6 or something else geekily redundant and forget about it for a while!

My electric bill is always $80-$90, but I have four PC, an HTPC and a Sun Fire V480. I know electricity costs are regional, but I am just saying - if I can run all this and not break my wallet, I'm pretty sure a single system isn't going to be unreasonable for power consumption.

 

[Edwood]

Unless you plan on keeping your computer running for more than ten years, it's not really advantageous to keep it running 24/7. Likely, as mentioned before, you will run into mechanical problems with fans and the like before other components die. Although the opposite is true for hard drives. They like being run 24/7, well, not seeking the whole time, but leaving them powered off in long term storage is not ideal.

Of course, if my computer's aren't doing anything, I turn them off. But, they are all doing something.

My server is the only exception. It's on 24/7 regardless of whether it's idling or not.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Turing Most PCs (with monitor on) consume around 150W while in normal operation. With the monitor off that drops to less then 90W... and in sleep mode that drops to around 20W. In short, the energy usage is minimal. Edit: For reference, regular incandecent light bulbs use about 75W.

Very true. If you really want to save power, have your monitor set to power save mode (most new monitors do this automatically, as part of their "green" energy star compliance.) Or just turn them off.

Especially if you are using a CRT monitor, they burn far more power than even the largest LCD.

-Ed

 

[Edwood]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VitaminJosh My electric bill is always $80-$90, but I have four PC, an HTPC and a Sun Fire V480. I know electricity costs are regional, but I am just saying - if I can run all this and not break my wallet, I'm pretty sure a single system isn't going to be unreasonable for power consumption.

I found that replacing all light bulbs (ones that are left on for more than an hour at a time) with compact florescent ones saved me alot in my electricity bill.

Of course the 24/7 folding is exceeding those savings. Heheh, it's like saving money on not going out to eat as much, then blowing all those savings and then some on buying head-fi gear.

-Ed

 

[roadtonowhere08]

WOW, 21 replies from the time I went to sleep to now. So I guess it's mainly a personal preference then. That's what I figured.

 

[KtoEto]

90 Watts
10 cents/kWh (kiloWatt/hour) (my bill)
8 hours/night
365 days/year
=
262 kWh
26.2 $/year
No big deal

But

think 1'000'000 pc owners doing the same (i.e. PC on at night)
=26'200'000 $/year=Electricity suppliers happy
= 262'000'000 kWh (262 gWh/year)=Environment not as happy as electricity suppliers

Your pc is meant to be turned off. Think of big companies
with thousands of them. Do you think they can afford to let them run 24/7? Do you think they can afford to change them more often just because by turning them off every night they shortened their life expectancy?
I'm not an engineer nor an enviromentalist but common sense and respect tells me to turn it off every night (if I don't need it to be on).

 

[GokieKS]

The electric bill for my apartment is quite high (almost always $100+), but we still have 5 computers usually being on (3 of mine, 2 of my roommate's). ^^

~KS

 

[viator122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KtoEto 90 Watts 10 cents/kWh (kiloWatt/hour) (my bill) 8 hours/night 365 days/year = 262 kWh 26.2 $/year No big deal But think 1'000'000 pc owners doing the same (i.e. PC on at night) =26'200'000 $/year=Electricity suppliers happy = 262'000'000 kWh (262 gWh/year)=Environment not as happy as electricity suppliers Your pc is meant to be turned off. Think of big companies with thousands of them. Do you think they can afford to let them run 24/7? Do you think they can afford to change them more often just because by turning them off every night they shortened their life expectancy? I'm not an engineer nor an enviromentalist but common sense and respect tells me to turn it off every night (if I don't need it to be on).

I agree with you that turning your computer off at night is the responsible thing to do, but I disagree with what you say about big companies. I work at a large law firm (500 lawyers + support staff = ~1000 people) and our computers are on 24/7. They are rebooted every Sunday night. I think they leave them on all the time because A) There are people using them at all times of the day and B) Because the computer support people want to be able to do updates and such on all the computers and you can't do that if some of the computers are off.

 

[KtoEto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 I agree with you that turning your computer off at night is the responsible thing to do, but I disagree with what you say about big companies. I work at a large law firm (500 lawyers + support staff = ~1000 people) and our computers are on 24/7. They are rebooted every Sunday night. I think they leave them on all the time because A) There are people using them at all times of the day and B) Because the computer support people want to be able to do updates and such on all the computers and you can't do that if some of the computers are off.

I worked in two big banks (both with more than thousand PCs) and in both all users turned their pcs off before going home.
Your firm needs them to be on 24/7.
If a firm doesn't need that, I don't see the point of doing it. The cost factor is decisive in this case.

 

[cellophane]

Just a post to encourage people to fold@home, especially since we have a head-fi team. If that's the case, you have a good reason to leave your computer on.

 

[dj_mocok]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jasper994 I have my computer (Athlon XP 1900+/Radeon 8500 video card) and monitor (19") plugged into my UPS and between the two I'm still only around 210W. 300 is a bit high, what on earth are you running in your box?

i was just guessing 300W... based from the 400 W PSU... but maybe the total is 200W though... im not really sure. but still a lot of electricity for me...
maybe because im using this energy saving lightbulbs, so everything else looks like energy-consuming to me.