"Htnakirs" <htnakirs@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:2abda83e-c0a7-4499-aac2-b1340f782fdb@i29g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
> Consider the PC that is bought by the average person :
> Intel or AMD based CPU,
> Motherboard,
> RAM
> Hard disk
> CD/DVD drive
> 15" monitor
> Keyboard, mouse, speakers
>
> If the power requirements of these were calculated: (the values that
> are not relevant to the discussion are marked X)
>
> CPU : 75 Watts ( conservative average)
> Motherboard : 50 Watts (conservative average)
> RAM : 15W (7.5 Watts per module X 2.)
> Hard Disk : 10 W for read write and 5 Watts for idle. ( this is for
> desktop hard disks of 80 GB)
> CD DVD Drive :20 W for spin up/5 W for operating
> 15" monitor : X Watts (75 W is a good approximate)
> keyboard mouse speakers : X watts
>
> The relevant total power requirement would be : 75+50+15+10 = 150.
> (assuming that the CD drive is rarely used)
>
> Motherboard power as mentioned above is conservative since most
> presently available boards bundle powerful graphics chips onboard
> which increase the power intake.
> A discrete graphics card that can offer better performance than the
> onboard variant will consume upwards of 75 Watts. So for such systems
> the total intake is 225 W.
>
> At 150 W per hour, assuming 4 hours of operation per day, the total
> daily power consumed is 600W. In a month, this is 18KW. At the average
> cost per KW of Rs. 5, the monthly spend is Rs. 90. Annually this is Rs.
> 1080 or 1100 approx. With a graphics card, the annual expenditure is
> Rs. 1350.
>

<snip>

Last year I did some actual power measurements on a P-III I was bench
testing...
and was surprsed to see that it was only drawing about 50 watts when
idling...
though with full cpu usage would go up to about 100 watts or so.

I'm sure a dual core cpu doing several "heavy" tasks would draw more power
of course.

Anyway I have two main machines that I use on a daily basis...
by todays standards they'd probably be considered low end...but they do the
job for me.
I use KVM switch and normally only have one machine on...
but if it's doing a "heavy" task...just turn on the other machine and use
that.

About 90% of the time ...only one machine is on...
but the other is there any time I need it.
Since they were pretty much built from other people's cast-off parts...
It's kind of a "poor-mans" dual cpu machine.

I have a good job and could really afford to buy just about any machine I'd
care to get...
but the ones I have work just fine...so have not bothered to get anything
better.

The money I save goes to one or two good vacations a year...