cost to run computer?

[trit187]

saw a similar post on a different site, thought it was interesting and wouldn't mind some sort of answer, if a computer is run 24/7 say
p4 2.8ghz at 100% load (folding @ home) with a 350watt psu, 512 ram, 2x 7200 rpm hard drives, and a geforce 4 4600
how much energy would it consume in a week?
(in other words how much does it cost to run)

[Boli]

Negligable really... but you can work it out as 24 x 350W (+monitor)... and that is compared against your electricity rate.

You use more electricity boiling a full kettle than you do running a computer for an hour. I think mine costs about £2.50/month... nothing really.

[hydrogen18]

yeah, its not very much, usually no more than $9 a pc. However, if ure running a big peltier psu or a phase change unit, u could be looking at a large amount of power.

[iceheart]

A computer with a 350w PSU doesn' t go anywhere near 350w anyway. I'd say about 150w-200w peak for most OC'ers machines (unless you're running some big time power eating cooling equipment.).

[iceheart]

Here are some interesting links on the subject:

http://www.dansdata.com/power.htm

http://www.dansdata.com/power2.htm

[jaydee]

With 3 computers crunching D.C. 24/7 my bill goes up $25 a month. Thats without the monitor being on for the most part and 3 water pumps running.

[Boli]

Originally posted by iceheart
A computer with a 350w PSU doesn' t go anywhere near 350w anyway. I'd say about 150w-200w peak for most OC'ers machines (unless you're running some big time power eating cooling equipment.).

Yeah I'm on a 400W PSU and I think I'm nearing the max. output of the thing .

[trit187]

thanks jaydee, that's basically what I was looking for, what are the specs on those computers?

[jaydee]

Originally posted by trit187
thanks jaydee, that's basically what I was looking for, what are the specs on those computers?

Abit KD7
XP1700+@1800-2000mhz
300watt Allied PS

Abit KT7A
XP1600+@1773mhz
300watt Allied PS

ECS K7S5A
XP1600@1540
300watt Antec PS

1 Hydrothruster 500GPH pump
1 No name 200GPH pump
1 little Giant 170GPH pump

I went without them for a few months and the power bill was consistantly $25(+- a few $) lower. After firing them up again for Distributed Folding it shot up $25. That has been pretty consistant over the last 3 years crunching other Distributed Computing projects aswell. No matter what the specs are though it is always about the same. I used to have the Abit KT7A and 2 Epox 8K7A's all with Durons and it wasn't any different....

[airspirit]

I concur with Jaydee ... I get the same from my farm. You must keep in mind, however, that the inland northwest has the lowest electricity costs in the nation. You very well might find that $25 here equals over $75 where you live.

[bigben2k]

Yep. The cost here in Texas is close to 11 cents per kW/hr .

No thanks to Reliant, and their "fuel surtax"... trying to cover up for their California SNAFU.

...and they just applied for another increase too!


I gotta rig up my own power plant There's a new solar cell technology that's coming out soon...

[airspirit]

I've always wanted to set up my own wind turbine ....

[bigben2k]

I remember seeing a documentary about a guy that setup his own private hydro plant.

[jaydee]

Originally posted by airspirit
I've always wanted to set up my own wind turbine ....

I considered this at one time. Wasn't for computers though, long before I even owned a computer back in the High School days.

Anyway what I was considering was setting up a windmill with a alternator from a car, a one wire 100amp variety from J.C. Whitney. I would use a pully/gear system and then run the wire of the alternator to a battery and then from there to a DC to AC converter if needed. I was trying to design it small enough to take on camping trips and what not so you didn't have to burn extra gas recharging the deep cell trolling motor and camper batteries..... never got around to getting deep into it though..

[airspirit]

You can buy a residential wind turbine for around $8k ... that would power a few houses, and you can always sell the excess power back to the power company .... I think that would rule being able to stay off of their billing role ... and getting a small paycheck to boot!

[jaydee]

Originally posted by airspirit
You can buy a residential wind turbine for around $8k ... that would power a few houses, and you can always sell the excess power back to the power company .... I think that would rule being able to stay off of their billing role ... and getting a small paycheck to boot!

Thats not bad at all, I assume you would still have a connection to the main grid though incase, well, the wind isn't blowing.

[iroc409]

isn't there usually city regs and stuff about using windmills and stuff? if you lived out of the city limits it shouldn't be a problem, but having a full-fledged turbine outside might have some issues. there's someone out of town though by my grandparents place that does that.

here's an interesting idea though. i wonder how this would work, but if you could get it to work right, you'd be set.

still have all your stuff connected to general utility, have some sort of system built up so it'd switch to public supply when the home supply didn't run.

but you could combine the turbine with solar panels, and probably have some sort of battery system to store energy (i'm afraid that a dc-ac inverter that big would be _expensive_.. but who knows). then, you could combine your solar system this way. on a lot of older houses they set up a heat collector on the roof to provide warmth and hot water. you could build a heat exchanger for water in the solar panel setup. like a box with a heat exchanger under the solar panels. the heat would build up substantially in the box... both powering the solar panels through the clear lid and creating heat at the same time.

something to ponder... could be some merit there

toss a gas generator in the loop and you'd be fairly bullet proof... just not sure how the dc power storage, the inverter and the switch-to-public mechanisms would work...


edit: actually, the heat exchanger would probably work really well if you built it special... i mean, water heats up pretty easy, and if you've ever been on a roof in summer, those shingles get _hot_. so somehow you'd have to set up a primary hot water tank that would work in conjunction with a standard water heater that would insure the water was maintained at a proper temperature, but in the summer i bet you'd hardly have to run your hot water heater at all... hrmmm..... then you'd just circulate the water from an insulated water-heater type tank to the heat exchanger and back, and somehow regulate it to the regular water heater.... with that you'd save a ton of electricity and gas $$... anybody have any ideas how to combine this stuff, and is it possible to set up that big of an inverter for the dc supply??

[jaydee]

Originally posted by iroc409
isn't there usually city regs and stuff about using windmills and stuff? if you lived out of the city limits it shouldn't be a problem, but having a full-fledged turbine outside might have some issues. there's someone out of town though by my grandparents place that does that.

here's an interesting idea though. i wonder how this would work, but if you could get it to work right, you'd be set.

still have all your stuff connected to general utility, have some sort of system built up so it'd switch to public supply when the home supply didn't run.

but you could combine the turbine with solar panels, and probably have some sort of battery system to store energy (i'm afraid that a dc-ac inverter that big would be _expensive_.. but who knows). then, you could combine your solar system this way. on a lot of older houses they set up a heat collector on the roof to provide warmth and hot water. you could build a heat exchanger for water in the solar panel setup. like a box with a heat exchanger under the solar panels. the heat would build up substantially in the box... both powering the solar panels through the clear lid and creating heat at the same time.

something to ponder... could be some merit there

toss a gas generator in the loop and you'd be fairly bullet proof... just not sure how the dc power storage, the inverter and the switch-to-public mechanisms would work...

Being your allready into it for 8g's you just aswell drop another 8g's on a diesel/propane/whatever backup generator that will supply the whole house if needed. Would never have to worry about power outages again.

[iroc409]

Originally posted by jaydee116
Being your allready into it for 8g's you just aswell drop another 8g's on a diesel/propane/whatever backup generator that will supply the whole house if needed. Would never have to worry about power outages again.

that's kinda what i was thinking, but it also depends on price for fuel and stuff. diesel is generally a little cheaper, but there's got to come a point where diesel and price for public power cross..

[bigben2k]

Most solutions available today aren't cost efficient, compared to a utility. Heck even a solar water heater is really iffy. Most of these things take 15/20 years to pay for themselves, if that.

Any home power generation scheme is going to require some kind of "energy storage".

The only thing I see coming, is the new solar cell technology. It *may* allow us to generate some electricity, to charge a battery, which can be used in emergency lighting.

I had already started an emergency lighting system, a few years back, using an old car battery. The idea was to expand it to wire up a house with a 12 Vdc circuit. At the time, it was charged with a battery charger, I had just put in a regulator which was driving a LED. The next logical step would be to wire it up to solar panels for a free charge, and add the power fault circuitry.