Is your high end rig a high end cost?

[W1nTry]

We in T&T benefit from oil, gas and everything that comes with it, particularly a LARGE subsidy on fuel. We have some of the BEST power rates anywhere and as such we don't really think too much about the POWER our rigs are consuming whilst we bask in HD gaming glory, let's stop for a moment and really think about how much extra our rigs are adding to our lightbill and then think is it reasonable?

Tom's Hardware thought about it as well and here are the results of their findings:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/power-consumption-graphics-cards,review-32118.html

It's some pretty alarming figures, all you high end rigs out there have a read.

[Arcmanov]

Oh I've read this...and for a long time I've been cognizant of the amount of power my rig, by itself, consumes.  I used to leave it on whole day, every day, until I saw my light bill starting to climb upwards of $600 for the 60-day period.  When you have other bills to pay, that quickly becomes a cause for concern.  Having it on now for just 6 or 7 hours a day has netted about $300 in savings.

I actually carefully scrutinise the power requirements of any new hardware I'm buying now for this rig...which is why I balked at Nvidia's high-end offerings, and decided on my current setup.  Do I need a six-core CPU?  Hell no (but it sure would be nice to have ).  When I consider the long-run power cost, and its impact on my wallet...well, the wallet wins (sometimes).

Not to mention the cost of some of this high-end, power-hungry hardware being downright ridiculous as well.
I find it an absolute waste to spend upwards of $600 US on a GPU, only to have it sit idle during the day,
just sucking up watts.

[W1nTry]

A man after the 'green-earths' heart! Anyone else care to comment? Capn? Pheonix, etc, etc? Has anyone else seen REAL world cost savings by reducing the Rig 'ON' time? I myself hardly run it of late (though my brother VirtueTT does) and even though i've renewed (somewhat) my folding efforts, I have not left my rig on 24x7.

[phoenix31tt]

well, we have a factory on our premises so really and truly our power consumption is dwarfed by the 3-phase machines running of the same feed.

and leaving the machines off to do a test from month to month wont help because the 3-phase machines usage would not be consistent from month to month either... so yea i guess we are fortunate in that sense

[Spazosaurus]

Aye, I would not have you spread lies abt my beloved Nvidia.

In recent times, power draw from both AMD and NV cards is not that much different. Just mow much money you'll save in power bill between the two cards are negligible.

I myself have gone on the LED display bandwagon as they draw significantly less power than their tubed counterparts. It may have costed more up front but i'm certain ill see an ROI early in its lifetime.

I have also stopped leaving my main rig on during the day and only have it on when im actually home. I still have my hyper-v host up and running 24/7 though connected to my 5 hard drives but that is a necessity. Other than that I leave nothing on while i'm away, AC and lights included.

[TriniXaeno]

+1 for a very salient thread

This has been on my mind for months.

Since the T&TEC price hike our bill has been through the roof. Around 1200.00 every 60 days ($600 a month)

Wish there was some killer app you could install in your breaker cabinet that would report on electricity usage per breaker/socket.

That way you could tell which devices were really eating into your bill.

We've gotten paranoid about leaving on lights and AC units, all the PCs are set to sleep automatically (with the exception of one) but the bill hasn't reduced much if at all.

Would be very interested in hearing typical light bills that some of you guys pay.

[UltimateGamer]

Our bill is about $1300 - $1400 over the 60 period.

For that we have 2 ACs, 3 TVs, 4 Computers (2 of which are on 24/7, other 2 about 14 hrs daily) and a Laptop running (in addition with the essentials like fans and fridge etc). What is ridiculous it that before they revised the billing, with 2 computer's and an AC our bill was around $450 - $600 over the 3 month period. I know the power draw on the computers' contribute, but that hike in electricity price 2 years ago is really what hit us the hardest. After that hike, our $600 3 month bill became $1100 2 month bills. And with the addition of 2 more computers and an AC, we are now at that $1400 range. I think i'll run an experiment next billing cycle to determine how much does our computer's really contribute to the bill.

[VirtueTT]

A man after the 'green-earths' heart! Anyone else care to comment? Capn? Pheonix, etc, etc? Has anyone else seen REAL world cost savings by reducing the Rig 'ON' time? I myself hardly run it of late (though my brother VirtueTT does) and even though i've renewed (somewhat) my folding efforts, I have not left my rig on 24x7.

To justify this statement, i only use it on weekends.... Other than that when i am around it isnt on or our little brother reads comics or our mom is play mahjong lol. On another note, we only have 2 computers currently running in our home, not counting the Xbox when W1ntry is on yet our dad still complains about the light bill continuously. Now taking into consideration neither W1nTry or I are home alot during the week leaves me to wonder wtf is still causing my father to complain every time i come home. So in retrospect, i don't believe his rig or the other computer we have (which is idling half the time and isnt a power whore) contribute substantially to the electricity consumption.

[Spazosaurus]

There are two other pc's in the house that run pretty much 24/7. But considering we have 4 a/c's ranging from 18 to 24000btu, a LARGE chest deep freeze, a LARGE standing freezer and 2 big fridges...also 2 of those tall drinks chillers like the ones u find in the grocery plus other various industrial mixers and graters, I guess its not hard to see why our bill comes in at over $2400 each cycle.

[mailman166]

Wish there was some killer app you could install in your breaker cabinet that would report on electricity usage per breaker/socket.

That way you could tell which devices were really eating into your bill.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G7TKCG/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER


Test it on idle and high gaming usage then multiply by the ratio of a typical day of how much u do both and then u can check KwH for a day

[W1nTry]

WTF Capn doing in he house... like you own a grocery...

[VirtueTT]

My own was average $450 for 2 mths with 4 people in the house.

Now the last one was $250 last 2 mths with me alone. Hopefully it will be lower since is only the fridge does be on constantly, before it had a bigger fridge and a chest freezer running 24/7.

As W1nTry tries to figure out what kinda black market trade Awesome is in to, im tryin to figure out if O/C is tampering with the meter on his lamp post... Or perhaps he uses some alternative power source? Hamsters running on wheels throughout the day and only pulling power from t&tec for his rig? what is your secret?

[TriniXaeno]

Wish there was some killer app you could install in your breaker cabinet that would report on electricity usage per breaker/socket.

That way you could tell which devices were really eating into your bill.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000G7TKCG/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER


Test it on idle and high gaming usage then multiply by the ratio of a typical day of how much u do both and then u can check KwH for a day

+1 to you sir

This is absolutely what the doctor ordered!!!

Not as automated as my earlier suggestion but practical and cheap