The cost of leaving your PC on
by DJ Neawedde | 17th February 2007
Have you ever thought about how much power your computer draws if you leave it on all the time? Maybe you have. Jeff Atwood got a Kill-a-Watt to figure out exactly how much power his server and Windows Media Center home theater PC were drawing.
Atwood reports “leaving my server on is costing me $200 / year, or $16.68 per month. My home theater PC is a bit more frugal at 65 watts. Using the same formulas, that costs me $81 / year or $6.75 per month.”
He also gives 5 power saving tips for computers you do keep on 24/7:
- Configure the hard drives to sleep on inactivity.
- Upgrade to a more efficient power supply.
- Don’t use a high-end video card.
- Configure the monitor to sleep on inactivity.
- Disconnect peripherals you don’t use.
Atwood brings up another interesting point, “it’s also smart to avoid Intel’s Pentium 4 series, as they use substantially more power than their AMD equivalents.”
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[…] Here’s a list of 10 easy tips that can help you save energy and your money. Also, check out ways to save energy if you like to keep your computer on 24.7. 10. Upgrade your gear 9. Dim your screen 8. Consolidate and virtualize computers 7. Turn off peripherals 6. Kill unnecessary processes 5. Get a smart power switch 4. Enable energy saver settings 3. Unplug energy vampires 2. Spin down your hard drive 1. Shut down […]
July 13th, 2007 at 4:45 pm