Energy cost of PCs on standby

[houseisland]

BBC: Energy cost of PCs on standby

"The PC is a special case because if you don't turn it off completely, in other words pull the switch on the back, it's always drawing some kind of power. And depending on what kind of mode you're in that power can be anywhere between five watts to 60 and beyond. If a million PC users switched to a more efficient power supply, it would save almost the equivalent of 250 million litres of gasoline a day."

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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

[NooNoo]

Turn off my computers? Are you mad? How will my webserver work? Or my database server?

But I agree, stuff on standby costs alot and, if like me you prefer a small power company bill, then turning things off is the way to go.

I would really like to see the standby usage meter in the shops... I would buy one!

[Platypus]

Yep, everything in my house gets turned off when not being used, unless it's an essential like the refrigerator, or two units with a clock I refer to.

(Although sometimes I forget and leave the induction cookplate in standby until I notice it later.)

[rgharper]

"The PC is a special case because if you don't turn it off completely, in other words pull the switch on the back, it's always drawing some kind of power. And depending on what kind of mode you're in that power can be anywhere between five watts to 60 and beyond.

Unfortunately, another case of "reporting two facts that do not necessarily follow each other".

Yes, modern PCs do still draw some power unless the power supply switch is turned off or they are disconnected from the AC mains.

And yes, some power supplies draw 60 watts in stand-by mode.

But the fact of the matter is that the two do not necessarily follow each other. It's older, less-efficient power supplies that draw the larger wattage in stand-by mode but most of these are the "When it's off, it's OFF" type of power supply - unless someone has fiddled about with BIOS power management settings in which case replacing the power supply won't help because any power supply will draw more power if the PC is purposely put into a less-restrictive power-down mode.

They do, fortunately, stumble into the truth accidentally by advocating replacing power supplies with more efficient ones but that has nothing to do with power-down or stand-by modes, it has to do with the efficiency of the supply itself. Tom's Hardware Guide did a story a while back on the efficiency of a number of popular power supplies and found that some of them are horribly inefficient, wasting 30% to 50% of the input wattage in excess heat which then has to be vented from the case.

[houseisland]

Unfortunately, another case of "reporting two facts that do not necessarily follow each other".

Yes, modern PCs do still draw some power unless the power supply switch is turned off or they are disconnected from the AC mains.

And yes, some power supplies draw 60 watts in stand-by mode.

But the fact of the matter is that the two do not necessarily follow each other. It's older, less-efficient power supplies that draw the larger wattage in stand-by mode but most of these are the "When it's off, it's OFF" type of power supply - unless someone has fiddled about with BIOS power management settings in which case replacing the power supply won't help because any power supply will draw more power if the PC is purposely put into a less-restrictive power-down mode.

They do, fortunately, stumble into the truth accidentally by advocating replacing power supplies with more efficient ones but that has nothing to do with power-down or stand-by modes, it has to do with the efficiency of the supply itself. Tom's Hardware Guide did a story a while back on the efficiency of a number of popular power supplies and found that some of them are horribly inefficient, wasting 30% to 50% of the input wattage in excess heat which then has to be vented from the case.

Interesitng topic. Good to have your well-informed perspective.


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It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!