power usage
I got a watt meter to see how much power my various computers were using. Here's what I found:
To give some scale to these numbers, a 1 watt appliance left on 24/7 for a year would cost me about $1 for the power. During the times of year that A/C is needed, that 1 watt appliance also needs >1 watt to cool the heat it generates.
Network Gear
2 watts - 802.11g AP
3 watts - dsl modem
5 watts - gigabit switch
5 watts - cable modem
Random Appliances
1 watt - cordless phone charger
4 watts - cell phone charging
57 watts - lamp, lower setting
60 watts - box fan on low
72 watts - battery charger with 4x AA
86 watts - box fan on high
97 watts - lamp (probably a 100W bulb)
Speakers
0 watts - cheap speakers, off
1 watt - cheap speakers, muted
3 watts - speakers with subwoofer, off
7 watts - speakers with subwoofer, muted
10 watts - speakers with subwoofer, medium
20 watts - speakers with subwoofer, loud
Monitor
24 watts - LCD panel
Game Machine
specs: amd xp 2500+, 1gb ram, wd 80gb ide, nvidia 6600 gt
9 watts - off
122 watts - idle
150 watts - idle in game
162 watts - idle in game, max video settings
Linux Machine
specs: amd X2 4400+, 2gb ram, 2x wd 250gb ide, nvidia GeForce 6150 (integrated)
8 watts - off
71 watts - idle with hard drives off
80 watts - idle
129 watts - one core 100%
146 watts - two cores 100%
The linux machine uses less power for two reasons: less power-hungry GPU and a CPU with automatic frequency scaling (changes from 1ghz to 2.3ghz based on demand). While I'm not using this machine, I set the hard drive sleep time to 5 minutes and set the max CPU speed to 1ghz. I want remote access to the data I have stored on this machine, but I want it to use as little power as possible. I have my remote access going through my virtual machines. One is connected to the DSL, one is connected to the cable. By putting the virtual machines on a USB flash drive, I can keep the hard drives idle so they go to sleep.
Talking Clock Laptop
specs: transmeta tm8000, 512mb, hitachi 20gb, disabled ati video card
7 watts - idle
This machine uses less power on and idle than my other machines do off. The other machines are in a low power mode, to support wake on lan and power on by keyboard. Still, it's silly.
Macbook
specs: core 2 duo 2ghz, 1gb, fujitsu 75gb, intel gma950
1 watt - sleeping
24 watts - sleeping + charging
37 watts - idle + charging
66 watts - two cores 100%, disk 100%, charging
To give some scale to these numbers, a 1 watt appliance left on 24/7 for a year would cost me about $1 for the power. During the times of year that A/C is needed, that 1 watt appliance also needs >1 watt to cool the heat it generates.
Network Gear
2 watts - 802.11g AP
3 watts - dsl modem
5 watts - gigabit switch
5 watts - cable modem
Random Appliances
1 watt - cordless phone charger
4 watts - cell phone charging
57 watts - lamp, lower setting
60 watts - box fan on low
72 watts - battery charger with 4x AA
86 watts - box fan on high
97 watts - lamp (probably a 100W bulb)
Speakers
0 watts - cheap speakers, off
1 watt - cheap speakers, muted
3 watts - speakers with subwoofer, off
7 watts - speakers with subwoofer, muted
10 watts - speakers with subwoofer, medium
20 watts - speakers with subwoofer, loud
Monitor
24 watts - LCD panel
Game Machine
specs: amd xp 2500+, 1gb ram, wd 80gb ide, nvidia 6600 gt
9 watts - off
122 watts - idle
150 watts - idle in game
162 watts - idle in game, max video settings
Linux Machine
specs: amd X2 4400+, 2gb ram, 2x wd 250gb ide, nvidia GeForce 6150 (integrated)
8 watts - off
71 watts - idle with hard drives off
80 watts - idle
129 watts - one core 100%
146 watts - two cores 100%
The linux machine uses less power for two reasons: less power-hungry GPU and a CPU with automatic frequency scaling (changes from 1ghz to 2.3ghz based on demand). While I'm not using this machine, I set the hard drive sleep time to 5 minutes and set the max CPU speed to 1ghz. I want remote access to the data I have stored on this machine, but I want it to use as little power as possible. I have my remote access going through my virtual machines. One is connected to the DSL, one is connected to the cable. By putting the virtual machines on a USB flash drive, I can keep the hard drives idle so they go to sleep.
Talking Clock Laptop
specs: transmeta tm8000, 512mb, hitachi 20gb, disabled ati video card
7 watts - idle
This machine uses less power on and idle than my other machines do off. The other machines are in a low power mode, to support wake on lan and power on by keyboard. Still, it's silly.
Macbook
specs: core 2 duo 2ghz, 1gb, fujitsu 75gb, intel gma950
1 watt - sleeping
24 watts - sleeping + charging
37 watts - idle + charging
66 watts - two cores 100%, disk 100%, charging