QUOTE(soulfly @ Jan 15 2008, 11:10 AM)
it's not about power supply... it's about electricity bill
definitely not good for industrial/business usage
True but to a certain extend. The PSU rated at 400W, 500W, 600, 700W, 800W and so on are the capacity it can spit out in DC in which it can convert from AC mains. It does not mean that a 500W PSU is drawing 500W all the time. Thats merely the capacity. If you study the power distribution, it is rated in different amperage at different voltage rails. Don't be fooled. You can't add these like math. Our PC system has different components drawing from different rails. So the load varies depending on usage and the combined ratings will be in effect.
When not playing games and using the system for regular work like surfing, it is only drawing much lesser. Probably to the tunes of 200W. Most of modern CPU, GPU and other components of the system implement idle switching for some form of power savings. When in idle mode, it will switch off or disable most of its silicon section to reduce power and go into a deeper sleep. Processor frequency, FSB, etc all reduce to a lower state to save power. Also with advancement of silicon manufacturing process, CPU and GPUs are drawing lesser power due to reduced processor voltage. It is when you push your system with OC or doing full work load where it will go near the maximum capacity. So our usage of our PC varies from time to time. If you use your PC merely to play games, then consumption will be higher than those who use their PC for general purposes. Also all those idle times will eat into consumption too because it is drawing power but doing nothing.
Again, 500W or 800W or 1kW might sound a lot of power. But that wattage are expressed with respect to 3.3V, 5V and 12V. Our electrical bills are calculated in kW/hr at 240V. So to access the consumption, you should use a power meter between the mains and PSU. Now most modern PSU has some form of power factor corrector so this is not likely a big issue because only up to 20% is lost due to switching losses. If you're drawing 300W of DC12/5/3.3V combined, it is actually taking 360W of DC12/5/3.3. Convert it to power drawn in terms of 240V AC, its likely a smaller number. In the end, safe to say, 1-2 hours of gaming on a high-end rig would end up around RM2 or slightly higher. Sorry only rough estimations because a lot of unknown variables.
Fortunately electricity comes at a fair price. Buying good modern PSU is in fact a good thing. We help save power due to switching losses, reduce feedback electrical noises to TNB, reduce emissions, etc. We're more concern on the efficiency of power generation and its effects to our environment rather than the consumption of it.
Jan 14 2008, 12:09 PM
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