What is Energy Consumption Costs of a Power PC – Always On / Sleep Mode?

terence_fdes

terence_fdes

wizened Dinosaur
Skilled
MY POWER PC IS ALWAYS ON – for weeks / months & I rarely shut it down. It goes into SLEEP Mode after 15 min [Using Win 11 Prof licensed]

I live in Mumbai (where power rates are highest in India) & using Tata Power Electricity. So how do I calculate the average power-watts consumption per month.
Note: I do not have a Power Watt Meter to Check accurate energy consumptions.

WHY I KEEP IT ALWAYS ON:
I have a problem of powering on my PC as the main Button of the Case/Cabinet does not work & I have by-passed it on the motherboard and then use a tiny start/reset button on the cabinet (with a ball point pen) – if required. This solution has worked well for the past 6 months or so.

Which is better Sleep Mode or – Hibernation & how to activate this? in Win 11
Is there an PC Energy Calculator - where I can assign the components of my PC to get the energy / power consumption?

This is my Configuration
i5-13600K | Gigabyte Z790 UD AX DDR5 | 64GB GSKILL TRIDENT Z5 6000MHZ | ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3060 V2 OC 12GB | BENQ PD2700U – 27 INCH 2160p | ASUS TUF Gaming 1000W Gold Power Supply | Noctua NH-C14 | Thermaltake The Tower 900 Snow Edition with 9 Fans (NZXT & Vardar) | NZXT Hue+ with 7" Internal Monitor | WD Black SN850X 1TB M.2 NVMe Gen4 | NZXT LED Controller Hue Plus

Note: RGB Keyboard & Mouse also goes off in sleep mode. I also have 4 standard HDD's (totalling 11TB) plus 1 more 500GB SSD
 
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Mine cost me around 2.5K to 3.5K in Thane like Locality. but I use it a lot! I mean 12 to 14 hrs for sure most of the time.
 
You could use Wake On Lan.
You'll have to turn it on in bios get an app on your phone and get a static IP for your PC.
I use an app called "Wake On Lan" by Mike Webb on Play Store.
 
Sleep mode doesn't use much power as pretty much everything except the RAM is powered down. I'd say it would be around 7-10 watts.

It is not possible to calculate the power consumption using any online calculator as your actual usage will depend on the usage pattern of the PC. Regular day to day tasks don't stress the PC much. But if you're doing intensive tasks like gaming, machine learning, simulation, etc. power consumption will shoot up. If you have a UPS, that will also have its own idle power consumption.

The easiest way to check would be to get a smart plug with energy monitoring. I recently got a Wipro plug for ~₹850. Seems fairly accurate when comparing the power consumption to what OHM shows on PC.
 
1) There's no way to estimate your running cost without a power meter because the power consumption is not constant and neither is your usage.

You don't need to enable Hibernation: since Win 10 this is what the PC actually does when you select Shutdown. You get a fresh boot only when you select Reboot.

2) Enable BIOS function to switch on when AC power is restored. I have my PC setup this way so I just need to switch on the UPS and it boots up automatically without having to press the power button.
 
n1r0 said:
1) There's no way to estimate your running cost without a power meter because the power consumption is not constant and neither is your usage.

You don't need to enable Hibernation: since Win 10 this is what the PC actually does when you select Shutdown. You get a fresh boot only when you select Reboot.

2) Enable BIOS function to switch on when AC power is restored. I have my PC setup this way so I just need to switch on the UPS and it boots up automatically without having to press the power button.
Click to expand...
This seems to be an interesting & better *power optimising option* through BIOS

I just need to figure out how to do it with Win 11 on a Gigabyte Z790 :oops:
 
terence_fdes said:
Note: I do not have a Power Watt Meter to Check accurate energy consumptions.
Click to expand...

Meco Energy Meter : Amazon.in: Industrial & Scientific

Meco Energy Meter : Amazon.in: Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.in

Why don't you get one. The Meco is the easiest to use and most accurate coming with a calibration certificate. Then you can try out different configurations and see which consumes less.

You will have to be more careful with smart plugs. Wipro are junk for energy monitoring. There are other lesser known brands that can measure rms which will be more accurate.
 
terence_fdes said:
MY POWER PC IS ALWAYS ON – for weeks / months & I rarely shut it down. It goes into SLEEP Mode after 15 min [Using Win 11 Prof licensed]

I live in Mumbai (where power rates are highest in India) & using Tata Power Electricity. So how do I calculate the average power-watts consumption per month.
Note: I do not have a Power Watt Meter to Check accurate energy consumptions.

WHY I KEEP IT ALWAYS ON:
I have a problem of powering on my PC as the main Button of the Case/Cabinet does not work & I have by-passed it on the motherboard and then use a tiny start/reset button on the cabinet (with a ball point pen) – if required. This solution has worked well for the past 6 months or so.

Which is better Sleep Mode or – Hibernation & how to activate this? in Win 11
Is there an PC Energy Calculator - where I can assign the components of my PC to get the energy / power consumption?

This is my Configuration
i5-13600K | Gigabyte Z790 UD AX DDR5 | 64GB GSKILL TRIDENT Z5 6000MHZ | ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3060 V2 OC 12GB | BENQ PD2700U – 27 INCH 2160p | ASUS TUF Gaming 1000W Gold Power Supply | Noctua NH-C14 | Thermaltake The Tower 900 Snow Edition with 9 Fans (NZXT & Vardar) | NZXT Hue+ with 7" Internal Monitor | WD Black SN850X 1TB M.2 NVMe Gen4 | NZXT LED Controller Hue Plus

Note: RGB Keyboard & Mouse also goes off in sleep mode. I also have 4 standard HDD's (totalling 11TB) plus 1 more 500GB SSD
Click to expand...
i leave mine always on for convenience with 15 min standby - if my reason to keep it on was the same as yours, i’d open up the case and replace the button (It’s mounted on a super basic pcb and you can either diy it or get it done by any electronics repair shop for a fairly small cost)

Having said that, your pc barely consumes any power in standby - typically less than 2-3W depending on your smps provided you disable USB powered ports via the BIOS.
If the ports are powered in standby , the standby consumption will increase marginally to 7-8w.

either way, your usage time is your usage time - you won’t cut down on it to save power.
as for the remainder being in off/ hibernate vs standby, it will barely make a difference..

PS: Although you should fix your power button anyway. It’ll be a 1/10 max 1.5 on a difficulty scale when it comes to repairing electronics
 
blr_p said:

Meco Energy Meter : Amazon.in: Industrial & Scientific

Meco Energy Meter : Amazon.in: Industrial & Scientific
www.amazon.in

Why don't you get one. The Meco is the easiest to use and most accurate coming with a calibration certificate. Then you can try out different configurations and see which consumes less.

You will have to be more careful with smart plugs. Wipro are junk for energy monitoring. There are other lesser known brands that can measure rms which will be more accurate.
Click to expand...
+1 to this for accurate measurements

Me & my flatmate have gaming rigs, got it around same time & observed a big jump in power bills. We bought this to check the power consumption. We were surprised to see that 150-200W+ was common for power draw when we were just browsing (my rig has 2 monitors - 25W & 15W each & my flatmate has a Samsung G7 which draws 45W). While gaming ~400W is easy for our rigs. I will say that my PC's running cost is easily ₹700-800 pm. Can't get an exact number as our power bills went up from 1.5k w/o PCs at home to 3-4k, this is in BLR.

I prefer Hibernation over sleep as PC is completely shut down. Also, check if GPU is set to prefer max performance, keep it at Normal.
1705977910158.png


It will be cheaper to get a new case in the long run @OP. Did you try contacting Thermalright for spare parts?
 
OMEGA44-XT said:
Can't get an exact number as our power bills went up from 1.5k w/o PCs at home to 3-4k, this is in BLR.
Click to expand...
Yeah, because domestic has a sliding scale for rates. So many units at this rate, then next bunch of units at a slightly higher one and so on.

Easier with commercial as they have a flat rate
 
I was actually trying to figure out the exact same thing today.
So, I am taking readings for 1 hour and see how much kWh my house consumes. One, with PC turned on, and the other With PC turned off.
With the deference, I think I'll be able to calculate how much Watt my PC consumes, I THINK.

Any help with the formals?? :D
 
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blr_p said:
Yeah, because domestic has a sliding scale for rates. So many units at this rate, then next bunch of units at a slightly higher one and so on.

Easier with commercial as they have a flat rate
Click to expand...
Yes. On an average our monthly unit consumption for the whole flat is close to 300 units.

mantheman said:
I was actually trying to figure out the exact same thing today.
So, I am taking readings for 1 hour and see how much kWh my house consumes. One, with PC turned on, and the other With PC turned off.
With the deference, I think I'll be able to calculate how much Watt my PC consumes, I THINK.

Any help with the formals?? :D
View attachment 188764
Click to expand...
Get a energy meter if you are curious. Else my recommendation is to measure change in meter reading for a few hours (like 8) when PC is used & then for a few hours w/o using the PC at all but all other appliance usage remains as similar as possible with similar start & end time for measurements. I spent 1.5k+ on the energy meter to satisfy my curiosity instead. So your call.
 
terence_fdes said:
MY POWER PC IS ALWAYS ON – for weeks / months & I rarely shut it down. It goes into SLEEP Mode after 15 min [Using Win 11 Prof licensed]

I live in Mumbai (where power rates are highest in India) & using Tata Power Electricity. So how do I calculate the average power-watts consumption per month.
Note: I do not have a Power Watt Meter to Check accurate energy consumptions.

WHY I KEEP IT ALWAYS ON:
I have a problem of powering on my PC as the main Button of the Case/Cabinet does not work & I have by-passed it on the motherboard and then use a tiny start/reset button on the cabinet (with a ball point pen) – if required. This solution has worked well for the past 6 months or so.

Which is better Sleep Mode or – Hibernation & how to activate this? in Win 11
Is there an PC Energy Calculator - where I can assign the components of my PC to get the energy / power consumption?

This is my Configuration
i5-13600K | Gigabyte Z790 UD AX DDR5 | 64GB GSKILL TRIDENT Z5 6000MHZ | ASUS TUF GAMING GEFORCE RTX 3060 V2 OC 12GB | BENQ PD2700U – 27 INCH 2160p | ASUS TUF Gaming 1000W Gold Power Supply | Noctua NH-C14 | Thermaltake The Tower 900 Snow Edition with 9 Fans (NZXT & Vardar) | NZXT Hue+ with 7" Internal Monitor | WD Black SN850X 1TB M.2 NVMe Gen4 | NZXT LED Controller Hue Plus

Note: RGB Keyboard & Mouse also goes off in sleep mode. I also have 4 standard HDD's (totalling 11TB) plus 1 more 500GB SSD
Click to expand...
Sleep is much better than Hibernation as you can have almost instantaneous on. Unless you have always on USB devices connected. I am sure your PC consumes 2-3 W in sleep or standby. Calculating :
3*24*30/1000 = 2.16 kWh per month or Rs. 21 per month even if I assume that you have an exorbitant rate like Rs.10/kWh. I don't know what the rate is in Mumbai. I think you can spare a Chai/Samosa or maybe a Vadapao in Mumbai for keeping your PC always on. You probably spend more on charging your phone every month than keeping your PC in Standby. I would leave it in Standby.
 
codwapeace said:
Sleep is much better than Hibernation as you can have almost instantaneous on
Click to expand...
Check out Hybrid Sleep. I think it's on by default, but not 100% sure.
Basically the PC goes to sleep (keeps RAM powered, enabling instant resume) AND it saves the RAM content to disk (Hibernation) so that in case power cut you don't lose unsaved data, it will just resume from disk, just like when waking up from Hibernation.

But repeated Hibernation can thrash your SSD with unnecessary writes, so keep that in mind.
IMHO, set the PC to:
  • turn off displays after 2 mins
  • go to standby after 20 mins
  • hibernate after an hour (Hybrid sleep is off)

BUT this being India with random powercuts, keep your UPS backup time in mind - if it doesn't Hibernate before the UPS turns off, all your data is gone.
 
n1r0 said:
Check out Hybrid Sleep. I think it's on by default, but not 100% sure.
Basically the PC goes to sleep (keeps RAM powered, enabling instant resume) AND it saves the RAM content to disk (Hibernation) so that in case power cut you don't lose unsaved data, it will just resume from disk, just like when waking up from Hibernation.

But repeated Hibernation can thrash your SSD with unnecessary writes, so keep that in mind.
IMHO, set the PC to:
  • turn off displays after 2 mins
  • go to standby after 20 mins
  • hibernate after an hour (Hybrid sleep is off)

BUT this being India with random powercuts, keep your UPS backup time in mind - if it doesn't Hibernate before the UPS turns off, all your data is gone.
Click to expand...
I doubt SSD endurance is an issue these days. I use Hibernation at times, not every day for sure, but my 1TB SSD's TBW is at 28.6TBW after 2 years. Note that I use this SSD for OS + apps + games. Even a 1TB QLC SSD has a 200TBW endurance. So IMO, not a concern for QLC SSD as well. Although I do have a 2nd 1TB SSD for downloading movies & storing lighter games.
 
OMEGA44-XT said:
Me & my flatmate have gaming rigs, got it around same time & observed a big jump in power bills. We bought this to check the power consumption. We were surprised to see that 150-200W+ was common for power draw when we were just browsing (my rig has 2 monitors - 25W & 15W each & my flatmate has a Samsung G7 which draws 45W). While gaming ~400W is easy for our rigs. I will say that my PC's running cost is easily ₹700-800 pm. Can't get an exact number as our power bills went up from 1.5k w/o PCs at home to 3-4k, this is in BLR.
Click to expand...
Have you been able to use the Meco when powered by an inverter or UPS?
 
OMEGA44-XT said:
I doubt SSD endurance is an issue these days. I use Hibernation at times, not every day for sure, but my 1TB SSD's TBW is at 28.6TBW after 2 years. Note that I use this SSD for OS + apps + games. Even a 1TB QLC SSD has a 200TBW endurance. So IMO, not a concern for QLC SSD as well. Although I do have a 2nd 1TB SSD for downloading movies & storing lighter games.
Click to expand...
Manual Hibernation is totally fine. I was speaking about Hybrid Sleep, which would write your entire RAM content to disk every time it went to stand by.

For a 1TB QLC drive with 200 TBW rating and 3 year warranty, you can write ~187GB per day for 3 years.

If you have 32GB RAM, and your PC went to Hybrid Sleep 4 times a day on average, that would be:
32 x 4=128GB of unnecessary writes per day.
Add regular usage and your drive might easily exceed its endurance, because of Write Amplification

Hence my suggestion of having separate sleep and hibernate timers.

----

But you make a valid point: SSD endurance has increased quite a bit since I last calculated my actual usage. I had seen 50-60GB of cache writes per day by web browser alone. A 1TB TLC w/ 600TBW should no longer require me to move my temp directory/browser cache to a HDD/RAM disk.

After 1.5 years, my SSD has had only 6.5TB of writes. I suppose I should start using what I paid for :sweatsmile:
 
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