Computers & Electricity

Check this out:

http://www.csgnetwork.com/elecenergycalcs.html

Every computer would be different. It would depend on the output of the power supply in the computer. They range from 200 watts to 1kwatt.

The output rating of the power supply is an upper bound. Actual consumption may be much less.

Just a real-world, "The way things work" note here - the energy required to start a computer from the power-off state, especially a computer with a conventional CRT monitor, is equivalent to the energy consumed by the system over several hours of running in the idle-standby state, and is in fact greater than the energy required to operate the system normally for a considerable period of time. For a system used in a typical, frequently-accessed manner, one or more times a day, a few hours per day, the most energy-efficient thing to do is to configure the system to power off its monitor after a period of non-use, and to enter full standby after some time following automatic monitor shutdown.

My 'puters generally are "On" 24/7/365, configured to first power down their monitors after a relatively brief period of non-use, then to enter full standby after a slightly longer period of non-use, essentially only shut down/powered off as may be required for maintenance, physical internal reconfiguration, and/or repair (and I should add that actual repair is not a particularly common happenstance). Among my machines are some of mid-'90s-vintage, and even the oldest of them have fared fine under the "always on" regime.

timberlandko--
Thank you, that is informative.

You speak of a conventional CRT monitor. Do flat screen monitors use less power?

Depending on the technology and display type, a flat panel may consume somewhere between half to a third as much power than a conventional CRT monitor in normal operation, and will pump considerably less heat into the room.

At present, flat panel displays are incapable of the video performance CRTs can achieve, particularly the better ones, but if out-and-out video performance isn't an issue for you, you may find a flat panel does everything you want it to do.

On the other hand, if you've spent big bucks for a higher-end video card, or especially if you've ganged a pair of top-flight video cards, using a flat panel is akin to putting a race car on the track with worn, undersized street tires.

In most real-world situations, the typical user probably will find a flat panel satisfactory, though cutting-edge gamers and hard-core graphics geeks still prefer high-performance CRTs.

LCDs now have refresh times that are faster than the human eye can perceive.