Power draw???

[Jonnyd1000]

Hey random question but I was thinking and truly didn’t know the answer. I answer turn my pc off it’s always on all day everyday usually gets turned off once every 20 days. I was wondering if when the pc is unlocked and running idle does it still use the same electricity if the pc was fully under load or does it use the same electricity??? Also if I where to lock my pc and let it sleep would that consume less power then it being unlocked Idle or even fully under load.

[Lurick]

Load increases power draw, your pc doesn't draw the same power regardless of load, that would just be insane. It draws more or less based on load.

[minibois]

3 minutes ago, Jonnyd1000 said:

when the pc is unlocked and running idle does it still use the same electricity if the pc was fully under load

If your components are doing not a lot, they will use less energy than when they are doing something.

4 minutes ago, Jonnyd1000 said:

if I where to lock my pc and let it sleep would that consume less power then it being unlocked Idle

Probably.

 

If you want to be sure of power draw, you'd need a device plugged inbetween the wallpower and your PC that measures power use. A kill-a-watt for example.

That way you can see how much power your PC uses during whatever you're doing.

 

You could always use a program like HWInfo64 to see how much power each component is using, but that is less accurate than measuring it from the wall.

[unsorted]

7 minutes ago, Jonnyd1000 said:

I was wondering if when the pc is unlocked and running idle does it still use the same electricity if the pc was fully under load or does it use the same electricity??

Just like a human, it will use more energy if it is doing more work. An easy way to verify is to connect it to one of those plug-in wall energy meters.

 

7 minutes ago, Jonnyd1000 said:

lso if I where to lock my pc and let it sleep would that consume less power then it being unlocked Idle or even fully under load.

Sleep consumes less power than idling or full loads. Even turning your computer off has a standby power draw. It is small but it adds up over the year. I tend to favour power boards with individual switches for this reason. If I'm not going to be using a PC for a while, it gets switched off at the power board.

 

[514_AppleGuy]

Obviously your computer will draw more power under load. Even when it’s shut down completely, it will draw a very minute amount of power as long as the power cord is connected. 
 

if you want to know exactly how much power your computer is using, you could use something like a Kill-A-Watt. 
 

https://www.amazon.ca/P3-P3IP4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?crid=19CKU5GZDPHCL&dchild=1&keywords=kill+a+watt&qid=1609537349&sprefix=Kill+a+%2Caps%2C178&sr=8-2-spons&psc=1&smid=A2M1T9YSBKVQUY&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNEZaQktSNUEzVkEzJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNDgyMDY4VUg4REhIUkJZMUU3JmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA0OTA5MjQxRUxaQzdXQ1hJOElRJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Blue4130]

All scenarios listed will use different amounts of electricity. 

 

Some ballpark numbers... 

PC at sleep = 10 to 20w

PC idle = 50 to 100

PC Gaming load = 200 to 400 

 

These are all very rough numbers. It's really dependant on the components. An sli 3090 in a threadripper is obviously going to be way higher and a Celeron with no gpu will be way lower. 

[LogicalDrm]

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