how many watts a computer uses

[c44151]

I am trying to fugure out how many watt smy computer is using the power supply is a 350watt, monitor is I think 216 watts(all it says is 100-240v and 1.8-.09 amps) 19inch one speakers are un known (cheap $10 garage sale ones).
So does this mean with the computer and monitor on at the same time is about 600 watts give or take.

[lost-and-found]

yes and no, the monitor probably does take the 216, but your computer doesn't necessarily use 350, even thought he PSU is labeled as 350 watt it means it can take UP TO abotu 350 Watts, but your computer is probably around 250-300W

[amdkt7]

The wattage rating of the PSU is output power, not consumption. The effeciency is around 95%, so If your PSU was maxed out it could be pulling perhaps 400 watts, but it is likely much less.

I would guess that the computer would be using 150 to 200 watts, the monitor around 100 watts. Speakers use very little (unless you have a high power amps, cranked up), perhaps 5 to 15 watts.

Total power perhaps 300 to 500 watts.

Why?

[bailey]

no it does not.
the actual wattage the system will use is dependent on what it is doing, but with it booted up and just setting there with a screen saver running , it will use about 75 to 100 watts, the wattage while it is booting up and loading windows can fluctate up to 150 watts.
the monitor wattage would be added to this to get the total wattage for the system.

these measurements were taken with a p4-2.5 cpu, and a lab wattage analizer power source set at 120 volts.

[dafanman]

c44151,
Try this calculator, it will give you a rough idea of what all of the components that make up your computer use wattage wise.

http://www.challenge-my.com/goopsulator/

[c44151]

Just got currious if I were using a porttible power supply (generator,wind, solar) somewere how many watts might I need to just run these things.

ballpark guess for the extreme gamming rig how many watts might this use (no speakers)

[amdkt7]

Plan on about 1000 watts, or perhaps a tad more to allow for peak loads. Both the monitor and the PSU has a very high surge current when first turned on.

[e980238]

Sorry I have to butt in here and say this but I have done a LOT of research in this area. The only one of you who are remotely close is bailey.

First of all, it does all depend on what cpu you are using and how many components you have in your system so the ONLY accurate way to find out is to hook up a watt meter. I have found that a typical pre-pentium 4 system will use between 60 and 90 watts depending on how much cpu is idle (the more idle the less watts being used). 17Inch CRT monitors tend to use 60-80 watts depending on how lit up the screen is (the whiter it is, the more watts being used). If you just turn on the CRT monitor, it sucks up about 300 watts for a second or two.

Pentium 4 processors seem to use 80-100 watts alone on the tests I have done so MAYBE the whole tower would consume 10 watts max.

Typically, if you leave your computer AND CRT on all the time with no standby or anything, your looking to spend about $20 a month on electricity per workstation. ($10 for comp, $10 for CRT)

[lost-and-found]

shhh...not so loud e980238, my dad might hear those $$$ figures and make me turn my PC off......

[geobot]

i run three xp2100 and on xp2500 24/7 ... the monitor is on the xp2500 about 4 to 5 hours a day. i bought a meter http://store.yahoo.com/ahernstore/p4400.html and it cost about $6.20 a month for each of the xp2100's havent check the xp2500 but will do so in case this topic comes up again.