Sleep Mode Power Consumption?

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Fri May 09, 2008 3:33 pm

Hi all,

I've recently upgraded to Vista and have started using it's sleep mode instead of switching my pc off at night. It starts up much quicker this way.

How does the power consumption differ? By switching off my pc i mean it's off, but still plugged in and switched on at the wall socket - so that the lights on the mobo stay on.

Specs:

Abit IP35 mobo
E6750
320GB HDD
2gigs ram
ATI X1950GT

Lawrence Lee · Post by **Lawrence Lee** » Fri May 09, 2008 3:41 pm

If it suspends to RAM it should use about 1-2W more than when it's just turned off.

BillTodd · Post by **BillTodd** » Sat May 10, 2008 3:44 am

My PVR machine, a ibase itx mobo with a p4 mobile cpu, draws almost as much power in sleep as idle! (since sleep keeps most of the motherboard running). I now use Hibernate, which effectively uses the same power as 'off'.

It might be a good idea to borrow a power meter or current meter to measure the pc's actual useage.

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Sun May 11, 2008 1:38 am

Well the northbridge heatsink is cool to the touch, and all the fans switch off, so it can't be drawing as much power as it does in idle.

A power meter would be a good idea, but that would involve money and/or effort. I was hoping someone here had already done some testing

Lawrence Lee · Post by **Lawrence Lee** » Sun May 11, 2008 7:19 am

Bobendren wrote: A power meter would be a good idea, but that would involve money and/or
effort. I was hoping someone here had already done some testing

Most of our motherboard reviews measure power consumption under Vista with the system off and idle - the difference is always 1W. All the systems I've tested at home are about the same, including mine which has an overclocked E8400, 4GB of RAM, and 8800GT.

sjoukew · Post by **sjoukew** » Sun May 11, 2008 10:23 am

What I can remember when I tested my system:

powercord unplugged 0 watts
powercord plugged, pc off 10 watts (yes frustrating)
powercord plugged, pc sleep (suspend to ram) 10 watts
idle -> a lot more (150 or so)

Core 2 Duo, asus p5w dh deluxe, 4gb ram.

Bobendren · Post by **Bobendren** » Sun May 11, 2008 2:21 pm

Awesome, thanks for the replies guys! I'll stick with sleep mode then.

FrankL · Post by **FrankL** » Wed May 14, 2008 11:58 am

for those who don't measure a difference between idle and sleep, the computer most likely is entering S1 standby instead of S3 standby, the latter of which switches off nearly all components but RAM and some other stuff needed for wake-up from S3. S1 is quite useless from the power consumption reduction perspective (in fact, I have still to figure out from which perspective it isn't useless).