standby power consumption

blakelyb · Post by **blakelyb** » Sat Jul 11, 2009 2:36 pm

Standby power consumption is important. Most computers are off for more time than on. My computers consume 4 to 8 watts when they are "off", so I put them on a power strip to really turn them off.

Can standby power be added to the reviews that involve power supplies?

Reading the review on Antec ISK 300, I wondered how much power the external power supply uses when the computer is "off". The reviews here are the best. Thanks for doing them.

lm · Post by lm » Sat Jul 11, 2009 4:10 pm

+1

My monitor, PC and UPS together waste 30W when PC and monitor soft off, UPS on. It's plain ridiculous.

ps. Good advice is appreciated: If I would just put everything under one big power switch, I would still need to shut down UPS separately, because it would whine to me about power loss and drain it's batteries. But the UPS is in the back of my closet, and I don't really want to move it either, as it would be in the way pretty much everywhere else.

confusion · Post by **confusion** » Fri Jul 17, 2009 11:05 pm

Can standby power be added to the reviews that involve power supplies?

I'd like to see this too. While I presume it may vary with different motherboards, it certainly is different with different power supplies.

Using a Kill-A-Watt, I measured ~2W in standby with an Antec Signature 850. In contrast, a Delta DPS-600MB, a server unit used by Intel, likely not 80% efficient but constructed similarly to the Delta-made Signature, uses 7-8W in standby in the same system. An older 450W Delta server unit also showed 7-8W in the same system. These units are also somewhat warm in standby unlike the Signature, generating wasted heat all the time.

Perhaps I just haven't read carefully enough as I sometimes skim some of the technical discussion in power supply reviews, but I haven't found this type of information online anywhere, even the few sites that do in-depth testing.

Tephras · Post by **Tephras** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 12:54 pm

If standby power has been measured in a SPCR PSU review the figures can be found in the lower part of the table "OTHER DATA".

line · Post by **line** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:55 pm

Sometimes I find a mention of it in the "Low Load Performance" paragraph, for example here.

confusion · Post by **confusion** » Sat Jul 18, 2009 7:55 pm

If standby power has been measured in a SPCR PSU review the figures can be found in the lower part of the table "OTHER DATA".

Thanks, oops I'm a bit embarassed that I've overlooked that. In the SPCR Antec Signature 650 review that's stated as 0.7W. So either the 850 draws more in standby (unlikely I think), my system draws more, or the Kill-A-Watt isn't very accurate at such low loads. The latter wouldn't surprise me.