How much power does your system draw at idle (Poll)

Hifriday · Post by **Hifriday** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:42 pm

QuietOC wrote:Hifriday does your 3000+ have the 1.1V minimum voltage lock problem?

Those seems to be voltages actually seem a high for a 90nm Sempron..

Yes the voltage cannot be set below 1.1v. I've tried a handful of Semprons in various K8M800 mb with the same results, even a DFI board where voltage could be set lower in BIOS didn't seem to drop Vcore below 1.1v (this board has no sensors, but measuring AC draw showed no difference going below 1.1v). The 3000+ is a rev DH-E6 chip.

The Pundit mb sensors reads out voltages slightly lower than the setting, 1.1v=1.07v and 1.2v=1.16v. At full clock it will run Prime95 stable at 1.15v=1.10v but not lower. I keep the voltage bumped up to 1.2v just in case of voltage fluctuations.

ekjk · Post by **ekjk** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:03 pm

Hello,

Please see my recent post under the 'Turion Supported Desktop Motherboards' sticky for the power usage.

ekjk

david25 · Post by **david25** » Wed May 31, 2006 10:43 am

Asus MB
2ghz Yonah
2Gb ddr
1 hd
1 cdrom
1 dvdrom
4 80mm fan
fsp zen
7600gt

77idle (240v)

QuietOC · Post by **QuietOC** » Wed May 31, 2006 12:18 pm

Hifriday wrote:
QuietOC wrote:Hifriday does your 3000+ have the 1.1V minimum voltage lock problem?
Yes the voltage cannot be set below 1.1v. I've tried a handful of Semprons in various K8M800 mb with the same results, even a DFI board where voltage could be set lower in BIOS didn't seem to drop Vcore below 1.1v (this board has no sensors, but measuring AC draw showed no difference going below 1.1v). The 3000+ is a rev DH-E6 chip.

That stinks.

I have a feeling this 1.1V problem has something to do with the E6 chips with C'n'Q. My one non-C'n'Q E6 chip can undervolt lower.

BTW: The D0 Sempron 3100+ in the Terminator T2-AE1 didn't have any trouble undervolting down to 0.850V.

Ironically, the lowest power consumption may require avoiding the E6 C'n'Q enabled chips.

ST · Post by ST » Sun Jun 18, 2006 1:29 am

Just got myself a Kil-O-Wat and did some measurements with my system below:

Asus A8N32-SLI Delxue
Opteron 165 CPU
Asus 7900GT 1.45V Overvolted
3X Hitachi 500GB SATA2 HDDs (Raid 5)
Silverstone 500W Element PSU

Here are my readings at various voltage and frequencies:

1.54GHz (.90V) -> 124W Idle
1.79GHz (.98V) -> 130W Idle
2.30GHz (1.1V) -> 169W Dual Prime Loaded
2.3GHz (1.1V) -> 215W Dual Prime + RTHDRIBL Loaded
3.0GHz (1.52V) -> 297W Dual Prime Loaded
3.0GHz (1.52V) -> 343W Dual Prime + RTHDRIBL Loaded

okon · Post by **okon** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 7:29 am

Motherboard: MSI K8NGM2-FID
GFX: On board 6150
CPU: Opteron 165
Ram: 2x1GB PC3200
PSU: PicoPSU with Dell 150W fanless DA-1
Fans: 1x120mm Case fan Nexus, 1x80mm CPu fan, Nexus
Nothing else (even hard drive is external SATA)

Power from outlet (using kill-a-watt)

Start (BIOS): 70W (runs at 1.40V since K8NGM2 does not have BIOS option for it.)

Idle: CPU running at 250x4 = 1000Mhz.
Idle @.9V: 33W
Idle @1.175V: 39W
Idle @1.40V: 52W

Load: CPU running at 9x250=2250Mhz. One instance of Prime95 running on each core:

Load @1.175: 78W
Load @1.40: 115W

I'll now try DFI RS482 to see how it is compared to 6150.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 1:11 am

Antec SU-300 (same as Seasonic SS-300SFD 80 Plus?)
ASUS N4L-VM DH
Core Duo T2500
2x1GB Corsair DDR2-667
XFX 7900GT Extreme
Samsung SP2504C
Pioneer DVR-A08XLB

Idle w/EIST: 67w
Load 2x Prime95: 90w
Load ATiTool: 111w
Load 2x Prime95 + ATiTool: 120w

Have a PicoPSU 120w + Dell 150w in the works as well, will be sure to post results when I get it set up.

EDIT: W/onboard graphics

Idle w/EIST: 46w
Load 2x Prime95: 69w

Steve Teixera · Post by **Steve Teixera** » Wed Jun 21, 2006 3:15 am

Asus K8N nf3 250
Sempron 3000+ E6 @2,22GHz 1.34v (247 HTT)
2x256mb
Saphire X800PRO 2D@100/230MHz 3D@531/531MHz (GPU/MEM)
Samsung SP2504C
CD-RW DVD-RW

idle 2D 49 Watt
CPU [email protected]
GPU 2D@100/230MHz

load 2D 75 Watt
CPU [email protected]
GPU 2D@100/230MHz

load 3D 125 Watt
CPU [email protected]
GPU 3D@531/531MHz

Single 120cm Fan in 300 Watt PSU (thank you ninja)
GPU Fan off in 2D

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Sat Jun 24, 2006 4:17 pm

Idle â€“ 19W (1 GHz, 1.004V)
Load (1 core) â€“ 38W (1.67 GHz, 1.4V) CPU Burn-In x1
Load (2 cores) â€“ 48W (1.67 GHz, 1.4V) CPU Burn-In x2
Load (2 cores) â€“ 37W (1.67 GHz, 1.26V) CPU Burn-In x2
Load (2 cores) â€“ 27W (1.17 GHz, 1.004V, Multiplier dropped to 7) CPU Burn-In x2

Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop
Core Duo T2300, 512MB DDR2, Intel IGP, 60GB 5,400 RPM, 15.4â€

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Wed Sep 06, 2006 2:10 am

Averatec 3715-EH1

8/8 brightness
Idle (800MHz 0.975V): 24w
Load Prime95 (1800MHz 1.25V): 45w
Load Prime95 (1800MHz 1.05V): 39w

1/8 brightness
Idle: 19w
Load Prime95: 42w
Load Prime95: 34w

Screen off
Idle: 16w
Load Prime95: 40w
Load Prime95: 30w

jimmyfergus · Post by **jimmyfergus** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 5:24 am

I don't have load/idle measurements, but instead usage averages from a Kill-a-Watt meter.

Home web/mail server: NSLU2 + laptop drive: 5W (yep, 5), 24/7
Home Mythtv PVR & fileserver (Northwood Celeron 2.2) ~75W, 24/7
Home desktop (northwood Pentium 2.2): ~80W, as needed
Work PC (dual Xeon): 140W idle, 220W load

My interest in low power is more environmental than for silence. I turn off the work PC when I leave work, which seems to be an unusual practice in my office. Supposedly 1kWh releases 2.3lb CO2 from the coal-fired stations which probably make my power, along with quantities of mercury and other toxins. Roughly, that means turning it off keeps over 1 ton of CO2 per year in the ground. [123 (hours/week) * 52 (weeks) * 0.140 (kW) * 2.3 (lb/kWh) = 2059lb]

Incidentally, 1 ton of CO2 is produced by ~100 gallons of gasoline, which is about the same amount I would conserve if I drove a hybrid car.

I'd like to make the PVR more efficient, but it works fine and the cost/benefit in dollars or for the environment don't really add up. Manufacture of the new components has a high environmental cost too. Perhaps I'll replace the desktop when Mac minis switch to Core 2...

Post by **MikeC** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 7:42 am

jimmyfergus wrote: Manufacture of the new components has a high environmental cost too.

Not to mention the environmental cost of the old components perhaps ending up as scrap. This is a huge and very valid issue that's often ignored or not clearly understood by those who would replace a 60W gizmo with a 50W one... or a 35mpg 10 yr old car with a 45mpg hybrid.

drees · Post by **drees** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 9:56 am

MikeC wrote:Not to mention the environmental cost of the old components perhaps ending up as scrap. This is a huge and very valid issue that's often ignored or not clearly understood by those who would replace a 60W gizmo with a 50W one... or a 35mpg 10 yr old car with a 45mpg hybrid.

While your old car will likely be sold again and used for more years to come, and cars are typically heavily recycled by salvage yards, computers are a lot more difficult. I wish it was easier to send off old computer components for reuse/recycling, but most of it is classified as hazardous waste.

frostedflakes · Post by **frostedflakes** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:06 pm

Just re-sell all your parts, the really old stuff you can give away (AnandTech, for example, has a thread dedicated to freebies -- maybe we could start one at SPCR, but make it more of a recycling theme?). I try not to throw away anything, no matter how useless it seems, as I'm sure there's someone out there has a use for it. Once man's junk, another man's treasure. At least that's how I try to justify my rather frequent computer upgrades and purchases.

smilingcrow · Post by **smilingcrow** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 12:43 pm

frostedflakes wrote:Just re-sell all your parts, the really old stuff you can give away (AnandTech, for example, has a thread dedicated to freebies -- maybe we could start one at SPCR, but make it more of a recycling theme?).

Itâ€™s a good idea but not practical with some stuff as the cost to mail it is more than itâ€™s worth. Iâ€™m thinking of very old cases, power supplies, optical drives, motherboards etc.
If you live in a city which has a listings magazine for buying and selling thatâ€™s free for sellers, then thatâ€™s a good way to recycle stuff which has next to no value and weighs a fair bit.
There are also schemes for sending old PCs to 3rd world countries I think.

drees · Post by **drees** » Thu Sep 07, 2006 2:20 pm

smilingcrow wrote:If you live in a city which has a listings magazine for buying and selling thatâ€™s free for sellers, then thatâ€™s a good way to recycle stuff which has next to no value and weighs a fair bit.

Craigslist would probably work very well for this, I'll give it a shot next time I collect some old computer stuff that works and that I no longer need.

b3nbranch · Post by **b3nbranch** » Wed Sep 20, 2006 12:39 pm

Hmmph! My 3-4 year old system (see sig) draws 135 watts at idle!
While that's bad news about my system, as measured by a kill-a-watt
meter, the good news would be that my next system can obviously do
better. Lots better.

Mikael · Post by **Mikael** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 12:27 pm

System 1: 90W (118W with CPU and GPU loaded)

Antec NeoHE 430W
Gigabyte GA-M55S-S3 (Nforce 550)
Athlon64 3500+ @ 2.2GHz (1.2V)
Stock cooler
2*1GB DDR2-667
GeForce 6500TC 64MB (350MHz GPU and 490MHz mem)
D-Link DWL-G122 (WLAN USB adapter)
SoundBlaster Audigy 4
WD Caviar SE16 250GB (WD2500KS)
Lite-On 16x DVD-ROM
ADDA 1000RPM 120mm case fan

System 2: 20W

ASUS W3N laptop
Pentium-M 1.7GHz @ 600MHz (0.7V)
768MB DDR-333
Radeon-Mobility 9700 64MB
WD Scorpio 80GB 5400RPM
LCD backlight off, but LCD active

(Power figure for the laptop with backlight at full blast is 30W. Power draw with CPU at full load and backlight active is approximately 44W. Quite impressive.)

EDIT: Changed the load figure for system 1 above. I had incorrectly written 130W, when it's in fact 118W.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 12:53 pm

System 2: 20W

ASUS W3N laptop

Can you make a rough-and-ready guess as to the noise level of the laptop at idle? <25dB? Also what are your temps with the CPU @2.2GHz/1.2V + stock cooler?

thanks,

Mikael · Post by **Mikael** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:11 pm

jaganath wrote:
System 2: 20W

ASUS W3N laptop
Can you make a rough-and-ready guess as to the noise level of the laptop at idle? <25dB?

I have no experience with noise measurements, so that would be too much of a guess. What I can say is that the laptop is virtually silent as long as the CPU fan is off. The fan does come on from time to time and when doing something CPU intensive, though. This makes it easily audible, but hardly noisy. I might also add that the CPU is undervolted to 1.125 at 1700MHz, which definitely helped with getting the fan to turn off more often.

jaganath wrote:Also what are your temps with the CPU @2.2GHz/1.2V + stock cooler?

Well, I use a Zalman Fanmate 2 to turn down the fan voltage to 5V and at that setting the CPU goes up to approximately 50C during load. Idle temp is around 38C, if I remember correctly. These are temperatures read from the internal CPU core temp sensor and not the motherboard sensor. The internal sensor's readings are 4-10C higher than the mobo sensor. I should probably also add that the only case ventilation is provided by a 120mm Antec TriCool on low and the very slow spinning fan in the NeoHe 430W. The stock cooler is very quiet on 5V, so there is very little need for an after market cooler with a CPU like this.

EDIT:

Just a side note: The computer draws 10W more power at idle in Windows Vista RC1.

david25 · Post by **david25** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:45 am

IBM Lenovo x60s (1.66Ghz low voltage Yonah Core Duo) 12 watts at idle

Tobias · Post by **Tobias** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:54 am

I'm running an older system that I'm looking at replacing atm, due to a lack of percieved performance (game related:). Anyways, for what its worth...

A64 (754) 2800
ATI 9600PRO
1GB DDR
Zalman 400w

Max power draw is 60W. Can't rememer about idle...

vitaminc · Post by **vitaminc** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:47 pm

smilingcrow wrote:Dell Inspiron 6400 laptop

Unfortunately, it is not quiet and seems to have a poorly designed cooling system.

sounds like one of those mobile bombs built by Dell; they are a Texan company afterall and probably is part of the NRA.

ST · Post by ST » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:07 am

ST wrote:Just got myself a Kil-O-Wat and did some measurements with my system below:

Asus A8N32-SLI Delxue
Opteron 165 CPU
Asus 7900GT 1.45V Overvolted
3X Hitachi 500GB SATA2 HDDs (Raid 5)
Silverstone 500W Element PSU

Here are my readings at various voltage and frequencies:

1.54GHz (.90V) -> 124W Idle
1.79GHz (.98V) -> 130W Idle
2.30GHz (1.1V) -> 169W Dual Prime Loaded
2.3GHz (1.1V) -> 215W Dual Prime + RTHDRIBL Loaded
3.0GHz (1.52V) -> 297W Dual Prime Loaded
3.0GHz (1.52V) -> 343W Dual Prime + RTHDRIBL Loaded

Okay finished building my 2nd gen HTPC with and wanted to compare against my system above from 2 years ago:

Asus P5K-VM G33 Mobo
Intel Yorkfield Q9450 45nm Core 2 Quad CPU
Asus 8600GT silent
Corsair 4GB DDR2-800
Corsair 450W PSU
3X WD 1TB GP
Lite On Blu Ray

2.8GHz (1.08V) -> 86W Idle
2.8GHz (1.08V) -> 150W (full OCCT)
2.8GHz (1.08V) -> 175W (full OCCT + RTHDRIBL)
2.8GHz (1.08V) -> 329W (full OCCT + RTHDRIBL w/ 47" 1080p LCD on)

Incredible how much computer technology has advanced to raise the performance/watt ratio!

audiojunk · Post by **audiojunk** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:49 am

Asus N4L-VM DH
T2600
2X1Gb
Samsung 500Gb HD501LJ
Nec DVD-/+RW 3540a
Seasonic SII 330W
2x12cm Papst fan's

Idle 38W@1Ghz
Stressed 62W@2,16Ghz

Schlotkins · Post by **Schlotkins** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:24 am

MikeC wrote:
jimmyfergus wrote: Manufacture of the new components has a high environmental cost too.
Not to mention the environmental cost of the old components perhaps ending up as scrap. This is a huge and very valid issue that's often ignored or not clearly understood by those who would replace a 60W gizmo with a 50W one... or a 35mpg 10 yr old car with a 45mpg hybrid.

Mike-

Do you know of anyway to estimate this stuff? For example, I have an original Bad Axe board that doesn't support 45nm. I was thinking of replacing it so I could get lower idle with say a E8400, but my guess is going with a E4600 or E4700 and just replacing my 805D would be much better overall for the environment.

Cheers,
Chris

Post by **MikeC** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 5:32 am

Schlotkins wrote:
MikeC wrote:
jimmyfergus wrote: Manufacture of the new components has a high environmental cost too.
Not to mention the environmental cost of the old components perhaps ending up as scrap. This is a huge and very valid issue that's often ignored or not clearly understood by those who would replace a 60W gizmo with a 50W one... or a 35mpg 10 yr old car with a 45mpg hybrid.
Mike-

Do you know of anyway to estimate this stuff? For example, I have an original Bad Axe board that doesn't support 45nm. I was thinking of replacing it so I could get lower idle with say a E8400, but my guess is going with a E4600 or E4700 and just replacing my 805D would be much better overall for the environment.

Cheers,
Chris

No, there's no simple formula, but it's pretty obvious, really, that mfg of the new product costs a bundle in terms of energy, resources, and toxins, and disposal of the old one has an environmental cost as well. The main question, imo, is whether the replacement is justifiable. If it's an end-of-life replacement, it may be unavoidable. But if not... It's an individual choice, and on that level it doesn't seem significant... until you consider that several billion of us make those individual choices.

frank2003 · Post by **frank2003** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:00 pm

We'll probably get a good laugh at my numbers two years from now. But for the time being, I think they are pretty good for a PVR system based on desktop components:

mobo: Biostar TA690G
CPU: AMD X2 Brisbane 4000+ underclocked to 1GHZ @ 0.784V (per CPUZ) idle; 1.4GHz @ .832V under full load.
Memory: 2x1GB, 800MHz
Disk: 3.5" WD 1TB, GreenPower model
PSU: PicoPSU-120, 80W brick
fans: stock CPU fan + 1x60mm case fan

Power Consumption: 29-30W idle; 44-48W playing 1080i HDTV recordings.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:41 pm

VIA all the way...... Idles at 15W. Maxed out at 20W.

VIA EPIA CN @ 1000Mhz.
!20W Pico
5A Wall-wart
80GB Samsung Laptop drive.
512mb ram
Zoom USB modem
One 800 S-Flex @6V
5.25" Sony DVDRW

SKeptical Thinker · Post by **SKeptical Thinker** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 3:55 pm

My system consumes 47W at idle and 59W during two Prime-95 stress tests.
System inventory:

Antec NSK-2480 with two Thermaltake 120mm Smart Fans
ga-ma78gm-s2h
BE-2350 with 10x multiplier, .975V in BIOS, clock at 210
Ninja Mini CPU HS (no fan)
GeIL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
Seagate 500GB SATA hard drive
ASUS 18X DVDÂ±R DVD Burner PATA Model DRW-1814BL

I'm running Windows XP Pro.

How much power does your system draw at idle (Poll)

Turion/Asrock MB Power

Not bad for not trying hard