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From : xtian001
To : saintly
User Comment : Very clear and concise. Thanks. Plus you've added some references and URL's so that makes it even better. Nice to have you around....
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Message Status : Public

[08-10-2000] xtian001 : typically, what is the total power consumption in Watts of a PC system (500 mhz Pentium III, HP 810 Printer, 15 inch monitor, speakers)? What is the wattage per hour?
[08-10-2000] saintly : The total power consumption of your PC system is likely to be in the range of 465 Watts maximum, running everything all at once. A typical-use hour might consume around 380 watt/hours, and letting the system sit idle might knock it down to around 250 watt/hours or less.

The P3/500 by itself eats a max of 36 - 44 watts (depending on cache size).
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/pentiumiii/xeon/intnotes.htm

A complete P3/500 system takes up around 330 watts without counting monitor and speakers.
http://www.gy.com/spec/vzpx.htm

A 15" monitor is likely to consume around 85 watts max.
http://priceshock.com/priceshock/910008.html

The printer takes up about 45 watts when printing, 4 watts just sitting there (or off even!)
http://www.hp.com/cposupport/printers/support_doc/bpd06656.html

The wattage consumption of your PC speakers is directly linked to how powerful they are. If you're talking about those small speakers you get with your PC or ones built-in to your monitor, probably less than 5 watts.

So lets do some math to see how much power (in watt-hours) you'll draw in an hour, asssuming moderate use.

330 watt/hours for the system, with a 15% discount for not running your system all-out: 280 watt/hours
85 watt/hours for the monitor (assuming you use the system for the whole hour and don't let it go into power-save mode): 85 watt/hours
Run the printer for 5 minutes straight: 45*5/60 = 4 watt/hours
Let the printer sit there for 55 minutes: 4*55/60 = 4 watt/hours
Listen to music the whole time, running speakers: 5 watt/hours

Your total power consumption for the system this hour would be close to 380 watt/hours. If you just ran the CPU (ie, turned the monitor off, didn't print anything and shut off the speakers) you might max out around 250 watt/hours, probably less since the CPU and hard drive will go into sleep mode.

Hope that helps!

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