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Whats your power consumption?

post #1 of 65
Thread Starter 
Thinking of building a 2nd low power consumption htpc for the bedroom. I been using the p3 kill a watt to calculate the power consumption in my place on different items to keep the bill leveled. So far the htpc in my living room is the one of the top power hungry devices I have. I have a i5-2500k with gtx460. At idle or light load it consumes 60-65 watts, watching movies is 70-75 watts, video/photo editing is 75-100 watts, and games is 150-200 watts. anyone have kill a watt or any power consumption meter can tell what their htpc is running?
post #2 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by anekin007 View Post

Thinking of building a 2nd low power consumption htpc for the bedroom. I been using the p3 kill a watt to calculate the power consumption in my place on different items to keep the bill leveled. So far the htpc in my living room is the one of the top power hungry devices I have. I have a i5-2500k with gtx460. At idle or light load it consumes 60-65 watts, watching movies is 70-75 watts, video/photo editing is 75-100 watts, and games is 150-200 watts. anyone have kill a watt or any power consumption meter can tell what their htpc is running?

Power Supply: Seasonic X-660
System Board: Intel DH67GD
CPU: Intel i7-2600K
System Drive: WDC WD5000BEVT-OEM
Data Drive: WDC WD20EVDS
Blu-ray Burner: Liteon iHBS212
2 case fans
onboard video

35 to 40 watts at idle. 40 to 45 watts while watching movies.
post #3 of 65
MSI 880g motherboard w/onboard video
AMD Athlon II 255
sata BD-ROM
sata WD 1.5tb green drive
PSU - Earthwatts 380
4gb ddr3

33 watts idle and 40-50 while playing content. Just ordered a picoPSU from amazon since there is a vendor selling with prime shippnig so i hope to see the higher end somewhat more efficient with a more efficient psu. I'm also going to drop my cpu from 3.1ghz to 2.7gz an undervolt to match the 240e. I use DXVA to offload video so cpu is mostly ~10-15% load if that much. After i get a picopsu i'll just have 1 cpu fan, no case fans, cpu fan is large silent fan
post #4 of 65
Since you mentioned a machine for your BR, I will give mine.

Asus mATX E-350 Fusion MB
1x 2gb Kingston DDR3
WD Blue 160gb 2.5" SATA hdd
Samsung Slim odd
Pico-PSU 150XT with 150W brick
1x 92mm Antec Stealth
18W Idle - 25W Load

BT
post #5 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by byronmhome View Post

MSI 880g motherboard w/onboard video
AMD Athlon II 255
sata BD-ROM
sata WD 1.5tb green drive
PSU - Earthwatts 380
4gb ddr3

33 watts idle and 40-50 while playing content. Just ordered a picoPSU from amazon since there is a vendor selling with prime shippnig so i hope to see the higher end somewhat more efficient with a more efficient psu. I'm also going to drop my cpu from 3.1ghz to 2.7gz an undervolt to match the 240e. I use DXVA to offload video so cpu is mostly ~10-15% load if that much. After i get a picopsu i'll just have 1 cpu fan, no case fans, cpu fan is large silent fan

That's damn good for an athlon, my system was like 60W at idle. You know I'm starting to think MSI makes the most efficient motherboards. MSI was way lower than gigabyte on two e350 systems I read. Its all well and good if intel and amd make low power chips, but if the mobo is inefficient it mucks things up.
post #6 of 65
Gigabyte GA-H55N-USB3 mini-itx / i3-540 / 4GB DDR3 CL9
picoPSU 120-WI-31 / 19V 6.3A AC adapter
64GB SATA II SSD
DVD-RW
PCIe wireless N adapter

Sleep: 5.5W
Idle: 31W
Prime95: 84W

On my office PC which is Antec NSK-1380 (350W PSU), Gigabyte 785G, Athlon II x4, 4GB DDR3 320GB WD blue, 1TB Seagate Prime95 tops out over 200W.

I haven't measure my HTPCs yet. I suspect it will not be good for the living room PC (AMD Phenom II x3 / 780G / HD5670 / 64GB SSD / 320GB HDD / Antec EA-380D PSU) but fine for the bedroom HTPC (i3-2100 / ASUS H61 / 64GB SSD / DVD-RW / USB wireless N).

No idea on my WHS (P4 w/ 4.5TB in a refurbed Dell GX280). I suspect not very good here either.
post #7 of 65
You know my theory is that I want one super low watt computer so that I can have it on 24/7. I use one computer for home automation and OTA tv recording so its best that its always on. I don't really care if my other computers are energy hogs because I shut them off or put them to sleep when I'm not using them, so I don't feel like its a waste.
post #8 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffkro View Post

That's damn good for an athlon, my system was like 60W at idle. You know I'm starting to think MSI makes the most efficient motherboards. MSI was way lower than gigabyte on two e350 systems I read. Its all well and good if intel and amd make low power chips, but if the mobo is inefficient it mucks things up.

MSI does appear to put more effort into low power systems. I tried a gigabyte board and i couldn't get any less than 70 with same cpu! Unfortunately because of the poor HDMI capability on the 880g i may add a PCIx hd5450 video card which will cost another 8-20 watts depending on load.. no idea if disabling onboard video will compensate any for that or not. Maybe AMD will release another AM3+ board with onboard h6x (6250??) video for those who don't want to jump straight into lano.. or maybe lano will be priced just right
post #9 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by byronmhome View Post

MSI 880g motherboard w/onboard video
AMD Athlon II 255
sata BD-ROM
sata WD 1.5tb green drive
PSU - Earthwatts 380
4gb ddr3

33 watts idle and 40-50 while playing content. Just ordered a picoPSU from amazon since there is a vendor selling with prime shippnig so i hope to see the higher end somewhat more efficient with a more efficient psu. I'm also going to drop my cpu from 3.1ghz to 2.7gz an undervolt to match the 240e. I use DXVA to offload video so cpu is mostly ~10-15% load if that much. After i get a picopsu i'll just have 1 cpu fan, no case fans, cpu fan is large silent fan

Don't know if the Pico will help you that much. I have an A II 240 in a JW mITX 785G setup with one and my idle is around 40W. It could be that the MSI 880G is just more efficient, but your 33w is outstanding. Do you have it underclocked / undervolted?

BT
post #10 of 65
ASRock E350M1 Zacate
4GB DDR3
160GB WD Scorpio Black HDD
SATA HD-DVD/Blu-ray SATA combo drive
350W Athena Power Micro-ATX PSU

I get 5W in standby, ~35W idle and ~37W (40W peak) during 1080P playback.
post #11 of 65
Wow 33W at idle it is impressive.

We, end users, are very demanding these days. Powerful HTPC can play all the contents we throw in, quiet, cool and now use as little power as possible.

I remembered in the 80's, I was building 500+ HP car, few years ago, we want a 50+ MPG car, I guess next we want to have 50+ MPG AND 500+ all in one supercar like this

I guess I will try the Pico in my next Z68 extender build.
post #12 of 65
*sigh* Wonder when we'll have around 10~15W idle as standard? I think that's around how much set-top boxes consume.
post #13 of 65
Asus M4A88T-I
Athlon 250e
5400 RPM HDD
SSD
Blu Ray Drive

I get about 35-40w idle and 50-60w watching a Blu Ray.
post #14 of 65
Mobo: ASRock E350M1/USB3
Disk: 2.5" WD 500GB notebook drive
Add-on: MCE remote
PSU: picoPSU-like DC-DC
Power consumption: 21-22 idle; 28-31 HD video (720p/1080i OTA HDTV) playback

Mobo: Zotac Ionitx-P-E Celeron SU2300 Nvidia Ion
Disk: 3.5" 2TB Samsung "green" drive
Add-ons: MCE remote; firewire card
PSU: picoPSU-like DC-DC
Power consumption: 22-23 idle; 30-31 HD video (720p/1080i OTA HDTV) playback

I tested the Zotac board with a notebook drive and saw 18W idle.
post #15 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd View Post
*sigh* Wonder when we'll have around 10~15W idle as standard? I think that's around how much set-top boxes consume.
Not the Motorola STB's! The Motorola DCH3416 and newer have the same idle Standby power-consumption as they do when powered on (due to bad engineering). Also, the hard drive on these STB's is always spinning (I assume on purpose...constant starting and stopping could shorten the lifespan). The power consumption of the DCH3416 (and the newer DCX line) is about 35 watts.
post #16 of 65
111w Idle and 118w in BD ISO playback.

What prize do I get?

If you have a kill-a-watt then you need to measure actual power consumption in routine use over time.

For me its 2.7 KW a day.

I measured my TOTAL home theater power consumed over a week (Plasma + AVR + STB + HTPC) and it works out to 5.46 KW a day.

That's one quarter of my household consumption. So my HT set up accounts for 25% of my power bill.
post #17 of 65
ASUS Dual Core Atom 1.6ghz 330 Nvidia ION
2 GB Ram
500 GB 7200 RPM Hitachi Drive
LG HD DVD BD combo drive
250 watt power supply
Sleep 4 watt
Idle 35 watts
1080i broadcast TV from Network Tuner 41 Watts
post #18 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by mungee View Post
111w Idle and 118w in BD ISO playback.
What prize do I get?
If you have a kill-a-watt then you need to measure actual power consumption in routine use over time.
For me its 2.7 KW a day.
I measured my TOTAL home theater power consumed over a week (Plasma + AVR + STB + HTPC) and it works out to 5.46 KW a day.
That's one quarter of my household consumption. So my HT set up accounts for 25% of my power bill.
None of that changes the fact that an apples-to-apples comparison of HTPC power usage vs. alternatives (Tivo, TViX, cable company STB, BD player, etc.) is worthwhile.

It's not like the power usage of the other devices (TV, AVR, etc.) changes in the equation.
post #19 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by mungee View Post

111w Idle and 118w in BD ISO playback.

What prize do I get?

You win a cewkie!
post #20 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by TNO821 View Post

Not the Motorola STB's! The Motorola DCH3416 and newer have the same idle Standby power-consumption as they do when powered on (due to bad engineering). Also, the hard drive on these STB's is always spinning (I assume on purpose...constant starting and stopping could shorten the lifespan). The power consumption of the DCH3416 (and the newer DCX line) is about 35 watts.

Oh wow. Our Scientific Atlanta boxes just used around 10W (no DVR, though). Taken at that, my HTPC's aren't bad at all. My DH57JG+i3-530+WD10EADS only uses 28W idle and around 30-40W during playback. Looking at Blu-ray playback, that's much lower than the PS3. Despite that, when I want to watch Blu-ray discs right away without ripping first, we still use the PS3. Convenience trumps power savings.
post #21 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd View Post

Oh wow. Our Scientific Atlanta boxes just used around 10W (no DVR, though). Taken at that, my HTPC's aren't bad at all.

Yeah, the older Motorola's (6412 and 6416) were much better b/c they would reduce their power consumption quite a bit when in Standby. But everything since the DCH3416 has been an energy pig.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd View Post

My DH57JG+i3-530+WD10EADS only uses 28W idle and around 30-40W during playback. Looking at Blu-ray playback, that's much lower than the PS3. Despite that, when I want to watch Blu-ray discs right away without ripping first, we still use the PS3. Convenience trumps power savings.

And the newer Sony BD players are even faster at loading BD's than the PS3 and consume quite a bit less power, drawing 24 watts.
post #22 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by bjterry62 View Post

Don't know if the Pico will help you that much. I have an A II 240 in a JW mITX 785G setup with one and my idle is around 40W. It could be that the MSI 880G is just more efficient, but your 33w is outstanding. Do you have it underclocked / undervolted?

BT

Cool and quiet forced with underclock at 2.7ghz, so it matches your A 240. My MSI doesn't seem to have any easy way to let me mess with voltages other than trying to use AMD overdrive or other utilities.. i have a support request open with them to see if i can override the greyed out auto.

Logged in right now updating avsforum, listening to zunepass and a couple of tabs open i'm using 39-40 watts on this system. i'll have to try disabling aero and tune down the eyecandy and any services not needed and see if i can really keep the power utilization down low for idle and playback
post #23 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by TNO821 View Post

Not the Motorola STB's! The Motorola DCH3416 and newer have the same idle Standby power-consumption as they do when powered on (due to bad engineering). Also, the hard drive on these STB's is always spinning (I assume on purpose...constant starting and stopping could shorten the lifespan). The power consumption of the DCH3416 (and the newer DCX line) is about 35 watts.

Thats terrible!

Those new tuner boxes comcast forced on people last year are pretty crappy in the power department as well especially considering its just another device to plugin to do something my tv already did natively. I'm 100% OTA and Digital download now.. Sick of having all those energy suckers that don't do much burning energy for no reason hehe
post #24 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by TNO821 View Post

And the newer Sony BD players are even faster at loading BD's than the PS3 and consume quite a bit less power, drawing 24 watts.

Yeah, I know. That's also one of the next goals for my HTPC revamp. 10-15W idle, then just 20-30W during playback with a relatively basic system of 1X SSD (OS) + 1x 500GB-1TB (data/local storage). That's why I'm holding off on Sandy Bridge for now and waiting to see what Llano and Ivy Bridge bring to the table. I know SB already has crazy low power consumption but I'm hoping to be able to save an extra 5-10W with IB+Panther Point.

*sigh* I wish Nvidia's Synergy could deliver more power savings than Lucid's Virtu. I know Optimus works pretty darned well on notebooks.
post #25 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by TNO821 View Post

Not the Motorola STB's! The Motorola DCH3416 and newer have the same idle Standby power-consumption as they do when powered on (due to bad engineering). Also, the hard drive on these STB's is always spinning (I assume on purpose...constant starting and stopping could shorten the lifespan). The power consumption of the DCH3416 (and the newer DCX line) is about 35 watts.

Do they continue to buffer the last tuned station while they are in standby? That is, when you turn it on, can you rewind and see the last hour of the station to which it is tuned even though it was in standby? That's what the DirecTV DVRs do, so on those the hard drives are actually writing 24/7 intentionally to provide that buffer, not to prolong the HD life.
post #26 of 65
Old system :
Atom N330 Dual core on Asus nVidia ION board.
Idle 10 watts.
Live TV from external ATI DCT 20 watts.

New system:
AMd Athlon II X3 triple core on Gigabyte 785G (green board)
Idle: Haven't tested
Live TV from internal Ceton InifinyTV4: Haven't tested
post #27 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by blueiedgod View Post

Old system :
Atom N330 Dual core on Asus nVidia ION board.
Idle 10 watts.
Live TV from external ATI DCT 20 watts.

o_O What power supply are you using? Those values look insanely low. Even with a Pico, I think most people are getting around 20W idle with a basic system with only a 2.5" drive (max 2.5W power consumption).
post #28 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by ilovejedd View Post

o_O What power supply are you using? Those values look insanely low. Even with a Pico, I think most people are getting around 20W idle with a basic system with only a 2.5" drive (max 2.5W power consumption).

10 watt idle is amazing

Thats probably less than most tvs use when off hehe
post #29 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by byronmhome View Post

10 watt idle is amazing

I know. My Zotac IONITX-A-U (the one with onboard PSU + AC/DC brick) uses around 22~24W idle, iirc and that's with just a WD Scorpio Blue 500GB. Even an SSD wouldn't do much to lower power consumption. The only board I know of that can reach 10W for full system is the Intel D945GSEJT with a single core Atom N230 and 945GSE netbook chipset.
post #30 of 65
Quote:
Originally Posted by bjterry62 View Post

Don't know if the Pico will help you that much. I have an A II 240 in a JW mITX 785G setup with one and my idle is around 40W.
BT

I have the same board, with an Intel 5050e (45W), 4GB, 1TB WD green drive and a 150w picoPSU with 102w power brick. I'll have to borrow a friend's watt meter to measure.
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