On Mon, 2016-10-10 at 12:31 -0700, Rick Stevens wrote:
> On 10/10/2016 11:52 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> >
> > On Mon, 2016-10-10 at 11:42 -0500, Mike Chambers wrote:
> > >
> > > On Fri, 2016-10-07 at 16:35 +0100, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
> > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > As I said, I'm happy enough with suspend for now. My aim was to
> > > > reduce
> > > > power consumption at night (this isn't a server that has to be on all
> > > > the time).
> > >
> > > I dont' think computers use that much power (least normal workstations
> > > anyway) to bring up or down your utility bill much, so couldn't you
> > > just leave it on as is and just shut off your monitor until your ready
> > > to use it again?
> >
> > I used to do that up until about a year ago. Since then I think I have
> > noticed a reduced utility bill, but of course that's not really
> > evidence as there are other factors, including lower rates because of
> > the drop in oil prices. This is an i7 system with an Nvidia card, an
> > SSD, a 1TB SATA drive and 16TGB of RAM, so probably above average for
> > home workstations in terms of power consumption. The monitor is a 23-
> > inch HP LCD.
>
> Well, I dunno, 16 tera gigabytes of RAM (you said 16TGB) is a hell of
> a lot! I've never seen a mobo that could handle that. :-) Must have the
> cooling system from hell in there!
>
> >
> > If there were an easy way to measure it I would :-)
>
> If you have a clamp-style AC ammeter, you can get a widget that you
> plug into your outlet and your system plugs into the widget. The widget
> splits the hot line out separately. You put your ammeter around that leg
> and measure the current. You can compute your usage using Ohm's law,
> e.g. if you measure 2A at 120V, that's 240 VA. If you want it in watts,
> your average computer has a power factor of about .8, so that'd be 240
> times .8 or 192 watts (or so).
>
> Just an idea.

Well, apparently the savings might not offset the price of the ammeter,
but I suppose the advancement of knowledge always has a cost :-)

poc