An experiment I'd like to see...

I'd like to see the wattage used by a computer (monitor on/off), in sleep mode and out of sleep mode.

1. Plug one of those cheap watt meters into the wall outlet.
2. Plug the power strip that has the entire computer desktop plugged into it, into the watt meter.
3. Read the different wattages in the following situations...

a. Computer ON (idle), and monitor ON.
b. Computer ON (idle), with monitor OFF.
c. Computer in sleep mode with monitor OFF.

Ghot said:

I'd like to see the wattage used by a computer (monitor on/off), in sleep mode and out of sleep mode.

Click to expand...

Mike,

I measured a few of the bits you want.
Power consumption in sleep - my post #85 - ElevenForum


All the best,
Denis

Try3 said:

Mike,

I measured a few of the bits you want.
Power consumption in sleep - my post #85 - ElevenForum


All the best,
Denis

Click to expand...

Well done... but I'd rather see the measurements just for a desktop with an inline physical watt meter.
Something like this, with no Windows involvement...

Inline Watt Meter



My hypothesis is that for a desktop, sleep is pointless.
We all know that the monitor (screen) is the prime offender.
We have phone and laptops to back that up.

I have the suspicion that a desktop (idle) with the monitor(s) turned off, will draw about the same wattage as a desktop (idle), in sleep mode. Or at best there will not be all that much difference.

The reason this interests me is due to the fact that sleep mode does cause problems, a lot of the time.
IF... sleep mode on a desktop does not result in that much power saving... why use it.
Just turn the monitor OFF.

For phones, tablets, laptops... even a tiny power saving would be useful.
But weighed against the problems sleep causes for a lot of folks... I wonder if it's really that useful on a desktop.



What caused me to wonder about this? CPU-Z.
With a "balanced" power plan and minimum processor state set to 99% and maximum processor state set to 100%... at idle (just AIDA64 and Bitdefender running), I see this...



I can't imagine the core voltage dropping all that much in Sleep Mode.
Since wattage is amps x voltage...

As for my DELL U3011 monitor...
DELL U3011 specs





We can file this conundrum under... shower thoughts.

Ghot,

I can answer these questions for you, as i have an APC UPS that displays the power draw coming from it.

With my computer off, my monitor unplugged and the ONLY thing connected to my UPS is my 8 port gigabit switch connected, I'm drawing 5 watts of power. It doesn't flucuate whatsoever, it's 5 watts continuous.

I turned on my desktop ( custom built Ryzen 9-5900X, with 3080, and 27" Asus Gaming monitor. During boot up i went as high as 334 watts of power. ( 5 coming from my network switch means 329 watts from the PC and monitor).

After a few minutes , logged into the desktop with the CPU basically at idle and the monitor on, my power draw was hanging around 137-140 watts. Turning off the monitor with the monitor power switch, dropped me to around 101-104watts at idle. When I put the computer to sleep, the monitor immediately went to standby, the computer went to sleep and my power draw dropped to 7 watts. Physically switching off the monitor via the power switch left me basically at 7w.

pparks1 said:

Ghot,

I can answer these questions for you, as i have an APC UPS that displays the power draw coming from it.

With my computer off, my monitor unplugged and the ONLY thing connected to my UPS is my 8 port gigabit switch connected, I'm drawing 5 watts of power. It doesn't flucuate whatsoever, it's 5 watts continuous.

I turned on my desktop ( custom built Ryzen 9-5900X, with 3080, and 27" Asus Gaming monitor. During boot up i went as high as 334 watts of power. ( 5 coming from my network switch means 329 watts from the PC and monitor).

After a few minutes , logged into the desktop with the CPU basically at idle and the monitor on, my power draw was hanging around 137-140 watts. Turning off the monitor with the monitor power switch, dropped me to around 101-104watts at idle. When I put the computer to sleep, the monitor immediately went to standby, the computer went to sleep and my power draw dropped to 7 watts. Physically switching off the monitor via the power switch left me basically at 7w.

Click to expand...

I think the power draw the UPS displays might be the power draw from the wall.
This would include the draw of the UPS as well.

That is why I wanted to test with just an inline watt meter.

One of these days I will do the test myself. Ofc, I'll need to order an inline watt meter, and re-enable Sleep on my computer.

Ghot said:

I think the power draw the UPS displays might be the power draw from the wall.
This would include the draw of the UPS as well.

That is why I wanted to test with just an inline watt meter.

One of these days I will do the test myself. Ofc, I'll need to order an inline watt meter, and re-enable Sleep on my computer.

Click to expand...

no, it's just the draw of power from the battery outlets on the UPS itself. If I shut off my switch, my power output goes to 0 on the UPS.

pparks1 said:

no, it's just the draw of power from the battery outlets on the UPS itself. If I shut off my switch, my power output goes to 0 on the UPS.

Click to expand...

I'm not saying you're incorrect.
In my experience, it's always best to take "readings" of any kind with the least amount of "device" between me and the reading.

As I stated initially, it's just something I've always wondered about.
The last time I had any dealings with UPS devices was in 1980, and they were far different than they are today.
The ones I had experience with were also commercial grade industrial strength units.

Anyway, thanks for the info... but I think I'll still do the test myself one day.

I just don't have a kill-a-watt meter at my house. I used to have one at a previous job.

I'm confident with my numbers on my UPS. I'm sitting at 5w with the network switch, and I just connected a 9w LED lightbulb and i immediately went to 14w. I unplugged my switch and I dropped to 9 watts, and I turned off the 9w lightbulb and was at 0.

My Apple Mac Mini with the M1 chip from 2020 takes a scant 7 watts of power at idle. :) Here it is, with the network switch and the mac mini at idle, monitor off.

Ghot said:

My hypothesis is that for a desktop, sleep is pointless.
We all know that the monitor (screen) is the prime offender.
We have phone and laptops to back that up.

I have the suspicion that a desktop (idle) with the monitor(s) turned off, will draw about the same wattage as a desktop (idle), in sleep mode. Or at best there will not be all that much difference.

Click to expand...

Sleep is far from pointless on a desktop. And a ton will depend upon the level of specs on your desktop too. For example, as stated above, my mac mini at idle is only 7w. While asleep, it's only 1w. But a Mac with the M series silicon is amazingly power efficient. My monitor compared to my Mac mini, makes the monitor the biggest hog of power easily. monitor takes 24w of power, but mac only takes 7.

My 12 core/24 thread Ryzen with an EVGA 3080 FTW Ultra (albeit undervolted), draws over 100w of power at idle. This dropped to around 2w of power when it was asleep. That will certainly add up over time.. my monitor here only takes 1/4 as much power as my desktop.

Also, if my computer is turned on and we lose power, my UPS doesn't last very long at all. Just long enough to save up what I am working on and shutting down. If however my computer is asleep it lasts for hours.

Ghot said:

Inline Watt Meter

Click to expand...

I have a cheap and very easy to use device to save energy. I call it the off switch.