G5 using too much power...

How did you test the power consumption of the machine? How did you find out that it was using about 200W?

I also was wondering how much of power my G5 was consumming.

Is there some device or software that can help find that info.

thanks

First question is...

What is the configuration of your G5? Amount of RAM, number of hard drives, speed of hard drives, video card, any PCI cards.

Were any peripherals attached, that are powered by the Mac, such as scanners, hubs, docking stations, Etc.

Are you using a UPS or surge suppressor, and was that inline when you were doing your test.

Any of the above would change the amount of current drawn by your Mac. In most cases the problem is a parasitic load that is not accounted for in the testing.

Tom N.

The G5 below has these readings (240 volts):

Off - 33.6 W

Sleep - 40.8 W

Idle - 204 W

I'm glad of the warmth actually, as the boiler is on the blink:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86783

Think what you're actually measuring is Amps, and converting it.

I havent read much about the on/off/idle wattage loads of the G5 but I'm an electrician and get asked alot "how much will all that landscape lighting cost me a month? " so I have to calculate it for them.

It's a pleasent surprise to read your finding is only 2000 KWh per year.

That works out to a meer $200 per year at our residential rate of .10 cents per KWh, or .06 cents per day.

Have you tried testing that wattage meter for accuracy with a known load of something like a 75 watt light bulb?

Your system idle:
200 watts X 24 hours = 4800 watts or 4.8 KWh
4.8 X 365 days = 1,752 KWh

1,752 KWh is cheap.

I know your question was wondering why the sleep and off loads are higher than expected, but $200 a year is a bargain.

I'm curious, so let us know what you find after testing the meter with a light bulb.

btw,

I've found most our customers have a misconception that they're computers are causing high electrical bills.

Apparently some of this idea comes from many years back when computers were looked at as a novelty and voodoo because most people didnt understand what they are.

In reality, most the increased cost caused by computers is the increased cooling loads generated by the box and monitor.
That's why my CRT only gets turned on when I need it. The office will climb over 80 degrees F in a couple hours with the room closed if I dont.

Look here for the source of your high electric bill and anywhere else that could be attributing to it like a old refrigerator or electric ovens and dryers.

edit: something doesnt appear to be right with the math too.
should be approx .60 cents per day

Reference measurements (240volt) - Fluke digital multimeter

60watt tungsten lamp - 55.2 W

100watt tungsten lamp - 96 W

2 x 500watt tungsten/quartz/iodine/halogen lamp
A - 458.4 W
B - 482.4 W

1050watt(nom.) toaster - 1012.8 W

laserprinter 480watt (nom.)
idle - 7.3 W
printing(avg.) - 384 W
peak load - 592.8 W

So that's why APC advise not to connect laserprinters to the UPS...

And... the Mac via APC Smart-UPS 750VA (240volt):

Off - 100.8 W
Sleep - 108 W
Idle - 256.8 W

compared to Mac only:

Off - 33.6 W
Sleep - 40.8 W
Idle - 204 W

So you're saying that the APC UPS adds over 60 W's to your sleeping Mac's consumption?

Is that with a fully charged battery?

If not, that seems to be an even more interesting revelation from all this than the "Off" consumption of the PM.

This morning, I plugged one of those gadgets into my APC RS1000 UPS, which handles the SP PowerMac G5, the Sony CRT monitor, and a 14 inch iBook. With iBook, G5, and monitor on, but not doing anything CPU intensive, the total wattage was around 250-260. (I have the CPU performance setting at "highest".)

Shutting off the computers, but with the monitor still on brought it down to 85 watts or so. After a minute or so, the monitor went to power saving mode, and the total consumption dropped to 23 watts. I guess that's the residual load with a trickle charge into the APC and into the iBook battery. If the batteries were recharging I'd expect the usage would be higher.

The SP G5 does seem to use a lot less current than my older Athlon 2700+ box, which can keep the temperature up 5-10 degrees even on a cold windy day.

I've been noticing this as well. My Dual 2ghz G5 is pulling ~170W sitting idle. This is as opposed to my Sawtooth G4 1.4ghz (w/ upgrade) which runs at ~50watts idle, and my dual 550mhz PIII server (currently w/o drives) which is also pulling ~50 watts idle. Makes me a bit guilty about using my G5 so much.

While sleeping the G5 does drop to 10 watts, so that isn't as bad. Looking forward to an Intel Merom/Pentium based future....

Jason

Since we are talking about energy consumption, I'd like to ask a related question...

Why do so many people leave their computer on, usually in sleep mode? I've always turned my computers off when not in use. This certainly get around the issue of power draw when not in use!

Tom N.

Not according to the interesting figures above!

The difference between "Off" and "Sleep" is very small.

I like the ability to have the nearly instantaneous off and on that I get with "Sleep"

Seem we read the figures differently. When I turn my computers off, they are off, no parasitic loads = 0 watts used. Thanks to an on/off strip on a power strip/surge protector or UPS.

It's the same with TV's, VCR's, DVD players. They all have parasitic loads when turned off, usually small amounts of power to operate clocks/calendars, keep CRT's "warmed up", etc, etc.

If yo add up all the parasitic loads in an average home, I would not be surprised to find around 150 to 200 watts used continuously every day every hour for no other purpose but because some marketing person wanted a light, or clock left on, or a TV or computer to start faster.

Lets do the math. 150 watts x 24 hours x 365 = 1314 Kilowatt hours of electricity consumed. Now if you multiple that by just the base electrical rate, say .10 cents per kilowatt, you get $131 per year so your computer can start up a few seconds faster. But thats only the base line cost. If you include transmission cost, taxes paid, and other fees on your electrical bill, the cost goes dramatically up. On my bill I pay more for transmissions fees then actually kilowatt used, and the transmission fees are based on the number of kilowatts.

So I personally don't find keeping your computer on (and other electrical appliances) just for the sake of a little less time to turn on, a very reasonable approach to energy management.

It may not seem like very much energy used... but how many people are using energy this way?

For a little fun example.. figure out how much energy in your town is being used to ensure your computer boots up faster.

Tom N.