How many watts does a Mac Pro use?

Hi Martin -

Are those daily or monthly numbers? I'm getting CRAZY electric bills (close to $500/mos) and trying to figure out what the heck is going on. I have a Mac Pro 5.1 with two 30" monitors to go along with the normal other stuff (2-55" TV's, Fridge, dishwasher, washer/dryer, microwave, etc. Family of 4 total and my kids and wife have iMacs. I try to turn lights off when not in use and for the most part use energy saving cfl bulbs through out. But this just feels crazy with the bills we're getting and the only relatively new variable is the mac pro and monitors. We do leave computers on all day but during the day they are just idle and at night are set to shut down. Any ideas on how to narrow down the culprit?

By far the biggest traditional user are Refrigerator, Freezer, Electric clothes dryer, any other items with motors such as Air Conditioners or Dehumidifiers, and electric Water Heater. Modern life does not seem to involve cooking all day with the electric range.

Dripping hot water can create a substantial additional load both water use and electricity use on the hot water heater.

Beyond that, you may need to measure actual consumption in Amps, which cannot safely and accurately be done with just a Multi-Meter. To do this, you would need a Multi-meter with a magnetic Amp-Meter attachment, through which you pass the Appliance cord. Alternatively, a Watt-Mizer sort of outlet/measurement device that you plug into the wall outlet, then plug in your Appliances to measure, and it reports directly on its display.

Remember that the Mac power supply OUTPUT is different from its INPUT power draw -- waste heat is also generated by inherent inefficiency.

Assuming the configuration indicated in this Knowledge Base Article. However, when you add memory and such it goes up. Most Mac Pros have a power supply capable of about 900 watts. Generally it is recommended to get a 1500 VA or bigger UPS for the Mac Pro.

On my Mac Pro 2,1 with 16 GB of memory, 4 hard drives, 2 optical drives, an ATI HD 4870 video card, a Black Magic Intensity Pro PCI card, a Highpoint RocketRaid 2314 and two monitors (20 inch and 30 inch Cinema Dispplays) I typically draw 300 watts when idle and screens are asleep to 650 watts when all CPUs are processing video and screens are on.

Most homes can't use a UPS larger than 1500VA nor do you want or need to.

Amazon Cyberpower 1500VA $199 or you could go down to even 1000VA.

you can look up PSU and sizing charts and you want a UPS that can handle 865W (size of your PSU) and also UPS like PSU last longer if you don't try to overload.

So 1000VA minimum depending on quality of it, and your wirng and circuit (should not be sharing other equipment other than say TV, lights).

425W for just MacPro2,1 sounds a bit high unless doing a lot of cpu processing.

Each FBDIMM is 'good for' 10-15W which is a lot.

then PCIe cards and graphics.

Wake from sleep etc though can have higher than standard draw.

Starting back with G5 2003, 1000-1500VA has become standard - and necessary - with tower Macs.

I currently use an APC brand Smart UPS 1300 which gives me about 20 minutes of uptime in the event of a power outage (that is including powering both monitors, external hard drives and any vampire loads from other devices plugged into it). However, I am also running a newer 3,1 (Early 2008) Mac Pro which doesn't seem to use quite as much power as yours reads. (Did you take your reading while doing video editing or something? That seems quite high considering.)

Regardless, I'm happy with the capacity of my UPS considering it gives me enough time to shut down in the event of a lengthy power outage, and the computer should sleep right through it if I'm not around to shut down.

I would match the PSU to the UPS, and aim for using 60% load.

Some types of equipment like an a/c or fridge should never be on the same circuit.

A good ZeroSurge line conditioner plus 1300VA

And don't go by what KillAWatt or UPS LCD shows.

Also, any half decent graphic card like ATI 5770 75W PCIe rail + 50-100W from the 6-pin aux connector.

the protective sheating crumbles in your hand if you touch it like if replacing an outlet or light switch.

There are specialty electrical products on the market to deal with exactly that problem.

3M makes a special rubber tape for electrical use (this is NOT ordinary electrical tape) that is not very sticky on the roll, but adheres to itself when stretched. I have used it with great success on the old wiring in my home. It meets the code for 600-Volt rating for insulation. I saw a clever electrician use it and he gave me a partial roll. I recently found it for sale at Home Depot or Lowes.

I have best luck splitting the 1/2 inch roll into 1/4 inch strips to wrap individual wires in a box. A 6 to 8 inch strip can be manipulted and stretched easily and provide coverage for an average wire in an electrical box. Then trim the excess to have the conductor poke out the end the required amount.

If you are working with armor-flex cabling, be sure to also install cheap plastic inserts called "BX anti-shorts" into the end of the armor to prevent chafing and having the conductors short out onto the (grounded) armor.