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cost of running a pc (in the UK)?

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Carol Haynes:
How can you tell?

It really depends on the electricity company you use as much as anything else as there is probably 30% variation in charges and it no longer depends on region.

Plus you have the cost of other parts of "usage" to take into account if you want to be accurate - lighting/heating where the computer is may be an essential cost for some (it is for me as the computer is in a room without windows - and it is a room I wouldn't sit in without the computer so heating is effectively part of the computer running cost), the cost of printers and standby on other peripherals, the cost of a UPS if you use one (which requires regular servicing .... note to self on this!), the cost of consumables (such as printer ink and blank disks) for essential use beacuse you 'own a computer'. Software updates and upgrades? What about devaluation and wear and tear? Specialist furniture (replacement/wear and tear on that too) ...

The list is potentially endless and varies from user to user and could all justifiably be considered as running costs on a system.

f0dder:
You're not nearly thorough enough, Carol!

You have to factor in the cost of coke and pizza, small gifts to keep the significant other happy when you're hacking away for a couple of days with no time to entertain him/her, doctor bills for fixing RSI, et cetera... :]

Personally I'd just like to know what it costs to keep my box running all day, when crunching numbers or up/downloading something huge. And I'd like to know how what it'd cost to put up a fileserver again, I'd love to have my FLAC music archive available so I don't have to switch audio CDs all the time... oh, and local SVN repository + backups instead of relying on the server at my mums place.

nudone:
i take your point, Carol.

but the actual meter works by the user putting in a few numbers based on what they are charged for electric - which you'd get from your electric company. hopefully somewhere off the bill.

lanux128:
this is what i managed to find out:
How do I find out how much electricity something uses?
- http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/howmuch.html

Calculate the Potential Savings from Power Managing Your Computers
http://pmdb.cadmusdev.com/powermanagement/quickCalc.html

not an exact science, but close.. :)

Notok:
You could always get one of these :)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/7657/

Efficiency does make a big difference. Higher wattage PSU's running at low wattage levels are also more efficient than low wattage PSU's running closer to capacity. PSU's that aren't efficient waste power, releasing the wasted energy in the form of heat - which also causes more errors that need to be made up for, making the computer do more (which is why better cooling can sometimes make a system run a bit smoother.. the difference was noticeable the first time I used RAM heat spreaders).

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