How much power does the average computer use per minute?

Question

and according to this, how much money does the power used cost per min? these numbers don't need to be 100% correct, i just need a rough figure.

Answer 1

I measured mine.  It uses

COMPUTER AT REST         6 WATTS

COMPUTER IN USE           62 WATTS

MONITOR AT REST             2 WATTS      

MONITOR IN USE              58 WATTS

MODEM                                 4 WATTS

SPEAKERS                             1 WATT

Answer 2

The power supply inside the PC is rated for anywhere between 200 and 400 Watts.  250 Watts is an average number for a low-end PC.  But... not all of that 250 Watts is being used all the time.  It's more like 1/2 of that.  

The monitor also draws power.  An old 17" CRT might draw as much as 100 Watts, steady.  A newer flat LCD might draw 1/2 of that.

So, we are still talking about 100 - 200 Watts average.  If it is 120 Watts, then in 1 minute that will be 20 Watt-hours, or 0.02 kWhr.

At 8 cents per kWhr, that's a cost of 0.16 cents per minute (16 tenths of a penny).  Round it up to 2 tenths of a penny as more of a rough number that's easier to remember.

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Answer 3

Your question doesn't quite make sense. Power is energy used over a period of time so you can say "How much energy does my computer use per minute" or "How much power does my computer use" but not "how much power does my computer use per minute"

However, to answer the question you meant to ask, the average computer will use roughly 500W which in the UK will cost you around 7p an hour. I'm sure you can work out what that is per minute. :-)

Many, many things will affect this though, including but not limited to whether you keep the monitor on or not, whether it's a CRT or TFT monitor, whether the computer is being used or not, what sort of power-saving features it's got (and are turned on), how many peripherals and drives are fitted etc. etc.

It's possible to get computers which use less than 5 watts. The A9 (http://www.cjemicros.co.uk/micros/produc... is one but it doesn't run windows.

In general, it's probably best to turn off your computer when you're not using it. I do this even with my home server but I've set it up so I can turn it on remotely from anywhere in the world so it's available whenever I need to connect to it but not using energy all the time.