Basic Power Supply question

lothario · 12-16-2006, 05:42 AM

This system has a 400W (ATX12V) Power Supply.
Assuming that when the system is being utilized, it consumes 400 watts.

When this system is idle, how much power does it consume?

tronayne · 12-16-2006, 07:41 AM

The 400W rating is what it is capable of, not what it is actually doing; that depends upon the amount of stuff you've got plugged into the power supply (motherboard, disk drives, etc.) and the ratings of each component.

MerePeer · 12-16-2006, 08:21 AM

It also depends on what your computer is doing -- a heavy CPU load will use more watts than idle. One way to check the watts of the entire system is with a meter that costs about US $40; here is a review of one such device: http://www.the-gadgeteer.com/review/...monitor_review