[James_Rolevink]

I notice that Apple has made it *very* difficult to find the typical power consumption for a PowerMac G5 2x2.5GHz. I assume this means it's horrendous, as they do brag about how much more efficient it is (compared to a G4), when it's asleep (and turned off!??).

Does anyone know how much juice I will be up for (typical usage in watts please) for a 2x2.5GHz with the nVidia 6800 ultra?

[Scotttheking]

I'm going to guess somewhere between 150 and 300 watts, maybe a bit more even. If someone has a power meter they can test it.

[SSharon]

This place has a few of the numbers you are looking for, and possibly all but I didn't read it all.

[tooki]

150-300 watts? You wish!

From http://www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html

Electrical and environmental requirements

• *Meets ENERGY STAR requirements
  *Line voltage: 100-125V AC or 200-240V AC
  *Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase
  *Maximum current: 6.5A (low-voltage range) or 7.5A (high-voltage range)
  *Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
  *Storage temperature: -40° to 116° F (-40° to 47° C)
  *Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
  *Maximum altitude: 10,000 feet

So if you're in the U.S., it can draw 120V x 6.5A = 780W maximum. (This makes sense, since the power supply's maximum output is 600W.)

Now, it's not going to draw that amount all the time, in fact it's unlikely you'll ever draw the full current. But my guess is that it would average at least 300W, and higher under load. I can tell you from experience that G5s emit a lot of heat -- and that heat was originally electricity.

tooki

P.S. That Macintouch page lists the power consumption for the processor chip, not for the system, which is the question here.

[Scotttheking]

Ok, I'm a bit low.
I figured 2 cpus @ 60 or so typical, 40 for GPU typical, etc.
I'd put max at much much higher.
Hopefully someone here will test.
*adds question to the list*

[SSharon]

Originally posted by tooki:
P.S. That Macintouch page lists the power consumption for the processor chip, not for the system, which is the question here.

Yes I did notice that but I didn't want to cut out parts of the page to post them here and I thought it would be a good start to guessing the total power usage. Also, for the people reading the thread with similar questions to the OP but not the same.

[UnixMac]

Originally posted by tooki:
150-300 watts? You wish!

From http://www.apple.com/powermac/specs.html

Electrical and environmental requirements

• *Meets ENERGY STAR requirements
  *Line voltage: 100-125V AC or 200-240V AC
  *Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase
  *Maximum current: 6.5A (low-voltage range) or 7.5A (high-voltage range)
  *Operating temperature: 50° to 95° F (10° to 35° C)
  *Storage temperature: -40° to 116° F (-40° to 47° C)
  *Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
  *Maximum altitude: 10,000 feet

So if you're in the U.S., it can draw 120V x 6.5A = 780W maximum. (This makes sense, since the power supply's maximum output is 600W.)

Now, it's not going to draw that amount all the time, in fact it's unlikely you'll ever draw the full current. But my guess is that it would average at least 300W, and higher under load. I can tell you from experience that G5s emit a lot of heat -- and that heat was originally electricity.

tooki

P.S. That Macintouch page lists the power consumption for the processor chip, not for the system, which is the question here.

WOW! So my system with it's few extra's must be drawing about 1 KvA... man that's gonna hurt at the end of the month!

[Scotttheking]

Originally posted by UnixMac:
WOW! So my system with it's few extra's must be drawing about 1 KvA... man that's gonna hurt at the end of the month!

Would you be willing to test the power usage? kill-a-watt It'd be nice to run some tests with the CPUs on full but idle, clocked down, full load, etc.

--Scott

[UnixMac]

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
Would you be willing to test the power usage? kill-a-watt It'd be nice to run some tests with the CPUs on full but idle, clocked down, full load, etc.

--Scott

looks a bit above my paygrade.... Not sure how I'd hook that contraption up. If there was a software only method, that would be better.

[kupan787]

Originally posted by UnixMac:
WOW! So my system with it's few extra's must be drawing about 1 KvA... man that's gonna hurt at the end of the month!

Nah... we have got 2 dual 2GHz systems here running at least 12 hours a day a piece (not to mention we have a ton of other crap sucking up electricity, including monitors, RPTV, tivo, xbox, cable box, my roommates Dell, lights, dishwasher, etc, etc), and our last bill was only $50. So don't worry about it at all.

[kupan787]

Originally posted by tooki:
Now, it's not going to draw that amount all the time, in fact it's unlikely you'll ever draw the full current. But my guess is that it would average at least 300W, and higher under load. I can tell you from experience that G5s emit a lot of heat -- and that heat was originally electricity.

I am assuming this isn't including the monitor...

But here goes some rough numbers:

((300*12*30)/1000)*0.07 = $7.56

So, roughly speaking if you run a G5 (which we will say is a 300W system) for 12 hours a day, for 30 days, you are looking at a cost of about $7.56.

[Simon]

Originally posted by kupan787:
Nah... we have got 2 dual 2GHz systems here running at least 12 hours a day a piece (not to mention we have a ton of other crap sucking up electricity, including monitors, RPTV, tivo, xbox, cable box, my roommates Dell, lights, dishwasher, etc, etc), and our last bill was only $50. So don't worry about it at all.

Don't worry at all about using power?

This is exactly why we are wasting natural resources and destroying our environment. Power is too cheap, people's bills are low no matter how much power they use and in the end nobody cares 'at all'. Great sustainability there.

[Scotttheking]

Originally posted by UnixMac:
looks a bit above my paygrade.... Not sure how I'd hook that contraption up. If there was a software only method, that would be better.

Step 1) Plug kill-a-watt into wall
Step 2) Plug G5 or power strip or any other electric device into kill-a-watt
Step 3) There is no step 3.

Software can't measure power usage. Kill-a-watt is a power meter.

[UnixMac]

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
Step 1) Plug kill-a-watt into wall
Step 2) Plug G5 or power strip or any other electric device into kill-a-watt
Step 3) There is no step 3.

Software can't measure power usage. Kill-a-watt is a power meter.

Easy enough I suppose... I'll see if I can pick one up at a Frys or something... hate to order off the net these days (prior experiences).

[Scotttheking]

Originally posted by UnixMac:
Easy enough I suppose... I'll see if I can pick one up at a Frys or something... hate to order off the net these days (prior experiences).

Not sure if Fry's has them (they probably do). I bought mine at radioshack.
Wonderful little toy.

[UnixMac]

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
Not sure if Fry's has them (they probably do). I bought mine at radioshack.
Wonderful little toy.

oh yeah... the old TRS-80 store... I'll look there.

btw... how many watts did you're register?

[Scotttheking]

Originally posted by UnixMac:
oh yeah... the old TRS-80 store... I'll look there.

btw... how many watts did you're register?

For what? I think my G4 tower drew 150+ watts, but I measured it a while ago. My Tibook was around 16 watts the last time I tested.

[kupan787]

Originally posted by Simon:
Don't worry at all about using power?

This is exactly why we are wasting natural resources and destroying our environment. Power is too cheap, people's bills are low no matter how much power they use and in the end nobody cares 'at all'. Great sustainability there.

That is not what I am saying at all. He mentioned he thought his bill would sky rocket, I was just trying to point out that it wont. I was saying don't worry at all about your bill going through the roof if you use your G5.

And let me add, bills are NOT low no matter what you use. Over the summer when it is hot as hell in Sacramento we run the AC from time to time. That alone represented 70% of our summer bill (yea for TIER 2 and TIER 3 rates). Had we not run the AC the apartment would have been about 90 degrees all the time (and I know this because the AC went out for 2 days, and it was hell). So we were willing to pay for livability. Trust me, we care about the environment (we try and conserve power, recycle, hug trees, etc), but when you are melting in your own place, there is only so much you can take.

[Simon]

Don't worry, I know what you're talking about. I grew up in the Central Valley.

Still, being aware of your power consumption and trying to minimize it is always a good idea. Especially if you need an AC to survive summer.

[Scotttheking]

*remembers $450 power bills*

[UnixMac]

Originally posted by Scotttheking:
*remembers $450 power bills*

Summer time in AZ with a 3400sq foot single level home. I know it quite well.

[Spliffdaddy]

Here's some power consumption info - including 1.6 G5 Power Mac (120w @ idle)


http://www.macalester.edu/cit/faq/power_usage.html


Just for comparison, I measured a power-hungry dual Athlon last year and recorded an average 165watt draw at CPU idle - and about 220watts under full CPU load.


I'd guess a dual 2.5 G5 would be similar.


Quick cost analysis:

let's say a dual G5 and a CRT monitor consumes an average of 250watts, continuous. Taking into account that it gets used hard for 8-12 hours daily, idles the remainder of the day - and it never gets put into 'sleep' mode.

Electricity costs 7.7 cents per kilowatt/hour where I live. Simply put, it costs 7.7 cents for every hour I use 1,000watts. I could run *four* dual G5 systems and stay under 1,000watts (1KW/Hr).

Anyways...250 watts is equal to .25 KW/Hr, or 6KW/hr per 24 hour day. Each of those 6 KW/Hrs costs me 7.7cents, or 46.2 cents daily. Multiplied by 30 days it becomes quite significant: $13.86/month


So, roughly $15 will run a dual G5 non-stop for a month. This cost can vary *greatly* if the machine is under 100% load. Probably close to $25 a month. BUT, if you use 'sleep mode' during the 12 or so hours your G5 is not being used, you essentially stop its electrical consumption altogether (uses barely 10 watts).

Worst case = $25 month for 24/7 operation at CPU 100% load (rendering video/3D/etc, for example).

Typical case = under $6 month with normal use (sleep mode or powered-off when not active)

Depending on where you live, the cost of electricity varies. Check your local rates.

[SSharon]

ahh the joys of college where I can leave my dual G4 on 24 hours a day since I don't pay an electric bill. They cut power to the buildings for 2 hours at the start of winter break to turn everyone's computer off but I just have it set to restart after it. Yes I know this is bad for the environment but this pales in comparison to the supercomputers I read about on cnn.com that have electric bills of a million dollars a year. Now that is a bill.