Power Usage of PC: How To Reduce It?

That's not a big power spender. don't have to worry about it.

My laptop has been running 24/7 for almost 6 years, and only thing that has died is the battery. Everything else is running smoothly.

If your computer is consuming too much power, then do the following:

1. Make sure you have a platinum certified PSU
2. remove ALL dust from computer and make sure you have proper cooling
3. Get rid of your bad ass GPU
4. Configure computer to use power saving scheme
5. Underclock all components
6. Stop/disable all non needed services

If non of the above help solve your issue, then buy newer hardware with latest components. They draw less power. Remember that high performance and low power consumption does not agree with each other. You can't get both and you have to choose components wisely.

I agree with the above. modern components are much more efficient and draw less from the wall (particularly graphics cards). Older hardware such as the age of OP's come from an era of power guzzlers.

I know you're short of money, but save some each month and you soon find you have enough. It's what I do.

I am confused as to why you need to run Skype 24/7.

I turn my machine off at the end of the day. Sure its whisper quiet but I prefer to save electricity if its not being used.

I'm surprised NiceandShy is running Skype 24/7 given his/her security concerns. There have been various vulnerabilities reported in Skype e.g. http://www.zdnet.com/article/zero-da...ode-execution/. That one may have been fixed but who knows what other vulnerabilities remain? Also, are we sure MS / NSA have not allowed a back door in Skype for eavesdropping?

NiceandShy may wish to review his/her need for Skype. If Skype is no longer needed, then just switch off the PC to save energy use.

Steve C said:

I'm surprised NiceandShy is running Skype 24/7 given his/her security concerns. There have been various vulnerabilities reported in Skype e.g. http://www.zdnet.com/article/zero-da...ode-execution/. That one may have been fixed but who knows what other vulnerabilities remain? Also, are we sure MS / NSA have not allowed a back door in Skype for eavesdropping?

NiceandShy may wish to review his/her need for Skype. If Skype is no longer needed, then just switch off the PC when not in use to save energy use.

If Skype and backdoors is a concern, then one should not even use Windows, or any computer for that matter, especially NOT a smart phone. My Skype has stayed secure ever since Skype got released. No issues what so ever. If there was a backdoor in Skype, then it would have been discovered a long time ago and MS would had been sued for millions if not even billions. It's easy to reverse engineer an app, and I am 100% certain Skype has been reverse engineered on multiple occasions.

Either way, Skype does not really have much to do with solving the electric consumption issue. The issue is most likely due to old hardware, nothing else. My ancient desktop computer consumed almost 400W while doing absolutely nothing. Now I have disassembled it and am recycling useful components for some electronics projects/experiments.

NiceAndShy said:

Thanks, but is it possible to make my graphics card use less electricity?

One thing I've tried doing is reducing the "video settings" of the games I play, but I don't know if this even helps...

Sorry but that is not going to make much difference, even with over/underclock it's not going to change more than few Watts up and down once 3D accelerator kicks in. Modern graphic cards actually have 2 processors in one, for 2D and 3D operations. Once upon a time there were so called 3D accelerators as a separate card but now they are in one processor. This one of mine for instance, uses 12W under 2D and normal desktop operations while with 3D applications uses up to 75W as much as PCIe slot can deliver because it doesn't need added power leads.