Electrical question / How many amps does my PSU draws

[Guest]

Hello everyone,

I recently installed a bunch of stuff in my room and am currently using 9amps of power, my breaker is rated at 15amps.

I have a gaming desktop with a OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Modular PSU :
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

I'm wondering if this power supply draws more than 3 amps. If so, would a low-end laptop use less than 3 amps of power?

Thank you

 

[Kursun]

Your power supply does not determine how much current your PC draws. You may have a 5000W power supply, it doesn’t mean your PC will draw that much current. The capacity of your power supply just means that it can supply that much power in case it is needed.

Your cpu, gpu, number of hdds, and so on determine the amount of current drawn.
Yes, a laptop draws a lot less current than a desktop. Their cpus are engineered to have low current draw.

 

[Guest]

Here's HWMonitor data, it may be useful :

Hardware monitor ITE IT8721

Voltage 0 12.18 Volts [0xF4] (+12V)
Voltage 1 5.04 Volts [0xF0] (+5V)
Voltage 2 0.97 Volts [0x51] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 3 1.69 Volts [0x8D] (VIN3)
Voltage 4 1.37 Volts [0x72] (VIN4)
Voltage 5 3.37 Volts [0xE1] (+3.3V)
Voltage 6 1.94 Volts [0xA2] (VIN6)
Voltage 7 2.60 Volts [0xD9] (VIN7)
Voltage 8 1.67 Volts [0x8B] (VIN8)
Temperature 0 28°C (82°F) [0x1C] (CPU)
Temperature 1 25°C (77°F) [0x19] (Mainboard)
Fan 0 918 RPM [0x2DF] (CPU)
Fan 1 631 RPM [0x42D] (FANIN1)
Fan PWM 0 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM0)
Fan PWM 1 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM1)
Fan PWM 2 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM2)

 

[Kursun]

Here's HWMonitor data, it may be useful :

Hardware monitor ITE IT8721

Voltage 0 12.18 Volts [0xF4] (+12V)
Voltage 1 5.04 Volts [0xF0] (+5V)
Voltage 2 0.97 Volts [0x51] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 3 1.69 Volts [0x8D] (VIN3)
Voltage 4 1.37 Volts [0x72] (VIN4)
Voltage 5 3.37 Volts [0xE1] (+3.3V)
Voltage 6 1.94 Volts [0xA2] (VIN6)
Voltage 7 2.60 Volts [0xD9] (VIN7)
Voltage 8 1.67 Volts [0x8B] (VIN8)
Temperature 0 28°C (82°F) [0x1C] (CPU)
Temperature 1 25°C (77°F) [0x19] (Mainboard)
Fan 0 918 RPM [0x2DF] (CPU)
Fan 1 631 RPM [0x42D] (FANIN1)
Fan PWM 0 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM0)
Fan PWM 1 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM1)
Fan PWM 2 0 pc [0x0] (FANPWM2)

Those are voltages, not amount of current drawn.
If you are sensitive about currents drawn and power consumption you may better buy a simple and inexpensive digital Wattmeter. I use one by Tchibo. It is something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Energy-Power-Watt-Meter-Monitor-buster-Voltage-Volt-with-EU-European-plug-220V-/130859299314?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e77d271f2
With something like that you can measure how much current a device draws or how much power it consumes.

Unless you have a monster video card your pc probably consumes about 150W. Add to that about 30W for your monitor.

 

[Guest]

I wouldn't call my PC a beast but, it's pretty good for a 400$ custom built.

I can still play the newest games at max settings :

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w Modular
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB
CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.00ghz
HDD: Western Digital Blue Caviar 500GB
MB : ASUS M5A78L-M
Monitor : HP w2207h 22"

 

[Kursun]

You can calculate minimum psu Wattage from here: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

But I suppose that figure is not what your pc actually consumes. Best way to learn that would be to use a simple digital wattmeter as I mentioned earlier.

 

[eaycrcg]

So - if you're just wondering if your pc will trip the breaker, the answer is no. If you've only got 6 amps left, then that equates to 6A at the plug voltage. Power (in watts) is voltage x current (amps). So if you're in the UK then your 6A gives you 6x240=1440W, if you're in the US I think you have 110Volt sockets so that's 6x110=660W. Your PSU is capable of drawing 600W maximum, with your spec pc it's never going to hit that, so you'll be fine.

However - how are you measuring the 9A you're currently drawing past the breaker? You must have some pretty enormous electrical items (kettles/hoovers etc.) to be drawing that much and they're not on all the time .

 

[Guest]

However - how are you measuring the 9A you're currently drawing past the breaker? You must have some pretty enormous electrical items (kettles/hoovers etc.) to be drawing that much and they're not on all the time .

It was written in the user's manual, one uses 4.5amps, the second one 1.0amp and the third one 3.5amps.
And yes, they're on all the time. I'm running stuff like air conditioners, dehumidifiers etc...

Also, the rule is never to use more than 80% of the breaker's capacity.
80% of 15 is 12 so, I'm currently using 9 amps / 12 amps.

I'm pretty sure if i ditched my gaming desktop and used a laptop instead i wouldn't go past 12 amps.

 

[eaycrcg]

Hi, sorry for the late reply - and I didn't think of air conditioners etc. Sounds like you've got some pretty heavy equipment in your room

I'm guessing you're in the US and have a 110V at the plug socket - and if you don't want to exceed 12 amps total, that leaves you 3 amps and therefore 330W. I'm almost certain you wont even reach 300W with your pc, had a quick google of reviews of builds with your card and I can't find any which claim to draw above 274W - most have more power demanding processors as well.

If you're still concerned, go with Kursun's advice and get yourself a wall meter, run something like 3d Mark 06 to stress your gpu, watch the wallmeter and record the max wattage. I use one by enegnie on my rig - which has an i5, XFX 7950, 3 hard drives and 2 disk drives and I've never exceeded 290W.