How can I tell how much power my computer is using?

Factual Questions
1

Since it looks like I might finally be getting a job (I’ve been applying to like every freaking job for over a year now but NONE OF THEM WANT ME and they’re just burger places and stuff, not exactly genius-level stuff here) I’ve been thinking about paying my parents for board. They don’t like this idea but I do. Since my computer is on for most of the day I figured I might want to work out how much power I’m using. Is there like something I can plug into the circuit for a day and see how much charge has passed through? Or do I have to estimate the number of hours it’s on each day and use an ammeter or something? Where, for that matter, am I supposed to find an ammeter?

Yeah, I hear you thinking honestly, FRM, you don’t need to be this anal about your board. And you’re right, I don’t. I confess that this is just an excuse to find out the answer to a question that has bugged me for years :smiley:

2

Well, your monitor and PC’s power supply have wattage ratings which indicate maximum power consumption. From that you could measure the Watt-hours you’d consume in the most extreme case pretty simply.

As for measuring actual throughput, I don’t know. You’d probably have to check Radio Shack.

3

You want something like this meter.

4

I was hoping that I would be the first to post about the Kill a Watt. Here is a link where you can buy one.

Kill-a-Watt

-Otanx

5

Most computers use somewhere around 100W a day with another 30W for LCD Monitors or 100W for CRTs. Assuming 200W, 8 hours a day, that works to around 1.6kW/hr which, at roughly 10c per kW/hr means your using 16 cents a day.