Limit resources for overnight use?

Pandemonyx · 08-15-2012, 06:55 AM

I'm on a Windows 7 desktop PC and would like to know if there's any way I can decrease the power that my PC uses so I can run it more efficiently overnight (when I occasionally download a steam game since the Internet is much faster) while I sleep.

Any tips?

Sirtywell · 08-15-2012, 07:01 AM

Modern Pc's already use a very low amount of energy if ideling. Depending on your system, the amount can be lower than 100W if completely on idle. You can reduce it further by shutting down other appliances like you monitors etc... Stopping some services and process's which aren't necessary will further reduce CPU load.

dosbox · 08-15-2012, 07:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pandemonyx

I'm on a Windows 7 desktop PC and would like to know if there's any way I can decrease the power that my PC uses so I can run it more efficiently overnight (when I occasionally download a steam game since the Internet is much faster) while I sleep.

Any tips?

If you don't need the CPU horsepower, set the power plan to "power saver". This limits the maximum CPU speed, and puts the machine to sleep after a specified amount of time (adjust to take into account how long the download will take). Set the power plan back to "Balanced" the next morning.

HJP · 08-15-2012, 07:24 AM

I'm not sure how much difference those power plans in windows actually make. On my laptop, I don't really notice any difference in battery life by putting it into power saver mode. Turning down the brightness of the screen seems to have a much bigger impact. I think it's just more dependent on what hardware you have, and modern CPUs and GPUs use almost no power when idle.

Pandemonyx · 08-15-2012, 07:29 AM

I usually turn off my monitor but I merely lock my pc. Nothing else is open besides steam but I guess some background services might be open (Microsoft Security essentials for example) but I am in high power mode. Thanks for the power saver tip.

Xeeber · 08-15-2012, 07:34 AM

Make sure that your BIOS is properly set up... SpeedStep and such things.

08-15-2012, 06:55 AM	#1
Pandemonyx Join Date: Apr 2011 Reputation: 203 Posts: 513	Limit resources for overnight use? I'm on a Windows 7 desktop PC and would like to know if there's any way I can decrease the power that my PC uses so I can run it more efficiently overnight (when I occasionally download a steam game since the Internet is much faster) while I sleep. Any tips?

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08-15-2012, 07:01 AM	#2
Sirtywell Banned Join Date: Jan 2012 Reputation: 0 Posts: 29	Modern Pc's already use a very low amount of energy if ideling. Depending on your system, the amount can be lower than 100W if completely on idle. You can reduce it further by shutting down other appliances like you monitors etc... Stopping some services and process's which aren't necessary will further reduce CPU load.

08-15-2012, 07:24 AM	#4
HJP Join Date: Feb 2011 Reputation: 268 Posts: 601	I'm not sure how much difference those power plans in windows actually make. On my laptop, I don't really notice any difference in battery life by putting it into power saver mode. Turning down the brightness of the screen seems to have a much bigger impact. I think it's just more dependent on what hardware you have, and modern CPUs and GPUs use almost no power when idle.

08-15-2012, 07:29 AM	#5
Pandemonyx Join Date: Apr 2011 Reputation: 203 Posts: 513	I usually turn off my monitor but I merely lock my pc. Nothing else is open besides steam but I guess some background services might be open (Microsoft Security essentials for example) but I am in high power mode. Thanks for the power saver tip.

08-15-2012, 07:34 AM	#6
Xeeber Join Date: Dec 2004 Reputation: 55 Posts: 1,185	Make sure that your BIOS is properly set up... SpeedStep and such things.