How to determine PC component pwr draw?

[novelh]

Hello all. I have an aging computer that I built in 2009. I wanted to try to make it less power hungry and wanted to know if there was a way to see how much power each major component is using. I have upgraded things here and there but I see many low wattage PCs on the market today and wanted to see what I can do to my rig. It idels around 150w and games at around 500w! That's way too much in my opinion.

Major components are:
i7 920 @ 3.7
560Ti @ 1000
Asus P6T mobo
Coolermaster Silent Pro 700

Here is a pic of the system.

[mmettin]

Hello all. I have an aging computer that I built in 2009. I wanted to try to make it less power hungry and wanted to know if there was a way to see how much power each major component is using.

Short of some specialized equipment...not really. You can make some educated guesses though.

If you really want to make it less "power hungry" Lose the overclock on both the processor and the vid card.

[ea1985]

Try running the components without the OC and calculate the difference at the wall. The least expensive way is probably a Kill A Watt; about $20. Also, check the specs (or labels) for the HDD, ODD, etc. to get a better idea. As stated above though, there's no easy way. It may be more realistic to record your monthly averages (KWh and time) at the wall and compare them with other geeks in your area.

[RogueTrader]

I'm not sure this will get you exactly where you want to go, but have you considered "modeling" with the plentiful power supply calculators on the web? You could switch out virtual components to see the impact on power at the bottom line. Just an idea.