Will mining significantly increase the power consumption of my PC?

I have a PC that is always on 24/7. I use it as an SSH and backup server, and it has a modest, not-too-great GPU that sits idle most of the time.

I hear a lot of talk about mining not being cost-effective for most people because electricity isn't free. However I'm already paying the electricity bill for my PC. I might as well let it sit and mine all day while it's on, right? Maybe help pay the electric bill?

Or will mining increase my PC's power consumption so much that it's still not worth it?

Phil

Posted 2011-09-11T04:16:17.717

Reputation: 281

Sure, The power consumption is 20 kwh per bitcoin for now. you can count that. – None – 2011-09-11T12:46:40.943

Answers

Yes it will. The component you're likely to use for mining is your video card (GPU) which consumes very little power when idle but can consume a great deal under load. Check this list of common cards and consult the Watts (W) column for how many watts your card is likely to draw. Any card worth mining on will probably draw at least 100 Watts under full load. Depending on the electricity costs in your area, it may cost you more in electricity than your coins produced are worth. There is at least one good calculator to estimate your proceeds but you'll need to find out how much your local utility company charges per kilowatt-hour for electricity to determine if it's profitable. For reference Kilowatt-hours per day = Watts * 24 / 1000.

David Perry

Posted 2011-09-11T04:16:17.717

Reputation: 13 848

Yes, it consumes more power. You can see, for example, by using a notebook from the battery. Turn on mining and you will see how your battery time goes down.

But unfortunately I don't have any data to provide you (saying for example that mining will consume 10%, 20%, 50% more power energy)... That depends how power-efficient is your computer processor, motherboard, etc. Maybe you should get a Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor and test 24 hours with and without the mining.

In my opinion, if your computer is turned on all the time without high CPU usage, turn your mining on. If you are running a Unix-based OS, it should run on nice 19 mode, which means that any other task that the processor receives will have higher priority -- so you can SSH and/or backup just fine.

jmonteiro

Posted 2011-09-11T04:16:17.717

Reputation: 221

It is very dependent on the type of video card you have. The mining hardware comparison has some solid info on watt/hashing power. The short answer is yes, your power usage will go up a decent amount.

tysat

Posted 2011-09-11T04:16:17.717

Reputation: 1 421

The power consumption of your PC will greatly increase by mining for Bitcoins, especially if you are effectively mining with one or more GPU and mining 24/7. If you are not a full time miner, I suggest you mine at night when electricity is cheaper. Also there are things you can do to cut down on the electrical cost to mine, for instance use an overclocking utility like MSI Afterburner or Saphire Trixx to download clock the memory as low as it will safely go (I recommend 180) You dont need memory clock to mine for Bitcoins and a low Memory clock will lower your electrical usage and your heat output. Also there are small steps you can take for instance do not leave the monitor on while mining, mine with a headless system from a USB flash drive, put as many GPU's in one rig as you can etc.

Thomas Van Riper

Posted 2011-09-11T04:16:17.717

Reputation: 131

I am not sure if this is applicable to all countries or How the companies set up power lines meters etc. but here in ph, if you are going to mine It is advisable (if your not gonna do anythibg ekse) to turn off or unplug all other appliance chargers etc that your not using. The price per kilowatt depends and will go higher if you have a lot of appliance conduming the electricity all at the same time. Its good to mine at night time. My brother set up my extension chord connected to a sub meter. I use the extension for my pc only. So far, the kilowatt i consume a day ranges to 2-4 a day. Depends on the intensity of mining and programs open or used. If mining alone with monitor off at intensity 2 and 4 my kilowatt a day is bet 1-2 :)

MDjnj

Posted 2011-09-11T04:16:17.717

Reputation: 1

I don't think that is true everywhere. I know in the US, there are typically different tiers. In a lower tier, you will pay less per amount used, and in a higher tier, you will pay more per amount used. The amount of electricity you use will determine which tier you are in. But I don't think that part of it fluctuates throughout the day or month. I think at the time the bill is created, they determine which tier you fall in for that entire month based on the entire month's usage. So mining in any way will make you more likely to be in a higher tier, so you are less likely to be profitable. – still_dreaming_1 – 2018-02-12T15:31:07.110

That being said, it is also common that they charge less at certain times of the day in order to encourage people to use less electricity at other times. But those "discount times" don't depend on the amount of electricity you use during that time, it will be discounted during that time regardless. So if you are going to mine, you could play with the numbers to see if only mining during those "discount times" helps you be more profitable. – still_dreaming_1 – 2018-02-12T15:35:05.917

I wouldn't be surprised though if I am wrong and they do also measure peak usage and factor that into the bill... – still_dreaming_1 – 2018-02-12T15:43:39.440