[Anathema05]

Well my parents' electric bill went up $100 in the past month, due to winter coming, and having my best friend living here until he finds an apartment. I want to try and help keep the bill as low as possible, so I had an idea.

I have a Phenom II x3, with the 4th core unlocked and some voltages raised to keep it stable. If I turn off the 4th core and return the voltages to stock, might it help lower the bill a little?

 

[MrLinky]

a little, yes, but probably not noticable... and in my opinion, not worth it overall. The best thing you could do is not have the computer on when you're not there, i.e. no overnight torrenting, putting it into standby when your leaving for a few minutes or more, etc.

 

[theintrepidmontti]

yea its the combined draw of the video card, hard drives and so on that really adds up. Much more then down clocking/ shutting down a core

 

[Anathema05]

I always put it into sleep mode when I leave, and turn it off overnight. It looks like there's not much more I can do.

Thanks for the replies.

 

[pheoxs]

It'll be a negligible difference underclocking it even. The biggest power saving would come from just reducing the amount of time the computer is on, and make sure its shut down when not in use.

 

[SyncMaster753]

Turn speedstep back on?

but it sounds like you are doing all you can already

 

[Acoma_Andy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anathema05 I always put it into sleep mode when I leave, and turn it off overnight. It looks like there's not much more I can do. Thanks for the replies.

Turn it completely off when you are not using it, not in sleep mode. Some other things you could do is turn all lights of in rooms that nobody is in, and use your PC to heat up the room and turn down the heater a bit.