Having a PC is now a must in the modern world. Without it, working, doing homework, and accessing various forms of media for gaming, entertainment, and other purposes is impossible. 

However, using them consumes power, and power costs money, meaning that using a PC for prolonged periods will cost you despite using sleep mode when it's not in use. They also vary in power consumption, meaning that not all PCs consume the same amount of electricity to keep themselves running. 

So how much power do you consume every time you use your computer?

Reasons Why You'll Want To Know How Much

Learning how much electricity you consume when using your computer is crucial for a number of reasons: the longer you use your computer, the more you consume electricity. That means you'll have to pay more for your electricity bill and save a few bucks for constant PC maintenance and even replacement parts of your PC, per Make Use Of and 

Knowing how much power your PC consumes will help you lower your power consumption and the amount you spend on maintenance and replacement hardware, per CG Director. 

Lower power consumption also means you're more eco-friendly than when it's high, though that'll depend on how your electricity supplier produces the power you consume every day. 

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Additionally, not every hardware consumes the same amount of electricity - different GPUs, CPUs, and PC cooling systems need varying amounts of power to function properly, according to PC Gamer, and a power supply unit could only provide so much. Knowing what your current PC build consumes will help you choose the right hardware if you wish to upgrade your PC or simply replace broken hardware with similar ones.

How To Measure Your PC's Power Consumption

To know how much power your PC uses to keep itself running, you may want to try these sure-fire methods to do so:

Use A Watt Meter

One of the simplest and most effective ways of knowing how much power you use is a watt meter, a device that displays how much wattage a device needs to function properly. To use this with your computer, simply plug your computer in its socket and plug the meter into your wall socket. 

The amount of power your computer consumes will appear on the meter's display in Watts. Many media outlets recommend the Kill-A-Watt P3 P4400 power meter.

Use Software

If you don't have money or access to a Watt meter, then you may want to use downloadable software to know how much power your PC uses. Thankfully, lightweight applications like Open Hardware Monitor help keep costs down in your journey to know more about your computer. 

Simply download the application (it's free!) and see how much power your PC uses in real-time.

Use Online Power Supply Calculators

If you're afraid of downloading software, you still have an online-only option to consider. Using online power supply calculators like  OuterVision Power Supply Calculator lets you choose the PC components you have in mind to determine how much power your PC needs before buying it or input your PC's component to know how much it consumes.

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