I have a Kill-a-Watt meter that tells me how many watts any appliance is pulling out of the power socket. By far, the most efficient computer right now is my undervolted Macbook Pro (2.16ghz)... It pulls 60W from the socket with both cores at full load and the screen off and battery not charging. In comparison, my overclocked dual core 2.8ghz Opteron desktop pulls close to 300W from the socket at full load. It's not quite an incandescent light bulb, that's a house full of lights sometimes. At idle, that computer pulls a little over 100W from the socket.

So it all depends, but there are fast desktops now that suck down power... as I realized with a $700+ electricity bill one month during the summer of last year.

Uhmm I didn't read all the replies... just wanted to share something I tested:

When I installed BOINC on a dual core, within 5 minutes the fan went buzzin'... So it's using more power, things heat up, fan kicks in and cools everything down... and makes a lot of noise I can live without...

So I turned the max cpu usage (in my profile) down to 90% (as a test) and my fan (fanny? ) is quiet now...

So, less heat, no fan, less noise... me happy...

(Now I'm off to check the price of that 16 core...)

Hear, hear!!

A copy of a post I made regurding this subject. I was an electrical engineer for 15 years. If you are worried about power use, make sure you realize the fullest gravity of all facts before considering any facts at all.

My vote: Even though less power may in truth be used if UD agent is off. This is just snake oil to fry those who dont see the bigger picture.

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I run 6 systems from 500mhz to duo's. this would be a good cross section of systems out there crunching.

I pay no more now for power than before, but im billed 12cents/kwh.

How? I replaced the lightbulbs in the house with CFL. The one time cost of only 40 bucks now saves me the power to put into the systems here 24/7.

Crystal Flourecent Lighting can be used everywhere you dont have a dimmer. The ones I run are replace a 60w bulb on only 16w of juice. And if you have dimmers, they are not very effecient. Its better to have multiple bulbs for different levels of lighting.

If you run your fridge on "arctic", realize it need be only "temperate". If you dont fill the fridge, fill it with spacers that reduce the air from falling out onto the floor. Thus causing that compressor motor to kick on less and stay off longer.

And for god sake, use the washer/dryer with care. Load only efficent loads that get the most out of each laundery. None of this 2 or 3 items on X-Large load setting. If you have a natural gas at your place and you still have an electric dryer, you need not worry how much a few machines would take.

So, see how perspective and a bit of know-how can change much.

I will cover more in a thread im importing from the old grid.org forums.
But until I have it going, email me at coraonasty@hotmail.com for further ways to keep the bill down.

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No argument from me on that.
All the computers I have are used by people daily.
The single P3 that I have left running is actually only turned on when someone is using it then off when finished.
Most of the P4s run 24/7.
Since electrical rates have tripled in the last 3 years, I have upgraded my monitors, whenever possible, to LCD and I turn off the monitor after a few minutes via Windows power management when not in use, even if the PC is left on.
I have used Compact Fluorescent bulbs instead of regular bulbs for quite a while. I also have Energy Star rated fluorescent lights in most overhead lights in the house. I do use the more expensive natural light bulbs that emit a wider spectrum of light to help avoid the office lighting blues... the person that owned the house before had fluorescent fixtures fitted to the old screw-in ceiling lights. They were so old, they still required the use of starters to get the lamps on. I upgraded them to the more efficient ballasts & bulbs.