How to Find Out How Many Watts Your Computer Has
Power to your computer fluctuates based on the processes and services that are running, whether or not you are connected to the internet and how resource-intensive your programs are. The hardware itself is rated for the maximum power drain, but a system under ordinary conditions will never reach this number. Calculating the total number of peak watts for each component in your machine is possible, but it gives an incomplete picture of your computer's actual power usage. To get that number, the best thing to do is test it scientifically.
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Instructions
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Pick up a wattmeter online or at a hardware store. Inexpensive units are available for about $25 to $30.
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Plug your computer into the wattmeter and plug the meter into the wall.
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Start up your machine. You can check to see how much wattage your computer is using at various input levels by watching the readout on the meter as you add more and more load to your processor.
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Note the reading after your computer is finished booting, but before you have begun any programs. This is about the least power drain, outside of hibernation, you can expect as a reboot ends dangling processes and loads only startup services, so your system should be as clean as it gets at this stage.
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Add in some activity that you would consider a normal load. For example, open a few tabs in a browser, open Microsoft Word and maybe set your favorite IM client to run in the system tray. Check the wattage on your meter and see what just a few running processes does to your power usage.
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Download Prime95. Prime95 is a utility used by power users to help test the stability of overclocked systems. You can use it to put the maximum drain on your computer to see what your highest conceivable power drain is for your machine.
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Close all programs and open Prime95 and click "Torture Test." You can set the parameters to focus more heavily on the processor or the memory. For these purposes, set it to an even balance.
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Don't run anything else during the torture test--your computer is doing quite enough! Keep an eye on the wattmeter and note the highest reading. Now you know how many watts your computer is using at minimal, normal and stressed levels of performance.
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