hardware power consumption

[bassfisher6522]

I have 2 old PCI cards in my PC that I may use once a year if that. My question is; if they are left in the PCI slots, do they still draw power even though they are not in use. Is it the same as a TV, Radio or any other electronic device left plug in to AC outlet, which still draws some power.

 

[Ian]

Yes, they will still draw some power - but it's probably a very very small amount in comparison to the rest of your PC. If it's something like an old 56k modem, firewire or SCSI card then it probably only adds to a few cents of electricity per year.

Out of interest, what are the cards - as it may be possible to find out how much power they consume (approx).

 

[Thrax]

As Ian said, if they're not in active use, they can't be drawing more than a few milliwatts of power. Even a $700 super GPU only uses 5W of power when it's not in use, so you can only imagine how little a dinky PCI card draws.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Thanks...I was thinking along those same lines. I rarely use them and was thinking of just removing them. They are V92 fax/modem and TV tuner card.

 

[Digerati]

The tuner may draw some more since it is an active radio "receiver" but still, receivers draw much less than transmitters - so if your concern is electricity costs, I would not worry about it.