standby or hobernate

[barbp]

my electric bill is always pretty high.. normally around $400+ and it's mainly coming from my computers. i wanted to know if standby or hibernate would work well BUT still allow me to stay connected to the internet?

i talk a lot on instant messenger so i always leave it on to recieve messages. would standby or hibernate still allow me to keep recieving the messages or not?

thanks

[r8500]

I don't think either would allow the messages to come through.

[BipolarBill]

No - Internet connectivity is lost. You may as well turn them off. Just set the monitors to power off after 10 minutes.

What makes you think that your PCs are using the lion's share of power? It's usually the 'fridge and the water heater - maybe electric heat. My power bills are about $250 and I have 3 powerful PCs running and a lot of other peripherals.

[Picard]

My electric bills are usually around $35.00 a month. I don't leave PC's powered on when not in use, except for short periods.

[tantone]

We have 3 PC's always on, the router, and all of the big appliances (fridge, hot water heater, two separate elec heaters--one upstairs and one downstairs) with three people in the house, with a TV going pretty much all the time.

We pay about $240/mo. Something else is inflating your bill.

[snodogg21]

yeah its somethin else... we have two powerful pcs with large monitors on 24/7 and electric heat and appliances and we never go over 70 a month

$400 is huge

[saimyc]

yes something else is pulling a lot of power

I never turn off 3 machines and router, I set the pwer save to turn monitor and hard drives after 25 and 30minutes

have you seen those spiral light bulbs, well they really work, I replaced everyone in my house last year

[SLX]

Huh 400$ I think your next door might be stealing your power check for extension cables running away from your house.

At my college apartment we have 4 guys with 4 pcs and a home ent system with 35 inch tv. and fridge. the power bill is only 150$ after we started to turn the 3 computers off at night (oops I forgot) the power ran at 130$ once we yelled at the roommate watching 6 hrs of tv a day it was 121$.

Yea save what you can every bit helps. Plus dont they round up or guess in the winter? cus they cant check the meters?

[barbp]

i have several pc's running.. normally 6+ and 1 laptop, the modem, and wireless router. havent been using the water heater much and i doubt its the fridge because the bills just started to suddenly rise up when i had all the pc's running

unless those pseg people are just trying to rip us off

by the way.. is it better to use shut down monitor after 10 mins or to just shut it off? i know a lot of people who just shut them off but i keep thinking.. wouldnt that kill pixels? (turning them on and off)

[SLX]

Originally posted by barbp
by the way.. is it better to use shut down monitor after 10 mins or to just shut it off? i know a lot of people who just shut them off but i keep thinking.. wouldnt that kill pixels? (turning them on and off)

If your monitor is energy star compliant just let your comp put it on standby after 10 mins. It saves on wear and tear. Leaving your screen on for no reason is just a waste of energy. Unless of course its winter and you need another heat source.

[barbp]

thanks for the info