I have a PC that is always on 24/7. I use it as an SSH and backup server, and it has a modest, not-too-great GPU that sits idle most of the time.
I hear a lot of talk about mining not being cost-effective for most people because electricity isn't free. However I'm already paying the electricity bill for my PC. I might as well let it sit and mine all day while it's on, right? Maybe help pay the electric bill?
Or will mining increase my PC's power consumption so much that it's still not worth it?
Yes it will. The component you're likely to use for mining is your video card (GPU) which consumes very little power when idle but can consume a great deal under load. Check this list of common cards and consult the Watts (W) column for how many watts your card is likely to draw. Any card worth mining on will probably draw at least 100 Watts under full load. Depending on the electricity costs in your area, it may cost you more in electricity than your coins produced are worth. There is at least one good calculator to estimate your proceeds but you'll need to find out how much your local utility company charges per kilowatt-hour for electricity to determine if it's profitable. For reference Kilowatt-hours per day = Watts * 24 / 1000.
Yes, it consumes more power. You can see, for example, by using a notebook from the battery. Turn on mining and you will see how your battery time goes down.
But unfortunately I don't have any data to provide you (saying for example that mining will consume 10%, 20%, 50% more power energy)... That depends how power-efficient is your computer processor, motherboard, etc. Maybe you should get a Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor and test 24 hours with and without the mining.
In my opinion, if your computer is turned on all the time without high CPU usage, turn your mining on. If you are running a Unix-based OS, it should run on nice 19 mode, which means that any other task that the processor receives will have higher priority -- so you can SSH and/or backup just fine.
It is very dependent on the type of video card you have. The mining hardware comparison has some solid info on watt/hashing power. The short answer is yes, your power usage will go up a decent amount.
The power consumption of your PC will greatly increase by mining for Bitcoins, especially if you are effectively mining with one or more GPU and mining 24/7. If you are not a full time miner, I suggest you mine at night when electricity is cheaper. Also there are things you can do to cut down on the electrical cost to mine, for instance use an overclocking utility like MSI Afterburner or Saphire Trixx to download clock the memory as low as it will safely go (I recommend 180) You dont need memory clock to mine for Bitcoins and a low Memory clock will lower your electrical usage and your heat output. Also there are small steps you can take for instance do not leave the monitor on while mining, mine with a headless system from a USB flash drive, put as many GPU's in one rig as you can etc.
I am not sure if this is applicable to all countries or How the companies set up power lines meters etc. but here in ph, if you are going to mine It is advisable (if your not gonna do anythibg ekse) to turn off or unplug all other appliance chargers etc that your not using. The price per kilowatt depends and will go higher if you have a lot of appliance conduming the electricity all at the same time. Its good to mine at night time. My brother set up my extension chord connected to a sub meter. I use the extension for my pc only. So far, the kilowatt i consume a day ranges to 2-4 a day. Depends on the intensity of mining and programs open or used. If mining alone with monitor off at intensity 2 and 4 my kilowatt a day is bet 1-2 :)
