How much power do computer components use?
Updated: 07/13/2023 by Computer Hope
The amount of power used by computer components varies depending on the manufacturer and their intended output. The below table has a list of the average power consumption (in watts) for many of the computer hardware.
Note
The following table is a general guide; none of the numbers are absolute. To know exactly how much energy your devices are using, see: How to check a PC's power consumption.
| Device | Power usage (in Watts) |
|---|---|
| AGP (accelerated graphics port) video card | 30-50 |
| Case fan | 0.5-6 |
| CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive | 20-30 |
| Expansion board (small card) | 5 |
| Expansion board (large card) | 10-15 |
| 3 1/2" Floppy drive | 5 |
| 5 1/4" Floppy drive | 5-15 |
| HDD (hard disk drive) | 6-12 |
| Modern CPU (central processing unit) | 35-130 |
| Motherboard | 50-120 |
| PCI Express video card | 70-450 |
| RAM (random-access memory) | 3-12 |
| SSD (solid-state drive) | 0.5-8 |