Mac OS·785 discussions

iMac power consumption for Folding @ Home?

Locked

Tags: Apple

Hi, I have an iMac 27″ 2019 that I’m wanting to use for Folding at Home. I was just wondering what the power usage would be like. It’s the base 3Ghz 6 Core i5 with the Radeon Pro 570X and 16GB of Ram, Mactracker says the maximum Power Usage for this iMac is 270W with the CPU at 100%.

I presume this 270W is for the fully upgraded 8 Core i9 model with the VEGA 48 so the base model should be less? I’m wanting to run it on low so it’s as efficient as possible. I have done a test run and CPU usage is averaging 45%.

Topic

Reply To: iMac power consumption for Folding @ Home?

In reply to iMac power consumption for Folding @ Home?

How much electricity does an iMac consume?

The iMac with M1: An Energy Conserving Device

The iMac M1 consumes almost half the amount of energy as its 2019 predecessor when under full load. In the case of the 7-core GPU M1 variant, 80 watts, and in the case of the 8-core variant, 84 watts. For comparison, the 2019 iMac devoured 166 watts under full load.

Folding@Home

In reply to iMac power consumption for Folding @ Home?

Not sure what your concern is regarding power consumption for this project.
Are you concerned with your electricity bill?
If your iMac has enough “umph” to do the folding?

You are right to assume that the 262W quoted in MacTracker would be for this model iMac with all the bells and whistles, but even then, the CPU would have to be running flat out at 100% to draw that amount.

Note that the requirements for Folding@Home are very basic;
CPU Slot Requirements OSX 10.6 or later
64 bit CPU (core 2 duo or better). (You have 6)
Broadband internet connection or faster (I’m guessing you have this)

All in all, your iMac would not be breaking a sweat dealing with each work unit. You can even shut the iMac down at night and it will pick up where it left off at the next startup.

hope that helps

P

Reply To: iMac power consumption for Folding @ Home?

In reply to Folding@Home

Thanks for the reply buddy,

Reply To: iMac power consumption for Folding @ Home?

In reply to iMac power consumption for Folding @ Home?

I presume this 270W is for the fully upgraded 8 Core i9 model with the VEGA 48 so the base model should be less? I’m wanting to run it on low so it’s as efficient as possible? I have done a test run and CPU usage is averaging 45%.

[Author]

Replies