How much current draws by a software?

Thread Starter

ransiluj

Joined Nov 14, 2012
21
hey all!!
can anyone tell about how much current does software take? if it is, can you please put the software name and the how much current it takes in here.
Thank you! :)
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
You question makes no sense. What are you expecting someone to tell you? That running Paint takes 56mA while running Pinball takes 92mA?

Does a CPU generally consume more power when running a program than when idling? Yes, in the case of most current OSs. Does running Program A on a computer consume a different about of current than Program B on that same computer? It can, but it doesn't have to. Can Program A running on two different computers consume very different amounts of current? Definitely. Can Program A running today on a given computer consume a very different amount of current than Program A running tomorrow on that same computer? Yes.

So, with all that in mind, try to ask a better question that gets at what you are trying to find out.
 

Thread Starter

ransiluj

Joined Nov 14, 2012
21
well that is what i want to know. We are building a device which can measure the power consumption that software takes, For that we need to measure the different different currents that softwares take. Yes you are right. Softwares take different currents. We are like to know various currents that softwares consume when running. then we are going to build current measuring device which can measure that current range.

So is that true? you values ?
paint = 56mA
Pinball = 92mA
Did you measure those currents when those softwares are running ?
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
Did you read what I wrote?

If I run, say, Paint, on five different computers, I will get five different current draws.

If I run Paint while it is the only thing running and Paint when there are twenty other applications running, I will get a different draw.

If I run Paint and lazily do something I will get a different current draw than when I run Paint and am busily editing a picture.

This "device" that you are claiming to be developing: You are aware that almost all operating systems today are multitasking and, therefore, you have to be able to detect when that applications process (or, more likely, processes) are running and when they aren't?
 

Thread Starter

ransiluj

Joined Nov 14, 2012
21
Did you read what I wrote?

If I run, say, Paint, on five different computers, I will get five different current draws.

If I run Paint while it is the only thing running and Paint when there are twenty other applications running, I will get a different draw.

If I run Paint and lazily do something I will get a different current draw than when I run Paint and am busily editing a picture.

This "device" that you are claiming to be developing: You are aware that almost all operating systems today are multitasking and, therefore, you have to be able to detect when that applications process (or, more likely, processes) are running and when they aren't?
no we are not gonna run any other applications when we are running our program. We are gonna only run that program and measure the current. So we can measure the change of the current clearly only for that program. If any case if there is a current that take by mouse we are going to reduce it. so i like to know that values you measure is true? i know that current is changing but i like to know if you measure it at least one time. did you get such values to the current? please let me know. thank you
 

WBahn

Joined Mar 31, 2012
29,979
no we are not gonna run any other applications when we are running our program. We are gonna only run that program and measure the current. So we can measure the change of the current clearly only for that program. If any case if there is a current that take by mouse we are going to reduce it. so i like to know that values you measure is true? i know that current is changing but i like to know if you measure it at least one time. did you get such values to the current? please let me know. thank you
Even if you only have one application running, that application is only running a fraction of the time. Go to your Task Manager (or equivalent for your OS) and see the long list of system processes that are running.

Now start a user app and watch it's share of the CPU while you do different things and you will see it range from basically zero to a large fraction.

How are you going to deal with that?
 

tshuck

Joined Oct 18, 2012
3,534
If you were to actually attempt to measure the amount of current the processor draws from running a specific program, you'd have to figure out the state of every single flip-flop in your CPU. Then you'd have to determine which ones were from the OS, background threads, other programs, interrupts, etc. and remove their current consumption contributions from the total current draw...and do this for each clock cycle....

So, good luck:p
 

spinnaker

Joined Oct 29, 2009
7,830
My question is:

Why on earth would you care how much current a particular software application consumes?

Is this going to be used for marketing???

Our new XYZ software consumes 20ma less than our competitors!:rolleyes:
 
current drawn by a software? To calculate this current you gotta hold the software in your hand and then interface it with your processor. Take a multimeter and measure the current.

Our new XYZ software consumes 20ma less than our competitors!
Thank you, with your new software i could save some electricity bill. lol
 

takao21203

Joined Apr 28, 2012
3,702
Why do you derail this thread with jokes so much?

If you use PowerDVD on a laptop, the battery will become depleted very fast.
For instance.

It is correct most computers don't have an Amp meter. But different softwares will cause different currents.
 
Why do you derail this thread with jokes so much?

If you use PowerDVD on a laptop, the battery will become depleted very fast.
For instance.

It is correct most computers don't have an Amp meter. But different softwares will cause different currents.
Current drawn by a software = Current Drawn by your computer from its power supply while running that software?
= Current drawn by CPU, Memory, DVD writer, Graphics card etc?
 
Last edited:

toffee_pie

Joined Oct 31, 2009
235
if you run power dvd, windows media player etc the API routine calls in hardware of your laptop/desktop.

ie sound chips or gpu... then of course your battery or power resources will change accordingly.

its not rocket science.

CPUs use DVFS to lower frequency of the processor when needed= lower power consumption.
 
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