Recommended software to measure total pc power consumption?
Is there a way to measure power consumption live?
Is there a way to tell how much power pc uses/needs
How can I measure how much TOTAL WATTAGE my computer is pulling from the PSU ?
Buy a Kill-A-Watt, they're like $15 and measure power consumption. No software is going to be very accurate.
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Code (in C):
#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <powrprof.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "powrprof.lib")
int main(void)
{
SYSTEM_BATTERY_STATE sbs = {0};
CallNtPowerInformation(SystemBatteryState, NULL, 0, &sbs, sizeof(sbs));
printf("Charge rate: %.1f W\n", (int)sbs.Rate / 1000.0);
return 0;
}
Executable (base64; 1 KiB):
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
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAAEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAC50ZXh0AAAAigEAAAAQAAAAAgAAAAIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAAAGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABiEQAAAAAAAEwRAAAAAAAA/Knx0k1iUD8AAAAAAAAAAP8lABBAAMzMzMzMzMzMzMyD7DiycohUJAOIVCQHM9KJVCQZiVQkHYlUJCG4IAAAAFCJVCQpsWWIRCQKiEQkEIhEJBWJVCQtjUQkHFCITCQNiEwkEjPJiVQkNVGJVCQ9UWaJVCRFagXGRCQUQ8ZEJBVoxkQkFmHGRCQYZ8ZEJBxhxkQkHXTGRCQfOsZEJCElxkQkIi7GRCQjMcZEJCRmxkQkJlfGRCQnCohMJCiITCQsiFQkS+hH////20QkKIPsCI1MJAjcDRAQQADdHCRR/xUIEEAAM8CDxETDzMzMzMzM
RBEAAAAAAAAAAAAAVhEAAAgQAAA8EQAAAAAAAAAAAAB8EQAAABAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYhEAAAAAAABMEQAAAAAAAPECcHJpbnRmAABtc3ZjcnQuZGxsAAAAAENhbGxOdFBvd2VySW5mb3JtYXRpb24AAFBPV1JQUk9GLmRsbAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==
which can be decoded with online tools, e.g. this one.
Output:
Charge rate: -18.0 W
Of course, it's only querying the battery for the information, so its accuracy is entirely dependent on the battery's. :)
Update: April 2026
❌ Joulmeter is no longer available, it has been deprecated and removed by Microsoft.
Note: It is possible to download the app from some third-party mirror sites, however opening the app and attempting to perform an initial calibration will cause the app to crash as it relies on cloud assets that are no longer reachable.

Original Answer: November 2011
At last, I have found a solution! Microsoft has a free Research Labs program called Joulemeter which estimates power usage of the overall system and various components:
Joulemeter is a software tool that estimates the power consumption of your computer. It tracks computer resources, such as CPU utilization and screen brightness, and estimates power usage.
On laptops it uses internal power-measuring circuitry which I presume is present in most computers. For desktop computers, it can make estimates or use an external power measuring device to calibrate itself.
Unfortunately, I ran into some errors with the automatic calibration on my laptop (possibly related to the fact that HP batteries don't provide as much battery usage data as other laptops do), but was able to calibrate it manually.
I just found this and haven't had much time to play with it yet, but it looks like it'll do the job!
I already built my pc, and I’m looking to see if there is a software that can measure how much wattage the components in total are using from the PSU.
I don’t know if I worded that right, but a software that doesn’t estimate your usage before building, but one that measures total consumption within the hardware.