In HWInfo you can see the power draw of each component, but not the whole system AFAIK. You either need a PSU with monitoring built in or a physical testing device. Answer from AussieJeffProbst on reddit.com
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Microsoft Store
apps.microsoft.com › detail › 9nk2b0j0s633
Energy Meter - Free download and install on Windows | Microsoft Store
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ManageEngine
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Power Management Software | PC Power Management Tools - ManageEngine Endpoint Central
Power Management is a feature to manage the power consumption of computer hardware efficiently & save energy. Go green with Endpoint Central's PC power management software!
Discussions

Recommended software to measure total pc power consumption?
In HWInfo you can see the power draw of each component, but not the whole system AFAIK. You either need a PSU with monitoring built in or a physical testing device. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/pcmasterrace
6
2
November 30, 2022
Is there a way to measure power consumption live?
You can get a kill-a-watt and measure the consumption from the outlet. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/buildapc
17
7
October 12, 2020
Is there a way to tell how much power pc uses/needs
Get one of those power meters , plug it into the wall and then connect your PC and monitor to it. Measure the consumption during a stresstest/benchmark, that's the most reliable way to figure out the max power draw. Working with theoretical numbers/specifications of your parts will always be less reliable, what counts is what is actually drawn from the wall - that is what you need to substitute. Then just do normal work for an hour and check the total consumption to know how much capacity you need. More on reddit.com
🌐 r/computers
16
15
April 16, 2024
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.

More on reddit.com
🌐 r/buildapc
13
3
August 1, 2022
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Top answer
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3

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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
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. :)

2 of 4
3

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!

🌐
List Of Freeware
listoffreeware.com › free-power-management-software-windows
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April 4, 2018 - The AMD processor comes with AMD’s own cool and quiet technology that this software uses to reduce power consumption and to increase battery life in case of laptops. This PC power management software also allows you to manually set the System standby time, Screen off time when idle, and to add some programs that you don’t want to stop when system is in standby mode.