Assuming this hardware monitor is reasonably accurate, my hyperthreaded quad core i7 chows 145W when I'm really busy, which with my 80+ Corsair HX750W means I'm not eating more than 2 100W lightbulbs. I seldom play games any more so rarely use more than that. And that's when I'm doing serious number crunching. Since I'm only working at home about 4-5 hours/day during the week and maybe 2-3 that on weekend days, I really don't see electricity as much of an expense compared to time wasted rebooting and reopening all my work to where I last left it.