Power Consumption of Media Center

I got the latest energy bill for my apartment.  I saw and increase of about $5 due to the media center that is running 24 x 7 x 365.  Because I don't think I've had the machine running for the full billing cycle, the actual added cost might be close to $7.50 or so.

This isn't much, but it is am important factor to consider when deciding if going cable-less will actually save you money.

Please keep in mind I decided to use a year old gaming desktop as my media center, this is probably the least energy efficient route.  The power supply is about 2x to 3x bigger than what would be found in a standard desktop.

It could be assumed if you used an average computer for your media center, your energy bill will increase by less then $10.