I've been using my gaming computer for about ten years, and it's no secret that it drinks a lot of electricity. As I'm planning to purchase a new desktop soon, I'm wondering if I can expect a significant drop in my electricity bills when I upgrade. Have gaming computers really become more efficient in energy use over the past decade?
4 Answers
I've been keeping track of my energy usage with a smart plug. On days when I'm heavy into gaming, I can burn over 3KWh just with my desktop alone! This year, it’s added up to quite a bit just for the desktop, not including the monitor.
If you choose modern CPUs and GPUs, you can usually undervolt and limit their power usage. You might still get 80-90% of the performance for 25-35% less power, which is pretty impressive!
While there has been some improvement in efficiency, overall power consumption has actually increased. Newer GPUs can pull over 300W, which is a lot more than what we saw a decade ago.
Exactly! Even if they're more efficient in some ways, the demand for performance has shot up.
To really know what to expect, you might want to check the power supply specs of both your old and new computers. That's a big factor in consumption.
Good point! A newer power supply could really help with efficiency.
Wow, that's a serious amount of power! Makes you really think about how much these systems consume.