A gaming computer consumes more power than a computer designed specifically for office applications. In this practical tip, you’ll discover which components particularly need power and what you also need to consider.
This is how high the power consumption of a gaming PC is
All electrical appliances consume electricity, and this of course applies to computers as well.
- However, power consumption varies depending on what the computer is designed for. A pure office computer comes with simpler components than a gaming computer.
- In order to be able to play arithmetic intensive games on a PC, a PC must have a great deal of computing power. This means that a powerful CPU must be installed.
- The game should not only run smoothly, but also be presented smoothly and in as much detail as possible. The demands on the graphics card are correspondingly high. This component should also provide a significant amount of energy.
- More power means more power consumption. In order to provide sufficient power to high-performance components, the power supply unit must also be more powerful than desktop computers.
- More energy also means more heat development. As a result, the CPU and graphics card must be effectively cooled – and in most cases coolers also need electricity to work.
- Thus, a gaming computer consumes more electricity than a conventional computer, which consumes about 90 kWh per year for 4 hours of use per day. The amount of high consumption depends on the installed hardware.
- While you can expect around 14 to 200 watt-hours per hour for the processor and graphics card in a traditional PC, you should expect around 350 watt-hours for these components in a gaming PC—about twice that.
- Calculate the power consumption of a gaming PC based on the processor and graphics card only for four hours of gaming per day, so calculate 350 watts x 4 x 365, which is 511 kWh per year.
Components also consume electricity
Gamers are not usually satisfied with a powerful computer.
- A large, high-resolution screen is a must if you want gaming to be really fun. This also costs electricity.
- But there is also the possibility of savings with gaming PCs. When you’re done playing a game, don’t just shut down your computer, but turn it off completely, preferably by unplugging it. The same applies to the screen.
- If only the PC is turned off, it will continue to consume power to the main memory in standby mode. That’s about 15 watts per hour.
- Clean your computer regularly, paying special attention to the masses. A dusty fan has to run more because it is no longer cooling effectively and therefore consumes more energy.
- Do not download games from the cloud. This costs a lot of electricity, since high-resolution images in cloud games must first be calculated.
- You can save power on the screen by lowering the resolution a bit.
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