Is it possible to build an energy efficient gaming PC?

[camper.]

An efficient PC would take as little energy in and have a minimal thermal footprint. We're dealing with silicon here (mostly) and its resistance (i.e. heat dissipation) increases with temperature - a good (efficient) cooling system is a must. My friend's PC is somewhere at 10*C for almost all his components (air cooled - his room is more or less ideal) and I imagine it would be pretty damn efficient.

At a guess, uATX boards, dual core (as opposed to quad), single slot graphics cards and the like. There are no decent solid state coolers AFAIK.

[Vash2051]

You also need to look at how much power is a pc really using in relativity to other household items. According to wiki 745.7 Watts is one horsepower. Most cars are at least 100. So how does a green PC have any real effect. I understand your great cause for green earth justice, but you must ask yourself, is it not already green?

[camper.]

I think he wants power efficiency, not "green efficiency". Power efficiency saves money (AND cuts down on CO2 in better ways).

[Vash2051]

Does anyone have a number on how much an average high end gamer PC costs per month? aka who wants to turn theirs off for a month and compare bills hahahahaha.

[=98=]

Mine costs me about £10/month.

I pay about £15 for hot water, heating, computer and any electricity on the plugs. My comp is on pretty much 24/7 downloading :p

[Vash2051]

We should set a monthly cost that we want to reach. The tough part is your definition of efficiency versus performance. Sure you can throw a P2 a 150 Watt psu and 128mb of SDRAM in there but thats no performance. Then you can throw a 1Kw psu three Ultras and a quad core and you've got performance but definitely not efficiency.

[camper.]

Efficiency * 3DMark score = Easy way to compare.

[Chris_Redfield]

Mine costs me about £10/month.

I pay about £15 for hot water, heating, computer and any electricity on the plugs. My comp is on pretty much 24/7 downloading :p

Campus doesnt count.

I paid about 50 bucks a month for my old P4 3.0Ghz/512MB RAM/ATi9550SE electric costs alone. I must say, my laptop eats about 5-6 times less elecricity, while being tons better in perfomance.

So, not to derail the topic. What would a desktop PC be made of, if we were to keep it with a lesser energy consumption, than 0.3kWh? While still being able to push Crysis (for lack of better comparision tool) at at least medium settings across the board with decent framerates?

[Vash2051]

Look at detailed reviews of cards like the 9600GT or the equivalent midrange ATi card. They usually show power consumption levels at load and the like. Then assign a number such as (Average FPS/Watts used) and that will give you a score. So you find cards that can meet your required FPS levels and then categorize them by power consumption.

[Chris_Redfield]

Look at detailed reviews of cards like the 9600GT or the equivalent midrange ATi card. They usually show power consumption levels at load and the like. Then assign a number such as (Average FPS/Watts used) and that will give you a score. So you find cards that can meet your required FPS levels and then categorize them by power consumption.

Screw you, too much work.


Nah. Ill be cruising down the Toms Hardware website later. Thanks.

[Minicoop503]

hmm, look what I found.

http://noworldsystem.com/2008/02/23/noaa-icecaps-coming-back-to-original-levels/

[Vash2051]

Screw you, too much work.


Nah. Ill be cruising down the Toms Hardware website later. Thanks.

You can't say its not right... sorry my engineering brain kicked in. See problem. Evaluate solution. Execute solution.