Question Budgeting- my upgraded PC now costs $9-22/mo more due to increased electricity... factor this in.

Zeze

Lifer
Mar 4, 2011
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I went from:

  • i7-3770 + 1060 6gb (what a champ of a card) + 16gb DDR3 + 500 watts PSU + 27" monitor
To:

  • 7800X3D + 4080S + 64gb RAM + 1200 watts PSU + 32" monitor.
My usage habits haven't changed. But, I observed 3 things:

  • The electricity usage directly went up due to new/bigger/stronger components/monitor. We all pay attention to the rear case fan, but have you touched the PSU area? Boy they alone are hotter than the rest.
  • The room is now very hot. It's basically a sauna if I close the door, despite having modern central air. Now the AC works harder as well. More electricity for more heat, then more electricity to cool it.
Now it costs 1 streaming service subscription or a new SSD every year. I was surprised to not account for this.

This of course factors in the +$100-150+/mo for AC.
 
Dec 10, 2005
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I wouldn't expect your electric bill to go up that much, unless you're running your PC 24/7.
 

burninatortech4

Senior member
Jan 29, 2014
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You could reduce the power limit on your 4080S but I don't expect that to make much of a difference. My 5950X and 7800XT make my office toasty as well.
 
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Reactions: Ken g6

Ken g6

Programming Moderator, Elite Member
Moderator
Dec 11, 1999
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Your PSU, as seen in your sig, is nice, but seems a little over-powered for this build. PSUs should generally run around 50% of their rated power. Unless you have a RAID array I don't know about, you're probably running more like 33%. An 80+ Platinum or Titanium PSU would also be more efficient and put out less heat. Here's one currently on sale that should be good. (But I don't follow PSU reviews anymore.)

You could reduce the power limit on your 4080S but I don't expect that to make much of a difference.

I'm running my new 4070 at 100W, which uses less than half its maximum power but reduces its speed by only one third.