Reducing Energy Costs - Graphics and System Related

LtMatt · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:13

Just curious to know if folks are planning to or have done already, dial back graphics card clock speeds, voltages, power limits etc in an effort to reduce total system power draw with the price of energy now increasing significantly and set to rise even further from next April.

Although this is not something I have done yet (I need my GPU overclocked to run Far Cry 6 at 4K60+ max settings) it is something I am planning to do from February 2022 onwards as that’s when I get moved off my fixed deal with Shell Energy.

Working from home and having multiple systems, monitors etc powered on for a minimum of 12 hours a day, I will be looking for anyway possible to reduce the power draw of my various components.

For example, I will reduce my GPU overclock from 2750Mhz, 1.2v and power draw of 325-375W, down to 2400Mhz, 1.000v, down to 225-250W.

I will enable 65W ECO mode for Ryzen 5950X instead of using PBO and seeing power draw up to 200W+ while playing Football Manager.

I will dial back memory frequency, voltage and timings from 3800CL14 @1.55v to 3600CL16 @1.35v.

This will save hundreds of watts from monitoring power draw at the wall, which could help mitigate some of the increases in energy bills that are coming.

I will have two different profiles saved in the BIOS and Radeon software for whether I want maximum performance or good energy savings, whilst still retaining a good amount of performance.

With all that said and done, if a game needs the extra grunt I will switch profiles, but on the whole I plan to leave my system in a more energy friendly state next year, unless things get back to normality - which seems unlikely anytime soon.

andybird123 · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:16

LtMatt said:
the x6 or more increases in energy bills

If they started trying to charge me £6k+ per year for electric I would simply install solar, wind and batteries and go off grid

varkanoid · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:20

Nope, was a bit canny and knew the price rises were coming so swapped providers to one of the big five (to avoid potential smaller company going bust) and have a fixed tarrif to 2024 before the price rises were announced.

Also have solar panels so working from home has not been a problem, yes winter is coming so less light but amount of power we use as both have laptops is small and I`m lucky if I get 2+ hrs gaming time in a day so doesnt really affect us that way.

Dont forget you can swap tarrifs before the end of your fix contract, just depends on how much the charge is to swap (mine was £5 per utility but even that I timed it right so it cost me nothing as mine finished September)

LtMatt · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:22

andybird123 said:
If they started trying to charge me £6k+ per year for electric I would simply install solar, wind and batteries and go off grid

Edited my post to be clearer, was basing it off the price of gas has gone up x6, but yeah total bill should not increase that much I hope Lol.

LtMatt · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:24

varkanoid said:
Nope, was a bit canny and knew the price rises were coming so swapped providers to one of the big five (to avoid potential smaller company going bust) and have a fixed tarrif to 2024 before the price rises were announced.

Also have solar panels so working from home has not been a problem, yes winter is coming so less light but amount of power we use as both have laptops is small and I`m lucky if I get 2+ hrs gaming time in a day so doesnt really affect us that way.

Dont forget you can swap tarrifs before the end of your fix contract, just depends on how much the charge is to swap (mine was £5 per utility but even that I timed it right so it cost me nothing as mine finished September)

Smart man, that’ll save you loads. Wish I had done the same, still at least I don’t have to worry about it this winter.

Grim5 · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:25

LtMatt said:
Just curious to know if folks are planning to or have done already, dial back graphics card clock speeds, voltages, power limits etc in an effort to reduce total system power draw with the price of energy now increasing significantly and set to rise even further from next April.

Although this is not something I have done yet (I need my GPU overclocked to run Far Cry 6 at 4K60+ max settings) it is something I am planning to do from February 2022 onwards as that’s when I get moved off my fixed deal with Shell Energy.

Working from home and having multiple systems, monitors etc powered on for a minimum of 12 hours a day, I will be looking for anyway possible to reduce the power draw of my various components.

For example, I will reduce my GPU overclock from 2750Mhz, 1.2v and power draw of 325-375W, down to 2400Mhz, 1.000v, down to 225-250W.

I will enable 65W ECO mode for Ryzen 5950X instead of using PBO and seeing power draw up to 200W+ while playing Football Manager.

I will dial back memory frequency, voltage and timings from 3800CL14 @1.55v to 3600CL16 @1.35v.

This will save hundreds of watts from monitoring power draw at the wall, which could help mitigate some of the increases in energy bills that are coming.

I will have two different profiles saved in the BIOS and Radeon software for whether I want maximum performance or good energy savings, whilst still retaining a good amount of performance.

With all that said and done, if a game needs the extra grunt I will switch profiles, but on the whole I plan to leave my system in a more energy friendly state next year, unless things get back to normality - which seems unlikely anytime soon.

My energy prices haven't risen, I'm paying equal to 0.1 pounds per kWh

but I see in the news that Europe may have blackouts in its winter

The_Arbiter · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:40

Lowering power consumption but still running 4k? The eco mode on the 5950x is nice to have and worth using for sure. But removing monitors is the best way to reduce costs i bet.

Personally for me i would move to a smaller room, let PC heat the room up, or if open plan kitchen then stay in there as the oven will warm the room up. This means heating can only come on to take the chill out of the house and not heat it.

varkanoid · 12 Oct 2021 at 08:58

The_Arbiter said:
or if open plan kitchen then stay in there as the oven will warm the room up. This means heating can only come on to take the chill out of the house and not heat it.

Thoughts of end of the world Day After Tomorrow.

Depending on the oven it may cost more than just having the central heating on ! Also depends on the type of heating but having the oven on to warm up the room is not an efficient way

The_Arbiter · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:04

varkanoid said:
Thoughts of end of the world Day After Tomorrow.

Depending on the oven it may cost more than just having the central heating on ! Also depends on the type of heating but having the oven on to warm up the room is not an efficient way

I'll give you benefit of doubt, it's still morning

Oven on when cooking, not for heating as that would smell.

varkanoid · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:11

The_Arbiter said:
I'll give you benefit of doubt, it's still morning

Oven on when cooking, not for heating as that would smell.

So how many times a day do you use the oven in your house for cooking ? We only use it at tea time so wouldnt keep us very warm. I think you need to wake up and smell the coffee. :cry:

p.s clean ovens dont smell.

Szydero · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:14

Just sell your whole PC if you really want to save on a energy XD

Lucky you that you don't have to live in a Eastern Europe

Semple · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:16

LtMatt said:
snip

Without anything concrete, i'd suspect you'd save more just by gaming at 1080p on a 1080p monitor. Have you looked at how power hungry your monitor alone is? I've got a 1440p monitor and i think that can chew about 200-300 watts and nearly 1amp of power - which if it's on for several hours a day for pretty much every day of the month then that'll cost you a good ~£5 a month just for the monitor.

I assume you're not leaving the PC on all day idle? As that would be completely counter-productive. Certainly wouldn't make sense to dial back the performance settings to save a couple of pennies if you're going to leave it switched on all day.

Semple · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:18

varkanoid said:
So how many times a day do you use the oven in your house for cooking ? We only use it at tea time so wouldnt keep us very warm. I think you need to wake up and smell the coffee.

p.s clean ovens dont smell.

I think he means after cooking rather than just warming up the room with the oven. I do the same if we've used the oven - once the food is cooked i leave the door open to let the hot air out to warm up the room. It doesn't last long, but can easily take the chill off the room. Same applies with the dishwasher when it's finished.

JediFragger · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:20

MOAR not less.

z10m · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:21

Use your computers to heat up the house while mining..!

LtMatt · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:24

Semple said:
Without anything concrete, i'd suspect you'd save more just by gaming at 1080p on a 1080p monitor. Have you looked at how power hungry your monitor alone is? I've got a 1440p monitor and i think that can chew about 200-300 watts and nearly 1amp of power - which if it's on for several hours a day for pretty much every day of the month then that'll cost you a good ~£5 a month just for the monitor.

I assume you're not leaving the PC on all day idle? As that would be completely counter-productive. Certainly wouldn't make sense to dial back the performance settings to save a couple of pennies if you're going to leave it switched on all day.

Good shout. I have my displays power off after 5 minutes of inactivity, that's as best as I can do as I need screens unfortunately. I may move down to two screens though next year as in theory I could make do with just two if i move things around.

I am using a 23" TN panel, a 27" tn panel and on the gaming system a LG CX OLED running at 120nits as per the setting recommended here. Only switch to HDR mode for a few games so 24/7 the TV runs quite dim.

I've not chcked the OLED power draw at the wall, I should do that. It has a G power rating at default Lol.

JediFragger said:
MOAR not less.

How much MOAR?

JediFragger · 12 Oct 2021 at 09:27

LtMatt said:
How much MOAR?

MOAAAAAAAAR!!!!!!!!!

varkanoid · 12 Oct 2021 at 10:05

Semple said:
I think he means after cooking rather than just warming up the room with the oven. I do the same if we've used the oven - once the food is cooked i leave the door open to let the hot air out to warm up the room. It doesn't last long, but can easily take the chill off the room. Same applies with the dishwasher when it's finished.

"take the chill off the room" how old are you lot 60+ ? :cry:

Might be better if you get some home insulation.

At the moment both my wife and I are working from home, on laptops plugged in, both with monitors, we are currently using 250w per hour and that includes all the other devices like 2 fridge freezers, 2 freezers, router, phones, etc etc. Solar panels currently pulling around 450w per hour so at moment we have no electricity costs and a little feed back coming in. The house is 21c with no heating on.

Yaayuh! · 12 Oct 2021 at 10:08

My PC gets used for about 5-6 hours hours a week these days. So It's not really worth it.

chroniclard · 12 Oct 2021 at 10:09

Has anyone calculated what impact this would have on bills? Unsure if I would bother, depends how far energy costs spiral. Just working 9-5 on windows desktop doesnt use much GPU grunt/power.