Gaming Cost and Electricity prices going up in the UK

[ttaskmaster]

Here's the post on 24 june 2021, NO headline news of major inflation then like there is now.

Of course there wasn't. It's more important to know which footballer kicked a cat, or which brand of jeans teh latest X-Factor winner is wearing.
Even now, kids are being shot through the head in Ukraine, but the headlines today are all about Will Smith, Taylor Hawkins and the Grammy awards, Partygate, cancelled Easter flights, and 2022 elections...

Besides, you predicted something that it seems most people already knew was coming. Well done you... I'd offer you a job in our finance department, but it appears those guys were already on the ball, too.

As for gaming - There are plenty of ways I could reduce 'leccy costs and still keep gaming as much as I currently do. All the usual saving tips, really.

 

[eddiew]

3. Are you going to attempt to save Electricity in other areas? (if you're doing this then you're admitting to real inflation being present)

Already did, years ago. All my bulbs are LED, 4-12 watts. I can light the whole house for ~200w - or what used to be just the living room. Washing machines have been competent at 30 degrees for a long time, so that's what I use there. Tumble drier and oven are probably my biggest kw/h burners... could do more drip drying of clothes. Oven is a tough one, it's hard to do oven chips any other way And I've long since learned to hibernate my PC, such that I get the best of both with it remembering where I was at, and not using any power when not in use.

On the whole, I won't change anything. If I step off the PC (roughly 300w), I'm going to sit in front of the TV (roughly 80w), and probably drink more beer - which just means I've moved the cost from my energy bill to my food bill. Worse, I may get sick of the crap that's flooding Netflix and go to the pub, where it will cost even more. This is a bad deal for a 220w saving, especially when most of the new charges are standing, not per kwh.

The biggest thing I might do is settle for a 3060 instead of a 3070 as prices drop. With power prices, the impending 4000 series, and the fact that I only really need 50% more fps on my old 1060 for the games I currently play, there's just no reason to add more wattage than I need to at this time. Fingers crossed the 4060 will be twice as fast again, at the same power budget.

 

[Game]

Of course there wasn't. It's more important to know which footballer kicked a cat, or which brand of jeans teh latest X-Factor winner is wearing.
Even now, kids are being shot through the head in Ukraine, but the headlines today are all about Will Smith, Taylor Hawkins and the Grammy awards, Partygate, cancelled Easter flights, and 2022 elections...

Besides, you predicted something that it seems most people already knew was coming. Well done you... I'd offer you a job in our finance department, but it appears those guys were already on the ball, too.

As for gaming - There are plenty of ways I could reduce 'leccy costs and still keep gaming as much as I currently do. All the usual saving tips, really.

there where lots of gumbles and predictions on costs going up but most people ignored them

I think it helps on these things if you dont read the mainstream news but sites like moneysaving expert


as for this year prices will surge on most things haulage costs are increasing day by day take adbue its 4x more expensive than it was three months ago this cost will be passed on

 

[Wucked]

No real change around electricity or gaming.
I don't chase high fps 4k ultra settings in all the latest AAA titles so gaming is still a pretty cheap form of entertainment. And with everything from food to fuel going through the roof, there's plenty else to look at for savings.

 

[NZXT30]

It's still by far the cheapest form of entertainment for me so I'm trying to not pay much attention and enjoy myself.

However, with all the talk about it it's in the back of my mind while gaming which kind of sucks.

 

[Timber]

Assuming 5 hours of gaming every single day of the month.

Pondering aloud, but has the energy used by gaming PCs been increasing over time (i.e. the last 10, or 20yrs), or remained fairly constant as things like optical disc drives and mechanical hard disks become less used to offset GPU's requiring more power?

I did read that a PS5 is around 200W which is slightly more than the PS4, so power consumption has increased slightly. I wonder if at some point power efficiency becomes a bit more of choosing point in future parts/machines.

 

[Aretak]

Pondering aloud, but has the energy used by gaming PCs been increasing over time (i.e. the last 10, or 20yrs), or remained fairly constant as things like optical disc drives and mechanical hard disks become less used to offset GPU's requiring more power?

It's increased massively. A top card twenty years ago was something like the 9800 XT, which had a 60W TDP. Ten years ago it was a 7970 that pulled just over 200W. The switchover to SSDs and such doesn't even come close to offsetting those hundreds of extra watts.

Around 2014 it seemed like power draw was going to go down again. Maxwell blew away anything that had come before in terms of perf/watt, with the 970 offering 290X/780 Ti performance whilst shaving 80W off and the 980 Ti not drawing any more than they did whilst offering way better performance. Unfortunately, things have gone crazy since then. The 3090 Ti draws significantly more power than even multi-GPU setups from the past. Even a pair of 480s in SLI or the 295X2 only drew ~430W. And of course all the rumours say that next-gen will be higher still.

 

[gpuerrilla]

It's increased massively. A top card twenty years ago was something like the 9800 XT, which had a 60W TDP. Ten years ago it was a 7970 that pulled just over 200W. The switchover to SSDs and such doesn't even come close to offsetting those hundreds of extra watts.

Around 2014 it seemed like power draw was going to go down again. Maxwell blew away anything that had come before in terms of perf/watt, with the 970 offering 290X/780 Ti performance whilst shaving 80W off and the 980 Ti not drawing any more than they did whilst offering way better performance. Unfortunately, things have gone crazy since then. The 3090 Ti draws significantly more power than even multi-GPU setups from the past. Even a pair of 480s in SLI or the 295X2 only drew ~430W. And of course all the rumours say that next-gen will be higher still.

Agree. We thought the PSU size was coming down and largely was but we seem to be going back up again after the SLI/crossfire got ditched - at least the PSU manufacturers will be rubbing their hands...

 

[Timber]

It's increased massively.

Thank you.

I guess over the years I never gave it too much thought, other than when I was building a server.

 

[Harold lloyd]

rasterisation has to be there in abundance to begin with (not sure on your thoughts regarding this Harold?).

Yep raster can be handled well enough by todays high end cards at 2k and mostly at 4k with a few low fps games.
RT is still too simple as its been implemented so far in Directx, John Carmack did warn of this around 2013 when he said the early
RT cards would only be able to simple mirror like effects and it adds not much over raster gameplay. I think within 2 hardware generations
we will have the power to render proper glossy reflections (not just mirror effects), likely the 5000/8000 series so it will be a big step up from raster rendering. This is going to mean watts so think a 800w PC and higher!

Of course we won't have full bells/whistles vray but glossy reflections will make images look photo real and not like painted art work.
I must have waited for real time RT since I was a kid, however not long to go now.

I don’t think society will become crazy over energy prices. No need to change your windows. Save some money lol

Not just energy prices, I'm predicting increasing food prices this year and if people can't feed themselves properly then there are chemical changes in the brain and primitive instincts appear.
Wouldn't want to be outside when all these underfed zombie types are running about!

I'm keeping the windows but thinking of installing some steel security mesh etc on the inside to beef up security.

So was I,

Oops must have misread your post.

Be mindful of those who aren't as fortunate.

I've done a bit over the years, always offer £50 to £100 less than the lowest rent prices in the area to help out the renters and because I've been fortunate over the years.

Really? By the coast? Where are you, Liverpool, Glasgow docks?

I can't reveal the location but somewhere on the coast in Wales, I'm only so many metres from the sea, I can see the waves from the upstairs window. Windy all year through summer/winter.

Of course there wasn't. It's more important to know which footballer kicked a cat, or which brand of jeans teh latest
As for gaming - There are plenty of ways I could reduce 'leccy costs and still keep gaming as much as I currently do. All the usual saving tips, really.

Well we got inflation going upto around 2030 and likely a GFC in the near future.

Not planning to change my gaming hours at all. Using a low power PC for internet stuff.
I put the PC on sleep if I'm away for half an hour or more.

at least the PSU manufacturers will be rubbing their hands...

Electricity suppliers will be rubbing their hands too!

 

[Troezar]

I have a Titanium rated PSU, bought for a great price in a sale. I'll just be using a GPU that is within its capacity. More than enough for 1440p. I also need my finances on having wiggle room for rise years ago. Given all the money printing and low interest rates there was always a danger of a rising cost of living. Covid and now the war have just hastened the process.

 

[chroniclard]

Xbox series X plus 65" lg oled VS 3080 FE, 3900X and dell 165hz 1440p screen .....assume the PC uses more juice.....found myself gaming on Xbox more lately.

Will dig out the metre our if curiosity.

 

[Bill Turnip]

Not just energy prices, I'm predicting increasing food prices this year and if people can't feed themselves properly then there are chemical changes in the brain and primitive instincts appear.
Wouldn't want to be outside when all these underfed zombie types are running about!

I'm keeping the windows but thinking of installing some steel security mesh etc on the inside to beef up security.

Sorry, but increasing food prices have been predicted by all the main outlets for a while now, and war in a high grain producing area is not going to help that.

And the chemical changes in the brain? Possibly not the main issue, I'd suggest it's more the potential food/warmth choice for some. If chemical brain imbalances are the main issue, maybe we should take greater offence at fast food chains?

I know I'm late to the party, but one of the things that you can do to help the power usage and cost of electricity is undervolting your gpu. Finally did mine yesterday and was very impressed at the difference. YMMV and all that depending on card, but that could be a real proactive difference for some. Until reading this forum I didn't even realise it was a thing.

 

[oggiet]

Sold my GPU as have Steam deck on the way, will be only way I game from now onwards.

 

[gpuerrilla]

I know I'm late to the party, but one of the things that you can do to help the power usage and cost of electricity is undervolting your gpu. Finally did mine yesterday and was very impressed at the difference. YMMV and all that depending on card, but that could be a real proactive difference for some. Until reading this forum I didn't even realise it was a thing.

Only thing we noticed was if you use RT heavily you have to bump up the voltage some. The undervolts work great with no RT but the extra juice the hardware requires can bring out a crash on regular undervolt settings!

 

[Bill Turnip]

Only thing we noticed was if you use RT heavily you have to bump up the voltage some. The undervolts work great with no RT but the extra juice the hardware requires can bring out a crash on regular undervolt settings!

Cheers for the heads-up, I'll give it a few more tests this evening. Managed to get Warzone at very similar performances, but with a temp drop from about 70C to 56C. Size of my office, that is a huge quality of gaming difference.

As for aggressiveness of undervolt settings? I basically went "that looks kind of ok" and pressed on.

 

[SilverCider]

No change to gaming here. Could still make a profit on mining too if that was a consideration. Electricity costs have increased to the tune of 36% p/kwh and 81% standing charge increases, in my usage that's a net effect of 41% increase to my electricity bill. Some perspective on that, if I was to mine 24/7 on my 3060ti my monthly bill for that alone would go from £22 to £31 per month. Gaming uses far less energy than mining does. If I was to get an hour an evening in (which is good going currently, being a parent of a 9 month old...) it would cost me an extra £2.52* on my monthly bill.

The real stinker for us is the gas bill increase of 73%. That's going to sting for us in an old end terrace that has no capacity for further insulation.

*Assumed an average 300 W draw over the hour for my system.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Cheers for the heads-up, I'll give it a few more tests this evening. Managed to get Warzone at very similar performances, but with a temp drop from about 70C to 56C. Size of my office, that is a huge quality of gaming difference.

As for aggressiveness of undervolt settings? I basically went "that looks kind of ok" and pressed on.

Yeah the undervolt can be very stable on most games, just check with a game that has RT you push it for a bit and see if you get any CTD etc. If it doesn't crash on RT you have a stable undervolt.

 

[gpuerrilla]

Gaming uses far less energy than mining does.

A bit of a sweeping statement that. On my cards they all mine with less consumption that a gaming setup would use. Using a wall meter I compare gaming use and due to the whole system being exercised the peaks can well exceed what your implying. For example my workstation setup when gaming the total consumption for the system is around 400w then add the monitor that comes to 480w. If you just had the GPU in there mining whilst working on my laptop the meter shows its consuming 350w for the whole system so in that comparison my gaming is around 100w more which is where we disagree on the 'uses far less'.

 

[SilverCider]

A bit of a sweeping statement that. On my cards they all mine with less consumption that a gaming setup would use. Using a wall meter I compare gaming use and due to the whole system being exercised the peaks can well exceed what your implying. For example my workstation setup when gaming the total consumption for the system is around 400w then add the monitor that comes to 480w. If you just had the GPU in there mining whilst working on my laptop the meter shows its consuming 350w for the whole system so in that comparison my gaming is around 100w more which is where we disagree on the 'uses far less'.

It was intended to be about my use case, but i'd argue it's quite typical actually.

Power is not energy used, it is a rate of consumption. In my example I use 0.3 kWh of electricity per day to game. If I mined in that same period it is at least 3.6 kWh per day usage. That's a lot more energy consumed.

I've not included TV/monitor and audio system as I'm comparing apples to apples. It's likely TV/Netflix would be watched too for a portion of the time I was mining so difficult to truly separate.

In your case then, gaming costs you 0.48 kWh per hour whereas mining for the day is 8.4 kWh. Quite the difference.