Will electricity prices influence your next gpu purchase?

Hedge · 13 Jul 2022 at 07:15

With energy prices looking to get even worse I'm thinking I'd rather not bother with a power hungry gpu in future, regardless of if its particularly fast or not.

Have any of you actually worked out what a few hours of gaming is costing you on 3090s etc?

I guess in some respects it might be good for industry to work smarter and not just throw more energy in to get more performance.

Wucked · 13 Jul 2022 at 08:01

Not in isolation, but with spiralling prices on nearly everything…

CuriousTomCat · 13 Jul 2022 at 08:04

I doubt many would sacrifice performance? My last GPU was a Vega 56. If energy prices were high back then I'd have bought a 1070 instead. I wouldn't drop to a lower tier GPU.

I doubt anyone with a 4k high refresh monitor will change it to 1440p so they can save money on a lower tier GPU.

throwaway4372 · 13 Jul 2022 at 08:18

Yes, power usage is a factor for me. I want a card that ranks well on the "fps per watt" scale.

However it's not really because of energy prices, more a combination of:
- thermals (+reliability)
- noise
- purchase price (+psu)
- my declining gaming / usually playing less graphically demanding games

JediFragger · 13 Jul 2022 at 08:21

Not particularly here, but I don't think I'd want a card putting out more than 400w of heat into the room!

Freddie1980 · 13 Jul 2022 at 08:50

Not in isolation but it will as a part of the overall cost of living. No new graphics card for me for the next couple of years I reckon but let's see how it goes.

zola25 · 13 Jul 2022 at 08:53

Not in isolation, but insofar as power impacts dissapated heat. As the Mrs and I both game in a small room, this now has to be a factor in all component purchases.

JediFragger · 13 Jul 2022 at 09:42

zola25 said:
Not in isolation, but insofar as power impacts dissapated heat. As the Mrs and I both game in a small room, this now has to be a factor in all component purchases.

When it's hot you must be both gaming near-on naked

zola25 · 13 Jul 2022 at 12:47

JediFragger said:
When it's hot you must be both gaming near-on naked

Ha, more sensible nowadays but several years ago we had 2 x SLI'd 8800GTS (each) and furnace like nforce 680i motherboards. Playing Crysis over the Christmas hols with the windows open and shorts on we realised it was never going to work come the summer

Troezar · 13 Jul 2022 at 12:51

Not worried about electricity, just heat. A 5800X3D and a 3060Ti is hot enough at the moment.

Finners · 13 Jul 2022 at 12:54

Echo what's been said above, doesn't worry me from a financial point of view but having basically a 600w heater (if power consumption for next gen rumours are to believed) would make my computer room too hot most of the year. It's like that a bit now with this heat and a 3080.

KompuKare · 13 Jul 2022 at 13:18

Heat, noise probably do matter for everyone.

In theory in the winter time any excess heat should serve as a heater (although a full Pasivhause probably gets too hot with 600W).

The rumours of 500W+ for next gen and remembering how spiky the loads were already for this gen, does scare me. Unless they fix the spikes, a 500W+ card might need a 1200W PSU just because of the spikes.

JediFragger · 13 Jul 2022 at 13:21

If the 4090/7950XT are both 450W then I'll be undervolting for sure if I get one to keep it under 400W, maybe even get close to 350/360W.

humbug · 13 Jul 2022 at 14:17

Finners said:
Echo what's been said above, doesn't worry me from a financial point of view but having basically a 600w heater (if power consumption for next gen rumours are to believed) would make my computer room too hot most of the year. It's like that a bit now with this heat and a 3080.

I'll third this, an extra 100 / 200 watts will only amount to a couple £ a week extra for gaming half the day every day, even at these current prices, but having a 600 watt heater sitting 2 feet a away from you is not nice at any time of the year, never mind 35c heat.

moogle · 13 Jul 2022 at 14:20

Yes, it's now trumped the heat dump the cards have. These new cards seem to be aiming to take place of the GTX 480s

ltron · 13 Jul 2022 at 14:21

Wucked said:
Not in isolation, but with spiralling prices on nearly everything…

Given that I was lucky enough to get a 3080 FE at MSRP I am reluctant to upgrade so soon even if the 40/7000 series is much faster (as is rumoured), it almost feels decadent given the cost of living crisis (but I am an enthusiast so can I resist temptation?).

Also, the 3080 is already too hot and power hungry, my PC case (P600S with good airflow) and room get very hot and it's sweltering in the summer. I was half thinking of trying to get a PS5 Digital instead, or even an Xbox Series X (which is in good stock now).

arknor · 13 Jul 2022 at 14:56

you can just power limit the card or cap fps if you want to save electric

Aegis · 13 Jul 2022 at 15:04

In order for me to even consider 40xx (or RDNA3) it'd need to provide superior performance (including RT), efficiency and thermals for at least half the cost of the previous generation.

I'm not expecting to be upgrading until 60xx/RDNA5

Hedge · 13 Jul 2022 at 15:34

I hadn't really thought much about the heat aspect. I do remember having my pc under my desk and roasting my legs mind.

Has anyone worked out the actual cost of say, 3 hours playing cyberpunk or something at full load.

I might be worrying about a cost that's actually quite insignificant

Tetras · 13 Jul 2022 at 15:46

Hedge said:
I hadn't really thought much about the heat aspect. I do remember having my pc under my desk and roasting my legs mind.

Has anyone worked out the actual cost of say, 3 hours playing cyberpunk or something at full load.

I might be worrying about a cost that's actually quite insignificant

400 watts, 3 hours a day would be £120 a year at £0.28 kwh.