Are components with high power draw an issue for you?

[W1zzard]

In the last weeks we've seen the release of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and Core i9-12900KS. Both use tons of power, to achieve small performance improvements.

Is this something that concerns you?

 

[prtskg]

Need a yes for all of the above reasons - power bill, heat, noise, environment

 

[mb194dc]

Not really because I have a choice not to buy them. If I was going to bother to upgrade wouldn't go for these nose bleed parts.

It'll probably concern people generally a lot more as electricity contracts run out and bills then double or even more over the next year or so.

 

[kiriakost]

The next Poll should be about how many people actually own a Low-cost wall plug, digital power meter.
Anything over 150W of energy spent for graphics acceleration (alone) due regular consumers this is a significant waste, this causing damage at household monthly sustainability.
An 350W in total consuming PC, this requiring double in Watt PSU, so this staying at highest efficiency mode.

 

[BSim500]

In the last weeks we've seen the release of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and Core i9-12900KS. Both use tons of power, to achieve small performance improvements.

Is this something that concerns you?

I simply wouldn't buy +200w components. Really though power / heat / noise / environment are all directly related (ie, environmental concerns and power bill are just two redundant options for "excessive power consumption" option, likewise heat & noise are practically the same thing given almost universally adjustable fan curves these days, ie, the only way it would be unadjustably noisy is if you maxed out the fan curve with too much heat...), so at time of writing the poll really says "89.4% Yes for various related reasons vs 10.6% No, I don't care".

 

[Rhein7]

I chose heat.
Man, try to live on tropical country with ambient temp 30c all year round without AC and there is no way you could gaming even with the 500W regular PC stuff. Let alone with 500W just for the GPU only

 

[Outback Bronze]

Need a yes for all of the above reasons - power bill, heat, noise, environment

Yep, that's why I haven't voted yet because it pretty much "all of the above"

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
Anyone buying these or even a 3090 wouldn't care about any of the issue listed heat would be as simple spending more on a top end water block.

For myself personally price pretty much kills any chance of 3090ti/ 3090 and rog boards would have to drop a lot before I'd do the platform as a whole cpu price really doesn't bother me nor does any mentioned issues all would be custom water cooled anyway.

 

[grammar_phreak]

I did the math and if I was to run a 3090ti 24/7, 365 it would cost a little bit over $500 a year. Not great..... But it doesn't bother me much because I used to run my Graphics cards in SLI, and I still have that big PSU, big case mindset.

The price of the 3080ti, 3090, and 3090ti pisses me off. IMO, the top of the line RTX/GTX Gaming cards should be priced at $1000 or less..... and I could see a Titan class card going for $1500 to maybe $2000 at the most. The 3090 really should have been a Titan card with the Titan features. I've seen and heard some Tech Influencers on social media say Nvidia undercharged for the 1080ti, or the pricing of the 1080ti was a mistake. When they say these sort of things, it convinces their followers and Nvidia that pricing these cards sky high is okay. While I understand Nvidia is going to price their products to a level that makes their investors happy, I don't think Nvidia wants to price their products to a level that creates a backlash either.

 

[Dr. Dro]

The primary problem with high-wattage parts is heat, as the higher the power consumption, the more difficult it will be to manage all the excess heat the system will produce. Not only this means investing a very significant amount of money on cooling (which potentially leads to noise), but it also brings the system's reliability axis down as a whole. Hot parts are unstable parts, no matter the situation. It would be hypocritical of me to say the power bill is a concern when I purchase an $1500+ graphics card, so i'll let that one concern aside.

Hardware like the Core i9-12900KS and the RTX 3090 Ti have thrown out reason for miniscule performance increases over their original models (12900K and 3090), all so marketing could hype the tech and the companies make a quick buck. As enthusiasts, we should do our best to keep flagship hardware for going in that direction.

 

[DOA]

7 years ago I put in a ton of solar, it has paid for itself in reduced electric bills.

I am not at all worried about power use, it's free. Heat is taken out by the heat pump, my system is water cooled and almost silent.

 

[sukathukassa]

Yes, all of the above.

 

[Shrek]

1W used 24/7 is $1 a year (give or take), so running cost is an issue for me.

 

[Chrispy_]

Throwing more voltage at the problem is punished by diminishing returns just like cars and horsepower; 1400hp might let you reach 275mph if the conditions and long list of caveats are met, but if you only need to drive at 60mph, a 29hp Citroen 2CV will do the job across an unpaved field with the only caveat being that it's not uphill. 50x more power doesn't even get you 5x more speed.

Current-gen GPUs are already pushed a fair way beyond the sweet spot in their efficiency curve, so pushing them even harder just gets utterly stupid. If you undervolt a 3090Ti you can probably achieve more than 90% of the performance for less than half the power. Another great example is what can be achieved with a laptop GPU - the laptop 3060 can get most of the performance of a desktop 3060, but for just 65W, compared to the 170W of a desktop part. Is that extra 30% really worth 250% of the power draw?

 

[Andyr]

Yep, that's why I haven't voted yet because it pretty much "all of the above"

Same. I've got a small case so heat is always a concern. The price of power is much more of a concern now than it was a year ago and the environmental factors aren't trivial either.

It's enough that I'm targeting 4k 60fps rather than 120fps to get a bit more life out of my current build.

 

[Nihillim]

Power use = heat, more power use = more heat.
Air conditioning and fans(appliance) will need to be ran for longer periods(possibly lower temperature setting for AC too), or one's room will heat up faster if there isn't a means to exhaust the heat produced from the PC immediately out of the room.
There are various circumstances: Cost of electricity isn't a drop in the bucket everywhere, and not everyone is well off. People live in various climates, from hot/cold year round, and temperate.

Liquid cooling isn't a fix.
Ryzen 3000/5000, Nvidia's Gpu Boost - I think AMD's RDNA does it too - cooler thermals increase power use, albeit very slightly.[As far as power limits allow, anyways.]
It doesn't matter if one is getting cool and frosty thermals if 400w or whatever is still being dumped into one's room, instead of directly outside.

As someone who lives in a subtropical climate, summers get toasty. Late spring and early fall can be rather warm too(pushing 29C/85F outside).
Between the top end AMD and Nvidia gpus, I wouldn't enjoy a very big heater(3090/Ti) running very much during the summer - winter would be another story.
Excluding the transient spikes, there's about 100w or more between them and the smaller heater(6900XT), which isn't that far behind in raster performance.
100w or more is significant - to me.
Cpus typically don't use that much, save for blender renders and similar. Besides those loads, their power use has been way behind that of gaming gpus.
Fortunately, I have access to air conditioning and electricity is cheap where I live, but I'm not loaded, so I'd say power bill and heat are tied for the biggest concerns for me on the above list.

 

[sam_86314]

Yes for noise, heat, and cost.

I'm a huge silence freak. I have all Noctua fans in my system with fine-tuned curves so that my system is silent when idle and still very quiet under load.

I also over-specced my PSU so that it'll run passively all the time, regardless of load. Under heavy loads, my system draws around 300W, and the absolute worst-case power draw is probably around 450W. In my time of having my RM850X, I've never had it spin up its fan to the point of becoming audible.

I have absolutely no interest in a GPU with a TDP of over 250W, and I hate this trend toward MOAR POWER! rather than efficiency improvements with GPUs.

 

[Shrek]

I find noise very subjective; a low continuous hum does not trouble me at all (I like confirmation that the computer is up and running), but any variations and my brain is continuously wondering 'what's up'.

 

[Courier 6]

yes, I don´t have a power plant at home...

 

[springs113]

In the last weeks we've seen the release of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and Core i9-12900KS. Both use tons of power, to achieve small performance improvements.

Is this something that concerns you?

Where's the heat and power bill combined option?

 

[INSTG8R]

Never really thought about it because i leave my PC on 24/7. I do have a wall monitor and use around 100KWh per month on average of course I could lower that easily.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Power draw equals cost to use so both sort off, in reality even with auto over clocking I have always decided what speed things run at and it's not normally stock usually down clocked so I'm torn

 

[Space Lynx]

In the last weeks we've seen the release of GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and Core i9-12900KS. Both use tons of power, to achieve small performance improvements.

Is this something that concerns you?

It does concern me, for one specific reason though, the industry of DIY computers is already drawing the attention of lawmakers due to miners, and recently laws were even changed to regulate computer monitors power usage (Jayztwocents explained it well, its nothing to worry about), but with climate change and such, I can't help but wonder if there will eventually be limits on wattages for specific PC components.

The kind of hubris that Nvidia is doing here, drawing attention to the industry with such massive amounts of wattage, is the smoking gun Congress needs to pass more laws regulating our industry we love for gaming. The high end stuff is so niche too, it is unnecessary and only is there for 1% of gamers, yet it will be enough to draw the ire of lawmakers.

Lawmakers recently passed a law making computer power supply units have a 80+ gold rating I think as well? I am ok with stuff like that... but they are very very aware of my hobby, and seeing as how most of them are inept... I find they could very easily overstep their boundaries and reduce the overall enjoyment of the hobby.

Hopefully my premonitions are wrong.

I really wish in the poll, there was a Yes - Political

I will just go with environment for now, as that will be the basis for the political.

 

[SpittinFax]

The dealbreaker for me is the longevity of components. Huge power draw and heat shortens the lifespan of everything. Plus you need 10 to 20 fans just to maintain acceptable thermals.

 

[Space Lynx]

The dealbreaker for me is the longevity of components. Huge power draw and heat shortens the lifespan of everything. Plus you need 10 to 20 fans just to maintain acceptable thermals.

Yes, this is basic logic, and I agree with it. Very good point.