- Joined
- Jan 14, 2019
- Messages
- 12,334 (5.80/day)
- Location
- Midlands, UK
System Name | Nebulon B |
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Processor | AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D |
Motherboard | MSi PRO B650M-A WiFi |
Cooling | be quiet! Dark Rock 4 |
Memory | 2x 24 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR5-4800 |
Video Card(s) | AMD Radeon RX 6750 XT 12 GB |
Storage | 2 TB Corsair MP600 GS, 2 TB Corsair MP600 R2 |
Display(s) | Dell S3422DWG, 7" Waveshare touchscreen |
Case | Kolink Citadel Mesh black |
Audio Device(s) | Logitech Z333 2.1 speakers, AKG Y50 headphones |
Power Supply | Seasonic Prime GX-750 |
Mouse | Logitech MX Master 2S |
Keyboard | Logitech G413 SE |
Software | Bazzite (Fedora Linux) KDE |
As much as I absolutely don't want a 400+ W graphics card in my PC, I have to agree with you up to a point. A gaming PC's power usage is the least concern in saving the environment. Hypocritical EVs will kill the planet sooner than graphics cards will.It doesnt bother me, for two reasons:
A) I remember building high end rigs with TRI SLId 480s back in high school with my buddies, complete with OCed 980s. Pulling 250w+ on a CPU isnt anything new, neither are GPUs pushing 400w. This was the era that birthed both the half X case from cooler master and the first 2kW PSUs. This was also the era where OCing a 590 would result in the VRM exploding. So those complaining about power usage and heat output are likely the SAME people that 14 years ago were complaining about the power use and heat output of SLI rigs as if every gaming PC was a space heater.
The vast majority of users are not buying this stuff, for enthusiasts these heat issues and power draw are nothing new, and if anything managing a single GPU that can spike to 600w is a LOT easier then managing 3 400+w OCed watercooled 480s at a time where power supplies, cases, and motherboards were not built with this in mind, and liquid cooling was in its infancy compared to today's ready made solutions. Mainstream stuff like the 6700xt, the 3060ti, the 12400f and the 5600x are not burning up these kinds of numbers, and that mainstream hardware makes up most new gaming PCs.
B) the other complaint is power usage and the environment. Bro, if you're worried about power usage, let me introduce you to: air conditioning, space heaters, dishwashers, electric ovens, and the environmentalist's new boy toy; electric cars. Gaming GPUs are a tiny blip on the radar of energy usage, they're dwarfed by HVAC in total power usage and are fairly rare in the grand scheme of things. Like, me gaming on my PC for multiple hours a day in the winter with nothing else to do? my electric bill is $32 a month. In august, when I'm working outside and hardly touch the PC all month? $176 a month, all over that AC running. And I have a relatively small house, bigger homes can break $300.
Look up how much power a tesla needs to drive 10 miles, look at the governments and individuals pushing HARD for EVs everywhere. I'll save you the google search, a tesla model S uses roughly 3000-3200 watts to travel 10 miles. Traveling 60 MPH means burning up 20,000 watts per hour. And this is the "solution" that will save the planet. Now, that 400 watt 3090 is an issue....why?
Yeah compared to that a gamer using a 400w GPU for a few hours a day really doesnt matter. At all. Commenters will often bring up miners as well in the GPU talk in regards to energy usage, yeah miners use a lot, they are also not comparable to gamers at all. That's like comparing a nascar race to the drive to work in fuel usage. Totally different applications. If one is worried about the environment there are entire FORESTS of low hanging fruit to cut first.
I think heat can be a valid reason to hate on these new, high-power GPUs, although looking at them as "the new SLi" sheds some different light on the matter. There's no reason for an average home gamer to buy anything above a current gen x70-series card.
My personal issue doesn't really come from these overkill parts, but rather from the fact that middle-class components have been creeping up in power consumption too. x60-tier cards eat just shy of 200 W, which was high-end territory a couple generations ago. It doesn't affect my power bill much, but it does affect their usability in a small form factor system where it is much harder to get rid of heat. Let's not even mention the complete lack of low-end / light gaming HTPC cards with low profile / passively cooled versions like the 1050 (Ti) was.