What Do High-End Graphics Cards Cost In Terms Of Electricity?

[17seconds]

Differences in power costs for various graphics cards are overrated. The worst case scenario vs. the best case scenario is less than a couple bucks a month for a heavy gamer.

 

[JOSHSKORN]

[citation][nom]greghome[/nom]Technically, by having a girlfriend, u wouldn't even have the time to be a hardcore gamer anymore........[/citation]
Depends on if she plays World of Warcraft or not, then while she does her thing, you could have the best of both worlds.

 

[lradunovic77]

We are talking about 1-$2 at most per month...therefore there is no point of talking about

 

[bayouboy]

[citation][nom]Tikimotel[/nom]Dutch consumers should use $0.29/kWh (€0.22 = $0.29)...$0,13 = €0.096 we can only dream about those prices...[/citation]

Actually, I'm even better than that. I pay $0.042/kWh which turns these numbers into less than $30 a year. Its nice to be in a State that isn't broke, has no income tax, and cheap utilities.

 

[Tijok]

I'm a little surprised by the tenacity of people bashing this article. It may not apply to you in particular, with CFX'ed GTX 580's or whatever, but that doesn't mean it is not an incredibly insightful article.

As a person who both games regularly and manages computer hardware for an entire family, this is an incredibly important consideration when choosing parts. If I drop 3 6850's into various computers around the house, we're looking at added yearly costs of up to $120, and that's with relatively cheap electricity (for CA).

The impacts may not be massive on the wallet, but every penny counts. And if a person is interested in trying to conserve energy in their household, this is doubly as important. Either way, I am very glad that Tom's took some time to look at an issue I had never paid real credence to, and put the numbers in straightforward dollars and sense.

It's the variance and thoughtfulness in articles like these at Tom's that keep me coming back again and again!

 

[kittle]

so an extra $90 a year to run the card? ... thats $7.50 a month. or the price of a single lunch or dinner.
yep - power concerns are overhyped.

 

[wolfram23]

Wow this makes me love my 5850s even more! So efficient!

 

[jaquith]

DOES ANYONE REALLY CARE?!

ENJOY!

 

[mattmock]

[citation][nom]Twile[/nom]I'm also completely confused about this idea of gamers buying things that are way more than they need. Are you getting a smooth 60 fps with max settings/AA/etc? Unless you're only playing WoW, probably not. Personally, I need something that can push 120 fps (or 60x2, stereoscopic 3D display) which makes it even more imperative that I have high-performance parts. Maybe my info is just really out of date, but I didn't know that this was easy to get.[/citation]
I agree, when you run games like Crysis, Metro 2033, Call of Pryipat, Just Cause 2, and BF:BC2 at higher settings, they all benefit from the latest and greatest hardware. Even in less demanding games, if you want the nice visuals provided by 1080p, 16xAF, 8xAA and SS transparency AA you had better have a very powerful card to get 60fps min.
There isn't anything wrong with being a budget gamer, but a pricey rig does offer real measurable advantages. (unlike say $200 hdmi cables)
People should also keep the costs in perspective, it is a luxury hobby, but other hobbies cost just as much. Used ski/fishing boats start at $10,000, a small 4x4 is $5000, and a bit of jewelry can easily run $2000. When you are in high school, it seems like an unattainable amount of money, but once you have a real job, a $1200-1500 system can be a pretty reasonable entertainment expense.

 

[sinfulpotato]

Why would a hardcore gamer care about the price to run a card? Their parents take care of that bill anyways.

 

[neiroatopelcc]

Would've liked to see some 4870x2 or similar last gen dual gpu numbers

 

[tommysch]

[citation][nom]bayouboy[/nom]Actually, I'm even better than that. I pay $0.042/kWh which turns these numbers into less than $30 a year. Its nice to be in a State that isn't broke, has no income tax, and cheap utilities.[/citation]

Im paying around 0.06$/kWh. Nationalized hydro electricity rules!

 

[elkein]

Clearly this doesn't cover 24/7 folders running higher end equipment. ~ 500 kwh a month. Honestly the real surprise wasn't my increased electric bill I had pre-calculated that, it was my decreased heating gas bill. I did a bit of a double take looking at year over year bills with weather calculated in.

 

[wortwortwort]

There's no way I keep my computer on 8 hours a day. Also, where I live, electricity is just under $0.06/hour. (Yay for cheap hydroelectricity!) Even if I kept my computer on for that long, my 5870 would only cost me $23 every year. It would reach the cost of the card in 17 YEARS.

 

[wortwortwort]

[citation][nom]TommySch[/nom]Im paying around 0.06$/kWh. Nationalized hydro electricity rules![/citation]
Indeed it does...

 

[aznplayer213]

still rocking my 5870 till ATI goes to 32nm process. power consumption isnt so bad and performance will be good for another 1-2 years at minimum.

 

[ProDigit10]

enabling v-sync could potentially reduce the bill when running 3d apps.

No need to play a game at 250fps when you barely see the difference between that and 30fps.

 

[kkiddu]

My (planned) 6870 is at a sweet spot. But I guess it's not so high-end.

 

[Guest]

Oh! Well My 2 evga GTX 460 super clocked in SLI and I suppose my corssair H70 liquid cooling with the two fans will not help me save on electricity... yeah! but think of the fun I have.. still think its worth it. any like AMW1011 said some of us have a life and don't play more than 3 hours a day and some time not at all....

 

[f-14]

worthless article imo. $90 a year? that's it? i blow $60 on a case of paintballs every month, i blow twice as much on fishing tackle every year then that. this proves more over to the point this is the cheapest hobby i have and i'm barely over a moderate gamer.

 

[snoogins]

I guess not everyone is just looking at the bottom line, some people actually care about the *gasp* environment. The same people who can afford to get whatever SUV they want, but choose not to for the *gasp* environment.

 

[utengineer]

Unless you are cripple or handicap, you should not be playing video games every day. If you do, the cost on the lack of your social skills and ability to function in society is much higher.

 

[billj214]

The real point here is the total power consumption combined in the world. If these card makers could all make a more efficient product they would save the world a lot of electricity usage.

Personally I added a 7kw solar system just to offset my usage which does include 7 computers, three have 200w Video cards. I try to be "Green" when I can but mostly when it saves me money!

I am glad Tom's wrote this article, if anything just to make people more aware.

 

[bit_user]

Excellent article! This is something I've been eying, as I've been spec'ing out a new system.

Missing is your increasingly common power efficiency metric. I guess that's harder to measure with graphics cards, but you could always use something like folding @ home.

 

[lp231]

Okay what board did you guys really use because the 2 pics are different.
In one of the pics where the CPU is installed without the ram, you can clearly see the ram slots both sides have their locking mechanisms. Then in the 2nd pic where the Kingston rams are installed, those boards have those 1-side locking mechanism found on newer boards. And the whole area next to the ATX power connector is arrange different from one another. So what board did you guys use exactly, one in pic1 or in pic2?