Question Why has my PC started to consume more power now?

[anujsanghvi]

My PC used to consume about 15-20 W of power regularly when at idle as indicated by HWiNFO64. But these days without having any additional programs running in the background or start up my PC has started to consume about 25-28 W of power at idle. I have a i5 7th Gen and Nvidea GTX 1050 Ti. But also in this period I have had several game launchers DLed which are NOT running in the background. The task manager does not show anything more than what I see having running which always used to run even back then when the power consumption was 15-20 W. What's caused the spike in consumption?

EDIT: I had recently cleaned the cabinet with a stanley blower. I had also replaced the thermal paste where you apply it in the CPU. Also there is adequate airflow where the CPU is placed.

Thanks

 

[Wolfshadw]

One typical reason could be accumulated dust within the case. Dust can cut down the air flow through the case making it work harder to keep the PC cool.
Another reason could be the room's ambient temperature. In the northern hemisphere, Summer is quickly approaching, and room temperatures often increase. The warmer the room, the less effective cooling you have and your PC has to work harder to keep cool.
Depending on the age of the PC, you could need to replace your thermal paste between the CPU and the cooler. Drying thermal paste will conduct less heat away from the CPU to the heat sink. This in turn makes your cooling system work harder to try and keep your PC cool.

-Wolf sends

 

[anujsanghvi]

One typical reason could be accumulated dust within the case. Dust can cut down the air flow through the case making it work harder to keep the PC cool.
Another reason could be the room's ambient temperature. In the northern hemisphere, Summer is quickly approaching, and room temperatures often increase. The warmer the room, the less effective cooling you have and your PC has to work harder to keep cool.
Depending on the age of the PC, you could need to replace your thermal paste between the CPU and the cooler. Drying thermal paste will conduct less heat away from the CPU to the heat sink. This in turn makes your cooling system work harder to try and keep your PC cool.

-Wolf sends

I had recently cleaned the cabinet with a stanley blower. I had also replaced the thermal paste where you apply it in the CPU. Also there is adequate airflow where the CPU is placed.