Gaming computers consume $10 billion worth of electricity every year

Gaming computers need to be really powerful in order to handle modern games with max settings, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that they’re massive power hogs, but it’s still a bit surprising to see just HOW much power they consume. Even though they make up just 2.5% of the global PC equipment base, which includes consoles, gaming computers account for a whopping 21% of the power consumed by these devices. This is according to a new study that was published in the journal Energy Efficiency, which also claims that gaming computers consume about $10 billion worth of electricity every year, but that number doesn’t have to be so high.

Father / son team Evan and Nathaniel Mills has published a study entitled ‘Taming the Energy Use of Gaming Computers’ in the journal Energy Efficiency. The study looks into the energy usage of gaming PCs, and it turns out, they use a lot. The study says that with some adjustments, savings of an estimated $18 billion per year could be made globally by 2020. Of course, it’s common knowledge that gaming PCs are more power hungry than regular desktops and even gaming consoles. According to the study, gaming PCs represent 2.5 percent of the global PC equipment base (including consoles), while using 21 percent of the power (75 TWh/year which equates to $10 billion). He also adds that the number of people using more high-end equipment is growing. Mills estimated that the typical gaming computer, including a display, uses approximately 1400 kWh/year, which is six times a standard PC, and ten times a games console. Mills’ solution to the power problem? Use more efficient components. We knew this already, of course—and PC components do trend towards greater efficiency over time. It seems like an obvious conclusion, but the study goes into some of the numbers. The Mills team tested a number of PSUs, CPUs, GPUs, motherboards, displays, laptops, and RAM, to see how efficient they were. One test was done using a base system, with a number of improved components incrementally added. It showed that efficiency could be significantly increased, with only a minor drop in performance.