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Digging Into the Electrical Cost of PC Gaming

Posted by timothy on from the with-compound-interest-you'll-die-rich-in-nazeroth dept.

New submitter MBAFK writes "My coworker Geoff and I have been taking power meters home to see what the true cost of PC gaming is. Not just the outlay for hardware and software, but what the day-to-day costs really are. If you assume a 20 hour a week habit, and using $0.11 a KWH, actually playing costs Geoff $30.83 a year. If Geoff turns his PC off when he is not using it, he could save $66 a year."

2 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Components by Rogerborg · · Score: 5, Funny

    Indeed, I scrap my hardware every 2 months so that I can be absolutely sure that I'm saving money and preserving the environment.

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  2. Negative spending by goombah99 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you are playing PC games the lights all over the house may be turned off. If you were not playing PC games then you might be moving around the house with the lights on. Likewise in winter your heating from the game is just heating your house. Even better it's heating the room you are in, so you can let the house be more cool. If you were not gaming perhaps you would be driving your car somewhere, like your girl friends house, and using gasoline. It could be that gaming saves you money over alternative activities in terms of electricity.

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