How Many Watts Does A Gaming PC Use?

Have you ever given thought to how much power your gaming PC consumes? If yes, then you have ended up in the right place. Many people fail to heed their gaming PCs’ power consumption because they are unaware of how power-hungry they can be. This article will give you all the details you need about your gaming PC’s power consumption.

Key Takeaways

• The power consumption of a gaming PC varies between the builds. A high-end PC will consume more power than a mid-range and low-end PC.
• PC components like CPU, GPU, Monitor, and RAM consume power depending on their models.
• A PC may consume more power if it is covered in dust, is overclocked, runs resource-intensive software/applications, or has a poor cooling system.
• You can reduce power consumption by cleaning the PC, upgrading components, underclocking, improving the cooling system, and using different power modes.

Average Energy Consumption Of A Gaming PC

The average energy consumption of gaming PCs is divided further into the types of gaming PCs. All three high-end, mid-end, and budget PCs will have different energy consumption averages due to their components’ differences.

On average, a high-end PC is expected to use as much as 750 Watts of energy, depending on the use. A mid-range PC is expected to use as much as 460 Watts of energy. Lastly, a budget gaming PC may use around 300 Watts of energy. You may find the difference significant, but this is entirely based on the models of components installed on the PC.

The difference between SSDs and HDDs also plays a role in power consumption. High-end PCs have a better cooling system and RGB lights that take up more power. Lastly, high-end PCs are equipped with powerful GPUs that take up electricity to run.

Power Consumption Of Individual PC parts

Below we have listed how much power your PC components consume individually. This will help you figure out where to work easily when trying to make your PC consume less power.

CPU

CPU, out of all the PC components, consumes the most power to run. Of course, the power consumption still depends on the CPU model installed on your PC. If you have a low-end CPU, it can consume up to 95 Watts.

Whereas a mid-end CPU can consume up to 125 Watts of energy. Lastly, if you have a high-end PC for gaming purposes, video editing, or graphic designing, its CPU may use up to 150 Watts of energy.

GPU

GPUs are second to CPUs when it comes to consuming power. Again, the power consumption of the GPU entirely depends on its model. If you have a low-end GPU for a budget PC, it will most likely consume up to 120 Watts.

Moreover, if your PC’s GPU is mid-range, it can use up to 200 Watts. Whereas, if your GPU is high-end, it can use up to 500 Watts of energy. Again, these figures may vary according to your use of the GPU; they may go higher if you overburden your GPU by overclocking.

RAM

The power consumption of RAM entirely depends on its size. The more RAM you have, the more power it will consume. It may use as little as 1.5 Watts of energy starting from the lowest amount of RAM. However, as you go higher up to 16 GB, your RAM may use up to 6 Watts of energy. If you double it to 32 GB, the power consumption will double up to 12 Watts.

Storage Drives

Two storage drives will be discussed, a hard disk drive (HDD) and a solid-state drive (SSD). If you have a 2.5” HDD, it is likely to consume up to 3 Watts of energy. A 3.5” HDD can consume up to 15 Watts of energy. On the other hand, SSD supposedly consumes lesser power than HDDs and are preferred more over them. An SSD can consume from 3.5 Watts to up to 8.5 Watts.

Cooling Fans

Monitor

The power consumption of the monitor may vary between models again. If you have a budget monitor, it can consume as less as 25 Watts. However, going higher to a mid-range monitor may take up to 50 Watts of energy. Lastly, a high-end monitor may require up to 70 Watts of energy.

Motherboard And PSU

These components are entirely different from each other, but their power consumption depends entirely on the power requirement of other components. That’s because these two components play the role of supplying power to the other components.

Despite that, the motherboard can typically take up to 150 Watts of energy. At the same time, a PSU can take up from 200 Watts to 1800 Watts. Again, this power consumption figure entirely depends on the model of the PSU.

Peripherals

Last and least, peripherals are the ones you need to worry about the least when it comes to power consumption. They take as less as 0.5 Watts of energy to run.

Ways You Can Measure Your PCs Power Consumption

The simplest way to measure your PC components’ power consumption is by looking it up online. All you have to do is open your web browser and write the model of your PC components along with power consumption. You will be displayed with the answer immediately. If you are unaware of your PC components models, you can look up our guide on “How To Check PC Specs?“.

A power meter is a good idea if you are looking for more accurate results. You can do so by plugging the power meter into an electrical socket and then plugging your PC’s cables into the power meter, which will give you accurate results of how much power your PC consumes overall. You can also try testing the power consumption of your PC when it’s running, sitting idle, overclocking, and using resource-intensive applications.

Another way, although less reliable, is to check your PC components’ TDP (Thermal design power). The TDP tells the heat your PC components produce, presumed to be the power it consumes.

It is true to some extent, but the TDP is also the max heat the component can radiate, which might not be the case every time it is used. Therefore, looking up the components’ power consumption online is advised.

Why Your PC Is Using More Power Than It Should?

Let’s say you used the method mentioned above to measure your PC’s power consumption, but to your surprise, it is using more power than it should. A serious issue can be the reason why your PC is doing so. Here’s a list of reasons why your PC is consuming more power.

The PC Covered In Dust

Dust is one of the biggest enemies of your PC. Left unattended, it can build up considerably over time on your components. This leads to your PC components heating up too much. The overheating further leads your cooling components to work harder than they should. Therefore, all the hard work causes them to draw more power than they usually do. Read more on “How Often Should I Clean My PC? [Full Guide]”

Resource-Intensive Software/Applications

Resource-intensive software and applications always put an extra load on your PC components. Heavy-duty games, graphic designing, and video editing software push your components to their limits. Your components are forced to work at total capacity or close, which pushes them to draw more power.

Overclocking

Overclocking is all fun and games as long as you get the best performance out of your PC. Despite the goods, it still has its disadvantages, more power consumption being one of them. Overclocking again pushes your components more than they should. When your components work more than they are supposed to do by default, they draw more power.

Usage Of Outdated Components

Outdated PC components are often the culprits behind more power consumption. They might not be as power efficient as the components available now. Some people prefer using a CRT monitor over LCD and LED monitors. CRT monitors are why your PC is drawing more power than it should.

Poor Cooling System

If you have a high-end PC, your components may radiate more heat than a budget/office PC. If you are using just fans to get rid of the heat generation, they may not do the job well. Again, as mentioned before, your fans may also be working more than they should, which will cause them to draw more power than usual.

Ways You Can Reduce Your PCs Power Consumption

Now that you’ve gone through the possible reasons behind your PC consuming more power than it should, here’s how you can prevent it from doing so.

Clean Your PC

The first and foremost step you should take before anything should be to clean your PC. Its motive should be reduced power consumption and its betterment and longevity. Our guide on “How Long Do Gaming PCs Last?” will help you figure out the lifespan of your gaming PC.

It would be best to open your computer case by unscrewing it to clean your PC. You should then proceed to clean the PC parts using compressed air individually. If you do not have an air compressor, take help from our article “How To Clean Your PC Without An Air Compressor?” Further cleaning of parts individually can be done using a cotton swab dipped in rubbing alcohol. 

Avoid Using Resource-Intensive Software/Application

You should avoid using resource-intensive and heavy-duty software and application if your components are not powerful enough to keep up with them. It is also best to keep such applications as minimal as possible to avoid power from being overconsumed and your components wearing out.

Underclock Your PC

If you are overclocking any of the components of your PC, it is best to try underclocking them. Overclocking pushes your components to consume more power. Besides the consumption of more power due to overclocking, there’s more power consumption due to fans working extra to eliminate the heat produced by the overclocking components. You can read our article “How To Turn Off Overclocking? [Explained]” for help.

Get Your PC A Better Cooling System

Upgrade Your PC Components

If you are still using outdated PC components, which are not power efficient, it’s time to upgrade them. That way, you will notice an improvement in your PC’s performance and a reduction in the power your PC is consuming. If you are still using a CRT monitor, it’s high time you switch to LED or LCD monitors.

Power Modes

If you often leave your PC idle with your unsaved data, it is better to use power modes so that your PC consumes lesser power. Power modes have two different forms, sleep mode and hibernate mode. The sleep mode uses your RAM to store your unsaved data and all the applications you have left open.

When the PC is left in sleep mode, it saves power consumption by not using your storage, display, and peripherals. On the other hand, having an SSD drive as the boot drive on your PC gives you the advantage of using hibernate mode.

Your PC will use the storage drive to store the unsaved data and applications you have left open. Your PC’s RAM, display, and peripherals will not be used during hibernate mode. This mode will help you in saving more power from being consumed.

Adjust Your Brightness Levels

This is a helpful tip that helps in saving power. While using your PC, setting your brightness level slightly lower than the highest level is better. Make sure not to lower it to the point you have trouble watching the screen, as this puts a lot of stress on your eyes.

Conclusion

Now you might know how much power a gaming PC typically consumes. Again, it entirely depends on the components and your usage. This article may have helped you become aware of how much your PC contributes to your monthly electric bill.

All the measures mentioned to figure out the power consumption of your components can also help you keep a check on your components and notice any unusual changes earlier. To help yourself with the unusual power consumption changes, try the tips given above before heading to a professional or replacing your components.