With Electricity Bills Soaring, Will the Gaming Industry Hit Rock Bottom?

[HIKAGE]

In the U.K., people are apparently stopping playing the game because of the rising cost of electricity.

https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/19/one-in-10-gamers-may-give-up-video-games-due-to-rising-energy-bills-17210820/


The power consumption of the RDNA3 and Ada Lovelace, which will be available soon, will be even higher.

Consumer game consoles are not selling well, except for Nintendo's.

https://www.vgchartz.com/

Also PC gamers are struggling with their electricity bills. Toward the end of the year, the gaming market will probably hit rock bottom.

[Brian9824]

Not very likely, its incredibly cost efficient. I mean assuming your PC is on the higher end and your including monitor, lets say it consumes 750 watts of power an hour.

So say average 5 hours a day X 30 days = 150 hours

750 watts * 150 hours = 112,500 watts or 112 kilowatts.

To put that in perspective in Florida I paida bout $170 for over 12,000 KW of power. So your paying pennies per hour. No other source of entertainment that is remotely as cost effective by far.

Now the UK has bigger power issues, but turning off your AC for a an hour a day or raising its temp 1-2 degrees would make a bigger difference then giving up gaming.

[Supafly]

Just undervolted my GPU. Have 2 profiles now. Gaming and Desktop

Gaming profile is actually slightly Overclocked
Draws 40-50 watts less in 3D mark benchmarks
Power 100%
Gpu clock is now 1905mhz vs 1830mhz(Nvidias Boost clock speed)
Memory is + 1000mhz
Voltage maxed at 0.95
Fans <50%

Desktop Profile
Draws 150watts less in 3D mark benchmarks, 20-40 watts less when opening web browser, Youtube, Word and Excel
Power 75% (could prob just drop it to 50% since watts is 50% but haven't botthered as I'm happy as is
Gpu clock at 1020
Memory default
Volts max at 0.85
Fans <40%

EDIT: Forgot to say my CPU is also undervolted by -0.090 and also capped max speed for a single core to 49 instead of 50. Wasn't worth it for the added temps and 0-1fps gained

[Supafly]

Автор сообщения: brian9824

Now the UK has bigger power issues, but turning off your AC for a an hour a day or raising its temp 1-2 degrees would make a bigger difference then giving up gaming.

But UK buildings often don't have AC units. Weather sucks so AC isn't a common thing, maybe if you earn more than 100k a year but if you earn less I doubt anyone would bother with AC

[Corona Varus]

Автор сообщения: Tidus and Yuna

In the U.K., people are apparently stopping playing the game because of the rising cost of electricity.

https://metro.co.uk/2022/08/19/one-in-10-gamers-may-give-up-video-games-due-to-rising-energy-bills-17210820/


The power consumption of the RDNA3 and Ada Lovelace, which will be available soon, will be even higher.

Consumer game consoles are not selling well, except for Nintendo's.

https://www.vgchartz.com/

Also PC gamers are struggling with their electricity bills. Toward the end of the year, the gaming market will probably hit rock bottom.

I thought I was the only one with this problem.

I'm glad I found this post.

[Brian9824]

Автор сообщения: Supafly

Автор сообщения: brian9824

Now the UK has bigger power issues, but turning off your AC for a an hour a day or raising its temp 1-2 degrees would make a bigger difference then giving up gaming.

But UK buildings often don't have AC units. Weather sucks so AC isn't a common thing, maybe if you earn more than 100k a year but if you earn less I doubt anyone would bother with AC

True, I know some use window units, etc. But it was just an example. Lots of far more efficient things you can do. I mean you'd be hard pressed to find any form of entertainment that is more cost efficient.

[Supafly]

Автор сообщения: Muppet among Puppets

Same with heating. I dont remember how often i needed to tell people that a thermostate on 5 does not heat faster than on 2.

For years I've been telling my parents to turn the damn heating down. Not saying It needs to be freezing inside but it doesn't need to be warm enough that you'd be comfortable wearing shorts and a T-Shirt. Suspect they'll be doing it this year

[Supafly]

Автор сообщения: brian9824

Автор сообщения: Supafly

But UK buildings often don't have AC units. Weather sucks so AC isn't a common thing, maybe if you earn more than 100k a year but if you earn less I doubt anyone would bother with AC

True, I know some use window units, etc. But it was just an example. Lots of far more efficient things you can do. I mean you'd be hard pressed to find any form of entertainment that is more cost efficient.

Expected you may but wanted to point it out just incase. Also, didn't read the entire thread, depending on other comments I may not have even bothered mentioning it at all. Can't be bothered to read it all.

Only really wanted to point out people could potentially save electric by undervolting CPU and GPU without losing performance and also get a cooling and quieter system. Wasn't till I posted, #34, that I saw the UK and AC part of your commented.

What can I say I'm feeling really lazy today

[shado]

Keeping your PC on entire night because you can't download games fast enough costs more than couple of hours gaming. lol

[Supafly]

Автор сообщения: Shadowi

Keeping your PC on entire night because you can't download games fast enough costs more than couple of hours gaming. lol

Prob cheaper to just pay for faster internet lol

[Tsubame ⭐]

OP, chances of this happening is zero.

People still watch TVs on a recession, gaming is not any different, people are not going to stop entertaining themselves just to save them a few dollars. They may hold on in buying expensive new hardware, but even then any drop, if any, will be small.

If there is a major recession, ALL industries will suffer a hit, not just gaming.

[Brian9824]

Автор сообщения: ᠌ ⁧⁧Tsubame ⭐

OP, chances of this happening is zero.

People still watch TVs on a recession, gaming is not any different, people are not going to stop entertaining themselves just to save them a few dollars. They may hold on in buying expensive new hardware, but even then any drop, if any, will be small.

If there is a major recession, ALL industries will suffer a hit, not just gaming.

During a recession gaming might actually become MORE popular do to its low cost. New game sales might suffer, but playing older games, backlog, etc would soar.

[Eagle_of_Fire]

Автор сообщения: Supafly

Автор сообщения: brian9824

Now the UK has bigger power issues, but turning off your AC for a an hour a day or raising its temp 1-2 degrees would make a bigger difference then giving up gaming.

But UK buildings often don't have AC units. Weather sucks so AC isn't a common thing, maybe if you earn more than 100k a year but if you earn less I doubt anyone would bother with AC

That's not even how AC work. You are going to use more electricity getting back to the temperature you had prior instead of keeping the unit working toward the desired temperature. If you really want to make a saving then the desired temperature should be set to a lesser point. Then you are going to make saving.

I worked in the AC industry for a decade. Again, what am I even reading in this thread? Jesus.

[Brian9824]

Автор сообщения: Eagle_of_Fire

Автор сообщения: Supafly

But UK buildings often don't have AC units. Weather sucks so AC isn't a common thing, maybe if you earn more than 100k a year but if you earn less I doubt anyone would bother with AC

That's not even how AC work. You are going to use more electricity getting back to the temperature you had prior instead of keeping the unit working toward the desired temperature. If you really want to make a saving then the desired temperature should be set to a lesser point. Then you are going to make saving.

I worked in the AC industry for a decade. Again, what am I even reading in this thread? Jesus.

Just because you work in the industry doesn't mean you don't make the same mistakes others do. Sorta like how doctors used to say back in the day that smoking was good for your health...

There are a lot of factors, but turning your AC off can indeed save money versus having it running all day long keeping your house stabilized at a specific temperature, especially depending if your fan is set to run constantly or not

[jason]

Автор сообщения: brian9824

To put that in perspective in Florida I paida bout $170 for over 12,000 KW of power.

12,000 kWh at a price cap of GBP 0.52/kWh will cost you roughly USD 7,000.

After heating (not relevant this time of year), hot water, cooking, refrigeration, laundry. Which lets say are things you can't do without. I wouldn't be surprised if computers are next on the list of power hungry devices in the average household.

The article is still nonsense, as is most things in the Metro.

[RiO]

Автор сообщения: Eagle_of_Fire

Автор сообщения: jason

You are reading people old enough to pay their own bills.

Judging from the comments in this thread, I strongly doubt this is actually factually true. As someone else already said, if you're in so much trouble you can't play your electricity then gaming should be the least of your concerns.

Not necessarily.
Many consumers in Europe were blindsided with prices on gas and electricity rising. They were assured by their governments and utility companies alike that the situation wouldn't actually devolve into something really bad; that there would be subsidies; that prices towards consumers wouldn't actually fluctuate all that badly; etc.
And what we're seeing now is we're hitting a breaking point where the genie is coming out of the bottle, and oops: actually it is that bad; and you will feel the consequences - harshly. Especially if you are not on a fixed contract anymore; are on a fixed contract that's about to expire; or the supplier you were contracted with already bankrupted. Because without a running fixed price contract, you get the full brunt of the whiles of the market, shipped through straight to your utilities bill.

We're talking about people who are nominally paying ~200 EUR for gas and electricity per month, suddenly getting expected quotes for upcoming bills rocketing into double; triple; or quadruple that.
Some isolated cases being reported are legit pants on head crazy unrealistic, even. Like, literally: "next month's bill will is expected to be tenfold the usual. Sorry."

These are people being caught with their pants down, going from "Okay, this is tough but manageable if I cut back a little" straight to "Oh holy crap! Is this serious?! I can't ever afford this!" More often that not people without the necessary financial buffers and savings to take the hit too.