Non-gaming uses for high end PCs?

[nellanella]

I've found that I don't really play high end games on my PC, and I feel like it's a waste letting all that power go unused.

Are there any non-gaming applications for my PC that I could get in to? I want to learn something new that would benefit from my PC's performance!

I would especially love to hear personal cases regarding what YOU use yours for, if applicable.

[DarkCrystalMethod]

Fileserver and printserver.
Map the Z: drive to the shared drive(perhaps a different drive for my music?)
Add the remote printer(same address/config on each machine)

Possibly add a webserver for quick development work/testing.
If I knew what I was doing I'd probably set up a local email service on it.
Either way I'd try to make it an isolated lab that can't be reached from outside, but can still to internet things.


But if I truly had a beast of a machine I'd be hosting some TF2 servers with rcon and monitoring software to let me know about problems while I'm away at work.


But to make it truly fun I'd do all that in linux as thats more stable in server type situations.

[Dutchgamer1982]

as the owner of a 6000 euro pc bought in 2016.. who mostly playes late 90s games, and never ever had a game use 10% of my 1600 euro cpu nor my also 1600 euro costing gpu.. for more than 40%..
let alone my 128GB of ram.. for more than perhaps 30-40.. ever..

I know what you are saying;)

what you could do :

1 create multiple virtual machines.. give each a part of your system resources.. buy a few extra monitors keyboard and mouse... you could invite friends.. for a lan.. each playing on 1 virtual machine..

2 get into streaming.. it would not only mean recording while playing (eating resources) but also learning and running editing programs... to edit them..

3 mine crypto... ofcourse this is only feasable if your price per kwh is very very low (which to me they certainly are not)

4 start to program your own games.. all the rendering and calculating that takes surely will eat resources (but the licences for those programs are not cheap..)

5 get into photgraphy.. 99% of being a good photograf these days is the digital editing afterward.

6 lend your cpu power to scientiffic calculations..

[Triple G]

Probably anything which is about graphics or video, as a gaming PC is about graphics mainly. You don´t need it for office stuff or anything in the web. Perhaps bitcoin mining if that is still a thing.

In any way You benefit from the performance, because it uses less power and is more silent, produces less heat, when You don´t use the hardware to 100% - and usually when people actually use their "power" - they open threads in the gaming forums, complaining about too loud PCs, or that some games wouldn´t run on 200 fps with 4k upscaled to 8k with everything set on ultra, when they do something to exploit the game mechanics. Or they complain that it´s only 50% faster than a much cheaper PC from which they upgraded and blame the dev for bad optimization. Or they complain about missing fps limiter functions in game, because they don´t want to use their power, because overheating...

You could also do many benchmarks and publish them somewhere - or overclock it - or down-volt it. Case modding...

I personally use it for surfing in the web - but i also play games which use the power of my PC, while mine isn´t high end atm. But i wouldn´t do something else with it, if it was. From time to time i have a high end PC, when i upgrade.

[Hammer Of Evil]

set up a server, use it for 3d rendering software and design studios. drafting programs as well.

what i really want to get is one of those microscope cameras hooked into this thing via display port. i imagine i could see some really nice crystal structures in steel on this compared to the budget pc of yester yester year in the average lab setting =p

[Out Of Bubblegum]

They make an OK room heater in cold weather.

[Goldias]

AI generate pictures, sound, etc.
Make 3D model.

[Dutchgamer1982]

Out Of Bubblegum eredeti hozzászólása:

They make an OK room heater in cold weather.

1.20 euro per kwh.. 4 euro per m3 gas.... not sure which is worse... paying that gasbill for my heating... or my electricity bill for my 1500W power supply;)

[TwisterCat]

Dutchgamer1982 eredeti hozzászólása:

Out Of Bubblegum eredeti hozzászólása:

They make an OK room heater in cold weather.

1.20 euro per kwh.. 4 euro per m3 gas.... not sure which is worse... paying that gasbill for my heating... or my electricity bill for my 1500W power supply;)

Well higher you turn your graphics up, the better your heater is. It's a win-win scenario.

[Dutchgamer1982]

TwisterCat eredeti hozzászólása:

Dutchgamer1982 eredeti hozzászólása:

1.20 euro per kwh.. 4 euro per m3 gas.... not sure which is worse... paying that gasbill for my heating... or my electricity bill for my 1500W power supply;)

Well higher you turn your graphics up, the better your heater is. It's a win-win scenario.

and the more kwh it will use... costing much more money...
not sure that that is cheaper than just buying the gas instead...

ok 1m3 gas = 9,77 kWh of energy. bout 98% is turned into heat for your house.

9.77KWH would cost 9.77x1.20 = 11,724 euro.. which is way more than the 4.20 euro of 1 m3 natural gas.

there is NO way any electric heater including your gpu is more efficient than just burning gas.

my cpu needs 250W but my entire system under full load can pull 700W..
(I have a 1500W psu but system never pulls that much)

so I pay 84 eurocent.. or nearly 1 dollar per 1 hour of gaming...
my house in winter needs bout 7m3 gas a day to be heated to 18C at day and 12C at night.

that costs 28 euro a day.

turning the pc on full load all day.. will cost 20 euro.. and only reduce that by 1.7m3.. so it only cuts the gasuse by 6.8 euro..

[Grimmz]

you could probably trade your pc for a lower quality one and get some money in exchange too.

never done that but doesn't it work same with cars? i traded my sportscar for a pickup and got few grand in the trade.

[Dutchgamer1982]

󠀡󠀡⁧⁧Orange Mint eredeti hozzászólása:

Dutchgamer1982 eredeti hozzászólása:

1.20 euro per kwh.. 4 euro per m3 gas.... not sure which is worse... paying that gasbill for my heating... or my electricity bill for my 1500W power supply;)

having a 1500W PSU does not mean it is constantly using 1500W

my pc in sleep mode uses about 120W, when active but not doing something.. so windows logged in but nothing open.. in the 350-400 range.. and under load.. aka when gaming it jumps to 700W

[Dutchgamer1982]

󠀡󠀡⁧⁧Orange Mint eredeti hozzászólása:

Dutchgamer1982 eredeti hozzászólása:

my pc in sleep mode uses about 120W, when active but not doing something.. so windows logged in but nothing open.. in the 350-400 range.. and under load.. aka when gaming it jumps to 700W

mine is probably lower than your 700W because i limit my frames to 144

nah a i7 6950x cpu, overclocked from 3ghz to 4.5ghz.. and a 2080ti, 38% higher clocked than stock..
+ watercooling pump + 11 140mm fans + 128gb (8x16GB ram)

all that consumes electricity;)

[Neo]

You could lend your gpu for AI purposes

[WhispersOfTheWind]

Game modding.

I use mine for gaming and could use with a few more mods.

Okay, I am joking but the game modding could be potentially a serious use for the power of your PC. If that's not interesting I would say maybe some modelling or using one of those programs to draw with or make again models with or otherwise just to make music but that's admittely not requiring of a lot of power.

[󠀡󠀡󠀡󠀡⁧⁧Kei]

Dutchgamer1982 eredeti hozzászólása:

󠀡󠀡⁧⁧Orange Mint eredeti hozzászólása:

mine is probably lower than your 700W because i limit my frames to 144

nah a i7 6950x cpu, overclocked from 3ghz to 4.5ghz.. and a 2080ti, 38% higher clocked than stock..
+ watercooling pump + 11 140mm fans + 128gb (8x16GB ram)

all that consumes electricity;)

i actually thought you had a better processor, a newer one