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Running a powerful gaming PC can be a joy for gamers, but it can also impact your power bill. New Zealand power bills have two main parts: a daily fixed charge and a usage charge based on electricity consumption, but only the usage part changes with how much you game.
The two parts of an NZ power bill
New Zealand electricity bills separate out daily standard charges from the cost of actual power usage, which can lead to a surprising result when it comes to running a gaming setup.
Most plans charge a fixed daily amount just for being connected. The old low-user fixed charge rules, which capped that amount for households that use little power, are being phased out, so daily charges have been rising. Check your own bill for the exact figure.
Because you pay the daily charge whether the PC is on or off, it is not part of what gaming itself costs. The cost of gaming is the extra electricity the PC and screen draw.
Using your own power rate
For the usage charge, the best number is the price per kilowatt-hour on your own bill. Rates differ by retailer, region and plan, so the examples below use 35 cents per kWh purely as an illustration.
Focus on real power draw, not PSU rating
One common mistake when estimating gaming-pc costs is using a PSU's rated wattage as the draw, which overstates the cost. Gaming PCs, monitors, and consoles do not constantly draw their maximum power.
To get your numbers right, you need to measure the actual power used in each main state: when gaming, when idle, and when in sleep mode.
Plug a power meter in between the wall socket and the power board your PC, monitor and speakers use, then note the reading in each state:
- Gaming: play your usual game at your usual settings for 15–20 minutes and note the typical reading.
- Light use: browsing, video or office work.
- Idle: the desktop open with nothing running.
Then check what the setup draws when it is not in use:
- Sleep: the PC in sleep mode.
- Off: the PC shut down but still plugged in at the wall. Many PCs, monitors and speakers draw a few watts even then.
This gives a good idea of how much your devices are costing.
Converting your device draw to NZ electricity prices
After measuring in watts, to calculate your cost you need to convert your results from watts to kilowatts, then multiply by the cost per kWh from your power bill.
Divide the watts by 1,000 to get kilowatts, then multiply by the hours of use and by the price per kWh on your bill.
For example, a system drawing 500 watts while gaming uses 0.5 kWh in an hour. At an example rate of 35 cents per kWh that is 17.5 cents an hour. Two hours a day comes to 35 cents a day, or about $127.75 a year.
Cutting the cost of gaming electricity
Every bit helps on the electricity bill, and measurably reducing gaming costs does not have to mean gaming worse.
Lowering monitor brightness saves a little. Capping the frame rate at your monitor's refresh rate, or using your graphics card's power-saving mode, can cut the draw while gaming noticeably, often with little visible difference.
Set the PC to sleep after a short idle period rather than leaving it running, and switch the PC, monitor and speakers off at the wall when you are done to remove standby draw.
If you are buying a new power supply, an efficient 80 Plus Gold unit wastes less power as heat than a basic one, although the saving is modest for a few hours of gaming a day.
Nailing down your own gaming electricity cost
The final number depends on how long you play, how much power your setup draws and the price per kWh on your bill.
With those three numbers you can work out the cost per session, per month or per year, and see what difference energy-saving settings make.
The only way to be confident of the real cost is to measure the real draw, not the nameplate rating. So if you haven't already, get a power meter and see what your gaming habit is really costing on a daily or monthly basis.
