How Much Heat Does A Computer Generate?

Your computer can add a significant amount of heat to your home. This is whether you’re working from home all day, playing video games after hours, or doing both simultaneously. Here is why it’s heating the place and how to calculate for yourself exactly how much it’s heating the place.

It may surprise you to learn just how efficient computers are at heating

Undoubtedly, anyone using a computer knows that it generates heat when it is working. The laptop makes a lot of heat when it is placed on your lap. So it quickly warms up when you do so. When anybody has been on a gaming bender with a desktop PC, they know that as the session goes on, the room slowly gets warmer as the heat from the PC radiates out.

Simply put, most people are not surprise to learn that a computer adds some heat to the room it is in while running. However, one surprising thing to many people is the efficiency with which computers can convert electricity into heat, something many do not expect.

A computer generates heat depending on the amount of electricity use. As well as how much electricity is use by the peripherals like monitors, printers, and so on, as it uses electricity.

In reality, if the space heater is set to use the same amount of energy as the computer. There would be no significant change in the heating level of the room at the end of the day if you ran the space heater and the computer at the same time. They both require electrical power to operate and release waste heat into the living space at the end of the day.

A custom PC building company called Puget Systems ran a test back in 2013 to see if, under equivalent conditions, a computer would function the same way as a space heater, just for fun.

A small 1000W space heater had been purchase specifically for the experiment, so they loaded up a desktop PC to match the power of the GPUs and hardware they had on hand. They tested it out in a room isolated from the building’s HVAC system to see how well it works. 

How did the result turn out? Well, it was found that running the gaming PC under load. In an attempt to force it to match the output of the 1000W as closely as possible, resulted in an equivalent increase in ambient temperature as a result of increasing the output of the PC under load.

An electric system will have to use some energy somewhere, which will be use as heat to warm the room. In the end, it does not matter how the heat is create. Whether it is from an electric motor on a fan, a computer, a space heater, or even a toaster, it will eventually make its way into the room.

On the other hand, when you use a computer, not only do you get all kinds of interesting and useful things for not a lot of money, but you also get a nice, warm room.

How to Calculate Computer Heat

In essence, there is nothing wrong with knowing that your computer’s electricity will eventually be heate at the end of the day. As important as knowing exactly how much heat your system is pumping into your house, it is another thing to find out.

The fine print on the bottom of your laptop’s power brick may indicate that the power supply unit (PSU) on your desktop PC is rate for 800W, and the power supply unit (PSU) on your desktop PC might be rate for 75W.

However, it is essential to remember that these numbers do not indicate how much work the computer does. A maximum upper threshold suggests that the upper limit has been reache. It is essential to understand that an 800W PSU won’t drain 800W every second it is operating-that is just the peak load it can safely handle in a single minute.

As an alternative to estimating based on the label, you need to measure before you make a decision. You must use a tool that can report the watt consumption of your computer and peripherals to measure them accurately. 

This method can be use with a UPS unit with an external display that shows the current load (or it can be use with software that allows you to see the load stats via USB uplink) if your UPS unit has such a display.  

In Summary

Regardless of whether you place a thermometer on the desk beside your gaming setup or not, you’ll need to determine how much power and subsequent heat is tolerable for you. This also depends on the design of your computer, your home, and what cooling options are available to you.

In addition, it is essential to take into account the weather and your needs when it comes to adjusting your usage. You might need to fire up your desktop PC if you’re doing some GPU-intensive severe gaming, for example, trying to get the kind of experience you’re after from your game.