How to improve my PC's power efficiency (and maybe make it cooler)?

[Ash_Kechummm]

Okay so my PC has the following specs:

CPU: Ryzen 7 1700 (no OC, unless I want better gaming performance, in which case I temporarily disable half the cores and overclock to 3.8 GHz on cool days {ambient temperature below 35°C} and 3.6 GHz on warm days {ambient temperature above 35°C})

GPU: 1660 super (no OC)

Motherboard: MSI B450 Tomahawk Max

RAM: 2x8 gigs of 3000 MHz memory (Corsair Vengeance LPX)

Storage: a 5400 RPM spinny with 2 terabytes of "homework" space and a 240 gig gumstick (Seagate barracuda compute and a bottom of the barrel WD green SATA M.2 drive respectively)

 

So the PC is usually on for 6-8 hours a day (used to be a lot more, but I cut it down to about an hour of gaming/whatever else I'm experimenting on, with the rest being online school), and uses up a lot of power, not to mention the tons of heat it gives out, which isn't a problem during winters when I get to warm my room just by gaming, but now that temperatures are hitting the 40s (celsius, not Fahrenheit), the lack of efficiency isn't just me overthinking anymore.

 

So is there any way in which I can make my PC more efficient without giving up on stability? (Some performance loss for a drastic increase in efficiency is perfectly okay in my book)

Edited March 25, 2021 by Ash_Kechummm
typos everywhere GOD NO

[Levent]

Undervolting (and also underclocking) your components or replacing your PSU with a better one is the only solution. PSU running hot doesnt necessarily mean its inefficient. 

[Helpful Tech Witch]

14 minutes ago, Ash_Kechummm said:

{ambient temperature below 35°C} and 3.6 GHz on warm days {ambient temperature above 35°C})

you keep your house at 95f?
(ambient would be your house temp)

[Electronics Wizardy]

THat pc is already pretty power efficient, so its about as good as you can get now.

 

You can lower the power limits of the cpu + gpu pretty easy, and can probably get the cpu and gpu to like -25% power with a small performance hit.

 

 

[Nathanpete]

Undervolting. If you can get Ryzen Master or some OC utility to do it automatically, go that route. You can do it for both your CPU and your GPU, and make sure to go to Window's power options and enable all sort of power saving modes. Of course the last one is the easiest to do, and you may have done it already. 

 

Also turn down some settings in your games and enable a framerate limiter to make sure your GPU is not pegged at >90% all the time. 

[Moonzy]

you can explore undervolting

 

but if the objective is to cool your room down, yeet the PC out of your room

use long cables to pull display, and USB signals in

I did that and i love it, quiet + cool

[Ash_Kechummm]

2 minutes ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

you keep your house at 95c?
(ambient would be your house temp)

I assume you mean 95° freedom fahrenheit, so yes, I do manage to keep my house around 35-40° celsius while the outside is an uncomfortably hot 45° celsius. That is unless the PC is turned on, inb which case keeping my house cool is basically impossible. : (

[Catsrules]

As everyone else said the PC is already about as good as your going to get.

 

This is a long shot but check on the your system usage see if you background program or something using a lot of resources requiring the computer to work harder/use more power.

[Hairless Monkey Boy]

Setting this to something less than 100% will prevent your CPU from fully boosting to it's max frequency, thus reducing the power consumption. 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Ash_Kechummm said:

I assume you mean 95° freedom fahrenheit, so yes, I do manage to keep my house around 35-40° celsius while the outside is an uncomfortably hot 45° celsius. That is unless the PC is turned on, inb which case keeping my house cool is basically impossible. : (

Your pc already runs pretty cool and efficent. If you want your room cooler, your are probalby much better off putting your effort into better AC or room cooling.

[Ash_Kechummm]

1 minute ago, Nathanpete said:

Undervolting. If you can get Ryzen Master or some OC utility to do it automatically, go that route. You can do it for both your CPU and your GPU, and make sure to go to Window's power options and enable all sort of power saving modes. Of course the last one is the easiest to do, and you may have done it already. 

 

Also turn down some settings in your games and enable a framerate limiter to make sure your GPU is not pegged at >90% all the time. 

Ryzen master automatically undergoing is news for me. I use it to OC my CPU sometimes, but I never found an option to automatically undervolt the CPU.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, HairlessMonkeyBoy said:

Setting this to something less than 100% will prevent your CPU from fully boosting to it's max frequency, thus reducing the power consumption. 

 

Id probalby lower the power limit in ryzen master or bios instead. That way the cpu can still bost to full speed if there is enough power to do so.

[Ash_Kechummm]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Your pc already runs pretty cool and efficent. If you want your room cooler, your are probalby much better off putting your effort into better AC or room cooling.

Those aren't my PC's temperatures; my PC idles at above 50° celsius, but I get your point. 

 

Guess it's time to ask dad for an AC

[Helpful Tech Witch]

4 minutes ago, Ash_Kechummm said:

I assume you mean 95° freedom fahrenheit, so yes, I do manage to keep my house around 35-40° celsius while the outside is an uncomfortably hot 45° celsius. That is unless the PC is turned on, inb which case keeping my house cool is basically impossible. : (

Oh sh*t. Oops.

Do you not have ac? 

Usually people keep their houses at 70f (like 22c?) to 80f (like 25c)

[Ash_Kechummm]

3 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Id probalby lower the power limit in ryzen master or bios instead. That way the cpu can still bost to full speed if there is enough power to do so.

Ryzen master also has power limits? I knew I must be missing something. I've been looking in every nook and cranny in the application, but I can't find anything like this.

[Ash_Kechummm]

1 minute ago, HelpfulTechWizard said:

Oh sh*t. Oops.

Do you not have ac? 

Usually people keep their houses at 70f (like 22c?) to 80f (like 25c)

I don't have an AC, yes. (And if I did, I'll probably not use it a lot, because the temps I'm most comfortable in are 30-35° celsius)

[Electronics Wizardy]

4 minutes ago, Ash_Kechummm said:

Ryzen master also has power limits? I knew I must be missing something. I've been looking in every nook and cranny in the application, but I can't find anything like this.

Yea you can set it to eco mode. Or You can use PBO and set the power limits to super low. I have done this in some servers where I am power limited.

[Ash_Kechummm]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Yea you can set it to eco mode. Or You can use PBO and set the power limits to super low. I have done this in some servers where I am power limited.

Ah, that's for zen 2 chips then. I'm using a first gen chip, so no luck for me there

Edited March 25, 2021 by Ash_Kechummm
I'm sad my english still hasn't improved

[Enderman]

Maybe use ducting to vent the exhaust from your PC outside?

There really isn't much you can do to reduce the heat a computer puts out, since the way it works is basically 100% of the energy it uses is turned into heat.

A better power supply will only increase efficiency a few percent.

Undervolting will also only be a few percent, unless you go far enough and reduce the performance significantly.

[Ash_Kechummm]

5 minutes ago, Enderman said:

Maybe use ducting to vent the exhaust from your PC outside?

There really isn't much you can do to reduce the heat a computer puts out, since the way it works is basically 100% of the energy it uses is turned into heat.

A better power supply will only increase efficiency a few percent.

Undervolting will also only be a few percent, unless you go far enough and reduce the performance significantly.

This makes me wonder...

 

How do y'all handle your PC's heat in the summer? I might get some ideas like @Moonzy's PC in a separately cooled room (although living in a 2BHK, that leaves my parents' room)

[tire]

Get a more efficient power supply 

[Moonzy]

4 minutes ago, Ash_Kechummm said:

How do y'all handle your PC's heat in the summer?

i throw it into my upstairs living room where no one stays at, so it's fine if that space is hot (my 2000W mining rig is also out there)

i live in a tropical country so it's summer all year long yee

 

4 minutes ago, Ash_Kechummm said:

I might get some ideas like @Moonzy's PC in a separately cooled room (although living in a 2BHK, that leaves my parents' room)

try to put it somewhere where no one stays at, or you can put it by a window and direct the exhaust out of it as someone suggested

 

3 minutes ago, tire said:

Get a more efficient power supply 

this at best reduces power by around 3-10% depending on OP's PSU

which is only about... 10-30W under full load, not much in the larger scale of things

[Tonyx]

38 minutes ago, Ash_Kechummm said:

unless I want better gaming performance, in which case I temporarily disable half the cores and overclock to 3.8 GHz on cool days {ambient temperature below 35°C} and 3.6 GHz on warm days {ambient temperature

disabling core and overclock is not energy effective...

[Tonyx]

4 minutes ago, tire said:

Get a more efficient power supply 

oh yeah, spending so much for save 2-4-6 cent a day...

[Enderman]

4 minutes ago, Ash_Kechummm said:

This makes me wonder...

 

How do y'all handle your PC's heat in the summer? I might get some ideas like @Moonzy's PC in a separately cooled room (although living in a 2BHK, that leaves my parents' room)

I live in canada so heat isn't an issue.

If it was I would just use a duct to vent it out a window, since most buildings don't have AC.