Should You Buy a Heater or a PC This Winter?

[John P. Myers]

Ever wondered if your PC was as good of a heater as your actual heater? So did the guys at Puget Systems. So much so, they actually tested a gaming PC vs. a space heater.


The space heater we used was a $25 HC-0114T 1000/1500W space heater that can be found under various brand names. When we measured the power draw, we found that on the low setting it pulled 870-890 watts depending on how hot the heater was. This is a lot of power and we ended up needing a gaming PC with three NVIDIA GTX Titans in triple SLI running Furmark to match the power draw.

Read the full article with test results here: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Gaming-PC-vs-Space-Heater-Efficiency-511/

[Duke of Buckingham]

Ever wondered if your PC was as good of a heater as your actual heater? So did the guys at Puget Systems. So much so, they actually tested a gaming PC vs. a space heater.



Read the full article with test results here: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Gaming-PC-vs-Space-Heater-Efficiency-511/

Good article but I have another solution to use the heat. :p

http://www.myapokalips.com/public/cartoons/en/106_Hot_Computer.png

[Al]

Huh...I wonder if my wife will buy that logic? Pretty sure she won't dig the fan noise. :(

[shiva]

Hmmm I'm trying to convince mine to leave the AC on. I have had the outside cellar door open for 2 days with 2 fans running and still have room temps up over 90F. Outside temps been running in the low 60's. :) she thinks I should shut the doors at night.

[c303a]

I've got the lower level thermostat set a 60f and the outside temp has been running in the 20's and 30's at night and I have not heard the heat kick in for that level. Of course since the staircase is open some of the upper level heat gets to that area but it is very comfortable set at 60f.

[Slicker]

We are having our bathrooms remodeled and twice now the cat has crawled into the joists of the open floor so I've been thinking about moving a couple PCs up to the 3-season room so that it will be warm enough that I can put the cat out there while they are working all day. There's only one 15amp circuit for the whole room so I can't get too carried away.

[c303a]

We are having our bathrooms remodeled and twice now the cat has crawled into the joists of the open floor so I've been thinking about moving a couple PCs up to the 3-season room so that it will be warm enough that I can put the cat out there while they are working all day. There's only one 15amp circuit for the whole room so I can't get too carried away.

Why not just move everything and get a bunch of extension cords that you can run to different circuits.(there's always a solution!):|:|:|

[Sarge104]

Why not just move everything and get a bunch of extension cords that you can run to different circuits.(there's always a solution!):|:|:|

Maybe a shorter route would be just to hook on to the outside power pole...The transformer on your UPS could easily handle that right? ;D

[coronicus]

Aye power was the first thing I ran into when attempting to warm a house with computers. Had to invest in a power reader to calculate how many computers I could safely connect to each circuit but it is doable. I would also recommend purchasing an infrared heat gage to let you know wether the circuits in the wall are getting hot just because your circuit in 15amps doesn't mean the sorry ass builders used 15amp wires going to the plug believe me I have run into that aswell.

[Slicker]

Why not just move everything and get a bunch of extension cords that you can run to different circuits.(there's always a solution!):|:|:|
Only if I was a bachelor again....