this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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Hi guys!

I purchased a few months ago a new AMD PC, with a 7700 CPU, 32GB of RAM and a 7800XT GPU. I've noticed since, that my electric bill has been increased (compared to when I used an Intel i7 6700 with a 1070 GPU), I was wondering, is it possible to use a hybrid GPU setup kinda like laptops, where the iGPU from the CPU is activated for normal tasks, and the discrete GPU is only activated on demand? Would the GPU be unpowered/sleeping in the meantime?

....all this from a Linux perspective, I'm running Nobara 40.

Thanks!

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That should be mostly the default. My secondary Vega 64 is reporting using only 3W which, on a laptop would be worth it but I doubt 3W affects your electricity. It's nothing compared to the overall power usage of the rest of the desktop, the monitors. Pretty sure even my fans use more.

The best way to address this would be to first take proper measurements. Maybe get a kill-a-watt and measure usage with and without the card installed to get the true usage at the wall. Also maybe get a baseline with as little hardware as possible. With that data you can calculate roughly how much it costs to run the PC and how much each component costs, and from there it's easier to decide if it's worth.

Just the electric bill being higher isn't a lot to go with. Could just be that it's getting cold, or hot. Little details can really throw expectations off. For example, mining crypto during the winter is technically cheaper than not for me because I have electric heat, so between 500W in a heating strip or 500W mining crypto, they both produce the same amount of heat in the room but one of them also made me a few cents as a byproduct. You have to consider that when optimizing for cost and not maximizing battery life on a laptop.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

Lol...I didn´t consider that. What crypto can you mine that can give you at least some cents back? Sorry for the offtopic. Yeah I'm in the process of setting up some sockets with zigbee switches and power metering. I'll install the one for the desktop soon, and start measuring more accurately. Is there a way to know which GPU are you using at any given time?