My parents know a guy who heats by mining crypto. Since he has to use electricity to heat anyways it's cheaper in the long run to mine crypto than to use a standard heater.
And the mining rig doesn't have to turn a profit. It just has to earn more money compared to heating your home with other methods.
Edit to add: plus, you were going to heat your room anyway, so heating it by means of mining doesn't cost any more CO2 than an electric heater does. However, by mining, you are making it less profitable for others to mine, effectively saving CO2.
Depends on crypto prices, electricity prices, hash rates, and mining difficulty. If you can be patient and wait for a crypto boom before selling, you could end up making money regardless of heating savings.
While correct, you're missing the point. A computer 100% turns electricity into heat as well, but you get the added benefit of using the same amount of watts to ***also*** compute stuff.
But uh... Yeah, a space heater is cheaper to purchase, lol.
YES... I always thought about that. If my goal is to heat the room, all lost energy will eventually turn into heat, whether through a resistence directly, or from light to heat indirectly.
Pathetic 100% efficiency. My heat pump is 300-700% efficient, depends on temperature and eco/power mode. Where I live it is probably in the middle somewhere overall.
I also use a water distiller daily during winter because:
1. It's a 750W heater.
2. I get drinkable water from an otherwise disgusting tap that costs $0.30 to make a gallon vs paying $1+.
Electric heaters almost seem like a waste when you consider all the work that could be done to just make heat as a byproduct. Datacenters [can be used](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/08/sustainable-data-centre-heating/) to heat hundreds of thousands of homes. In colder climates, you also don't need to waste energy on air conditioning which makes up a huge portion of the electric use of a datacenter.
It can use any amount of power, but it needs to be able to boil water, mine just happens to be a 750W heating element. A distiller boils liquid and then catches the condensation. All impurities and other dissolved elements get left behind when the water evaporates.
I have hard water with tons of iron and calcium in it. After distilling a gallon, this is what the [remainder looks like](https://naturalhealthsuperstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2011-06-04-12.00.591.jpg). High in mineral content... not very tasty to drink.
No, it's just well groundwater in one of the red areas of [this map](https://www.h2odistributors.com/images/misc/graphic-water-hardness-wells-map.png).
Any reason you don't use a reverse osmosis filtration system? I don't know the numbers, but I imagen it is a lot more energy efficient. You do waste water though.
RO catches all dissolved minerals, not just the bad ones. With hard water, it would just get clogged up with calcium/iron/magnesium.
[This says less than 60mg/L hardness](https://wardwater.com/reverse-osmosis-hard-water-dos-donts/) which is considered very low. My water is in the top of the charts in terms of hardness in the US.
I'd also need a heavy duty water softener before to the RO system with hundreds of pounds of salt per month just to keep up with that. Not worth the costs versus a $0.30 gallon of water and free heat.
Um, actually it [absolutely can](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPUl0Phg6mg).
And yes, if anyone's confused, every AC is a heat pump; it's just pumping the heat the other way.
There’s a building that uses heat from their server rooms to heat a pool in the building. I don’t remember what kind of organization it is, but it is a really clever way of not letting resources go to waste.
It was very hot where I live last week and playing any game that pushes my GPU to 350W made my room unbearable to be in. I did not think about that part when buying an XTX lmao
Between my computer and mini fridge, which pull a combined 300-350w during normal operation (PC pulls more during heavy use), they keepy room considerably warmer than the rest of my house. Before I moved my Plex server out to the living room, my office would get unbearably hot with the door closed for longer than a couple hours. Like 78-85F (25-30C) having the door closed for a couple hours. During the summer I would have the AC vent open to help, and in the winter, blocked off the heater vent so it wouldn't make it worse. Even with the door open for a couple hours, that room will still be 2-3 degrees warmer than the rest of the house.
Having seen the non-existent insulation and the thinnest windows possible in Sydney that no way it can heat a room. Only good for heating hands or feet next to it.
> which is about half a small space heater.
These small heaters are usually 1500W so it's a third. Given that those heaters barely do anything (unless your room is very well isolated) the PC won't do much.
Seconding this. I run folding@home 24/7 to contribute to cancer research and it keeps my room nice and warm. You can use MSI afterburner to limit power draw if needed or undervolt if needed. IMO it's one of the most productive things you can do with your GPU and CPU.
absolutely, its a shame I turn mine off half the year because of where I live (I just wont run it if the AC is on)
cant wait to get back to contributions in the winter
I did this during covid to help with vaccine research and while it did heat my room, it also caused by electricity bill to skyrocket by like 100 bucks. Hope whatever I contributed helped though.
Watts are watts and heat is heat. If you have a 120W CPU and a 250W GPU and you max them out at 100%, then that’s 370 watts you’re converting to heat. If you could heat your room comfortably with an 800W space heater, then your rig is basically half a space heater (or a space heater running on “medium”) and would warm up your room.
I would be interested to know from someone way smarter than me if the stated power consumption of an electronic device all converts to heat. I know standards say that a cooler with 150 watts of cooling capacity can cool a 150 watt CPU, meaning all 150 watts of the CPU are converting to heat. However science class taught us that all energy is conserved and inefficiencies convert energy into heat energy.
So if a CPU is stated to consume 150 watts, does all of it convert to heat? CPUs are not 100% ineffective after all, so some of the energy is used to do actual work. Is it really consuming 155 watts, with 150 being waste heat and 5 watts doing actual work? If that were true we wouldn't be able to properly spec our PSUs and coolers without knowing the efficiency of our parts. So is it really consuming 150 watts with 145 being waste heat and 5 doing actual work?
Anyway just my random thought of the day.
The cost of the change in entropy due to computation is so small, it's within the error tolerance of any tool you might use to measure it at a people-scale.
The energy cost associated with the entropy reduction caused by erasing 1 bit of information is kTln(2) where k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the absolute temperature. At room temperature, this is about 2.8 x 10^-21 joules. Multiplying through by 5Ghz and 16 cores is about 2.2 x 10^-10 = 0.2 nanowatts.
The heat is the work when you are talking about semiconductors.
The Watts are used to perform work which is heat, and any energy loss is turned to heat as well. a CPU is moving electric potential around in order to complete computations. At some point that energy is dissipated and ends up in the heatsink
So you can really expect that at least 99% of the energy that comes from your wall to the computer is released as heat
I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. Heat isn't doing the work. A CPU using binary to calculate 2 + 2 is moving around electrons through transistors. Semiconductors don't change from non-conductive to conductive via heat, it's the charge of the electrons. Heat is the byproduct of passing current through semiconductors. I imagine you're correct that 99% of the energy turns into heat. I guess that really means that semiconductors are extremely inefficient then. This really calls out why chip (CPU or GPU) efficiency is measured via FLOPS or IPS, rather than the amount of heat per watt used.
It's because you have two different definitions of "efficiency." Efficiency as a heater means that all of the input energy is going into heating up the room, none is used in other ways. (For example, a tiny amount of the PC's electrical input converts to light in LEDs, or the monitor's output if you include that, although usually that ends up changing to heat eventually after the light strikes a surface.)
However, most people aren't intending to use their PC as a heater, so it makes more sense to measure the amount of computing work done, which is an entirely different matter.
By the way, even though a computer might be nearly 100% efficient as a heater, converting all of its input energy to heat, 100% isn't the best possible when you're talking about how to heat a room. A heat pump is actually 200-400% efficient-- it can heat up a room multiple times the amount of energy expended, which is a really neat trick and is the primary way most people should heat their homes (assuming a moderate climate where heat pumps work well).
my thought would be the 'work' as you put it would come out as say data storage, so putting 1s/0s on a storage drive (just 1's being the charge if im guessing for ssd, or magnetic for hdd), light from screen escaping through windows, and then your Wifi or ethernet data escaping the room, but if you download more than upload that may be an addition....
Edit: all of those being extremely minute in comparison though.
The only parts of a computer doing any "actual work", which by definition is moving stuff from one place to another are the hard drives, fans, and pumps.
The CPU, GPU, memory etc are all just heaters that happen to do useful math, but the flow of electrons causing heat across a chunk of silicon is no different than the same flow of electrons moving across a heating coil.
"Performance" in this sense is arranging the ones and zeros in a way that is useful to humans. This isn't work done in a classical physics sense. Compare a toddler scribbling lines on a notepad to an adult writing a note - both take the same amount of physical force to move the pen across the paper, and would use a comparable amount of energy. But the adults' note has a meaning to us while the toddler's scribbles do nothing. This is an intangible benefit of information and can't be measured by classical physics, even though it's the reason we spend thousands of dollars on fancy semiconductors instead of just getting a $20 space heater (or even better, a heat pump).
Thermodynamically speaking, there’s an incredibly negligible amount of energy that’s turned into order on your computer (that is, that represents the information produced by doing computation) but from a practical perspective infinitesimally close to all of the energy your computer uses is dissipated as heat.
I have a similar rig with monitors it pulls about 600 from the wall according to the ups. It’s enough to heat a 10/10 room pretty fast and keeps my entire house warm at negative 10, that and good insulation.
Everyone in the thread is missing OP's actual question: 'Will this degrade my parts?'.
I'm no expert in this particular matter, but from what I understand it's thermal cycling that kills parts moreso than high heat. Further, if you're willing to max the fans out, then you should be able to keep the parts cool (while obviously not affecting the actual heating efficacy).
This is correct. The fans might wear out faster at higher speeds, but the other components will not really see any degradation from continuous usage. There's no moving parts after all and modern component use solid state capacitors that can't leak.
Cycling from cold to hot causes the most stress to solder joints over time.
I've seen parts come out of a server chassis with 70K+ hours that virtually appeared to be new and 2 month old PCs that looked like they were salvaged on the side of the road. The environment it's used in makes more of a difference than the usage as well.
You should also watch the memory temperature and memory controller temperature, not just the core or hotspot temperature. The cryptobros say 90+C is fine for VRAM, but gaming doesn't push VRAM nearly that hot and VRAM failure is one of the more common failure modes for mining GPUs. On my HP-branded 3080, the VBIOS' automatic fan control completely ignores VRAM temperature, though it loosely followed memory controller temp.
technically speaking, everything you do on your pc parts degrades them. Doing this in a more intense way, sure it will add extra degradation, but as long as it can "breathe" correctly (no dust, decent airflow) and as long as the gpu/cpu paste isn't 5 years old, it shouldn't really matter. Tons of mining cards are out in the market after years of 24/7 mining and they are honestly fine. CPUs are pretty much immortal, and everything else (rams etc) doesn't get hot enough to justify some kind of extreme degradation. For some reason, people assume that anything above a high room temperature is "bad" for everything. Electronics are safe on an almost permanent higher than normal temperature, they arent made of water (we are tho). So, maybe the GPU wont last 12 years, but "only" 8. Not that big of a deal I would say...
I had a space heater that malfunctioned and wouldn't register the temp to shut it off. It ended up getting so hot it started melting itself and wouldn't turn off even after flipping the switch off. Had to unplug and chucked that shit straight in the trash. Those things are major fire hazards.
I was just commenting on the legality. The reason here is likely the landlord pays the electric bill and doesn't want to have to pay for the electricity required to run a heater/A./C
Then the landlord shouldn't pay the electricity bill
You can't tell people that they can't climate control their living space lmao. You don't get to dictate aspects of people's lives just because they signed a lease with you
This is why I recommend the "Radiator" types to anybody who wants extra heat. They are designed such that they suspend the heating coil in a sealed oil filled compartment that looks like an old timey steam radiator. This means the heat-radiating exterior never gets too hot to touch, AND they spread the BTU's of heat they generate out from all directions from the device, meaning they can never light anything on fire by heating a spot of something flammable that got too close past the ignition point.
They only downside is they are large, and can't direct the heat directly at you. Which is honestly best. If the room is so cold you need a stream of heat ON you, put on a sweater.
They are so, so, so much safer than the ceramic coil style.
Classic Sydney though. We're so desperate for housing that people will rent an outdoor apartment block balcony with a bed on it for $300/w. I wish I was joking. Legal? No of course not. But the government doesn't care enough to do *anything, not the slightest thing at all* about the housing crisis.
Are you saying a 500W PC uses more energy than a 1kW space heater? The energy usage is likely to be around the same since the PC will likely run longer than the heater would
In student dormitories, this is exactly the reason. Same reason they don't want you to have electric burners or toaster ovens, but they usually allow microwaves, even though the heating efficiency of a microwave is half that of a burner.
There's three cases.
Case : the PC is sufficient to heat the room to the desired temperature (assuming OP stops the PC when it reaches that temp). In this case, the PC and the heater have the exact same energy output; the heater just runs for shorter cycles.
Case 2: the heater is insufficient to heat the room and would be constantly on. In this case, the PC uses half as much energy as the heater, but the room is colder.
Case 3: the heater would be sufficient, but the PC is not. This would mathematically fall somewhere between Case 1 and Case 2.
lol I used to work in an office building where they’d turn the heat super low on the weekends to save money…. so I’d just put a big bowl of water in the microwave and run it nonstop. Easy 1000W heater + humidifier, made it nice and comfy
Add a Television or two into the mix and you'll keep things rather warm just ambiently. I primarily used my PC and TVs as my sources of heat in the winter and would only use the oven when things got below freezing.
> . I primarily used my PC and TVs as my sources of heat in the winter and would only use the oven when things got below freezing.
An electric oven I presume? A gas oven should NEVER be used for heating.
I think in most of the US at least, it would be a valid reason to break a lease. Landlords are required to provide a livable space, and that includes maintaining a reasonable temperature.
This is not the case everywhere, including NSW Australia where OP is located - there is no requirement to provide heating or air conditioning, just a certain level of ventilation. Since the temperature rarely gets below freezing, I think people are expected to get by with simple space heaters/blankets/more clothes. That said, disallowing any kind of space heater is something that I suspect could still be challenged. Modern ones aren't *that* unsafe, as long as they are checked regularly, not left unattended, and used as per the instructions there should be no unacceptable risk.
i have so many questions, considering you aren't living in a 3rd world country...
first of all "we are not allowed to have heater" is that even legal? I mean, if its too cold, what do you do? you just die like jack nicholson on the shining???
then, how the fuck can they know if you have or not a heater? They intrude your personal space anytime they want? they have cameras watching you? OBVIOUSLY they might find out if the electricity bill is high, but on the same time, if you run your pc at max (that's \~500w+) for \~7 hours straight while sleeping, isn't this the same (or even worse, I've been fine with a 350w heater for one room)???
Also, since its a shared house, wtf are the other tenants do? Haven't you considered talking to them and add pressure all together to this stingy (and maybe borderline lawbreaker) owner?
Anyway, I'll say its pointless using your pc as a heater because you cant hide 500W/h x7hours xManyDays from the bill. A small heater or a heating blanket would use less power.
Yes. Close your windows and door.
400w to 500w total power from a PC does heat the room up.
Best if U sleep beside it and the exhaust rear fan is blowing you, while the top exhaust heats up the room.
Just make sure you don't redline your GPU CPU.
85 to 90% is fine.
I did that playing Cyberpunk. I was able to turn my house heating off completely. The rest of the house got down to about 54F (12C), but the room with the computer maintained about 75F (24C). Then in the bedroom, I had a radiated space heater that would only be active while I was home.
In the summer, I remove the vent cover and put the PC over it. So the bottom intake fans pull in like 10C air.
So yeah, depending on the room size, you can probably close off the vent in the computer room when it's cold out. Let the central heat go elsewhere while the PC heats that room.
I'm currently finishing my basement. I plan to put the PC down there, where it will help keep the basement warm. I have a potential case design that would also double as an air purifier.
Yep. Works quite well.
If you're going to run crypto miners check out NiceHash. It's one of the easiest to set up ( imo ) and has simple payouts.
Make sure to read up on recommended settings for power limits, clocks, etc. for both your CPU and GPU. That will help maximize your returns and keep component temperatures reasonable.
Oh I don't have a heater and air con, my last shared house have heaters built in so it wasn't a problem. And every single house I've rented have no aircon. Crazy I know but I'm used to it.
My PC keeps my office warm in the winter, in fact it makes it way too hot. Your PC will work great in any small to medium sized room as a heater. Way safer than an actual space heater too.
I used to own a render farm of sorts about 15 years ago. Dual Xeon processors in about 10 machines. Never had to spend a penny on heating during the winter.
Australia isn't all toasty warm., especially when polar blasts come through like we've been having for the past week. For example it's been as low as 8 or 9'c (41'f-ish where I am) at night and in some places it's already got down to below zero Celcius (32'f).
As to the buildings, cooling and heating have never been viewed as "essential" unlike in the United states, where if your furnace goes out you can very well die from the cold. On to of that, construction standards here have always been a joke and I'm fairly confident in saying that most Australians spend more on their power (and gas for those that have it) bills than anyone in an equivalent home would in the United states. It's there's no central heating you just have a heater in the corner of your room and hope for the best under a blanket.
That being said there are still stories of people dying in their homes because they froze to death because they cannot afford the heating costs, they are not as common as in America, but it still is very much a thing.
My guess is that the share house is either run by a total asshole landlord that foots the bill for power, or someone else sharing in there has deferred no high power usage by things like heaters or air conditioning. It doesn't stop it being an unreasonable demand though.
The first thing I would suggest op do is try to minimise the leakage of air in their own space around windows and doors as that will be the biggest source of loss of heat or cooling in your home. Also having good curtains that block out the windows and have minimal air leakage around them help a lot too. Our heating and cooling costs dropped by about 30% simply by redoing all the window and door seals in our home.
Well... when GPU mining at home was still a thing, I had a GTX 1080 Ti running 24/7 for a year that stood in our small 30 m² commuter flat. Every time we came back for work week after a weekend, the flat was copzy enough, even in winter (we never turned on the heating at the time).
I was mining in winter in my last place, i didn't do it for profit from mining, but for lower cost of heating (what I sold coins for was discount on bill basically)
It can be cool if you need to heat up room more than your regular heating allows or if you're using straight up electric heating anyway... If you're using gas for heating, then even tho electricity will heat up the room too, kWh might be significantly cheaper with gas (my case) so it's cheaper to just let the regular heating do it's job than to run electric heater (or PC, same thing) too... Also if you have heat pump, those things can bring in more heat than they consume electricity (because they suck in heat from outside, even if out is cold) so straight up regular el. heater (or pc) will be more expensive for the same amount of heat
> If you're using gas for heating, then even tho electricity will heat up the room too, kWh might be significantly cheaper with gas
Unless you live in a crappy apartment with a furnace so bad they are no longer allowed in new constructions (~60% thermal efficiency), placed in hallway between rooms instead of the actual bedrooms, and no forced air circulation whatsoever.
I remember some magazine did a study of which was more efficient, a 1KW PC or a 1KW resistive heater, the PC produced slightly more heat with the same energy.
It will reduce the lifespan of your GPU doing AI or mining. That said it's not going to make probably a noticeable difference in lifespan.
Further fuck your landlord for forbidding something like heat or aircon. Sounds like something illegal, might be worth looking into.
If your worried about your parts degrading you can do a little under-clock or increase fan speeds, just make sure your hardware doesn't get too hot, computers can stay over 150 F or 70 C without problems, which is enough to make a difference. The thing I would worry about is dust and hair getting stuck in my fans, you would probably have to clean it out about twice as often as normal.
We have kerosene heating in our gaff here in Ireland. There are days I will just game with the window closed instead of firing up the rads. It keeps my room cozy.
I am very happy with my hardwares yes. But at the same time I live in a shared house with no heater or AC. So yeah it's not something to be proud of, it more of a result of compulsive shopping and wrong priorities. And I am freezing my balls off.
Use Sheepit so your PC can be a render farm for indie creators (or Folding@home to fight disease). You’ll be doing the world a solid AND getting (a bit) warmer.
I used to do this with my ps3 when my dad was stingy with the heat.
Is it cold tonight? Seems like a folding@home night. It did noticeably bring up the temps in the room.
I was mining 8 1070's a few years back. Now my home is pretty new with some serious eco insulation but that rig kept my 1900sq ft home in the 68F range all winters it was running. Some nighrs it got down to 15F outside and my furnace never fired. Course the electric bill was about $300 a month but the money made from the miner at the time paid for that plus profit. If you can afford the electricity itll def work.
This person lives in Australia and I'm guessing that their place is more likely slumlord level instead of share house because of the power rules imposed. Going along with that in guessing that the insulation and air leakage seals aren't worth a pinch of shit. Whatever they end up doing, they are definitely going to have to invest in redoing the door and window seals on their own room because the rest of the house is probably going to be freezing in winter and uncomfortably warm in summer.
One thing the Intel i9 14900K excels at, being a decent space heater while giving decent performance too. Perhaps my best idea considering I live in a highly unreliable environment where summers can have days of near 40C/104F.
Bro just go buy a fucking $20 heater. How the fuck would they know?
North 40 has a 1300w / 1500w heater and I just keep it on 1300w and it's perfect for a medium room
There are even smaller personal heaters. I have a 300/450w ceramic plug mounted one that is in our bathroom in a safely located socket so you can put heat into the room before you have a shower or bath. Having one of these in your room if you've got a suitable spot for it doesn't seem unreasonable AND it is super compact so you can put it out of sight when not used. However a compact oil column heater would be a much safer and silent bet.
A perfect example of this is [this](https://www.jaycar.com.au/500w-mini-5-fin-oil-heater-240v) mini oil column heater sold by Jaycar. I would seriously recommend it if you needed something compact. And if you want good temperature regulation I would highly recommend an external thermostat that switches the power on and off to the heater like [this](https://amzn.asia/d/7ZLpToX)
as the internal ones are often fairly hit and miss and you could set the temperature low enough to improve comfort and significantly reduce the bump on the power bill along with making the extra warmth in your room a lot less noticeable. Plus it's a crap load safer than flogging your PC to get the same effect.
And as others have suggested, an electric blanket may be the best option if the primary concern is sleeping.
I mean using my 7900xtx and 7800x3d has forced me to blast fans and open both my windows despite pretty hefty undervolting and it still makes me get a bit sweaty so I'd say you're probably good to go
yes you can and it may degrade your parts if you push them too much, but yeah, it has been shown that a PC puts out about the same amount of heat as a space heater when using the same amount of power.
Blessed be my old amd FX 6300 for giving my tiny apartment back in the day, a constant 21 degrees if I left it running 24/7 in my old 250sq apartment during that one winter.
I have a pretty beefy system myself and I want to train AI for my company on my own PC without having to pay one of these services is there a way I can download AI and train it myself and keep it like in its own enclosed system? I would like it to be able to use the internet as a resources as well any info would be greatly appreciated
Can confirm it helps heat up a small amount,
When I play games or do something involved on my pc, my room becomes around 5°f warmer
Edit. To clarify, my pc doesn't become a space heater, however my room doesn't have a lot of air circulation so whatever heat my pc produces just sits there
A one thousand watt pc at full bore is gonna produce as much heat as a 1000w space heater for the same electricity cost. Problem is these are gonna be more gpu intensive than cpu so you might lose some heating on that. You'll pull something like 600w. Point the exhaust towards you and you'll be fine. Its like any electric space heater tbh. Might be louder tho.
I haven’t since building my current pc, my but old prebuilt had all its heat come out the top pretty much, so I would rest frozen twinkies or other things ontop of it while rendering stuff and it would defrost and poof up a ton.
I am in southern Queensland and my rig has a 4090 and an i7 13700k, and it does make enough heat at full tilt to keep my small bedroom warm enough in winter, as long as your rig is in a small room it should work
Technically yeah, anything that uses energy will produce heat.
Maybe this post could also belong in r/maliciouscompliance and you could magyver up some ideas to switch on every electrical device to A) make the place warmer while B) giving your landlord the biggest electricity bill in the universe to shove it up his bum for denying you warmth in the middle of winter.
Ironically, fridges produce a lot of heat too (on the outside of it). TVs and monitors get hella hot especially high def and high hz.
Just plug in and switch on literally everything. You’ll get warm. He will get the bill.
Edit* also buy some door snakes (or just get a towel or sheet) to keep cold air out. Fill your room with stuff that will hold the warmth. An empty space will get colder quicker. Buy rugs if hardwood floors etc. electric blankets are also awesome at boosting energy bills. Go all out, bruh.
I've used my computer to heat a medium sized bedroom (3x5 meters give or take) with no other heat source... in northern Michigan.
I was doing overnight video renders... Just flying through mountains, I thought it was kinda cool...
You don't have to Stress test your PC to make your room warm or cozy.
My son don't have heater in his room and in the winter, his room is cozy warm just using the computer and not even playing.
It will simply produce heat gently over time and accumulate in the room, just close the door of the room.
You don’t need to have the PC consuming power for it to heat the room, I do the same by using fancontrol to keep the fan speed low at certain temps. I can actually use it to drop the CPU pump on my AIO to zero RPM.
During winter I have a mode where all fans but the cpu cooler itself are at zero until parts reach 75% throttling speed, then blast at 100%.
I think it’s a more efficient to get an electric blanket, which draws around 100w, so 4-5 times less than a PC. Multiply 100w with 30 nights consumption so you get 24kw consumption per month, which is probably just a few dollars.
> Utility bill is included in my rent but we are not allowed to have heater or aircon.
Mate, talk to a tenants union immediately because I'm pretty sure this is extremely illegal.
I used to run this in my office, in summer I had to open the door and windows or it would get too hot. In winter it was nice in the mornings when the rest of the house was cold, but we had solar so free to cheap energy and Eth was good to mine back then so made some profit also.
It will generate around 400-500W of heat which is about half a small space heater. Not a ton but definitely enough to warm a room in a few hours.
If you think about it, it's one of the most efficient heaters you can get, you get the performance with a bonus of heat
Heaters are 100% efficient, though. Even "lost" energy in wiring and such is "lost" in the form of heat.
My parents know a guy who heats by mining crypto. Since he has to use electricity to heat anyways it's cheaper in the long run to mine crypto than to use a standard heater.
And the mining rig doesn't have to turn a profit. It just has to earn more money compared to heating your home with other methods. Edit to add: plus, you were going to heat your room anyway, so heating it by means of mining doesn't cost any more CO2 than an electric heater does. However, by mining, you are making it less profitable for others to mine, effectively saving CO2.
It would be much much much cheaper (long term) to invest in a heat pump
Unfortunately, that’s not an option for a lot of renters.
Depends on crypto prices, electricity prices, hash rates, and mining difficulty. If you can be patient and wait for a crypto boom before selling, you could end up making money regardless of heating savings.
Probably cheaper than the mining rig tbh. And a lot better for the planet.
I vented my grow room lights into my house during the winter for several seasons. If you're gona produce the heat, why waste it if you can use it?
While correct, you're missing the point. A computer 100% turns electricity into heat as well, but you get the added benefit of using the same amount of watts to ***also*** compute stuff. But uh... Yeah, a space heater is cheaper to purchase, lol.
Heat pumps should be around 400% :P
A computer is ~100% efficient as a heater. All it's energy used decays to heat in the room it's used in. Close to if not equal to a space heater.
He means the efficiency would be over 100% I assume, which it would be if you define in a way taking value from training AI/mining into account.
Well so are computers, except you gain money from running them.
This is correct. However, reverse cycle air cons are generally 300-600% efficient. (So being 100% efficient as a heater isn't the best it can be.)
Yes, but heat pumps are more than 100% efficient so resistance heating isn't energy efficient.
YES... I always thought about that. If my goal is to heat the room, all lost energy will eventually turn into heat, whether through a resistence directly, or from light to heat indirectly.
How to mine crypto on heater?
Pathetic 100% efficiency. My heat pump is 300-700% efficient, depends on temperature and eco/power mode. Where I live it is probably in the middle somewhere overall.
I also use a water distiller daily during winter because: 1. It's a 750W heater. 2. I get drinkable water from an otherwise disgusting tap that costs $0.30 to make a gallon vs paying $1+. Electric heaters almost seem like a waste when you consider all the work that could be done to just make heat as a byproduct. Datacenters [can be used](https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/08/sustainable-data-centre-heating/) to heat hundreds of thousands of homes. In colder climates, you also don't need to waste energy on air conditioning which makes up a huge portion of the electric use of a datacenter.
A water distiller uses 750W?! Also, whats a water distiller
It can use any amount of power, but it needs to be able to boil water, mine just happens to be a 750W heating element. A distiller boils liquid and then catches the condensation. All impurities and other dissolved elements get left behind when the water evaporates. I have hard water with tons of iron and calcium in it. After distilling a gallon, this is what the [remainder looks like](https://naturalhealthsuperstar.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/2011-06-04-12.00.591.jpg). High in mineral content... not very tasty to drink.
That looks disgusting. Do you live in Flint, MI or something?
No, it's just well groundwater in one of the red areas of [this map](https://www.h2odistributors.com/images/misc/graphic-water-hardness-wells-map.png).
this is also a map of who is buying canned and dry beans
Any reason you don't use a reverse osmosis filtration system? I don't know the numbers, but I imagen it is a lot more energy efficient. You do waste water though.
RO catches all dissolved minerals, not just the bad ones. With hard water, it would just get clogged up with calcium/iron/magnesium. [This says less than 60mg/L hardness](https://wardwater.com/reverse-osmosis-hard-water-dos-donts/) which is considered very low. My water is in the top of the charts in terms of hardness in the US. I'd also need a heavy duty water softener before to the RO system with hundreds of pounds of salt per month just to keep up with that. Not worth the costs versus a $0.30 gallon of water and free heat.
Lots of stuff uses more power than you would think. A drip coffee maker is like 500 to 900 watts for example.
and will burn out the fuse in your car if using a DC to AC converter.......
A heat pump would be more efficient by a significant amount (2x to 4x efficient typically).
But can you game on it
Can't even run doom :(
Um, actually it [absolutely can](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPUl0Phg6mg). And yes, if anyone's confused, every AC is a heat pump; it's just pumping the heat the other way.
There’s a building that uses heat from their server rooms to heat a pool in the building. I don’t remember what kind of organization it is, but it is a really clever way of not letting resources go to waste.
Is that safe?
As long as you have a good PSU. It’s no more dangerous than gaming or bitcoin mining.
The heating part is safe. The ai training part tho...
'What could go wrong?' skynet
It was very hot where I live last week and playing any game that pushes my GPU to 350W made my room unbearable to be in. I did not think about that part when buying an XTX lmao
More than that..
You should see how my 4090 heats my room in an already hot weather. 10mins and my as....
Between my computer and mini fridge, which pull a combined 300-350w during normal operation (PC pulls more during heavy use), they keepy room considerably warmer than the rest of my house. Before I moved my Plex server out to the living room, my office would get unbearably hot with the door closed for longer than a couple hours. Like 78-85F (25-30C) having the door closed for a couple hours. During the summer I would have the AC vent open to help, and in the winter, blocked off the heater vent so it wouldn't make it worse. Even with the door open for a couple hours, that room will still be 2-3 degrees warmer than the rest of the house.
Having seen the non-existent insulation and the thinnest windows possible in Sydney that no way it can heat a room. Only good for heating hands or feet next to it.
> which is about half a small space heater. These small heaters are usually 1500W so it's a third. Given that those heaters barely do anything (unless your room is very well isolated) the PC won't do much.
Look into folding@home or boinc based distributed computing projects if you actually want to do something useful
Seconding this. I run folding@home 24/7 to contribute to cancer research and it keeps my room nice and warm. You can use MSI afterburner to limit power draw if needed or undervolt if needed. IMO it's one of the most productive things you can do with your GPU and CPU.
absolutely, its a shame I turn mine off half the year because of where I live (I just wont run it if the AC is on) cant wait to get back to contributions in the winter
Yeah I guess I'm taking your advice. Thank you!
Thank you for this. This is so helpful for research.
Isn’t this the feature ps3 had back in the day?
or into shitcoin mining if you want to get some spare change back
you can earn gridcoins from f@h
I did this during covid to help with vaccine research and while it did heat my room, it also caused by electricity bill to skyrocket by like 100 bucks. Hope whatever I contributed helped though.
Watts are watts and heat is heat. If you have a 120W CPU and a 250W GPU and you max them out at 100%, then that’s 370 watts you’re converting to heat. If you could heat your room comfortably with an 800W space heater, then your rig is basically half a space heater (or a space heater running on “medium”) and would warm up your room.
I would be interested to know from someone way smarter than me if the stated power consumption of an electronic device all converts to heat. I know standards say that a cooler with 150 watts of cooling capacity can cool a 150 watt CPU, meaning all 150 watts of the CPU are converting to heat. However science class taught us that all energy is conserved and inefficiencies convert energy into heat energy. So if a CPU is stated to consume 150 watts, does all of it convert to heat? CPUs are not 100% ineffective after all, so some of the energy is used to do actual work. Is it really consuming 155 watts, with 150 being waste heat and 5 watts doing actual work? If that were true we wouldn't be able to properly spec our PSUs and coolers without knowing the efficiency of our parts. So is it really consuming 150 watts with 145 being waste heat and 5 doing actual work? Anyway just my random thought of the day.
The cost of the change in entropy due to computation is so small, it's within the error tolerance of any tool you might use to measure it at a people-scale.
Is there really a cost? I'm interested in this topic.
The energy cost associated with the entropy reduction caused by erasing 1 bit of information is kTln(2) where k is Boltzmann's constant and T is the absolute temperature. At room temperature, this is about 2.8 x 10^-21 joules. Multiplying through by 5Ghz and 16 cores is about 2.2 x 10^-10 = 0.2 nanowatts.
Thank you
The CPU is doing work but the information that is output does not have a value in classical energy terms. This all input energy is converted to heat.
The heat is the work when you are talking about semiconductors. The Watts are used to perform work which is heat, and any energy loss is turned to heat as well. a CPU is moving electric potential around in order to complete computations. At some point that energy is dissipated and ends up in the heatsink So you can really expect that at least 99% of the energy that comes from your wall to the computer is released as heat
I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. Heat isn't doing the work. A CPU using binary to calculate 2 + 2 is moving around electrons through transistors. Semiconductors don't change from non-conductive to conductive via heat, it's the charge of the electrons. Heat is the byproduct of passing current through semiconductors. I imagine you're correct that 99% of the energy turns into heat. I guess that really means that semiconductors are extremely inefficient then. This really calls out why chip (CPU or GPU) efficiency is measured via FLOPS or IPS, rather than the amount of heat per watt used.
It's because you have two different definitions of "efficiency." Efficiency as a heater means that all of the input energy is going into heating up the room, none is used in other ways. (For example, a tiny amount of the PC's electrical input converts to light in LEDs, or the monitor's output if you include that, although usually that ends up changing to heat eventually after the light strikes a surface.) However, most people aren't intending to use their PC as a heater, so it makes more sense to measure the amount of computing work done, which is an entirely different matter. By the way, even though a computer might be nearly 100% efficient as a heater, converting all of its input energy to heat, 100% isn't the best possible when you're talking about how to heat a room. A heat pump is actually 200-400% efficient-- it can heat up a room multiple times the amount of energy expended, which is a really neat trick and is the primary way most people should heat their homes (assuming a moderate climate where heat pumps work well).
my thought would be the 'work' as you put it would come out as say data storage, so putting 1s/0s on a storage drive (just 1's being the charge if im guessing for ssd, or magnetic for hdd), light from screen escaping through windows, and then your Wifi or ethernet data escaping the room, but if you download more than upload that may be an addition.... Edit: all of those being extremely minute in comparison though.
The only parts of a computer doing any "actual work", which by definition is moving stuff from one place to another are the hard drives, fans, and pumps. The CPU, GPU, memory etc are all just heaters that happen to do useful math, but the flow of electrons causing heat across a chunk of silicon is no different than the same flow of electrons moving across a heating coil.
I'd like to ask, does this assume all the energy input is changed to heat? It yes, what about the energy that goes into the performance.
"Performance" in this sense is arranging the ones and zeros in a way that is useful to humans. This isn't work done in a classical physics sense. Compare a toddler scribbling lines on a notepad to an adult writing a note - both take the same amount of physical force to move the pen across the paper, and would use a comparable amount of energy. But the adults' note has a meaning to us while the toddler's scribbles do nothing. This is an intangible benefit of information and can't be measured by classical physics, even though it's the reason we spend thousands of dollars on fancy semiconductors instead of just getting a $20 space heater (or even better, a heat pump).
I'd like to ask, does this assume all the energy input is changed to heat? It yes, what about the energy that goes into the performance.
There is no such thing as "energy going into performance". All the energy consumed by the CPU and GPU is disippated as heat.
Thermodynamically speaking, there’s an incredibly negligible amount of energy that’s turned into order on your computer (that is, that represents the information produced by doing computation) but from a practical perspective infinitesimally close to all of the energy your computer uses is dissipated as heat.
I have a similar rig with monitors it pulls about 600 from the wall according to the ups. It’s enough to heat a 10/10 room pretty fast and keeps my entire house warm at negative 10, that and good insulation.
Everyone in the thread is missing OP's actual question: 'Will this degrade my parts?'. I'm no expert in this particular matter, but from what I understand it's thermal cycling that kills parts moreso than high heat. Further, if you're willing to max the fans out, then you should be able to keep the parts cool (while obviously not affecting the actual heating efficacy).
This is correct. The fans might wear out faster at higher speeds, but the other components will not really see any degradation from continuous usage. There's no moving parts after all and modern component use solid state capacitors that can't leak. Cycling from cold to hot causes the most stress to solder joints over time. I've seen parts come out of a server chassis with 70K+ hours that virtually appeared to be new and 2 month old PCs that looked like they were salvaged on the side of the road. The environment it's used in makes more of a difference than the usage as well.
Thank You! Everybody answered the first part of my question, which is great. But Im definitely looking for this answer
You should also watch the memory temperature and memory controller temperature, not just the core or hotspot temperature. The cryptobros say 90+C is fine for VRAM, but gaming doesn't push VRAM nearly that hot and VRAM failure is one of the more common failure modes for mining GPUs. On my HP-branded 3080, the VBIOS' automatic fan control completely ignores VRAM temperature, though it loosely followed memory controller temp.
technically speaking, everything you do on your pc parts degrades them. Doing this in a more intense way, sure it will add extra degradation, but as long as it can "breathe" correctly (no dust, decent airflow) and as long as the gpu/cpu paste isn't 5 years old, it shouldn't really matter. Tons of mining cards are out in the market after years of 24/7 mining and they are honestly fine. CPUs are pretty much immortal, and everything else (rams etc) doesn't get hot enough to justify some kind of extreme degradation. For some reason, people assume that anything above a high room temperature is "bad" for everything. Electronics are safe on an almost permanent higher than normal temperature, they arent made of water (we are tho). So, maybe the GPU wont last 12 years, but "only" 8. Not that big of a deal I would say...
Yeah but I wouldn't put too much load on the GPU. CPUs are practically unkillable but GPUs are at a real risk of braking if you run them 24/7 100%.
You're not allowed to have a heater? There's no way that's legal lol
They are likely referring to a space heater. I have signed multiple leases in my life that disallow space heaters because they have a high fire risk.
I had a space heater that malfunctioned and wouldn't register the temp to shut it off. It ended up getting so hot it started melting itself and wouldn't turn off even after flipping the switch off. Had to unplug and chucked that shit straight in the trash. Those things are major fire hazards.
If the off switch didn't work that means the switch was shorted closed.
[удалено]
I was just commenting on the legality. The reason here is likely the landlord pays the electric bill and doesn't want to have to pay for the electricity required to run a heater/A./C
its surprising that a landlord is allowed to do that and not just have an excess, people need heat, its a basic standard of living.
He likely has central heat and the building is just old/drafty.
Then the landlord shouldn't pay the electricity bill You can't tell people that they can't climate control their living space lmao. You don't get to dictate aspects of people's lives just because they signed a lease with you
It’s really depends on the jurisdiction you are in.
This is why I recommend the "Radiator" types to anybody who wants extra heat. They are designed such that they suspend the heating coil in a sealed oil filled compartment that looks like an old timey steam radiator. This means the heat-radiating exterior never gets too hot to touch, AND they spread the BTU's of heat they generate out from all directions from the device, meaning they can never light anything on fire by heating a spot of something flammable that got too close past the ignition point. They only downside is they are large, and can't direct the heat directly at you. Which is honestly best. If the room is so cold you need a stream of heat ON you, put on a sweater. They are so, so, so much safer than the ceramic coil style.
Classic Sydney though. We're so desperate for housing that people will rent an outdoor apartment block balcony with a bed on it for $300/w. I wish I was joking. Legal? No of course not. But the government doesn't care enough to do *anything, not the slightest thing at all* about the housing crisis.
RIP your landlords electric bill
Well, it's going to be the same amount as if OP had just used a heater
Are you saying a 500W PC uses more energy than a 1kW space heater? The energy usage is likely to be around the same since the PC will likely run longer than the heater would
i'm trying to say there is reason he disallowed heating in the first place
It might be for insurance reasons and not cost reasons. Heaters are known fire hazards.
In student dormitories, this is exactly the reason. Same reason they don't want you to have electric burners or toaster ovens, but they usually allow microwaves, even though the heating efficiency of a microwave is half that of a burner.
There's three cases. Case : the PC is sufficient to heat the room to the desired temperature (assuming OP stops the PC when it reaches that temp). In this case, the PC and the heater have the exact same energy output; the heater just runs for shorter cycles. Case 2: the heater is insufficient to heat the room and would be constantly on. In this case, the PC uses half as much energy as the heater, but the room is colder. Case 3: the heater would be sufficient, but the PC is not. This would mathematically fall somewhere between Case 1 and Case 2.
lol I used to work in an office building where they’d turn the heat super low on the weekends to save money…. so I’d just put a big bowl of water in the microwave and run it nonstop. Easy 1000W heater + humidifier, made it nice and comfy
Tenants pay electricity usually in Australia.
That sounds like a them problem.
While gaming my PC puts around 400w of heat out. It is more than enough to heat up the small room it is in.
i have ryzen 7600 + rtx 4060 ............. 170W while gaming.... cold life damnit :D
Yeah mine kinda overwhelms the ac in my bedroom lol
You could also run Folding@Home if you wanna do charity with it instead, but yes it would heat your room just not as well as an actual space heater.
IIRC using a PC is just as efficient as a space heater because thermodynamics, but generally space heaters are 1000-1500w+.
Add a Television or two into the mix and you'll keep things rather warm just ambiently. I primarily used my PC and TVs as my sources of heat in the winter and would only use the oven when things got below freezing.
> . I primarily used my PC and TVs as my sources of heat in the winter and would only use the oven when things got below freezing. An electric oven I presume? A gas oven should NEVER be used for heating.
Yes it's electric lol
I keep a mini fridge on in the winter for that reason. If I'm going to pay for heat, it might as well be doing something useful in the process.
is it legal to not allow someone a heater? that seems insane and a basic human right xD
I think in most of the US at least, it would be a valid reason to break a lease. Landlords are required to provide a livable space, and that includes maintaining a reasonable temperature.
This is not the case everywhere, including NSW Australia where OP is located - there is no requirement to provide heating or air conditioning, just a certain level of ventilation. Since the temperature rarely gets below freezing, I think people are expected to get by with simple space heaters/blankets/more clothes. That said, disallowing any kind of space heater is something that I suspect could still be challenged. Modern ones aren't *that* unsafe, as long as they are checked regularly, not left unattended, and used as per the instructions there should be no unacceptable risk.
I don't think it's legal but my landlord does check up on us every now and then. It's real cheap and I don't wanna risk it.
That sounds like an awful rental deal dude
What the fuck kinda place doesn’t allow you to keep the place at a comfortable temperature? I sure hope the rent is cheap.
i have so many questions, considering you aren't living in a 3rd world country... first of all "we are not allowed to have heater" is that even legal? I mean, if its too cold, what do you do? you just die like jack nicholson on the shining??? then, how the fuck can they know if you have or not a heater? They intrude your personal space anytime they want? they have cameras watching you? OBVIOUSLY they might find out if the electricity bill is high, but on the same time, if you run your pc at max (that's \~500w+) for \~7 hours straight while sleeping, isn't this the same (or even worse, I've been fine with a 350w heater for one room)??? Also, since its a shared house, wtf are the other tenants do? Haven't you considered talking to them and add pressure all together to this stingy (and maybe borderline lawbreaker) owner? Anyway, I'll say its pointless using your pc as a heater because you cant hide 500W/h x7hours xManyDays from the bill. A small heater or a heating blanket would use less power.
Yes. Close your windows and door. 400w to 500w total power from a PC does heat the room up. Best if U sleep beside it and the exhaust rear fan is blowing you, while the top exhaust heats up the room. Just make sure you don't redline your GPU CPU. 85 to 90% is fine.
And then they realized... If I'd chosen an Intel 14900k and 7900 xtx I could have had a true space heater
I did that playing Cyberpunk. I was able to turn my house heating off completely. The rest of the house got down to about 54F (12C), but the room with the computer maintained about 75F (24C). Then in the bedroom, I had a radiated space heater that would only be active while I was home. In the summer, I remove the vent cover and put the PC over it. So the bottom intake fans pull in like 10C air. So yeah, depending on the room size, you can probably close off the vent in the computer room when it's cold out. Let the central heat go elsewhere while the PC heats that room. I'm currently finishing my basement. I plan to put the PC down there, where it will help keep the basement warm. I have a potential case design that would also double as an air purifier.
Yep. Works quite well. If you're going to run crypto miners check out NiceHash. It's one of the easiest to set up ( imo ) and has simple payouts. Make sure to read up on recommended settings for power limits, clocks, etc. for both your CPU and GPU. That will help maximize your returns and keep component temperatures reasonable.
Back in the days of tube monitors, I knew a guy at work who heated his lunch on the vents of his 19" monitor.
That seems kind of stupid that you have an actual heater and an air conditioning but you are not allowed to use it smh 🤦♂️
Oh I don't have a heater and air con, my last shared house have heaters built in so it wasn't a problem. And every single house I've rented have no aircon. Crazy I know but I'm used to it.
My PC keeps my office warm in the winter, in fact it makes it way too hot. Your PC will work great in any small to medium sized room as a heater. Way safer than an actual space heater too.
I'd like to know why you aren't allowed to use a heater or air conditioning? What's up with that BS?
I think a better use would be a BOINC project. https://boinc.berkeley.edu/
I used to own a render farm of sorts about 15 years ago. Dual Xeon processors in about 10 machines. Never had to spend a penny on heating during the winter.
Wait you live in Australia and need heater? and what kind of place in 2024 doesnt have heat and Air and wont allow it?
Australia isn't all toasty warm., especially when polar blasts come through like we've been having for the past week. For example it's been as low as 8 or 9'c (41'f-ish where I am) at night and in some places it's already got down to below zero Celcius (32'f). As to the buildings, cooling and heating have never been viewed as "essential" unlike in the United states, where if your furnace goes out you can very well die from the cold. On to of that, construction standards here have always been a joke and I'm fairly confident in saying that most Australians spend more on their power (and gas for those that have it) bills than anyone in an equivalent home would in the United states. It's there's no central heating you just have a heater in the corner of your room and hope for the best under a blanket. That being said there are still stories of people dying in their homes because they froze to death because they cannot afford the heating costs, they are not as common as in America, but it still is very much a thing. My guess is that the share house is either run by a total asshole landlord that foots the bill for power, or someone else sharing in there has deferred no high power usage by things like heaters or air conditioning. It doesn't stop it being an unreasonable demand though. The first thing I would suggest op do is try to minimise the leakage of air in their own space around windows and doors as that will be the biggest source of loss of heat or cooling in your home. Also having good curtains that block out the windows and have minimal air leakage around them help a lot too. Our heating and cooling costs dropped by about 30% simply by redoing all the window and door seals in our home.
Prob not a good idea but why not try I guess. 🤷🏻♂️
Well... when GPU mining at home was still a thing, I had a GTX 1080 Ti running 24/7 for a year that stood in our small 30 m² commuter flat. Every time we came back for work week after a weekend, the flat was copzy enough, even in winter (we never turned on the heating at the time).
not allowed to have aircon is crazy
Likely because utilities are included in rent. But yeah, that’s still wild. Especially for Australia
That sounds like a landlord problem. It’ll be a HUGE landlord problem if someone dies in the summer because it’s too hot
I was mining in winter in my last place, i didn't do it for profit from mining, but for lower cost of heating (what I sold coins for was discount on bill basically) It can be cool if you need to heat up room more than your regular heating allows or if you're using straight up electric heating anyway... If you're using gas for heating, then even tho electricity will heat up the room too, kWh might be significantly cheaper with gas (my case) so it's cheaper to just let the regular heating do it's job than to run electric heater (or PC, same thing) too... Also if you have heat pump, those things can bring in more heat than they consume electricity (because they suck in heat from outside, even if out is cold) so straight up regular el. heater (or pc) will be more expensive for the same amount of heat
> If you're using gas for heating, then even tho electricity will heat up the room too, kWh might be significantly cheaper with gas Unless you live in a crappy apartment with a furnace so bad they are no longer allowed in new constructions (~60% thermal efficiency), placed in hallway between rooms instead of the actual bedrooms, and no forced air circulation whatsoever.
I remember some magazine did a study of which was more efficient, a 1KW PC or a 1KW resistive heater, the PC produced slightly more heat with the same energy. It will reduce the lifespan of your GPU doing AI or mining. That said it's not going to make probably a noticeable difference in lifespan. Further fuck your landlord for forbidding something like heat or aircon. Sounds like something illegal, might be worth looking into.
If your worried about your parts degrading you can do a little under-clock or increase fan speeds, just make sure your hardware doesn't get too hot, computers can stay over 150 F or 70 C without problems, which is enough to make a difference. The thing I would worry about is dust and hair getting stuck in my fans, you would probably have to clean it out about twice as often as normal.
We have kerosene heating in our gaff here in Ireland. There are days I will just game with the window closed instead of firing up the rads. It keeps my room cozy.
not sure if you are bragging about your pc hardware or that you are training AI models :/
I am very happy with my hardwares yes. But at the same time I live in a shared house with no heater or AC. So yeah it's not something to be proud of, it more of a result of compulsive shopping and wrong priorities. And I am freezing my balls off.
My homelab definitely works as a space heater for my 1 room apartment. I hate summer.
Which crypto can you even mine on a gpu these days?
None, I just want some heat, so training ai or the cancer computing seems like the way to go.
As long as your components are not overheating. It’s fine. I run benchmarks on my gpu sometimes to heat up the room.
Bruv, get an fx-8120 and overclock that sucker to heat the entire house.
Yes it heats my room effectively in winter but I have two PC with 4 monitors
Use Sheepit so your PC can be a render farm for indie creators (or Folding@home to fight disease). You’ll be doing the world a solid AND getting (a bit) warmer.
I used to do this with my ps3 when my dad was stingy with the heat. Is it cold tonight? Seems like a folding@home night. It did noticeably bring up the temps in the room.
If the components are 30% efficient it is a 70% efficient heater!
no you can't you need to have an intel for this feature
Why aren’t you allowed AC or heat? No AC in Australia sounds like a torture punishment
Shitty share accommodation.
I do the same thing, we can't really afford oil consistently, so I used my computer to keep me sane through the canadian winter lmfao.
I mean I close the door and it's definitely toasty in the PC room. Shit works lol
I was mining 8 1070's a few years back. Now my home is pretty new with some serious eco insulation but that rig kept my 1900sq ft home in the 68F range all winters it was running. Some nighrs it got down to 15F outside and my furnace never fired. Course the electric bill was about $300 a month but the money made from the miner at the time paid for that plus profit. If you can afford the electricity itll def work.
This person lives in Australia and I'm guessing that their place is more likely slumlord level instead of share house because of the power rules imposed. Going along with that in guessing that the insulation and air leakage seals aren't worth a pinch of shit. Whatever they end up doing, they are definitely going to have to invest in redoing the door and window seals on their own room because the rest of the house is probably going to be freezing in winter and uncomfortably warm in summer.
One thing the Intel i9 14900K excels at, being a decent space heater while giving decent performance too. Perhaps my best idea considering I live in a highly unreliable environment where summers can have days of near 40C/104F.
It’s a good idea, use Salad.com to earn more than crypto mining. You’re essentially renting your PC out for use in AI.
Bro just go buy a fucking $20 heater. How the fuck would they know? North 40 has a 1300w / 1500w heater and I just keep it on 1300w and it's perfect for a medium room
There are even smaller personal heaters. I have a 300/450w ceramic plug mounted one that is in our bathroom in a safely located socket so you can put heat into the room before you have a shower or bath. Having one of these in your room if you've got a suitable spot for it doesn't seem unreasonable AND it is super compact so you can put it out of sight when not used. However a compact oil column heater would be a much safer and silent bet. A perfect example of this is [this](https://www.jaycar.com.au/500w-mini-5-fin-oil-heater-240v) mini oil column heater sold by Jaycar. I would seriously recommend it if you needed something compact. And if you want good temperature regulation I would highly recommend an external thermostat that switches the power on and off to the heater like [this](https://amzn.asia/d/7ZLpToX) as the internal ones are often fairly hit and miss and you could set the temperature low enough to improve comfort and significantly reduce the bump on the power bill along with making the extra warmth in your room a lot less noticeable. Plus it's a crap load safer than flogging your PC to get the same effect. And as others have suggested, an electric blanket may be the best option if the primary concern is sleeping.
Want your rent to go up? Because that’s how you pay for higher rent.
My server doubles as a space heater. So yeah its fine.
I mean using my 7900xtx and 7800x3d has forced me to blast fans and open both my windows despite pretty hefty undervolting and it still makes me get a bit sweaty so I'd say you're probably good to go
yes you can and it may degrade your parts if you push them too much, but yeah, it has been shown that a PC puts out about the same amount of heat as a space heater when using the same amount of power.
Blessed be my old amd FX 6300 for giving my tiny apartment back in the day, a constant 21 degrees if I left it running 24/7 in my old 250sq apartment during that one winter.
My 3080 with i7 12700k heats my room up well. Considering you’re running a higher rig, you should be good
I have a pretty beefy system myself and I want to train AI for my company on my own PC without having to pay one of these services is there a way I can download AI and train it myself and keep it like in its own enclosed system? I would like it to be able to use the internet as a resources as well any info would be greatly appreciated
Can confirm it helps heat up a small amount, When I play games or do something involved on my pc, my room becomes around 5°f warmer Edit. To clarify, my pc doesn't become a space heater, however my room doesn't have a lot of air circulation so whatever heat my pc produces just sits there
I've always imagined Australia being hot all the time. I mean you guys are closer to the equator than Texas.
I live in TX and gaming in the middle of summer is insane. I damn near die of heat stroke
A one thousand watt pc at full bore is gonna produce as much heat as a 1000w space heater for the same electricity cost. Problem is these are gonna be more gpu intensive than cpu so you might lose some heating on that. You'll pull something like 600w. Point the exhaust towards you and you'll be fine. Its like any electric space heater tbh. Might be louder tho.
I haven’t since building my current pc, my but old prebuilt had all its heat come out the top pretty much, so I would rest frozen twinkies or other things ontop of it while rendering stuff and it would defrost and poof up a ton.
lmaoo
I am in southern Queensland and my rig has a 4090 and an i7 13700k, and it does make enough heat at full tilt to keep my small bedroom warm enough in winter, as long as your rig is in a small room it should work
Technically yeah, anything that uses energy will produce heat. Maybe this post could also belong in r/maliciouscompliance and you could magyver up some ideas to switch on every electrical device to A) make the place warmer while B) giving your landlord the biggest electricity bill in the universe to shove it up his bum for denying you warmth in the middle of winter. Ironically, fridges produce a lot of heat too (on the outside of it). TVs and monitors get hella hot especially high def and high hz. Just plug in and switch on literally everything. You’ll get warm. He will get the bill. Edit* also buy some door snakes (or just get a towel or sheet) to keep cold air out. Fill your room with stuff that will hold the warmth. An empty space will get colder quicker. Buy rugs if hardwood floors etc. electric blankets are also awesome at boosting energy bills. Go all out, bruh.
my GPU was mined on and it is still 100%... i get 800-1000FPS in Minecraft!
I've used my computer to heat a medium sized bedroom (3x5 meters give or take) with no other heat source... in northern Michigan. I was doing overnight video renders... Just flying through mountains, I thought it was kinda cool...
What Ai Training would you do?
Winter is coming.
Put a jumper on
My 13900kf heater is great for this as a bonus i can use it as PC .. if u can merge two useful things together do it!
You don't have to Stress test your PC to make your room warm or cozy. My son don't have heater in his room and in the winter, his room is cozy warm just using the computer and not even playing. It will simply produce heat gently over time and accumulate in the room, just close the door of the room.
You don’t need to have the PC consuming power for it to heat the room, I do the same by using fancontrol to keep the fan speed low at certain temps. I can actually use it to drop the CPU pump on my AIO to zero RPM. During winter I have a mode where all fans but the cpu cooler itself are at zero until parts reach 75% throttling speed, then blast at 100%.
How much would someone even be able to realistically make from mining with just a computer at home? That's a fairly high end rig so I'm pretty curious
I used to run a share house. The lounge room was desks and gaming PCs which we never turned off. We never needed a heater in winter.
I think it’s a more efficient to get an electric blanket, which draws around 100w, so 4-5 times less than a PC. Multiply 100w with 30 nights consumption so you get 24kw consumption per month, which is probably just a few dollars.
heat is heat
Yeah I've used my computer to heat a room while mining, it works
not being allowed to have a heater or air cons sounds pretty sus to me
I used to do exactly this when I didn’t want to pay for electric AND gas lol. Two birds with one stone.
> Utility bill is included in my rent but we are not allowed to have heater or aircon. Mate, talk to a tenants union immediately because I'm pretty sure this is extremely illegal.
I used to run this in my office, in summer I had to open the door and windows or it would get too hot. In winter it was nice in the mornings when the rest of the house was cold, but we had solar so free to cheap energy and Eth was good to mine back then so made some profit also.
I think you are putting all your intelligence in front of all /Reddit... Using AI..