PC Electricity Cost Calculator
Pick your GPU, add your rest-of-system draw and hours of use, and see what your gaming PC or workstation is actually costing you — per session, per month, and per year.
"Per session" and "per day" are the same figure — the hours you enter above. Monthly/yearly figures assume you game or run that load every day; lower them proportionally if you play fewer days a week.
How this is calculated
Same underlying math as any appliance: total system wattage under load, converted to kilowatt-hours, times your electricity rate.
kWh used = (total watts ÷ 1000) × hours
cost = kWh used × rate per kWh
Worked example: an RTX 4080 (320W) plus a 150W rest-of-system, 4 hours a day, at $0.17/kWh: 470W total → (470 ÷ 1000) × 4 = 1.88 kWh/day → × $0.17 ≈ $0.32/day, about $9.59/month or $116.65/year of gaming at that rate.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to run a gaming PC?
It depends mostly on your GPU, since it's usually the biggest single draw under load. A mid-range card (RTX 4070-class) running a few hours a day typically lands somewhere in the $5–15/month range at U.S. average electricity rates; a high-end card like an RTX 4090 run heavily can roughly double that.
Does gaming actually increase my electric bill noticeably?
For most casual-to-moderate gamers, it's a small but real line item — usually less than what a space heater or window AC unit adds. Heavy daily use on a high-end GPU is where it starts to add up to real money over a year.
How much power does my GPU actually use?
Manufacturer specs list a rated or peak board power, but real gaming load usually runs a bit under that peak. The presets above use realistic average gaming-load figures rather than absolute peak numbers, which tends to match real-world electricity bills more closely.
Does this include idle time, not just active gaming?
No — this calculator is for active-use hours (gaming, rendering, active load). A PC left on idle draws far less power, generally in the 30–80W range for the whole system, which is small enough that most people don't bother calculating it separately.
What about a laptop instead of a desktop?
Gaming laptops draw much less than desktop GPUs — typically 60–150W total under load — so use the "custom" GPU option and enter a lower rest-of-system wattage, or check your laptop's power adapter rating (in watts) as a rough ceiling.