Extremely high energy consumption observed.
Extremely high energy consumption observed.
I frequently experience excessive power consumption on my computer. Even simple video playback on YouTube can spike usage significantly. Should I replace my power supply unit—what model should I consider? My system includes a GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 AERO OC with 12GB GDDR6X, NZXT n7 z590, Intel i7-10700, and several Corsair components. The PSU might be the issue. Could arranging the fans more efficiently help?
High means more than an extra 5 to 10 watts, unless otherwise noted.
We track energy use with a precise "Kill-a-Watt" device connected to the wall outlet and your computer. For efficient streaming of YouTube videos, consider a compact PC, refurbished laptop, or tablet. Simply swapping out your power source won’t yield significant savings.
I experienced unusually high energy consumption on my computer at one point. Initially, I thought it was due to the Intel Arc A770 running at elevated idle power (40W T_T). It happened to coincide with using a kill-a-watt meter to track ASPM performance, which also showed abnormal behavior. I turned it off completely. When I checked the task manager, I saw a noticeable decrease in wattage. Upon closing the meter, the usage rebounded by about 35W. *thinking* *repeat the test* ... tried using ProcessExplorer and discovered something unexpected. A suspicious "Dlhost.exe" process was consuming around 30% CPU without any apparent purpose. I terminated it, but it reappeared automatically via a PowerShell script that restarted itself. It also detected if Task Manager was running to avoid detection. Interestingly, it managed to register as an exception in Windows Defender, which didn’t trigger any alerts. Once I removed the exception, notifications flooded my screen while I was playing a game. The culprit turned out to be an xmrig clone mining cryptocurrency during idle time—its activity peaked when the CPU was off. At least the author ran it at low priority, which helped. Overall, this experience confirms that high power draw isn’t always obvious and can stem from hidden processes or scripts.