Prison Break in Fallout New Vegas

DOOM unto others...

Just do not buy a big GPU, so it may not be able to leech lot of power at all.

Those who can not afford the gasoline as well should not buy a huge car with a big engine... else the same issue may happen.

However, the truth is a bit more delicate: If someone is using a GPU 12h a day then even the most lean GPU may still produce a lot of bills a year. On the other hand a huge GPU or a car that is only used sporadically... is not necessarily making the power or gasoline-producer happy. It does not leech a lot of resources "just by owning it"... it totally depends on how much it is being used. Just as i said... those who use those stuff a lot usually should be able to afford it, else even a lean engine or lean GPU can still... annually... demand a lot of resources, just way lesser than a big engine or GPU under the same conditions.

As a company the power-producer may be glad making a "better offer" but it usually does not count for any private household... those may even become charged even higher if someone is exceeding a certain amount of power consumption. So, politics only is rewarding a company... simply politics because they do not need to "attract" a household but a company instead.

It is usually politics and greed shaping a certain economy... not necessarily the offers present. If someone is kinda bound to a certain offer without a lot of alternate options... there is no need to "compete" with other energy-related companies. So it may rise prices up to the bloody peak...

Anyway, with increased hardware prices and such... it is not a secret that someone need to be able to afford "high end gaming". Only those playing old retro stuff may be able to avoid to much costs by using old/weak hardware and small monitors without any AV receiver (those can deliver great audio but at the cost of a lot of power).

Of course, by using a big GPU, big screen and even a AV receiver... the power demand will be maxed. Although, usually such setups are only used by those able to afford it... kinda same situation such as if someone is using a car with a huge engine. Although, a huge engine is scarce nowadays and a huge GPU usually not affordable at all. So... no one is "accidentally" buying a huge GPU or a car with a huge engine... both is not only expensive, it may as well be a rarity.

Sure, the "result" is unique and nothing small can really match it, yet it is luxury and not made for those having issues with "paying bills".

Indeed, my power bill for this year and up has now being increased a lot because in general the power supplier was "removing" any sort of night-related tariff which was usually way lower than usual on "boilers"... like 10-15 cents instead of up to 20-30 cents°° (normal tariff). Now this special tariff has been removed and because such a boiler is in need of up to 7-8 kWh a day... it is no secret that the power bill will increase dramatically. I guess i now pay around 1000 coins more a year (which is about 80 coins more a month). So, instead of 75 CHF a month i now pay over 150 coins a month, by those "changes in tariffs". °°Of course it can fluctuate a lot dependable on location, up to around 45 EUR cents (50+ USD cents) per kWh. For E-cars even up to 80 cents in some extreme cases (for very fast loading stations... so nope... electricity is not the solution). Maybe in Norway yes, but this truth is a devil: The state was sponsoring the E-cars like crazy using tax money... and Norway got a very high "own power production" so they got a very cheap source. Does not count for almost any other country in Europe.

Detailed map on precise power values (in order to understand this issue even better):
https://www.20min.ch/story/strompreise-so-hart-trifft-der-preishammer-beim-strom-deine-gemeinde-245391366601

So, if someone is not a super hardcore gamer with a "big machine"; then any kind of heat generating devices is still the biggest strain, especially if they are not anymore offering any kind of special tariffs.

So, yes, fact is... power has become very expensive in Europe but it is their own fault, by having bad politics and a huge greed. They are pissing on the legs of those able to deliver "affordable energy" and are wondering why they now have crazy prices? Okay... call it self sacrifice.

Sure, regarding those boilers: In my country we traditionally use "huge boilers" (like 200 to 400 l) which are heated up during night time, when the tariff was low. During the day usually no "heating up" at all... as this is usually not needed if a boiler is having a huge capacity. However... with the removal of those special tariffs... this "method" is kinda out of date and even straining the overall cost of such a household. The boiler still need to "hold the temperature" all the time, even if not used at all.

In "poor countries" where people never was able to afford huge boilers... this matter is not a issue at all because those boilers only may have a few buckets of water stored and they heat it up "on demand", during the entire day. However... if someone is in need of a lot of water at any point, then they run out of warm water very quick and such a boiler is not able to use its "energy waste" in order to heat up a room during winter time. Although, it only matters on cold countries... obviously not in a tropical country. Thats why, traditionally such huge boilers was usually even set up directly inside the living rooms and not somewhere "inside the cellar" on many households. Anyway, with the introduction of "flat power tariffs" without any lower tariffs... this method is out of date. Nowadays, the power producers are as greedy as it possibly gets and special tariffs are for big companies only, such as AI companies who are in need of so much power... a usual person can barely imagine.

In the end... yes it is pricey now but i am not reducing my power consumption. If they want my coins "down their throat" comparable to drinking a entire lake out of sheer greed and stupid political decisions... then so be it. I do not live forever and i am valuing my "life style and life time"... so i am not obsessed with saving up on any matter that is bringing me living related quality. Not gonna happen... simply take the coins and i hope those demanding it might laugh the entire day... as well... because i will not start to cry... i will simply feed the greed, as this is what they love the most, it seems.

There is also something like efficiency, possibilities and uhm external reasonings outside the reasons you bring to bear

Total War Three Kingdoms

Exciting battle,

storming an encampment from three sides, their soldiers stood their ground more than we could advance, sending some cavalry through side 4 became the turning point of this ugly sided assault.

Liu Bao ended the battle with a nasty chest wound, he did recover.

Dunno the "external reasons" such a trying to be good to the environment which is a complicated matter, not necessarily bound to energy "reduction" only... because in such a case you are only fighting symptoms, not the issue at its very source. There is not really to less energy "arriving on Earth"; instead the main issue is that we are not able to produce or "pick it up" in a sensitive and ecologically friendly manner, in many cases. Most energy is produced "dirty" and yes, mankind still got a long way to go in order to produce sustainable and responsible energy.

Regarding efficiency... any old hardware simply will be no match, so it would mean always having "top of the line hardware" which is a money matter many gamers can barely afford. Sure, the 3090 TI, which is a GPU with low efficiency compared to "modern standards"... is still about same efficiency such as a 1080 TI, a GPU considered to be a milestone for way to many years. However... it may look like a 3090 TI is 2 times more power demanding... yes, but it as well is 2 times more performant... so in the end about same efficiency.

Any GPU with even higher efficiency usually can be considered "sufficient" by modern standards, but in optimal circumstances about 2 times higher FPS per Watt.

The finest truth i say is, if we do not limit the FPS to 60, instead letting the game run unlocked all the time... even the most efficient GPU may still leech up to 300 W... while a "power leecher" such as the 3090 TI may still not go above 300 W as long as it is being "normalized" to 60 FPS using Vsync. So... it as well depends on the settings and how a game is being played, not just "its raw efficiency".

In the end, the most important thing to me is that something i use is "hassle free" and i would say, the 3090 TI was probably my most hassle free GPU i ever had (it just is running everything i throw at it with fine settings without any issues since many years) and capable to handle even modern tasks such as "RT" which can not be done by "aged GPUs" such as the 1080 TI... despite still able to offer a comparable efficiency.

It is all logical what you say but remember life is chaos, there are so many reasons and situations that can lead to a decision which can be described with common words but,

that doesn't necessarily mean that the listener is equipped with the emotional and situational 'baggage' to manage to truly understand what is actually said or written

anyways....

my mind was in desperate need of some variation, so i decided to fire up Star General,

i have to say, i truly miss managing fleets in this manner!
in the picture i'm preparing a bold assault on a planet

also, i just had to notice the turn text 'AI running'

so... here's one GoG
Star General comes with AI,
opponents.....

Finally being able to play this masterpiece. :)

First time finding and using DOOM's chainsaw.
Playing this game on harder difficulties though sure isn't an easy task!
I died on my first run. My strategy of running and gunning proved null. :-(

Another one

To celebrate the arrival of one of the most beloved strategy series, pc gaming knows

a screenshot taken from Total War Warhammer III

Faction: Wood Elves, 'The Sisters' starting location.

I'm still waiting for this game to finally arrive at GOG. And I've even placed this game in my wishlist here to get updated when that time comes. I hope it's soon.

it very much surprised me to see the inclusion of Three Kingdoms and Pharaoh but nice eh, i do hope you have good cpu lying around... for those grand campaigns it is my experience you need something better than a I5 or r5

Oh noes?!?!?!

Another Total War screenshot!!!

And it is a game I bought on GOG!!!

Mediaeval 2! Zhe British...

Now who am I going to choose to set that spoilt princess up with?!

My CPU has undergone intense training leading up to the eventual release of Three Kingdoms, so be afraid not!