this post was submitted on 15 Jan 2025
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[–] Bakkoda@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

My server rack (in the cold garage) is now enclosed and the air filtered and piped into my grow tent which then regulates with cold air from the garage.

[–] cm0002@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

my grow tent

One of these days I also need to get around to starting my grow operation myself lol

[–] nightwatch_admin@feddit.nl 1 points 1 hour ago

Been done years ago and failed miserably: Nerdalize

[–] Majorllama@lemmy.world 35 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I love my gaming PC and 3d printer in the winter. Keeps my room toasty without me needing to run the heat much at all.

I hate those same things in the summer when I gotta have fans or AC just so I don't melt lol

[–] stinerman@midwest.social 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I turn off Folding@Home in the summer. Otherwise it's on 24x7.

[–] Gerudo@lemm.ee 2 points 1 hour ago (1 children)
[–] stinerman@midwest.social 1 points 43 minutes ago

For everyone who isn't trying to mine crypto, yeah.

[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

For the heat and electricity, it's stunning how much compute I get from my somewhat modern gear vs. my 40U rack of 10-years ago.

[–] Dumbkid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 hours ago

My server only draws like 300watts max, not a very good heater

[–] superkret@feddit.org 13 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Here me out: a global computing cooperative –
Collectively owned servers and gaming PCs are run at max power wherever it's winter at the time, streaming the data to where it is needed.

[–] ironhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 7 points 4 hours ago

There, you're out.

That's a lot of bandwidth, but it sounds like a good idea.

[–] Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 points 3 hours ago

I mean data center excess heat is already used for district heating and that's a shared resource. Not free or communal computing resource though.

[–] Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago (5 children)

Electricity generated heat from your servers is incredibly inefficient compared to a heat pump.

[–] Bronzebeard@lemm.ee 1 points 8 minutes ago

Not sure who's down voting you. You're right. There's Heat pumps that can move 5x more heat than the energy they use. While a PC only gives you max 1:1

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 25 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Conversely it's exactly as efficient as a resistive heater, which lots of people still use.

[–] Beacon@fedia.io 3 points 2 hours ago (3 children)

Interesting thought experiment - is a pc exactly as efficient as a resistive space heater? In a pc some tiny amount of electricity is converted to light and sound and kinetic energy instead of heat. But then again, don't those other forms of energy just eventually just turn back into heat again? Hmmm...

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 4 points 58 minutes ago

Yes, it all eventually becomes heat, though not all in the room. Sound sound escapes, and some light goes through the window or whatever. Those losses are incredibly minor though.

What makes a big difference between a PC and something purpose built as a heater is generally how the air circulates the room. A space heater is going to project it out into the room, baseboard heaters will create a wide convection current. A PC on a desk in the corner will typically just blast hot air at one localised spot on the wall which isn't really ideal for dispersing it throughout the room.

You will certainly lose a couple of milliwatts if you have a WiFi antenna on your PC.

The rest will be turned into heat in your room, probably.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

I would think actually more efficient because heat is the waste product not the expected product like a stand alone heater. Unless you are specifically running your PC at max just to create heat then just using your PC as intended and gaining "free" heat is a bonus.

[–] Bahnd@lemmy.world 32 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago)

Yes, but im already using the computer for other things and it would be more inefficient to double up on heating sources. I can confirm from personal expirence a PC in a small room can sufficently act as climate control.

[–] errer@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

“Incredibly inefficient” is a bit of an exaggeration, heat pumps typically run at an efficiency of about 2, occasionally 3. It’s better but not by orders of magnitude. Not gonna make much of a difference at 500 watts.

[–] ShadowRam@fedia.io 11 points 4 hours ago

No one is comparing efficiency of a PC as a heating device to a Heat Pump.

So I'm not sure why you felt the need to post this.

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Gaming PCs are about to top out at 1500W, which is a very solid space heater. Honestly, it complements a heat pump just fine. If you can set up a fan pushing air out of your gaming den and/or home server room you're at least starting to justify your stupidly wasteful setup.

I have to be honest, all the PC master race bros are deep into the awkward monkey puppet meme hoping all the AI haters don't realize they're using hardware that can easily run very competent genAI at competitive speeds to play CounterStrike. If you want to make and post that one you have my blessing.

[–] krashmo@lemmy.world 4 points 2 hours ago

Do you expect me to teabag you in 1080p at 120 Hz like some medieval peasant? My nutsack textures require at least 4K at 240 Hz or else you can't make out the individual hairs as they brush your nose.

[–] stinerman@midwest.social 1 points 2 hours ago

I have thought of this exact thing and thought I was the only one.

[–] ShadowRam@fedia.io 3 points 4 hours ago

my gaming PC literally is a primary heat source in my cold office.

[–] ThePantser@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago

My homelab is in the same space as my furnace so the ambient heat in that space is preheating my ducts. In the summer when the AC runs the cold air leaking into the space helps cool my homelab. In my garage office my desktop with 9 spinning drives and 3070 really keeps the space comfortable.

[–] HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I got a laptop for work, using it at home and I want to use my computer because if I just use my laptop its cold. When my pc runs the rooms is nice and toasty.

[–] Beacon@fedia.io 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Electric heaters literally cost 25 bucks

[–] HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world 1 points 28 minutes ago

psychosomatic. Heaters are expensive to run, but if I'm just running my pc, I "Have to" be running that so it doesn't feel more expensive. I have heaters I just keep not turning them on until its too cold.

[–] Montagge@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 hours ago

Just like me playing City Skylines 2 on a cold morning