RX 580 vs GTX 1650 Super vs RX 5500 XT Power Draw - Calculating Actual Cost Over Time!

# Why Newer GPUs Might Be Worth the Investment: A Deep Dive into Power Efficiency and Cost Savings

In recent GPU videos, particularly those discussing budget options like the RX 5500 XT and GTX 1650 Super, many viewers have wondered why older models such as the RX 580 and RX 590 are not mentioned. The reason is simple: newer GPUs consume significantly less power, and this difference can lead to substantial savings over time. In this article, we’ll explore how much money you could save by choosing a more efficient GPU, breaking down the details and calculations for different scenarios.

## Understanding Power Efficiency

The new cards, such as the RX 5500 XT and GTX 1650 Super, use around 80 watts less on average than older models like the RX 580. This might seem insignificant at first glance, but when you consider how much time your computer is running—whether gaming or idling—the savings add up quickly.

For example, while gaming, the RX 5500 XT and GTX 1650 Super are far more efficient than the RX 580. The difference in idle power consumption is also notable, with the RX 580 using about 10 watts more when your PC isn’t actively being used.

## Translating Power Savings into Cost Savings

To understand how much money you could save by choosing a newer GPU, we’ll need to look at electricity costs in two very different regions: the United States and the Netherlands.

- In the U.S., electricity is relatively cheap, costing around 12 cents per kilowatt-hour.

- In the Netherlands, electricity is more expensive, with rates averaging about 23 Euro cents per kilowatt-hour.

Using these two examples, we can calculate how much it would cost to run your PC for one hour every day over the course of a year:

- For the newer cards, this would cost around $10 (U.S.) or €20 (Netherlands) per year.

- If you were using an older card like the RX 580, the cost would be significantly higher due to its higher power consumption.

## Realistic Scenarios for Gamers

To make these calculations more relatable, we’ve broken down three scenarios based on usage patterns:

### 1. The Responsible Parent

- **Gaming Time:** 2 hours per day

- **Idle Time:** 2 hours per day

- **Annual Cost Savings:** Approximately $9 (U.S.) or €15 (Netherlands) per year, which adds up to around $30 over three years.

### 2. The Fanatic Gamer

- **Gaming Time:** 4 hours per day

- **Idle Time:** 4 hours per day

- **Annual Cost Savings:** Approximately $17 (U.S.) or €30 (Netherlands) per year, which adds up to around $50 over three years.

### 3. The WoW Addict

- **Gaming Time:** Half the time every day

- **Idle Time:** Minimal

- **Annual Cost Savings:** Approximately $50 (U.S.) or €90 (Netherlands) per year.

For European gamers, especially those with high electricity costs, these savings become even more significant. For example, a responsible adult in the Netherlands could save around €50 over three years by choosing a newer GPU instead of the RX 580.

## The Benefits of Newer Architectures

In addition to power savings, newer GPUs like the RX 5500 XT and GTX 1650 Super offer improved performance due to advancements in both AMD’s rDNA architecture and NVIDIA’s Turing Architecture. These newer cards are more likely to be optimized for modern game titles, providing better frame rates (FPS) and overall gaming experiences.

Moreover, their lower power consumption makes them quieter and generates less heat, which can extend the lifespan of your components and reduce the need for expensive cooling solutions.

## Conclusion

For anyone who games regularly—even if only a few hours a week—the newer GPUs like the RX 5500 XT and GTX 1650 Super are worth considering. While they may cost slightly more upfront, the long-term savings on electricity bills and the potential to upgrade sooner due to power savings make them a sound investment.

If you’re still interested in older models like the RX 580, it might be worth looking for discounted options or special deals. However, if you care about your wallet—or the environment—choosing a newer GPU is a smarter move.

Thank you for reading! If you found this content helpful, don’t forget to subscribe, give me a thumbs-up, and check out my other videos for more insights into tech and gaming. See you in the next one!

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi guys not here and today I'm gonna try to clear some things up now in my recent GPU videos especially when it's about the budget ones like the 5500 XT and the 60 and 50 super a lot of you were wondering why am I not mentioning the RX 580 and 590 and why do I think they're not really worth considering anymore at least for most of you well the new cards actually use significantly less power and I know that a lot of you just hear that take it very lightly and don't really understand what that actually means so in this video I'm gonna try to explain it a bit more and actually show you how much money you could be saving by going for the more efficient GPU and while absolutely thing that everybody should play a part in keeping our energy consumption down even if you don't care about things like that you should care about your own wallet now I noticed some of you don't have to pay the power bill at the end of every month and you know you live with your parents or you use your computer at work and you just don't care how much power you use this video is not for you but if you do have to pay a bill every month or you're like me a parent with kids that have three gaming computers at home then keep on watching because some numbers here are going to be quite eye-opening let's go this video is brought to you by the new Asus Zenbook pro duo it features a stunning 4k OLED display and a second 4k touchscreen making it the ultimate productivity laptop now with the latest Intel Core processors and an NVIDIA GeForce r-tx 2060 it can handle any creative task and you can even game on it check it out using the links in the description below now obviously the total power you use is gonna depend on your system where you are and what you actually do with your PC and that gets too complicated so for this video I just thought to focus on the power differences between the older card and the newer cards and how much at the end of the year that is gonna save you or cost you money so to do this I made a gaming rig I'm gonna leave the specifications in the description down below if you want to check that out and on that gaming rig I actually tested all three cards so I have 6050 super from gigabytes 5500 XD from aces and I used the fastest OC rx 580 that I could find from MSI the reason I used that one is that the performance is actually quite high higher than the rest of the five ATS and it's quite close to these cards as well as to the rx 590 that I actually don't have but keep in mind if you're thinking about the rx 590 it uses even more power than this one so later when we get to the results just add a bit more let's start with looking at the average power consumption of the system while gaming you can see the RX 5500 XD and the gtx 1650 super are much more efficient using around 80 watts less on average than the RX 580 and the difference in idle is big - with the RX 580 using around 10 watts more when you're just letting your PC do absolutely nothing to translate that into actual cost we have to account for how much you're paying for your electricity I decided to use two very different examples the United States where power is actually cheap at around 12 cents per kilowatt hour and here the Netherlands where I live and electricity is actually quite expensive at around 23 Euro cents per kilowatt hour now with those numbers we can now easily calculate how much it costs if you gain for one hour every day for one year straight that is around 10 US dollars or 20 euros per year with one of the new cards assuming your PC is off for the other 23 hours of course but that's not really realistic so for the next step to calculate a more realistic total cost I wanted to look at three possible types of gamers the responsible parent who games two hours everyday and has his PC idle for another two hours per day the fanatic gamer who games four hours per day on average and has his PC on for another four and there is of course the Warcraft addict that never turns his or her PC off and has the game running about half of that time every day with these terms that we can actually calculate the total power cost per year for all of these scenarios and I we see how much of a difference your GPU choice will make I suppose if you're a responsible adult in the US that pays very little for power you won't care too much about the nine or so dollar savings per year although almost 30 over three years isn't completely insignificant either however fnatic gamers even in low-power cost countries really cannot underestimate the difference which is around seventeen dollars per year or around fifty dollars over three years now that can get you a new game or be a nice kick starts to buy your next GPU upgrade and our Wow addict himself or herself will save fifty dollars every year now things obviously get a lot worse for the RX 580 here in the EU where we pay roughly double for our power even our responsible adult will spend around 50 years extra in three years time if he picks an rx 580 over the new cards and considering most of the quote unquote responsible adults I know actually fall into the fnatic gamer category they are actually looking at around 100 euros in three years and that is pretty much half of the price of these cards and what about our crazy European wow addicts if you currently own an older card like an Rx for an 80 for example that also uses a lot of power if you buy an RX 5500 XT or a GTX 60 50 super now you will actually earn all of that money back over two years in pure power savings while getting some extra FPS out of it let's also not forget that the Turing Architecture from Nvidia and the rDNA architecture from AMD are newer and these cards will pull ahead in some newer game titles because games are more likely to be optimized for the newer cards and much less likely for the old Polaris cards so they're actually more interesting from the performance perspective as well also because of this lower power consumption they are actually quieter and don't get as hot so in theory they should last longer and affect your other component as well so obviously you will have to do your own calculation to see how much money you actually save or waste at the end of every year but it is safe to say that for any gamer that games a couple of hours regularly the new card so the 5500 XD as well as the 1650 super are more reasonable choices here even if they cost a tiny bit more at the start from their old rx cards now I would say that the rx 580 here would be a good choice if you you know get one from a friend or you get it really really cheap or you just don't care for your power bill because you don't pay it but that is pretty much where I will draw the line now that is it for today thank you so much for watching let me know in the comments down below what do you think about content like this don't forget to subscribe give me thumbs up and see the next one right youhi guys not here and today I'm gonna try to clear some things up now in my recent GPU videos especially when it's about the budget ones like the 5500 XT and the 60 and 50 super a lot of you were wondering why am I not mentioning the RX 580 and 590 and why do I think they're not really worth considering anymore at least for most of you well the new cards actually use significantly less power and I know that a lot of you just hear that take it very lightly and don't really understand what that actually means so in this video I'm gonna try to explain it a bit more and actually show you how much money you could be saving by going for the more efficient GPU and while absolutely thing that everybody should play a part in keeping our energy consumption down even if you don't care about things like that you should care about your own wallet now I noticed some of you don't have to pay the power bill at the end of every month and you know you live with your parents or you use your computer at work and you just don't care how much power you use this video is not for you but if you do have to pay a bill every month or you're like me a parent with kids that have three gaming computers at home then keep on watching because some numbers here are going to be quite eye-opening let's go this video is brought to you by the new Asus Zenbook pro duo it features a stunning 4k OLED display and a second 4k touchscreen making it the ultimate productivity laptop now with the latest Intel Core processors and an NVIDIA GeForce r-tx 2060 it can handle any creative task and you can even game on it check it out using the links in the description below now obviously the total power you use is gonna depend on your system where you are and what you actually do with your PC and that gets too complicated so for this video I just thought to focus on the power differences between the older card and the newer cards and how much at the end of the year that is gonna save you or cost you money so to do this I made a gaming rig I'm gonna leave the specifications in the description down below if you want to check that out and on that gaming rig I actually tested all three cards so I have 6050 super from gigabytes 5500 XD from aces and I used the fastest OC rx 580 that I could find from MSI the reason I used that one is that the performance is actually quite high higher than the rest of the five ATS and it's quite close to these cards as well as to the rx 590 that I actually don't have but keep in mind if you're thinking about the rx 590 it uses even more power than this one so later when we get to the results just add a bit more let's start with looking at the average power consumption of the system while gaming you can see the RX 5500 XD and the gtx 1650 super are much more efficient using around 80 watts less on average than the RX 580 and the difference in idle is big - with the RX 580 using around 10 watts more when you're just letting your PC do absolutely nothing to translate that into actual cost we have to account for how much you're paying for your electricity I decided to use two very different examples the United States where power is actually cheap at around 12 cents per kilowatt hour and here the Netherlands where I live and electricity is actually quite expensive at around 23 Euro cents per kilowatt hour now with those numbers we can now easily calculate how much it costs if you gain for one hour every day for one year straight that is around 10 US dollars or 20 euros per year with one of the new cards assuming your PC is off for the other 23 hours of course but that's not really realistic so for the next step to calculate a more realistic total cost I wanted to look at three possible types of gamers the responsible parent who games two hours everyday and has his PC idle for another two hours per day the fanatic gamer who games four hours per day on average and has his PC on for another four and there is of course the Warcraft addict that never turns his or her PC off and has the game running about half of that time every day with these terms that we can actually calculate the total power cost per year for all of these scenarios and I we see how much of a difference your GPU choice will make I suppose if you're a responsible adult in the US that pays very little for power you won't care too much about the nine or so dollar savings per year although almost 30 over three years isn't completely insignificant either however fnatic gamers even in low-power cost countries really cannot underestimate the difference which is around seventeen dollars per year or around fifty dollars over three years now that can get you a new game or be a nice kick starts to buy your next GPU upgrade and our Wow addict himself or herself will save fifty dollars every year now things obviously get a lot worse for the RX 580 here in the EU where we pay roughly double for our power even our responsible adult will spend around 50 years extra in three years time if he picks an rx 580 over the new cards and considering most of the quote unquote responsible adults I know actually fall into the fnatic gamer category they are actually looking at around 100 euros in three years and that is pretty much half of the price of these cards and what about our crazy European wow addicts if you currently own an older card like an Rx for an 80 for example that also uses a lot of power if you buy an RX 5500 XT or a GTX 60 50 super now you will actually earn all of that money back over two years in pure power savings while getting some extra FPS out of it let's also not forget that the Turing Architecture from Nvidia and the rDNA architecture from AMD are newer and these cards will pull ahead in some newer game titles because games are more likely to be optimized for the newer cards and much less likely for the old Polaris cards so they're actually more interesting from the performance perspective as well also because of this lower power consumption they are actually quieter and don't get as hot so in theory they should last longer and affect your other component as well so obviously you will have to do your own calculation to see how much money you actually save or waste at the end of every year but it is safe to say that for any gamer that games a couple of hours regularly the new card so the 5500 XD as well as the 1650 super are more reasonable choices here even if they cost a tiny bit more at the start from their old rx cards now I would say that the rx 580 here would be a good choice if you you know get one from a friend or you get it really really cheap or you just don't care for your power bill because you don't pay it but that is pretty much where I will draw the line now that is it for today thank you so much for watching let me know in the comments down below what do you think about content like this don't forget to subscribe give me thumbs up and see the next one right you\n"