Legacy/SC4 gamers are C_O_O_L !

[MarkShot 631]

Cori and CB, I hope you will allow this to remain as there is an important connection with SC4; and OFF TOPIC is basically a site back water.

The thread title is a very INTENTIONAL pun.

Recently, a number of content producers were asked to look at their area of expertise and our environment.  As a gamer, I know that when I play CS or TF2, my PC sounds like a freight train with all the fans and pumps kicking in to cool it.  This implies that its dissipating heat.  Which implies that the number of watts it is pulling is up; and coal being burned to produce those watts is up along with watts for AC as it is around 100F + 90% relative humidity outside.  Further despite all that mechanical activity, I can see on the front of my PC that core temp is up 20C, and from the system tray that GPU temp is up 35-40C.

Now, when I was testing big cities with SC4Ckpt.exe even running at "cheetah", my PC was barely showing more power drain than when idling.

So, SC4 is greener and legacy titles are quite green.  So, are gamers who upgrade to a new PC every two years putting an excessive load on the grid?  In general, new top of the line hardware doesn't just come with a price premium, but also a wattage premium and the PSU to drive it.

But actually, the final analysis, shows that pulling 600 watts versus 300 watts is not the most significant aspect of our hobby.  Most of the environmental impact comes from the acquisition of new hardware and disposal of old.

So, Legacy/SC4 gamers are COOL!  They are able to look past the marketing hype that drive sales or the +5 FPS a new PC buys (cores are increasing faster than GHz).  They are able to look past 3D traffic jams and 3D 40,000 battles between Carthage&Rome.

One last thing, the content producer notes if you purchase a certified refurbished i7 from a few years ago, you are neutral as the unit exists already.  It was not built for you.

Just that you might know that our hobby has more to commend it than just our the preservation of a the digital legacy of a new art form.

PS:

* My gaming PC is from 2015

* Our car 10 years old; a must have as we live in the mountains

* My wife's media PC fully 1080p capable is from 2009

* Just got a unique legacy title (2009) yesterday for $10 USD (from a top game designer) compared to the $350 USD for AAA titles

* And if you ask, I will not tell you the age of my clothes 

  Edited July 13, 2022 by MarkShot  
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