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Electricity could cost only a few dollars a month for a Ryzen 7 mini PC running a 24/7 YouTube stream, but the exact bill depends on the whole system’s average power draw and your electricity rate. At a dated U.S. benchmark of 18.56¢ per kWh, a continuous 10 W average load costs about $1.34 for 30 days; 20 W costs about $2.67; and 30 W costs about $4.01. These are transparent arithmetic scenarios, not measurements of a mini PC streaming YouTube.
Estimate the electricity cost
Use the average power draw of the complete setup at the wall—not the Ryzen processor’s advertised TDP. The scenarios below assume the computer runs continuously for exactly 30 days (720 hours) or one year (8,760 hours). The rate is the U.S. average residential electricity price reported for March 2026: 18.56¢ per kWh. It is a dated benchmark, not a universal or necessarily current rate for your home.
| Average whole-system draw | Energy in 30 days | Cost for 30 days at 18.56¢/kWh | Cost for 8,760 hours at 18.56¢/kWh |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 W | 7.2 kWh | About $1.34 | About $16.25 |
| 20 W | 14.4 kWh | About $2.67 | About $32.50 |
| 30 W | 21.6 kWh | About $4.01 | About $48.75 |
The annual figure divided by 12 is slightly higher than the exact 30-day monthly figure because a year has 365 days, not 360. For example, the 20 W scenario works out to about $2.71 per month when its annual cost is divided by 12, versus $2.67 for exactly 30 days. Differences are rounding and time basis, not different power assumptions.
Use your own electricity rate
Calculate your estimate with these formulas:
- Energy for 30 days: average watts ÷ 1,000 × 720 hours.
- 30-day electricity cost: kWh for 30 days × your cost per kWh.
- Annual electricity cost: average watts ÷ 1,000 × 8,760 hours × your cost per kWh.
Use the marginal per-kWh rate that applies to your usage, where your bill makes it clear. If your rate varies by time of day, a single-rate estimate will be approximate; apply the relevant rates to the hours when the PC runs. Readers outside the United States should substitute their own tariff rather than treat the U.S. benchmark as applicable to them.
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Why Ryzen 7 mini PC reviews do not give a streaming-cost answer
Published power figures for the Beelink SER8, a 2024 example with an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS and integrated Radeon 780M, illustrate why there is no single wattage for every Ryzen 7 mini PC. Notebookcheck measured about 7.13 W average idle with an external monitor in a short idle test. In separate demanding tests, it reported 68.2 W average load and 84.3 W maximum load. Those load figures are not YouTube-stream measurements.
ComputerBase reported roughly 11 W idle at the wall for its tested SER8 configuration, around 35 W in a light single-core benchmark, and up to around 82 W in stronger application workloads. IdleWatt lists 11 W idle and 72 W load for the SER8 as community-recorded data. These results differ by configuration, method, software, and workload. None establishes what a Ryzen 7 mini PC will draw during a continuous YouTube Live broadcast.
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What changes the actual draw
- Whether video encoding is handled by hardware or software, and the chosen codec.
- Resolution, frame rate, scene complexity, and any effects or browser sources.
- Video playback, background processes, firmware power profile, and cooling behavior.
- Whether a monitor, storage devices, or other peripherals remain connected and powered.
A processor’s TDP is not a measurement of the whole system’s wall draw, and neither an idle test nor a stress test should be relabeled as a streaming measurement. AMD’s power-efficiency calculator likewise frames energy comparisons around the selected system, power preference, and usage hours.
Measure your own 24/7 setup
- Include the equipment you intend to leave running. Connect the mini PC and any always-on monitor or peripherals you want counted. Decide whether to measure just the PC or the complete streaming setup.
- Put a plug-in watt meter between the equipment and the wall. Read the whole-system power at the outlet; do not rely on CPU specifications or a short idle reading.
- Run the intended stream configuration. Use the resolution, frame rate, encoder, playback, and other software you plan to keep active. Allow the system to settle and observe it across representative conditions rather than treating a brief peak as its average.
- Use the meter’s accumulated energy reading if available. For an observed period, average watts can be estimated as accumulated kWh × 1,000 ÷ hours measured. Longer observation helps capture changes in activity and background work.
- Apply your tariff. Multiply the measured or estimated kWh by your actual cost per kWh, then project to 720 hours for a 30-day month or 8,760 hours for a year.
For a fair comparison between mini PCs, measure both while running the same stream with the same codec, resolution, frame rate, and scene complexity. Compare dropped frames and stability as well as wall watts; keep purchase price, warranty, and any cooling costs separate from the electricity calculation.
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What the estimate includes—and leaves out
The figures above estimate electricity for the measured load only. They do not include buying the mini PC, internet service, cooling beyond the equipment included in the wall measurement, replacement parts, or the cost of downtime. If a monitor is left on, include it in the measured load; if it is normally off, exclude it. Electricity cost alone is therefore not the full cost of owning an always-on stream setup.
Stream settings affect the workload, not the electricity formula
YouTube’s recommended ingest settings vary by codec, resolution, and frame rate. For H.264, YouTube lists 17 Mbps for 1080p at 60 fps and 50 Mbps for 4K at 60 fps, and recommends RTMPS for ingest. These are streaming configuration recommendations—not wattage figures or a way to calculate the computer’s electricity bill.
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To send a stream from an encoder, YouTube’s setup instructions use a Live server URL and stream key entered in the encoder. Check YouTube’s current account eligibility and live-stream rules before relying on a particular workflow. YouTube notes that streams under 12 hours are automatically archived; do not assume a single uninterrupted 24-hour broadcast will be archived as one video.
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