To estimate the electricity cost, multiply the average power draw in watts by the hours you stream, divide by 1,000 to get kilowatt-hours, then multiply by your electricity rate per kWh. Calculate GPU-only use with GPU watts; estimate the whole streaming setup with average wall-side watts for the PC and any included equipment. NVIDIA’s TGP rating is a power cap, not a guaranteed streaming average.
How much does it cost to run a GPU 24/7?
Use this formula:
cost = (average watts Ă· 1,000) Ă— hours Ă— electricity price per kWh
The first two factors produce energy use in kilowatt-hours (kWh); multiplying by your applicable per-kWh rate gives an estimated energy cost. Use a rate that includes delivery and other per-kWh charges if you want the estimate to reflect those charges on your bill.
| Run period | Hours at continuous 24/7 operation | Energy per average watt |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 720 | 0.72 kWh |
| 365 days | 8,760 | 8.76 kWh |
For another billing period, use its actual number of hours. A leap year has 8,784 hours. Multiply the per-watt energy amount by your average watts, then by your own rate.
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Worked example: a hypothetical 100 W load
A continuous 100 W load over 30 days uses (100 ÷ 1,000) × 720 = 72 kWh. At $0.173/kWh, the arithmetic comes to $12.46. This is an illustrative input, not a measured NVIDIA GPU streaming result. It represents GPU-only cost only if 100 W is the GPU’s average draw; if it is measured at the wall, it can represent the whole load included in that measurement.
At the U.S. 2025 residential average of 17.30¢/kWh, the same hypothetical 100 W load works out to about $12.46 for 30 days and $151.55 for 365 days. At the 2025 commercial average of 13.41¢/kWh, it is about $9.66 for 30 days and $117.47 for 365 days. These are arithmetic examples, not predictions for a specific GPU, PC, or location. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports these averages from preliminary 2025 data published in February 2026; see its electricity price explanation.
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GPU-only electricity or the whole PC?
Decide which bill question you are answering before choosing a wattage. GPU telemetry can help estimate the card’s contribution, but it excludes other computer components. A whole-system estimate should use the average power drawn at the wall by the PC and any streaming equipment you want included.
- GPU-only estimate: use average GPU watts during a representative stream. Do not add the PC’s full wall draw to this figure unless you intend to count both separately without double-counting.
- Whole-system estimate: measure average wall-side watts for the PC and included devices while running the actual streaming workload. An optional plug-in electricity usage monitor can measure the combined load connected through it; it does not isolate the GPU.
For a more representative measurement, run the usual stream settings and content long enough to capture typical variation, rather than relying on a brief idle reading or a momentary peak. State whether your input is GPU telemetry or wall-side power whenever you share or compare the resulting cost.
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How to choose a defensible wattage
Do not treat TGP as average streaming draw
NVIDIA describes Total Graphics Power (TGP) as the power cap used by GPU Boost. Its RTX 4080 example lists 320 W TGP, 13 W at idle, 21 W for video playback, and 251 W average gaming. These figures illustrate how draw varies by workload; none is a measured YouTube livestream-encoding average. NVIDIA notes that light workloads can use substantially less than TGP and that high-power applications such as games may reach the cap. Read its TGP and workload power discussion.
Check the exact card, then estimate the actual workload
NVIDIA’s GeForce graphics-card comparison lists reference-design TGP and required system-power information. Partner add-in-card specifications may vary, and minimum system-power requirements depend on the configuration. A recommended power-supply capacity is not the computer’s continuous electricity consumption.
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For a likely bill estimate, use workload-average watts from the exact card while it runs the stream configuration you expect to use. Draw can change with encoder, resolution, frame rate, scene, concurrent graphics work, and machine state. If TGP is the only number available, you can use it as a conservative proxy or cap-based scenario, but label it as such rather than presenting it as an observed average.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Use your local electricity rate
Your actual tariff matters more than a national example. EIA’s preliminary 2025 U.S. averages, published in February 2026, were 17.30¢/kWh for residential customers, 13.41¢/kWh for commercial customers, 8.62¢/kWh for industrial customers, and 13.63¢/kWh across all customer types. The 2025 state range across all customer types ran from 8.20¢/kWh in North Dakota to 35.72¢/kWh in Hawaii, according to EIA tables cited in its prices and factors explanation.
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These figures describe U.S. averages, not a universal rate. Use your current bill or tariff for your location and customer class; include per-kWh delivery charges if you want those included in the estimate. EIA’s Electricity Monthly page listed July 2026 data, released September 24, 2026, with the next release scheduled for October 23, 2026, as of October 3, 2026. For an individual estimate, the rate on the current bill is still the more relevant input.
Compare streaming setups on equal terms
To compare two GPUs or streaming configurations fairly, keep the assumptions aligned: measure or estimate average watts under the same workload, stream settings and encoder; use the same run hours and uptime; and apply the same electricity rate. Convert each setup to monthly or annual cost only after those inputs match. A TGP comparison alone does not establish which setup will cost less during a particular stream.
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