I’m trying to plan ahead for three gaming PCs running at the same time and would like to hear from anyone who’s had a similar issue.
All my computers are currently contained in a 24U cabinet in my basement office(IDF) that holds two gaming PCs today and will hold three once my youngest is old enough. Mine is an i9-10900K with a 3090, and my oldest son runs an Alienware R17 with an i7 and a 3070. Together those two pull 1000W+ consistently when we’re both gaming. My boys are 4 and 9 so neither is playing anything demanding yet, but in a few years I expect three machines going at once. I will probably be upgrading to whatever is the equivelant to a 5090 in a few years and hand down my machine to my oldest.
There’s a second rack in my laundry room(MDF) about 30 feet away with the modem, router, core switch, NAS, and the wiring for all my access points.
My current office power setup runs both PCs and my work PC off a single 15 amp circuit. I have tripped it a few times as in the dead of winter I sometimes run a space heater.
I recently had two EV chargers installed and upgraded the house from a 100A to a 200A panel that has 19 open breaker slots. The basement ceiling is finished drywall but already has holes in it from the EV work, so a few more before we fix everything doesn’t bother me.
What I’m thinking is having an electrician run four dedicated 20A circuits to the office rack— one per gaming PC and a fourth for the network gear and work PC. The electrical panel is located in the basement.
Anyone else been capacity limited with multiple gaming PCs?
4x20 amp circuits might be a bit excessive. 1500 watts is only 12.5 amps. Each tower is not going to be pulling anywhere near a 15a. 15a circuits each would be fine. Dedicated appliances or PCS you can also split the receptacle. So the top and bottom half are separate circuits. You could also just have them run a small sub panel in the room for the rack itself.
I’m not sure what IDF and MDF mean, can you explain what those acronyms mean?
As for power troubles, I have some as well. My main AI machine pulls about 2000W and can’t be used while I’m also doing laundry because the fuse will burn through if I do that. Also, the main fuse is only 25A@230VAC and is not an automatic switch, so there is a limitation on the apartment as a whole. I’m getting that fixed, but the time to go from application to the electricity network operator to realisation is about half a year…
MDF and IDF are networking terms. MDF is Main Distribution Frame its usually where your main networking equipment is located and can be where your internet comes in. IDF is Intermediate Distribution Frame. This would be your secondary network location. You can have many IDFs but only 1 MDF.
My limitation as of late has been on the UPS side. A 1500VA UPS will only let you draw 900-1000W depending on the model before throwing over loaded warnings. Everything in my setup has a UPS, and I’ve had to move almost 1-to-1 UPS per machine since my main workstation trips the overload when pushed hard. Switching to 2200VA or above (and 20A circuits) would be ideal for me but there is a huge jump in price above 1500VA not to mention the circuit upgrades.
I don’t think you really need 20A circuits or NEMA 5-20 outlets/plugs unless you intend to pull north of 2200W off a single circuit with a single device. Still with how prices are, I’d go for N x 15A over 1x 20A all day even if I had more than 2 things to power up.
Yes. I ran several 20A circuits across our house to the rack, office, etc (former electrician). Though 4x 20A runs is quite excessive IMO. You can easily run two highend gaming PCs per 20A circuit. I get your concern of running three gaming PCs, but depending on your rack usage + 3rd gaming PC you could get away with just 1 additional 20A + the 20A for the two PCs.
Running 4x 20A is going to be costly.
The US NEC/IBC allows 20A in bedrooms and such. However, AFCI circuit breakers (in the panel) are required for basically anything these days but a utility room. GFIC should be used for anything near water (you mentioned the rack is in the basement - is there a flooding risk?).
However, one thing not discussed is HEATING. Do you want a 3000 Watt heater in your basement? Because that’s what you’re about to have with 3x highend gaming PCs at the same time.
I have 2x 20 amp and 2x 30 amp dedicated circuits running to my office.
It all depends on your energy requirements. If you don’t have a smart meter connected to your breaker, you can use other devices like watt meters that will give you a good read on each device. Just make sure it meets or exceed the power consumption of the device you are testing. UPS will also give you a good reading on anything connected to the battery backup side.
For the gaming computers, take the most power hungry of the 3 and measure it and multiply by 3. Never hurts to error on caution & it gives you future proofing.
It is good to know how much power each device takes as you can better plan the load on the circuits. I have a spreadsheet that tracks each devices power requirements to better distribute the load across the circuits running to my home office.
Take your summed watts and multiply it by 1.25. It is recommended you only run a continuous load of 80% on your circuit. If you’ve tripped the breaker, it is a good chance you’re already past the 80% utilization of that circuit. Take your total, divide by 120v to get the total Amps you need.
