What a gaming PC costs to run in France
A mid-range gaming PC (RTX 5070 and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 27″ monitor) played 3 hours a day costs about €10.44 a month in France, at a household price of €0.249 per kWh (2026 H1).
France is 12% below the EU average of €0.283. Live price map
Calculate your own PC
Your PC on the electricity bill
At the wall while gaming
Session meter
€0.000
What gaming since you opened this page would have cost.
| Gaming3.0 h × 371 W | €8.42 |
| Browsing and work2.0 h × 129 W | €1.95 |
| Left on, unused0.0 h × 75 W | €0.000 |
| Sleep0.0 h × 2 W | €0.000 |
| Off (standby)19.0 h × 1 W | €0.072 |
| Energy | 42.0 kWh |
Peak sustained load about 487 W, plus headroom for short spikes.
About 2.0× the electricity of a typical fridge-freezer.
Wholesale day-ahead prices. They matter if you have a dynamic tariff; fixed tariffs do not change by hour.
Price used: €0.249 per kWh — Eurostat, nrg_pc_204, 2026 H1.
Estimate Gaming draw for this part is an estimate. Measured it with a wall meter? Share your measurement
How this is calculated
Wall power = (graphics card + processor + rest of system) ÷ power supply efficiency + monitor. Energy = wall power × hours. Cost = energy × price. The range uses lighter and heavier gaming loads.
Monthly cost of typical builds
3 hours of gaming and 2 hours of other use per day.
| Build | Per month | Per year |
|---|---|---|
| Budget 1080pGeForce RTX 5060 · Ryzen 5 7600 | €7.62 | €91.38 |
| Mid-range 1440pGeForce RTX 5070 · Ryzen 7 7800X3D | €10.44 | €125 |
| AMD 1440pRadeon RX 9070 XT · Ryzen 7 9800X3D | €12.05 | €145 |
| High-end 4KGeForce RTX 5080 · Ryzen 7 9800X3D | €13.94 | €167 |
| FlagshipGeForce RTX 5090 · Ryzen 9 9950X3D | €18.09 | €217 |
| Streaming setupGeForce RTX 4070 Super · Core i7-14700K | €11.52 | €138 |
| Last-gen favouriteGeForce RTX 3080 · Ryzen 7 5800X3D | €12.03 | €144 |
Today’s hourly market price 31 October 2026
Cheapest 3-hour window today: 11:00–14:00, wholesale average €0.171/kWh.
Times are Central European Time. Wholesale day-ahead prices. They matter if you have a dynamic tariff; fixed tariffs do not change by hour.
Daily average, last 30 days
CC BY 4.0 — Bundesnetzagentur | SMARD.de
Questions
How much electricity does a gaming PC use in France?
A mid-range gaming PC uses about 42 kWh a month with 3 hours of gaming and 2 hours of other use per day, which costs about €10.44 at the average household price in France.
When is electricity cheapest in France?
On wholesale markets, the cheapest hours today start at 11:00. This only lowers your bill if you have a dynamic or time-of-use tariff.
Does undervolting a graphics card save money?
Yes. Limiting a graphics card to about 80% of its power usually costs only a few percent of performance. For an RTX 5070 at 3 hours a day in France, that saves about €12.82 a year.
Tools for this
- How much does undervolting your GPU save?Pick a power limit and see the money saved per year and the performance you keep.
- Does a new graphics card pay for itself?See how much electricity a more efficient card saves and how long the upgrade takes to pay back.
- What does leaving your PC on cost?Idle, sleep or shut down: see the yearly cost of each when your PC is not in use.
- PC, console or cloud: which costs less over time?Compare the total cost over several years: hardware, electricity, subscriptions and resale.
Popular graphics cards
- GeForce RTX 5070
- GeForce RTX 5080
- Radeon RX 9070 XT
- GeForce RTX 4070 Super
- GeForce RTX 5060
- GeForce RTX 4090
- GeForce RTX 3080
- GeForce RTX 5090
- GPUs
Compare
Sources
- Eurostat, nrg_pc_204 — Household consumers, 2,500–4,999 kWh/year, all taxes and levies included.
- Bundesnetzagentur | SMARD.de via Energy-Charts (Fraunhofer ISE) (CC BY 4.0)