Category
Hardware Tools & Calculators
Reliable engineering tools to plan system builds, estimate peak power envelope draw, calculate monthly running power bills, and balance CPU and GPU workloads.
Hardware questions are mostly arithmetic under uncertainty: how much power a build really draws, what that draw costs per month, and whether two components are badly matched. The calculators here use published Thermal Design Power (TDP) figures and standard formulas, so treat results as planning estimates, not lab measurements.
Most used in Hardware
All Hardware
PC Power Consumption Calculator
Calculate active electrical draw, daily/monthly kWh consumption, and electricity bill costs.
PC Hardware Balance Calculator
Evaluate architectural balance between CPU and GPU across resolutions and workloads with transparent, responsible performance guidelines.
PPI Calculator (Pixel Density)
Enter any resolution and diagonal screen size to get PPI, total pixels, aspect ratio, dot pitch, and the viewing distance beyond which individual pixels disappear.
Which tool for which job
- PSU Calculator — before you buy a power supply. It sums component draw and adds a headroom margin, because running a PSU near 100% load hurts efficiency and longevity.
- Electricity Cost Calculator — after you know your draw. It converts watts into monthly cost using your own kWh price.
- PC Bottleneck Calculator — when one component might hold the other back. It compares CPU and GPU capability at your target resolution.
Why the PSU result is a range
Power draw is not a single number. A GPU that idles at 30 W can spike to several times its rated power for milliseconds (transient spikes). Modern NVIDIA and AMD cards are especially spiky, which is why sizing guidance recommends keeping sustained load around 50–70% of PSU capacity. If the calculator suggests 550–650 W for your build, the lower end suits efficient PSU models and lighter gaming; the higher end suits overclocking or high-transient GPUs.
Common mistakes
- Counting only CPU + GPU and forgetting drives, fans, RGB, and the motherboard itself (typically 30–80 W combined).
- Assuming TDP equals electricity consumption. TDP is a thermal rating; real wall draw is often lower for CPUs and higher for GPUs under burst load.
- Using a regional electricity price of "about 0.10" without checking an actual bill — cost results scale linearly with the price you enter.