The hot summer days in New England are over and the leaves will be starting to change soon. Thankfully, that means the air conditioners can be shut off and, usually, we get a month or two of relief before the heating season kicks in. Balancing our use of natural resources, whether they be power, gas, or oil, is something that has to be done in order to not end up with a big fat bill from the utility companies and some of that usage certainly comes from our affinity for electronic devices. I can't tell you how many things are plugged in at my home all the time sucking juice off the grid.

Power usage, specifically, is something that has become a huge concern for computer users and clearly they are often willing to pay a premium up front for parts that will save them money in the long run. This can be seen with the introduction of the 80 Plus standards for PSUs, which are continuing to become more efficient. Smaller PSUs are often used in modern systems now, as well, because our processors and our GPUs all have the ability to produce more performance while using less wattage. The new GTX 980, with only a TDP of 165W, is an enthusiast class graphics card that we can look at as an example.