To measure your PC’s electricity use while streaming with OBS, connect a plug-in watt-hour meter between the wall outlet and the PC, then read it while your YouTube stream is running at the settings and workload you want to assess. The meter shows the connected PC’s total electricity use at the wall—not just OBS, the CPU, or the GPU. For a useful result, wait until the setup is steady, record the measurement duration, and note your streaming settings.
What you need and what to measure
Use a plug-in watt-hour meter rated for your local outlet and the equipment connected to it. The meter goes between the wall outlet and the PC’s power supply. It measures the PC’s total mains input, including power-supply conversion losses and the other components inside the computer. Microsoft’s Sustainable Software guidance describes watt-hour meters as a way to measure a device’s total power consumption at the wall and recommends measuring at steady state: Microsoft’s measurement guidance.
If you want PC-only consumption, connect only the PC to the meter. If you want the whole streaming desk’s use, include the monitor, speakers, or other equipment in the measurement too, and label the result accordingly. A wall reading for several devices cannot tell you how much each one used separately.
Measure the PC while OBS is streaming
- Check the meter and setup. Confirm the meter’s plug type and electrical rating are suitable for your region and connected equipment. Connect it to the wall, then connect the PC’s power supply to the meter.
- Start your normal workload. Turn on the PC, open OBS, start the intended YouTube stream, and run the game or other content you want to measure. Keep the usual scenes and programs active.
- Wait for steady state. Let startup activity settle before taking a reading. Microsoft notes that electrical components can draw transient energy during startup, so a measurement that begins immediately may not represent the ongoing stream.
- Record watts and energy. Note the meter’s power reading in watts over a consistent interval. If the meter accumulates watt-hours or kilowatt-hours, record that value as well, along with the exact measurement duration. A longer session’s accumulated kWh is generally more useful for estimating electricity consumed than a single moment’s watt reading.
- Write down the conditions. Record the encoder, output resolution, frame rate, scene complexity, active sources, game or content, and whether OBS’s preview or other demanding programs were active. These details help explain why readings may differ between sessions.
For a laptop, start with the battery fully charged if you want to assess the streaming workload rather than energy used to recharge the battery.
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Understand watts, kilowatt-hours, and the meter reading
- Watts (W) describe power at a particular moment. The reading can fluctuate as the game, scenes, and computer workload change.
- Kilowatt-hours (kWh) describe accumulated energy over time. Use the meter’s accumulated kWh reading for the measurement period when available.
- Cost depends on your measured energy and electricity rate. Multiply the measured kWh by your local price per kWh; there is no universal cost or established typical wattage for this exact YouTube-with-OBS workload.
The outlet meter provides a whole-PC wall-side reading. CPU or GPU telemetry can help explain component behavior, but it is not equivalent to measuring the computer’s total input at the wall. Tom’s Guide also distinguishes a mains wattage meter from software-based approaches to assessing PC power draw: Tom’s Guide’s guide to measuring PC power use.
Make comparisons fair
OBS’s CPU requirements vary with the encoder, resolution, frame rate, and scene complexity, according to the OBS system requirements. OBS also uses GPU resources to composite and render scenes; a demanding game can leave less GPU capacity for OBS, as explained in the OBS encoding performance troubleshooting guide.
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When comparing settings or two PCs, keep the measurement period and connected equipment consistent, and record the following:
- Representative or average wall-side power in watts.
- Accumulated kWh over the same stream duration.
- Encoder, output resolution, and frame rate.
- Scene complexity and active sources.
- Game or content load and other running programs.
- Whether the meter includes only the PC or additional desk equipment.
Without matching these conditions, a difference in readings may come from the workload rather than the PC or OBS configuration being compared.
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Common measurement problems
- The reading jumps just after startup: wait for the PC and stream workload to settle, then begin recording. Startup transients can skew a short measurement.
- Two sessions give different results: check whether the encoder, resolution, frame rate, scenes, game load, or other running programs changed. Record those settings alongside the reading.
- The result seems higher than expected: confirm whether the meter is measuring just the PC or also a monitor and other equipment. The meter reports the total connected load.
- You have only CPU or GPU software readings: treat them as component context, not as the PC’s total wall-side consumption. Use an outlet meter for the whole connected PC.
- You are measuring a laptop that is charging: begin with a fully charged battery if your goal is to isolate the streaming workload from charging energy.
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