*Edited title for clarity
Tldr: CEC 2021 standards means high end computers can’t be sold here. Unsure about specific parts. But does mention December 2021 will apply rules to high refresh gaming monitors as well, which you can’t really DIY.
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You can still make your own. There are plenty of “Energy Star compliant” high-end PC components. Engery Star compliant parts just cost more, so Dell cuts corners by not using them.
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I don’t want to come across as a Negative Nelly but no one should buy a Dell pre-built PC ever. I’m not even knocking pre-built PCs, especially now, but the proprietary crap, AMD CPU with Intel stock cooler, signing you up for the warranty after saying no, and cutting corners whenever possible just makes them a trashy company.
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Was less of a commentary on Dell specifically as it was on the regulation.
This new change seems this is targeted primarily at idle power consumption, which is an issue that Dell has specifically since they use substandard cost cutting materials. You can still buy PCs from NZXT and almost every other SI it seems.
Johnny Guru (PSU legend) comments on LTT Forum:
Seems this is not really a story about power requirements so much as it is that Dell/Alienware is just terrible.
It’s mind-boggling how bad Dell/Alienware is, after having watched GN’s recent videos on their prebuilt towers.
Their monitors are fine or even great but their PCs are just embarrassing.
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Yes I did see that one. One of the LTT posters theorizes its even possibly just the 18w fan that is going full blast all the time because Alienware can’t be bothered to use a marginally not trash fan.
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I can see them banning 3090s and 750w+ power supplies next
Apparently its not as bad as it sounds.
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Seems those two items alone would exempt them from power budgets.
TL;DR: Alienware is garbage and should be ashamed for being garbage.
Well what do you expect? Gotta vote for the other team to get freedom back .
I really don’t know what is happening in California, with the Blizzard controversy more, I see that there is something wrong and TOTALITARIAN that is happening in the justice system in that state.
So far I do not understand their reason for PROGRESS and forced inclusion, but it seems that whatever they say is not a reason that they are trying to see a gray world to that country.
Yeah, this isn’t that.
Everything I am reading after getting past the clickbait headlines are that no other SI is suffering from this, and by definition in the regs, high end gaming PCs are basically exempt from these regulations.
It is solely on Dell for making very poorly configured computer systems that fail to meet even the most basic of basic power efficiency requirements, and blaming the states.
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ok, i know… you forgot to include everything in quote marks as the reason for this censorship in that state.
Feel free to peruse this thread. The ones who posted the actual CCR and especially JohnnGuru can explain it better than I can.
It’s amazing how many people aren’t reading past the headlines or are only paying heed to youtubers who are intentionally cultivating outrage when it comes to this issue. I guess people have gotten addicted to being perpetually tilted and are constantly looking for their next fix of rage-wank.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with mandating that prebuilt PCs consume almost no energy when idle. That’s just common sense, and has zero impact on the peak performance of the PC. All it means is that PC OEMs need to put more than 0.0004 milliseconds of thought into the design of their systems and use components that aren’t bottom-barrel trash.
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A number of OEM computers are already compliant, except for certain product ranges(like the Aurora, and Omen desktops). Prebuilts buy companies like Cyberpower, etc. are probably going to be more affected by this unless they’re able to skirt by the restrictions.
Most OEMs are using ATX12VO variants for most of their systems for a few years now, and generally see decent idle wattage, some worse than others. Expect Alder Lake’s launch and push for ATX12VO to move devices like the Aurora and HP Omen desktops over to ATX12VO as well, basically eliminating standard ATX in the OEM prebuilts.
As someone who lives and breathes power efficiency I feel like in recent years, power consumption in computer parts have gotten a bit out of hand(especially with GPUs). I think GPUs need better idle and load power consumption figures, as they’re a fair bit higher than they were years ago.
Aside from the 4000 and 5000 G series AMD APUs, expect AMD’s main Ryzen lineup to disappear in the prebuilt market unless AMD fixes their poor idle wattage if restrictions continue to tighten. Dell rates their Ryzen Aurora as idling at 66 watts, while 41 watts for their Rocket Lake Aurora. In the segment where ATX12VO is being used plus the small form factor with compact motherboards, the gaming systems are usually in the range of 20-30 watts, with non-GPU models being able to idle at, around, or lower than 10 watts.
In some systems, cheap high wattage fans/RGB are the cause of high idle as well.
Well it’s not hard to do. Even I fell for it at first.
That said, I am gonna be that guy who’s gonna ask questions and look into it more. But still, very easy to just eat up what’s spoon fed to you.
It seems to solely be affecting Alienware because they are shipping PCs with stupid configurations.
In the LTT post I linked, generally speaking a high end GPU with a 600w+ Gold rated PSU is enough to exempt them from the regulation.
It seems the fact is, the systems Alienware are producing just don’t satisfy the regulations because they use substandard parts configurations.
And an 18w idle fan because they can’t be bothered to use a half-decent $2 PWM fan.
I think I read something a few months ago indicating that it’s not just gold that’s required. I think I recall reading something about 10% load efficiency requirements as well out of California, or maybe it was Energy Star. I believe the number they set was easily accessible by any ATX12VO system though, and any good regular ATX PSU.
As for the fan, while it’s a high wattage fan, they don’t usually let it ramp up all the way for obvious reasons. But they still waste a couple watts per fan at lower RPM ranges.
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