Crazy stuff, but there's legitimacy because many grids have bad electricity in some countries that adds interference of all kinds to the system. You might not care if you're in Canada, but you might care if you're in Elbonia or Sealand or Whateverikstian and are unlucky.
Indeed, many of us are lucky not to have this problem, but I've seen a computer lagged (via error correction storms) by intensely bad electricity / interference on the grid before from the reasons I've described personally. I can vouch that sometimes a generator can help. There are over 200 countries in the world and many thousands of cities. Not all electricity grids produce very clean electricity.https://youtu.be/v9P79z_aWMo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUVp26ov_Yg
https://streamable.com/u4t1d4
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Obviously in terms of ideal-ness no one is crazy enough to run a generator while gaming 24/7 but man looking at this kinda makes u realize how much of a handicap this is and why people want it fixed so badly lol, btw ground loops are common interference antennas
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I should add that "generators" should include large power banks. In 10 years from now, these will become more popular than gas-powered generators.
This is a huge booming area -- portable lunchbox-size and cooler-size battery. Like a cellphone power bank on steroids for your AC power plugs -- including your gaming computer.
Battery Power Banks with AC Outlets Powering Whole Esports Desktop Gaming Rigs
There's currently a big boom of portable battery power stations, for camping, but these batteries work fine with gaming rigs:
- New York Times: Best Portable Power Stations
- Popular Science - Portable Power Stations
There has been a huge boom of cheap Tesla PowerWall crowd funded projects too (with prices cheaper than an RTX-powered gaming PC). There's several new 2 kilowatt batteries that can power a gaming PC for 6-8 hours on IndieGoGo:
- EP500&EP500Pro - The New Era of Home Backup Power
- MONSTER X: The Future of Portable Power Stations
- Bluetti AC200 - Most Versatile Solar Power Station
You disconnect from the grid, and be powered completely off more flawless electricity from your very own cheap offgrid battery!
When these power stations fall below $1000 they will become more popular accessories for problem-prone households (bad electricity grids in some parts of the world).
The cost of lithium batteries have been like an up-side-down rocket in the last 10 years:
Credit: ArsTechnica Battery Price Dropping Fast
The boom of electric vehicles (Tesla) has ignited kind of a new Moore's Law curve on battery capacity that can be purchased per dollar. Seismic changes are afoot that will affect everything else.
By 2030-ish, a kilowatt-hour lithium battery will cost ~$60 at factory cost (citation), with some insiders finding a path to $30 per kilowatt hour by 2040s.
Like an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) Except With 8 Hour Battery Life For PC Rig
Depending on the installed GPU, you need 2-3 kilowatt-hours to power a gaming PC for about 6-8 hours. In that era, a cooler box battery with 2-3 kilowatts for between $500-$1000 still generates (pun) enough profit for the seller of the battery, and can power a gaming PC all day long.
Also, at these prices (and higher daytime electricity rates in some countries), it becomes cheaper to recharge the battery at night (time of use rates). Lithium Ion Phosphate batteries can have 10,000 charge cycles, so amortizing one charge is no longer as ruinous/deleterious when your camping battery lasts more than a decade instead of a smartphone 2-3 years.
No emissions, no noise! That's why I say eventually, portable cooler-sized lithium batteries will become more popular than gas generators, and can power a gaming PC all day long even indoors in an apartment and do it without upsetting landlord.
Besides, blackouts occur everyday or every week in some places where gamers live. Some of us are unlucky with frequent blackouts. So bonus, bonus, we keep gaming through these blackouts with these 8-hour-long UPS boxes! So there are other reasons other than reduced interference, too.
I'm predicting this boom of cheaper multihours-long UPS batteries which will be popular by 2030s or 2040s because they're convenient.
- While at home, use it as a UPS for your PC
- Survive blackouts better
- Save money on electricity (charge at night when electricity rates are low)
- Bring the battery with you when you're camping
- Avoid bad electricity (it's just an additional bonus)
- Etc.
One battery. Flexible. All the above conveniences.
This isn't a joke.
Update (2022): Electrically Isolating Your Rig Away From Earth Ground
For things like: Ground fault, ground noise, missing ground, etc.
Some electrical problems creating EMI is caused by a defective ground / ground fault / ground EMI in your building. Even minor grounding issues. Often it's an apartment building where you can't get the landlord to fix the electricity if it is not causing problems for everyone else.
To do this, put everything (offgrid battery, desk legs, chair, your feet) on a non-conductive surface like a large thick plastic mat. Completely unplug everything away from the outside world (no power wires, no Ethernet wires, no phone wires, no cable wires). Your only link to the outside world should always be WiFi or optical fiber (With no copper). A good electrically-isolated replacement for Ethernet is a pair of Ethernet media converters plus some simple OM3 fiber. (Total outlay: $100). It's okay to have OM3 optical fiber cable reach your electrically isolated bubble for your rig above Earth ground, as OM3 cable is essentially immune to EMI.
This means your offgrid battery must be disconnected completely from the grid too. Everything floating off Earth ground, to avoid any unfixable ground faults. Nothing metal/wire touching the outside world.
It's the same principle as live line working (electrical workers touching a half-million-volt line safely in mid-air because they aren't standing on Planet Earth too = electricity flows to the ground).
Float yourself and your rig electrically from ground = remove ground-related EMI = increase the chances you solve your mysterious EMI problem.
WARNING: Shock hazard if your grounding problem is severe (you should report to your landlord / power company / etc). Lift your rig off Earth ground ONLY if you have no other choice, and are willing to take the electrical risks. Remember there can be a shock hazard everytime you step onto your ground bubble, and step off your ground bubble. Make the non-conductive/plastic mat large enough to step off the Earth (e.g. partially conductive floor) before sitting down at your electrically-isolated rig. You don't want to be touching the ground bubble, and the real Earth ground, at the same time -- if there's a large voltage differential between the grounds (the Earth ground and the floating ground).
Floating grounds (creating a ground bubble separated from Earth ground) can also make things worse too so it's only recommended if your building's ground is so terrible that a floating ground is a lesser of evil. So don't take this as boilerplate advice. Floating ground can also be attempted with ongrid operation (no battery) with a cheater plug. Caveat emptor.
Compromise can include A power conditioner / other equipment may help, in conjunction to this, since floating grounds can have variable voltages from internal EMI effects.
This Is Not A Guarantee. This Won't Fix Non-EMI Problems
You will increase your odds massively from less-than-1% chance of fixing your EMI related problem, to probably more-than-a-10% chance of fixing your problem. Remember if only 25 out of 100 fix their problem through this forum thread, that's still 75 people who may complain their problem is not fixed.
Wiring yourself to a separate, better ground (e.g. metal pipe that is known to go deep into the Earth) could also be an alternative. Connect to the least bad ground you can get, before you attempt to float off the ground, if there is no other option possible, and you are willing to take the risks.
EMI Can Also Often Affect The Quality of Internet On Your Router
Also EMI problems in a building can also be concurrently affecting your Internet connection, so try an LTE modem too -- some players get better esports over LTE than over an interference-prone Internet connection (DSL jitter, cable jitter, etc) caused by the same building's EMI noise affecting the modem equipment. You can attempt to bring the router into your lifted-ground bubble, but that risks adding a conductor (telephone wire or coaxial cable wire) to the outside world. You could create two bubbles (one for your router bubble, battery powering your router) and WiFi/optical to your computer rig bubble.
In some cases, you can try your best and also attempt to offgrid your modem equipment in a separate ground bubble (e.g. UPS-battery-powered router that only touches outside world via the DSL wire or the coaxial cable), but you still want to WiFi/optical hop it over to your compute rig ground bubble. Basically two lifted-ground bubble of EMI safety, with an air gap in between. That may reduce your DSL/cable noise further by separating electrical-wire EMI a little bit more away from your Internet stuff.
EMI can also still interfere with the Internet outside the building, so you may have to play ISP roulette -- trying FTTH, cable, DSL, LTE. And you can't fix Internet problems further away from you. This can get horrendously complicated to try to fix it all, but at least you have some options to try if you have money and don't want to move.