ScuffedBits was eventually able to successfully do this, finishing one round on easy in 4 minutes and 35 seconds, with the PC’s batteries running out at the same time — but that wasn’t enough. They wanted to completely beat the game on AA power alone, so they replaced their LED monitor’s power supply with eight rechargeable AA batteries. They didn’t have to replace their wireless mouse and keyboard, though, as they were already running on AAs. This time, the PC only lasted for 2 minutes and 14 seconds, probably because they didn’t use fresh batteries.
They seemed happy with the results of their experiment, but, for one last attempt, they decided to install a GPU and run the game at full screen. They switched over to battery power alone, and, to their surprise, the “gaming” desktop PC actually ran for around nine seconds.
This fun and wacky experiment just showed how far battery technology has moved forward, allowing us to get relatively good gaming performance even on small handhelds. A few commenters suggested that the YouTuber try again, but to use laptop components designed for low power draws this time around. I would actually be interested to see how many batteries you need to run one of the highly-efficient Snapdragon laptops or an Apple silicon device.
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Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He\u2019s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he\u2019s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics. ","collapsible":{"enabled":true,"maxHeight":250,"readMoreText":"Read more","readLessText":"Read less"}}), "https://slice.vanilla.futurecdn.net/13-4-18/js/authorBio.js"); } else { console.error('%c FTE ','background: #9306F9; color: #ffffff','no lazy slice hydration function available'); } Jowi Morales Social Links Navigation Contributing Writer Jowi Morales is a tech enthusiast with years of experience working in the industry. He’s been writing with several tech publications since 2021, where he’s been interested in tech hardware and consumer electronics.
Notton What he needs is a Battery Management System. You'd think that 1.5V \00d7 8 = 12V, but that only happens when there is zero load. Once a load is applied, that 1.5V quickly droops to around 1.2V, and you now have a 9.6V power line. A BMS will adjust the output voltage so it's a constant 12V, even if the input fluctuates. That and don't use AA cell Carbon, or Alkaline batteries for high sustained loads like this. Use C or D cell NiMH, or AGM (Lead Acid), assuming they don't want to use Lithium of any sort. Lastly, is this really "enthusiast" stuff? To me, it's more like experimenting with an electrical hobby. Reply
Roland Of Gilead Notton said: it's more like experimenting with an electrical hobby. That's sounds like 'enthusiast' to me! Different horses for different courses, I guess. Reply
Dementoss Notton said: What he needs is a Battery Management System. No, what he needs is to not waste so many batteries. Reply
USAFRet Dementoss said: No, what he needs is to not waste so many batteries. We've had many people here wanting to use desktop level parts to build a "laptop". The answer always came back in that you'd need a car battery size thing to run more than a couple of minutes. This just proves it. Reply
Gururu Notton said: Lastly, is this really "enthusiast" stuff? To me, it's more like experimenting with an electrical hobby. What he does defines enthusiast perfectly. You can't buy your way to be an enthusiast, you just need to apply yourself. Reply
ezst036 USAFRet said: We've had many people here wanting to use desktop level parts to build a "laptop". The answer always came back in that you'd need a car battery size thing to run more than a couple of minutes. This just proves it. This is basically a non-sequitor. All you would battery-wise need is an "ATX battery" – a form factor for lithium ions. Something which does not currently exist. Laptops would also need their own ATX form factor spec. An LTX so to say, along with a standardized and agreed upon spec for the video/power connectors and a few other things that round out this sort of specification. The ATX form factor is not just about motherboard shape, its also about the connectors. power supply, and the case/housing. All the things missing from the laptop context. Reply
USAFRet ezst036 said: This is basically a non-sequitor. All you would need is an "ATX battery" – a form factor for lithium ions. Something which does not currently exist. I mean this just in the context of the battery itself. Laptops would also need their own ATX form factor spec. An LTX so to say, along with a standardized and agreed upon spec for the video/power connectors and a few other things that round out this sort of specification. The ATX form factor is not just about motherboard shape, its also about the connectors and power supply. All the things missing from the laptop context. Capacity. Sure, you can get a desktop system to run on batteries. I have a 12v jump starter for the car. I also have a 12v-110v inverter. I could easily plug a PC into that and get it to boot up. The question is…for how long? This construct seems to sort of answer the question. Reply
DavidC1 Notton said: A BMS will adjust the output voltage so it's a constant 12V, even if the input fluctuates. That's not what a BMS does. Reply
Notton DavidC1 said: That's not what a BMS does. Yeah, I forgot the exact name for it. That thingamajig that regulates output voltage so it doesn't droop too low or high doohickey and possibly has a circuit to protect batteries from being over discharged. Reply
Key considerations
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Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/desktops/enthusiast-runs-desktop-pc-off-56-aa-batteries-intel-computer-lasts-less-than-5-minutes-while-playing-minesweeper#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
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