[n1000]

Also, aren’t desktop CPUs constrained by thermal load at some point or can we use ever bigger coolers? Personally, I find it almost obscene that my desktop PC consumes roughly as much as a good old incandescent lightbulb (60+W) while idling. My laptop uses as much under full load.

[Synaesthesia]

Your PC uses 60w idling? Is that with screen? It's not too much in that case. CPUS and GPUS have gotten a lot better at idle power consumption, and PSUs are also quite efficient these days.

[n1000]

As discussed here [1], a fairly beefy Ryzen/RTX setup is often found idling around that number.

[1] https://hardforum.com/threads/killawatt-owners-whats-the-idl...

[namibj]

Downvolt and downclock your RAM when possible. Turn off VRM phases when not needed (also on the GPU; RAM should be handled properly already on it).

Allow package-C6. Turn on PCIe power saving stuff.

There is a bunch of stuff that mildly hurts performance and greatly improves efficiency in intermittent workloads, by letting hardware sleep/power-off when not needed.