American circuits are designed to support a constant 15amp load, meaning you get 1500 ish watts. One 4090 overclocked and one high end Intel CPU overclocked, plus the cooling for all that, plus other parts, gets you uncomfortably close to that.

My hope is that this limit forces the computer industry to put at least one cycle into actual efficiency instead of just promising a node shrink will magically fix things, since we only have a few of those left really.

I shouldn't need to run a damn space heater to play a stupid video game. At this rate, you have to think about how much video game you plan to play in your electricity budget!

You can increase wire size a little and run 20 amps without much trouble.

Yes but most of your house's power outlets are sitting behind a 15amp fuse.

Most video games don't require high-end gaming PCs, though.

American circuits are rated to _12_ amps continuous load, peak of 15 amps (see https://diy.stackexchange.com/questions/72733/what-is-the-ma...)

Contrast this to my house in NZ where each circuit is rated to 20 amps continuous and supplies a double socket rated to 10 amps continuous per socket at 230V (nominal). I can easily draw 2.3kW from a standard socket for 24 hours and have no issues.

This is really handy in a country that doesn’t believe in central heating…

Actually, electric heat and hot water in the US is frequently running off the 240 volt circuits too, as well as electric ranges, electric clothes dryers, pretty much anything that takes a lot of power. These items use various standards of plugs and receptacles and the circuits are usually rated to 30 amps (peak).

The US 120 volt, 15amp plugs are pretty much just for things you plug in and other light duty equipment. For anything serious, you can wire up a 120v20amp outlet or even the 240v 30amp circuit.