Summary
56 AA alkaline batteries ran a PC long enough to boot Windows and play Minesweeper for ~2m15s.
Using the GPU kills battery life in seconds; capacitors were needed to handle power spikes.
It’s impractical: PSUs are cheaper, greener, and the one part you shouldn’t skimp on.
Back in the ’90s, handheld gaming devices were hungry for batteries. I remember going through them by the packet to power my Pokémon Blue playthrough, and while I never owned a Sega Game Gear, I heard they chewed through six AAs in five hours flat. Battery companies probably made a tidy profit off of handheld consoles.
Well, these days, handheld consoles use far more reliable rechargeable batteries. But what if we went back to those glorious ’90s days and tried running an entire motherboard off batteries? While it certainly will never replace a proper PSU connected to the mains, I’m actually stunned as to how long a computer can last on them, even if it’s not very long at all.
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A PC needs 56 AA alkaline batteries for a single game of Minesweeper
I’m surprised it managed to get past the login screen
As spotted by Hackaday, this impractical yet cool feat was performed by ScuffedBits on YouTube. They were browsing AliExpress and found an ATX cable that accepts 12V DC input, so they got to thinking about how to make it accept AA batteries. They figured that, if they used eight 1.5V batteries, it would be enough to power the PC; however, the current was too small to keep the PC alive. The same was true for 16 and 24 batteries.
They remember that alkaline batteries are better at outputting current, so they began using those instead. Ultimately, they had to use a bank of 56 batteries, working together to power the PC. They had to add some capacitors to help smooth out the spikes in power demand, too.
So, how long did this battery-powered PC last? Well, if you used it to boot into Windows and play a round of Minesweeper, you get about 2 minutes and 15 seconds worth of juice; enough to beat a small level, at least. If you want to use the GPU, the PC’s life gets even shorter; after a few seconds of running a 3D game, the batteries gave in.
The bad news is that 56 AA batteries are not a replacement for a proper PSU. The good news is, a PSU is a lot cheaper and more eco-friendly than buying 56 AA batteries every time you need to send an email. It’s also the main unit keeping your entire PC ‘alive’, which is why it’s one of the PC hardware parts you should never skimp on.