[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...