Interesting thought experiment - is a pc exactly as efficient as a resistive space heater? In a pc some tiny amount of electricity is converted to light and sound and kinetic energy instead of heat. But then again, don't those other forms of energy just eventually just turn back into heat again? Hmmm...

Thank you, this thought had occurred to me recently, and I was wondering if it was accurate.

Because the usefulness of waste heat in the winter is no reason to intentionally run an inefficient server if a lower power option is available.

Some might think ( as has been posted in this thread by others), "I'll run superPI to heat my room."

I interpreted the sentiment from OP that it was just reframing the reality in either case: the server is going to run, and it's going to generate heat.

You can either frame that reality as "waste heat is being generated" or "my furnace doesn't have to work as hard"

The efficiency of a heat pump in part comes from the temperature of the heat source. For an air source heat pump it will be more efficient at higher outside temperatures and less efficient and lower outside temperatures, and at extreme temperatures may be less efficient than resistive heating

Technically those are orders of magnitude. 2x or 3x efficiency compared to resistive heating is quite a bit. But in the scheme of getting actual heat into an actual home and real world energy costs it's not a huge difference