Hosting on RentGPUPower does not mean handing your whole computer over. Two controls in the app decide what a renter gets: a slider for your processor and memory, and a power cap for each graphics card. Your listing shows both, so renters know what they are booking — and what they booked, they keep.

The share slider: your processor and memory

Open the RentGPUPower app and go to the This computer tab. The slider How much of this computer renters can use goes from all of it down to a quarter, and shows what that is in cores and gigabytes as you move it. What renters do not get stays yours: a browser, your documents or a video call keep running smoothly beside a rental.

  • Graphics cards are rented whole. A card is never split between you and a renter: while someone rents it, it is theirs. The slider shares the processor and the memory around it.
  • One slice for the whole computer. When several units are online on one computer — two cards, or a card and the processor itself — the slider sets what renters get across all of them.
  • On Windows and macOS, renters' containers run inside Docker Desktop, so the slider shares what Docker Desktop is given. The numbers the app shows are what renters really get.
  • Your listing says it. Renters see the cores and the memory before they book.

How much to keep for yourself? A processor listing earns by its cores, so the more you share, the more it can earn. Beside a graphics card, memory matters most: AI models are loaded through it, and a card with 24 GB of video memory is easier to rent with at least as much memory next to it.

The power cap: how much a card may draw

Under each NVIDIA card in the app, on Windows and Linux, is a Power cap: no cap, or from 90% down to 50% of the card's usual power, each choice shown in watts. A capped card runs cooler and quieter and uses less electricity. AI work usually slows down by less than the power it saves — graphics cards are at their most efficient below their limit — but it does slow down, so your listing tells renters about the cap before they rent.

Setting it takes a moment the first time:

  • Windows asks for administrator approval once, and the cap stays after a restart.
  • Linux shows a one-line command to run in a terminal (it asks for your password); press Check afterwards. Linux forgets the cap when the computer restarts: the app notices, tells renters the card runs at full power again, and you set it once more.
  • macOS has no power cap: Docker on a Mac gives containers no graphics card at all, so a Mac hosts with its processor.

What a renter has, they keep

A change you make while a unit is rented waits for the rental to end: the renter keeps the share and the power their listing showed when they booked. The one change that applies at once is more power — raising the cap or removing it. Units nobody is renting take any change straight away.

That works both ways: when you rent, the host cannot shrink your machine from under you.

Using your PC while you host

  • Light work beside a rental — browsing, office work, video calls — is what the slider is for.
  • Games, or anything else that needs the graphics card, need the card back. Pause your listing a little before: nobody new can book it, and a rental already running finishes. Then take the card offline once it is free. Going offline in the middle of a rental ends it early, and your reliability score notes it.
  • Keep some disk space free. RentGPUPower always keeps part of your drive free, so a renter can never fill it. When the drive is under that floor, your machine is held back until there is room — see How much free disk space a host needs.

FAQ

Does the slider change what I earn?

For a processor listing, yes: it is priced by the cores renters get. For a graphics card, renters pay for the card; the cores and memory beside it make it more useful to them, and the price is yours to set.

Can I move the slider while someone is renting?

Yes. Units nobody is renting take the change at once; a rented one takes it when its rental ends.

Does a power cap make my card slower?

A little, and renters see the cap before they book. At 70–80% of its power, a card usually keeps most of its speed and runs much cooler and quieter.

Why can I not set a power cap?

The power cap is for NVIDIA cards on Windows and Linux. A Mac rents out its processor, since Docker gives containers on a Mac no graphics card, and other cards run at their own power.