Earlier quoted context omitted.
Digression: Is it true that every single watt my CPU/server/electronics consume is ultimately turned into heat? To put it another way, does a server under a constant 500W produce the exact same amount of heat as a dumb 500W electric space heater? Excluding things like the tiny amount of energy that gets sent out on CAT5 cables, which I believe still gets turned into heat just elsewhere. I think this is true, but it’s…
In short, yes. Exactly (well minus a few used to spin fans and hard drives). Here's one source from a quick search: https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Gaming-PC-vs-Spac... I remember seeing a paper referenced here once explaining why that energy loss is actually necessary, but I don't seem to have it saved anymore.
Taking a stab at explaining the energy loss…
When computing you are reducing local entropy (e.g. achieving a certain pattern of electric charges in chips and a certain pattern of pixels on the screen) while still increasing global entropy (the second law of thermodynamic). Heat dissipation from the local system to its surroundings accounts for the difference.
This is analogous to Schrodinger’s description of life where life forms increase the entropy of their surroundings to maintain their own low entropy.