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Topic: How to figure out total power draw of a GPU? (Read 2656 times)

full member
Activity: 558
Merit: 194
September 23, 2017, 05:47:22 AM
#25
If you really want to track power consumption over time for many rigs, this is the way to go:

http://www.brultech.com/greeneye/

Each GEM will do 32 rigs.  You can add more GEMs as needed if you have more than that.
newbie
Activity: 68
Merit: 0
September 23, 2017, 05:29:28 AM
#24
Corsair Link shows my AC input, DC output, efficiency, temperature, fan speed, etc.

I also have the Corsair PSU. But it is expensive.
I got Corsair refurbished units for 50% off.

I have the refurbished units, 30% of them died after a year.
member
Activity: 126
Merit: 10
If you live in US, then just go to any city library. They usually have powermeters. I borrowed one for a month to check my exact usage. Other option is just to buy one. They are around 20 bucks
newbie
Activity: 48
Merit: 0
I am surprised so many people are recommending the kill-a-watt when in testing they prove to be inaccurate. The numbers can be skewed by +-10% with a kill-a-watt. Specifically with PC power supplies there are issues of it reading wrong and showing 100% efficiency. The proper way to measure your power is with an amp clamp on your power cord. You test the amperage then multiply it by the voltage to get wattage.

Say for example your rig is pulling 7.3 amps at 116 volts. With those numbers your rig is drawing 847 watts.

Test with 1 card, then 2, etc to see what your cards are actually pulling.

Can you really read amp with an amp clamp on power cord? Have you did that cause as far as I know Amp clamp are meant to be used on a single phase conductor ?
hero member
Activity: 630
Merit: 502
Corsair Link shows my AC input, DC output, efficiency, temperature, fan speed, etc.

I also have the Corsair PSU. But it is expensive.
I got Corsair refurbished units for 50% off.
hero member
Activity: 756
Merit: 560
I am surprised so many people are recommending the kill-a-watt when in testing they prove to be inaccurate. The numbers can be skewed by +-10% with a kill-a-watt. Specifically with PC power supplies there are issues of it reading wrong and showing 100% efficiency. The proper way to measure your power is with an amp clamp on your power cord. You test the amperage then multiply it by the voltage to get wattage.

Say for example your rig is pulling 7.3 amps at 116 volts. With those numbers your rig is drawing 847 watts.

Test with 1 card, then 2, etc to see what your cards are actually pulling.
newbie
Activity: 68
Merit: 0
Corsair Link shows my AC input, DC output, efficiency, temperature, fan speed, etc.

I also have the Corsair PSU. But it is expensive.
hero member
Activity: 630
Merit: 502
Corsair Link shows my AC input, DC output, efficiency, temperature, fan speed, etc.
full member
Activity: 298
Merit: 100
i was looking for the same answers but everyone kept saying get one of these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000RGF29Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
So what i did was run the comp with no gpu and just added one by one and logging how much more wattage was being drawn.
The weird thing about this is when adding a certain amount of GPUs the wattage would jump extremely high...
(example: with 2gpus i would get 300 at the wall so around 100watts per card, then when adding a 3rd i would get 450watts!)
So IMO it will never be accurate per card only as whole machine running and taking wattage at the wall.
hero member
Activity: 1498
Merit: 597
Hi,

Can someone tell me how to calculate the total power drawn by a GPU?


So are u asking about the total gpu power draw ? For that u can use GPU-Z , that software going to give you a very accurate reading about total gpu power draw ...

If you are asking about the total power draw for your graphics card ,included GPU , Memory modules , voltage regulators , cooling fans ...etc .... that is a different story Smiley  Wink

You can measure the gpu's power consumption with a multimeter. There are cheap multimeters available on the net, these can give you an decent measurement.

could you do some presentation or write a how to do instruction ? how can you measure the GPU power draw on the graphics card with multimeter Huh    Grin


I also notice the power increase when the temperature is higher.

when the temp is higher the card cooling fans working much harder Smiley
jr. member
Activity: 74
Merit: 1
Like others have said, Kill-a-watt devices work.

Also, a digital UPS or PDU can measure load as well.
sr. member
Activity: 518
Merit: 268
You can measure the gpu's power consumption with a multimeter. There are cheap multimeters available on the net, these can give you an decent measurement.
newbie
Activity: 68
Merit: 0
only socket meter


tested on my last rig with two 280x:

gpu 1050mv, ambient temp 25c, gpu's temp 70c-80c = 550w-600w from wall
gpu 1050mv, ambient temp 20c, gpu's temp 60c-70c = 450w-500w from wall

meaning with same setting but with just room temperature change possible to lower consumption so without live meter you can't know how much you use

I also notice the power increase when the temperature is higher.
sr. member
Activity: 252
Merit: 250
only socket meter


tested on my last rig with two 280x:

gpu 1050mv, ambient temp 25c, gpu's temp 70c-80c = 550w-600w from wall
gpu 1050mv, ambient temp 20c, gpu's temp 60c-70c = 450w-500w from wall

meaning with same setting but with just room temperature change possible to lower consumption so without live meter you can't know how much you use
sr. member
Activity: 418
Merit: 250
Kill-a-watt.
newbie
Activity: 8
Merit: 0
Using the Kill-a-watt meter is the way to go.

A method is as follows:

1) Have the rig setup and running using its nominal mining software settings and the kill-a-watt installed. Start with the full complement of cards. Make a measurement on your N cards.

2) Power down the system and completely remove one card. Setup and run the rig with N - 1 cards.

3) Do 2) till you get down to one card.

4) Plot Power on the y axis versus card number on the x axis. Fit a straight line (ax + b).

5) b, the y intercept will be the non GPU power consumed. Subtract b from the power draw for the full N card system. Divide by N and you have the power draw per GPU.

To save time, I just do this once for a particular MB/GPU/processor combination. The important part is getting the b measurement. As a working assumption, I assume b is constant  going forward. For a ASUS Z87 plus with celeron, which runs 5 cards, b is about 25 watts.

That's kind of overdoing it and if you want super accurate numbers it's also skewed since GPU mining also requires some CPU so without cards you get less consumption if the CPU is downclocked.

I just assume each rig uses 60 watts and work around that.

And since the rig will always be running, it's advised to measure the power consumption at the wall with all the cards being idle (mining software not running) and measure it when mining is running for a while. The difference is your true GPU power consumption.

Ok that sounds like a good approach. thank you!

jaja
newbie
Activity: 68
Merit: 0
I do have the kill-a-watt plug but for an in-depth analysis it is not good. I can't go an see day-by-day power draw. Plus there are stories of it burning up when used with high wattage use. For that reason I am afraid of using it with my rig.

So are we saying that the on-board sensors in cards are not accurate?

thanks
jaja

With a kill-a-watt, you can estimate the power draw of a single GPU by replacement method.
legendary
Activity: 2002
Merit: 1051
ICO? Not even once.
Using the Kill-a-watt meter is the way to go.

A method is as follows:

1) Have the rig setup and running using its nominal mining software settings and the kill-a-watt installed. Start with the full complement of cards. Make a measurement on your N cards.

2) Power down the system and completely remove one card. Setup and run the rig with N - 1 cards.

3) Do 2) till you get down to one card.

4) Plot Power on the y axis versus card number on the x axis. Fit a straight line (ax + b).

5) b, the y intercept will be the non GPU power consumed. Subtract b from the power draw for the full N card system. Divide by N and you have the power draw per GPU.

To save time, I just do this once for a particular MB/GPU/processor combination. The important part is getting the b measurement. As a working assumption, I assume b is constant  going forward. For a ASUS Z87 plus with celeron, which runs 5 cards, b is about 25 watts.

That's kind of overdoing it and if you want super accurate numbers it's also skewed since GPU mining also requires some CPU so without cards you get less consumption if the CPU is downclocked.

I just assume each rig uses 60 watts and work around that.

And since the rig will always be running, it's advised to measure the power consumption at the wall with all the cards being idle (mining software not running) and measure it when mining is running for a while. The difference is your true GPU power consumption.
hero member
Activity: 578
Merit: 508
Using the Kill-a-watt meter is the way to go.

A method is as follows:

1) Have the rig setup and running using its nominal mining software settings and the kill-a-watt installed. Start with the full complement of cards. Make a measurement on your N cards.

2) Power down the system and completely remove one card. Setup and run the rig with N - 1 cards.

3) Do 2) till you get down to one card.

4) Plot Power on the y axis versus card number on the x axis. Fit a straight line (ax + b).

5) b, the y intercept will be the non GPU power consumed. Subtract b from the power draw for the full N card system. Divide by N and you have the power draw per GPU.

To save time, I just do this once for a particular MB/GPU/processor combination. The important part is getting the b measurement. As a working assumption, I assume b is constant  going forward. For a ASUS Z87 plus with celeron, which runs 5 cards, b is about 25 watts.





sr. member
Activity: 784
Merit: 282
Onboard sensors usually are accurate for giving ballpark ranges. Of course, measuring TDP at the wall is best. If you want deeper analysis, there are power meters out there that have daily consumption readings. Bought mine from amazon.
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