AMD 7950 vs Intel HD 4000 Power Consumption?

[geokilla]

So each GPU review found on the Internet usually comes with a power consumption table that outlines and gives an idea of how much power consumption a GPU consumes during idle and load. Since I've always used my GPU at full power for Folding@Home and cryptocoin mining, my computer's power consumption has always been quite high. However today my mom said our hydro bill might be as high as $200/month and I'm pretty sure half of that is due to me and my computer. Therefore I decided to remove my XFX 7950 and use the Intel HD4000 in my rig in sig when I'm not gaming, and I've decided to stop Folding@Home and cryptocoin mining for a short while.

Anyone knows what the power consumption is going to be like for my computer now that my GPU has been removed? Hardware Canucks had theirs consuming around 170W at idle, while AnandTech has it at 110W. That's quite a huge difference! Is it even worthwhile to do this?

If it matters, my CPU is still overclocked and overvolted. I guess I should run it at default speeds.

 

[Termie]

A 3570K with two hard drives, running off an AX750?

It will be right around 50W idle. At levels this low, hard drives make a huge difference with regard to power consumption. You have two (or more?) listed. That's going to be the biggest user of energy after the CPU. Figure each one is about 7W idle, unless it's a green drive. Also, if your overclock is using a fixed voltage, your power use will be about 5W higher. I was assuming in the estimate above that 1.16V used an offset.

While using the system, it will of course fluctuate, but typical surfing, word processing, etc., won't push it much beyond 70W.

 

[Vesku]

Isn't there Lucid software to pass the 7950 output through the onboard video connector? With the proper configuration won't the 7950 be in that deep sleep mode and only use a few watts? In other words you may not have to go to the trouble of reinstalling the 7950 every time you want to game. Worth looking into.

Assuming it can actually function that way and your board maker ponied up for the Lucid software, Biostar had it available on my motherboards download page. I did not look up whether passthrough is viable, though, since I use two monitors.

 

[tential]

Didn't we already do this before and figure out that a PC running 24/7 won't run your bill up that high? I SWEAR anandtech has done a review, other sites have done reviews, yet this same question still pops up everywhere.....

 

[Ken g6]

However today my mom said our hydro bill might be as high as $200/month and I'm pretty sure half of that is due to me and my computer.

That sounds like an overestimate. It looks like your rate is not more than $0.13/KWh. Half your use is $100. So...

$100 / .13 / 30 / 24 * 1000 ~= 1000 watts on average 24/7.

Your PSU couldn't even draw that much. I suggest you get a Kill-A-Watt and find out what is drawing that much. Strong contenders include electric heating things, light bulbs, and possibly a plasma TV or something. You might also check your monitor's usage - it might be more than your computer after you do this.

 

[KingFatty]

Yeah I disagree with OP's data. How can a video card at idle pull over 100 Watts? No way. I think it's more like 5 watts, or when in the special sleep mode that the 7950 supports, like 1 watt or effectively powered off.

So, no need to uninstall anything. Just don't load the video card, and allow it to go into low power idle state.

 

[iiiankiii]

if the cpu is stock with the power saving feature on, it will take about 50-60 watts at the wall at idle. With the 7950, it shouldn't be more than 400 watts at load. At $0.15 kwh, you're looking around $43 for the month at 24/7 full load. Something else is sucking up the rest of the power.

 

[geokilla]

Yeah I disagree with OP's data. How can a video card at idle pull over 100 Watts? No way. I think it's more like 5 watts, or when in the special sleep mode that the 7950 supports, like 1 watt or effectively powered off.

So, no need to uninstall anything. Just don't load the video card, and allow it to go into low power idle state.

I'm going with data provided by Hardware Canucks and AnandTech. I highly doubt the 7950 draws 5W.

That sounds like an overestimate. It looks like your rate is not more than $0.13/KWh. Half your use is $100.

if the cpu is stock with the power saving feature on, it will take about 50-60 watts at the wall at idle. With the 7950, it shouldn't be more than 400 watts at load. At $0.15 kwh, you're looking around $43 for the month at 24/7 full load. Something else is sucking up the rest of the power.

I live here guys... Definitely not overestimating. My electricity rate is significantly higher than that. We're on time-of-use rates. I don't have the hydro bill right now because I don't know where it is, but when I see it from time to time, and all the fees are nearly as much as the cost of electricity itself, if not more. Anyways, here's a breakdown from the Toronto Hydro website Ken g6 provided. Take a look:

12.9 ¢/kWh Highest Price (On-peak)
10.9 ¢/kWh Mid Price (Mid-peak)
7.2 ¢/kWh Lowest Price (Off-peak)

-----------

Transmission Charge: 1.368 ¢/kWh
Customer Charge: $19.11/30 days
Distributor Charge: 1.521¢/kWhSmart Metering Entity Charge Rate Rider (NEW): $0.78 per 30 daysRecovery of Foregone Revenue Rate Rider (NEW)
Disposition of Deferral/Variance Accounts Rate Rider (NEW): (-0.058) ¢/kWh
Application of Tax Change Rate Rider (NEW): (-0.010) ¢/kWh

------------

HST (Tax) of 13%

 

[Termie]

A 7950 at idle adds another 12W or so. I'd probably just quit the mining and folding, and call it a day. Those were your big power draws, not an idling 7950.

 

[tential]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2668/2

I don't get it OP. We all posted tons of evidence to disprove you.

If you want us to say "Hey, you're right your system costs $100 a month" then write that in on the OP. Say "Only come in this thread if you're going to agree with me." If you want the truth backed by articles, math, and science then listen to every poster in this thread.

Edit: Going off that anandtech article of 400 Watts at load with a HD7970, and off that anandtech article on power consumption, iiankiii is right on the money with his around $40 USD a month quote.

 

[el etro]

System consumption varies with the used system. But i highly doubt that a system can consume more than 100 watts AC at idling...

 

[KingFatty]

What is your planned usage? The 7950 can go into a "long idle" mode where it consumes less than 3 watts (at least that's the most specific info I could find on it). The long idle is when your screen has already gone black and no video is being displayed. So, you can make your computer do that.

Also, consider setting the computer to go to sleep after a certain amount of idle time, which will cut a lot of power outage.

But I'm just saying that the 7950 would be fine for keeping in the computer if you are concerned about idle power consumption with the screen off.

But when you say idle, maybe you are talking about non-gaming but active usage, like browsing the internet? Maybe in that scenario the 7950 would consume more power than your integrated graphics. But it's not much difference, at least to where you are worrying about power consumption.

You might want to consider buying a kill-a-watt power meter. Plug that in to the wall, then plug your device into the kill-a-watt, and you can literally watch how much power is being used. So you can see if your computer is the biggest power hog, or maybe it's something else. I've heard that the TV set top boxes (cable, DVR, etc.) consume a lot of power constantly, so if you have one or more of those, maybe you could unplug them or use a power strip with a switch to easily turn them off during the day.

But seriously, just get a kill-a-watt and walk around the house testing various things and you'll get a better understanding of what is sucking up all your power and causing the big bills.

 

[TemjinGold]

Let's do some back of the envelope math:

$200 - 13% in taxes = $176.99
$176.99 - $19.11 (customer charge) = $157.88

Your per Kwh rate (assuming ALL of it is top tier, which is an overestimate) is 12.9 cents + 1.368 cents (transmission) + 1.521 (distributor) = 15.789 cents.

$157.88 / .15789 = 999.94 Kwh (let's call that 1,000)

So at the overestimate (where ALL your usage is at the top tier), your household is using 1,000 Kwh. Realistically, you are using around 1200-1300 for the whole bill. Half of that is 600-650 Kwh. I'll let the experts here figure out how many watts that is your PC would be drawing 24/7 to hit that usage.

Which begs the question: Why are you guys on the Time of Use and NOT the Tiered Pricing? It sounds like you'd save a bundle from being on the other system.

 

[blackened23]

Are you using offset voltage on your CPU? What I would do is run CPU-Z for a bit and ensure that it is using idle voltage as it should be; at idle speeds it should be using less than 1V and using next to no power. As far as the GPU goes, at idle it should not use a lot of power. But again, you should keep an eye on clockspeeds and offset voltages while the system is "idle".

Some background programs or system tray apps can cause your CPU or GPU can kick into full voltage for whatever reason. I've had mouse applications kick my GPUs into 3d clocks - that was an easy fix with adaptive power management, but nonetheless. If you want to manage your power, what I would do is go through extra lengths to ensure that your offset voltages are applying during idle as they should be. Sometimes if you don't keep an eye on it, you'll have some program doing wack things that will cause your CPU or GPU to kick into maximum voltage, which is obviously bad for power consumption.

As well, you can tinker with offset CPU voltage and offset GPU voltage - maybe make an MSI afterburner profile - to use extremely low offsets during idle.

Just some thoughts there. I agree that your system should use less than 110W at idle. But it all depends entirely on your idle CPU + GPU voltage levels. That is super important if you want to optimize your idle power consumption.

 

[Lonyo]

Therefore I decided to remove my XFX 7950 and use the Intel HD4000 in my rig in sig when I'm not gaming, and I've decided to stop Folding@Home and cryptocoin mining for a short while.

Just do that. No need to remove the GPU.
Duh?

 

[coffeejunkee]

Where did you find the 110W idle? AT review shows 55W idle with igp and 75W with discrete gpu: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/20. PSU used is not mentioned, but if it's the usual 1250W one it will not be very efficient at those loads.

If you keep c-states enabled overclocking the cpu doesn't increase idle power at all, even with fixed vcore. I see you have your gpu overclocked as well, that's probably using more (check if it goes to proper idle freqs.)

While using igp I have seen my system power go down to 32W (hdd's spinning down at that point).

 

[wand3r3r]

Let's do some back of the envelope math:

$200 - 13% in taxes = $176.99
$176.99 - $19.11 (customer charge) = $157.88

Your per Kwh rate (assuming ALL of it is top tier, which is an overestimate) is 12.9 cents + 1.368 cents (transmission) + 1.521 (distributor) = 15.789 cents.

$157.88 / .15789 = 999.94 Kwh (let's call that 1,000)

So at the overestimate (where ALL your usage is at the top tier), your household is using 1,000 Kwh. Realistically, you are using around 1200-1300 for the whole bill. Half of that is 600-650 Kwh. I'll let the experts here figure out how many watts that is your PC would be drawing 24/7 to hit that usage.

Which begs the question: Why are you guys on the Time of Use and NOT the Tiered Pricing? It sounds like you'd save a bundle from being on the other system.

I've been running dual monitors, dual PSUs (the 2nd one is jumped to be always on, unsure if it's also using more power), 3-4 high end GPUs, multiple HDDs and my watt meter is just under 1kw. As your math shows, the household is around the 1kw.

Considering what I am running for 1kw he's only using a fraction of it with a single 7950.

 

[geokilla]

Thanks guys for the clarifications. I guess I'll plug it back in and leave it in next time. Too lazy to plug it in right now. I'll find my hydro bill within the next hour too.

What is your planned usage? The 7950 can go into a "long idle" mode where it consumes less than 3 watts (at least that's the most specific info I could find on it). The long idle is when your screen has already gone black and no video is being displayed. So, you can make your computer do that.

But when you say idle, maybe you are talking about non-gaming but active usage, like browsing the internet? Maybe in that scenario the 7950 would consume more power than your integrated graphics. But it's not much difference, at least to where you are worrying about power consumption.

I was talking about idle as in active usage such as Internet browsing and using Microsoft Word to do homework, etc. Definitely not the long idle thing that you guys were talking about. But thanks for the clarification.

Which begs the question: Why are you guys on the Time of Use and NOT the Tiered Pricing? It sounds like you'd save a bundle from being on the other system.

We don't have a choice. We are pretty much forced onto time of use in order to help "customers save" according to Toronto Hydro. But in reality, hydro bills go up.

Where did you find the 110W idle? AT review shows 55W idle with igp and 75W with discrete gpu: http://www.anandtech.com/show/5771/the-intel-ivy-bridge-core-i7-3770k-review/20. PSU used is not mentioned, but if it's the usual 1250W one it will not be very efficient at those loads.

I was looking at the links that I provided.

 

[Headfoot]

You might want to consider buying a kill-a-watt power meter. Plug that in to the wall, then plug your device into the kill-a-watt, and you can literally watch how much power is being used. So you can see if your computer is the biggest power hog, or maybe it's something else. I've heard that the TV set top boxes (cable, DVR, etc.) consume a lot of power constantly, so if you have one or more of those, maybe you could unplug them or use a power strip with a switch to easily turn them off during the day.

Best advice in this thread. You'll probably discover some other power hogs other than just cyrpto mining

 

[coffeejunkee]

I was looking at the links that I provided.

I see now. But that's a X79 system which uses considerably more than a Z77 system.