OCed CPU Power consumption

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Say I buy a 3800+ which draws 60W of power according to XBit during load. This is like 5 amps on a 12V rail. Safe for any crappy PSU.

How do I calculate how much power my CPU will draw if I overclock it (given that I know the voltage I need and the frequency I will be OCed to)?

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

bump

 

[TankGuys]

Actually, your CPU doesn't pull 12 Volts in the first place, more like 2-4 (if memory serves) so the current is actually a lot higher than 5 amps. It's a bit tough for you to get an exact idea of how much power your OC will use. As a general guide, if you increase the voltage by 10%, you can assume you'll dissipate 10% more power.

 

[rise]

by my very unscientific testing it adds ~30% under load. i've seen that info somewhere though, i can't remember where.

 

[Lonyo]

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

The equation for power consumption of overclocked CPU:
OC Watts = Stock Watts * (OC Mhz / Stock Mhz) * (OC Vcore / Stock Vcore)²

Not sure how reliable it is, but it *sounds* valid.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Damn so a 3000+ overclocked could easily hit 120 watts...

 

[imported_whatever]

Actually, it should be stock * OC MHz/stock * (OC vCore/stock)^2, although in many cases they increase even faster than that.