PCIe power drawl

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'm curious how much power is being drawn from my graphics card on the PCIe slot. What type of tools or software do I need to measure it?

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well it has to be less than 75w according to Asus https://www.asus.com/support/faq/104406/. You'd have to do power tests with and without the card running the same series of stress tests to determine how many watts your card is drawing.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Well it has to be less than 75w according to Asus https://www.asus.com/support/faq/104406/. You'd have to do power tests with and without the card running the same series of stress tests to determine how many watts your card is drawing.

Thanks! And by that you mean from the wall? Also curious about the best method by "with and without the card..."

 

[digitaldurandal]

Well it has to be less than 75w according to Asus https://www.asus.com/support/faq/104406/. You'd have to do power tests with and without the card running the same series of stress tests to determine how many watts your card is drawing.

That isn't going to tell him how much power PCIE is drawing.

I believe Toms Hardware posted their testing method. I would search that. However, I am not sure why you would bother with it seems like a waste of your time.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

That isn't going to tell him how much power PCIE is drawing.

I believe Toms Hardware posted their testing method. I would search that. However, I am not sure why you would bother with it seems like a waste of your time.

Thanks, I might check into it. I'm just curious. AMD has an issue with their cards and it just got me thinking. I'm always curious about stuff like this and if there is an effect on the computer system environment.

 

[tnt118]

PCPerspective also had some notes about how they tested the power (which was a different method than Tom's Hardware) but that it took some specialized equipment.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

You'd have to make a special pci-e riser and measure the current going through the 12 and 3.3V.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

You'd have to make a special pci-e riser and measure the current going through the 12 and 3.3V.

Like some type of terminals coming off the 12 & 3v points on the PCIe slot?

 

[LTC8K6]

Like some type of terminals coming off the 12 & 3v points on the PCIe slot?

Yes. Something to break out the connections so that you can make measurements.

But AMD's new drivers seem to have greatly reduced the problem, so I would say it's no longer a worry.

 

[Wall Street]

Like some type of terminals coming off the 12 & 3v points on the PCIe slot?

What they do is use a PCIe riser. They run the data lines straight from the PCIe slot to the card in the riser, but they reroute all of the power lines through two clamp multimeters, one for 12 volt and one for 3.3 volt, which measure the current and the use two additional multimeters to measure the voltage. Current times voltage equals power.

Not incredibly difficult to do, but also something you are unlikely to do at home unless you have the soldering equipment and 4x high-end multimeters and are familiar with using that equipment. It costs a lot and the time and expense only makes sense for professional reviewers.

EDIT:
Here is a link to Tom's Hardware's power test setup. You can see the first picture with the multimeter proves for measuring voltage, and the pics below with the 3.3V and 12V power lines diverted through current clamps.