The Truth About Graphics Power Requirements V2, See how many watts you really need Options

[mark84]

Ok folks, after much work I think I've completed my excel sheet updates and with it comes lots of goodies.

First up we now have a new data type, 'typical 3D' power draw. As shown here the type of app/game/benchmark you run can have greatly differing power draws. As such I've divided 3D power into typical and peak.
Typical 3D draw being the maximum a card will draw under normal loading. This being games and the like. Typical should be considered what the card would draw AT MOST whilst playing any regular game. (Most data from the old ASCII graphs now falls into this data set)
Peak 3D is for showing what the card is capable of pulling under extreme circumstances and should be considered extremely unlikely and rare that a card would draw that much. ATM peak is exclusively FurMark benchmark readings, though if I find any other type of benchmark/app that can pull as much or more I'll be sure to include it in this data set.

Second, we now have four graph types:
- Sorted by idle
- Sorted by Typical 3D
- Sorted by card generation
- Sorted by brand/generation (in OP)

The brand/generation one replaces my original ascii graph I had in the OP. The sort by generation (see second post) is similar to the brand/gen graph but all the brands get put together into generationally separated groups. This is simply so you can more easily find a particular card compared to the sort by 3D graph and allows you to see how it stacks up to similar cards of it's generation from other brands.

The sorting in these graphs isn't perfect but it's good enough. They're all sorted by at least 3 levels (though there seems to be a bug in Excel 07 where it won't sort by any more than 3 levels even if I specify more).

Third, I've updated the beginning part of the OP. Added stuff like software in factors that effect power, quick explanations of the 4 power types used in the graphs, and an explanation of the 'data quality' ratings I now have for each card in the graphs. Be sure to read about that last one.

Lastly, many cards got updated during the process, so I'm not going to list them all here, however I did add more:

Added
- Radeon HD 4770
- Radeon HD 4770 CF
- GeForce GTX 275 SLI
- GeForce GTX 275 3x SLI
- Radeon HD 4890 3x CF
- Radeon HD 4890 CF
- Radeon HD 4870 2GB
- GeForce 7950 GX2
- GeForce GTX 285 2GB
- GeForce 9800 GTX+ (55nm) OC
- Radeon HD 4830 (640SP) OC
- Radeon HD 3650 512MB OC
- GeForce 6600 LE
- GeForce PCX 5950
- Radeon X550
- Radeon HD 4830 (800SP)
- Radeon HD 4870 3x CF
- Radeon HD 4870 1GB 4x CF
- Radeon HD 4870 1GB 3x CF
- GeForce 9800 GTX+ 3x SLI
- Radeon HD 4850 4x CF
- Radeon HD 4850 3x CF
- Radeon HD4850 1GB
- GeForce GTS 250 512MB
- Radeon HD 4770 OC

Updated
- LOTS OF CARDS!!

As I can't provide links in the graph pictures of where I've sourced the cards data I'll be adding the URLs in the update posts I make. For past ones check the post from the guy on page two of this thread whom quotes my whole OP. Else just drop me a PM or post in here and I'll gladly give you the URLs I got the data from for a particular card.

The main URLs used for this update include:
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/leistungsaufn...aka/index13.php
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/amd_radeon_hd...aded/index8.php
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/zotac_geforce...275/index13.php
http://ht4u.net/reviews/2009/amd_radeon_hd_4770/index11.php
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/dis...n-hd4770_5.html
http://en.expreview.com/2009/04/24/first-r...-monster.html/9
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3520&p=11
http://en.expreview.com/2009/04/28/first-l...enchmark.html/5
http://en.inpai.com.cn/doc/enshowcont.asp?...amp;pageid=3605
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardw...-review-20.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/964/7/


Let me know what you all think!!
Cheers

This post has been edited by mark84: May 3 2009, 10:34 PM

[urk_alter]

Let me know what you all think

Just my 2c...

...I guess currently I prefer the old ASCII bars: I mean they are more easily readable, even if they don't give a us "the big picture", and surely they help me a lot more to perform one-to-one brief comparisons (at least within the same category).

About the links to the information sources, may I suggest to publish both the versions (the ASCII one with those explicit sources, along with the newer fancy one)? I dunno if it's an easy fix, but if in case I will appreciate your effort very much!

Regards,
Urk

This post has been edited by urk_alter: May 12 2009, 12:48 AM

[mark84]

Hi urk_alter,

I agree that the ASCII graphs have their advantages but the biggest disadvantage was that they're labour intensive to upkeep manually, especially compared to the excel graphs which can be auto generated.

I've had an offer of help from someone regarding automating the generation of an ASCII graph and URLs from my excel sheet, so we'll see what happens.

If anyone wishes to help, post in here http://forums.atomicmpc.com.au/index.php?showtopic=14414 or drop me a PM.

Cheers

[mark84]

OK update!

Thanks to galdarian's kind donation of time and code I can now automagically output all site URLs used for each card into forum code from Excel.
Check out the bottom of the second post in this thread under the other graph types for all the URLs you could want!

ASCII graphs are a possibility still, but time will tell. If coloured text on these forums was enabled it'd more than likely happen.

Also:

Added
- This article to factors that affect power consumtion section.
- GTX 295 (Single PCB)
- HD4750

Updated
- GTS 250 1GB
- GTX 275
- GTX 285 1GB
- HD4850
- HD4890

This post has been edited by mark84: May 22 2009, 10:59 PM

[urk_alter]

Thanks to galdarian's kind donation of time and code I can now automagically output all site URLs used for each card into forum code from Excel.

Hi mark.

Please pay attention to that code: as an example, every GTS250 512MB's URLs point actually to Radeon HD4770's reviews, while every URL is build up as "http://http://..." so that no URL are currently directly reachable.

Hope this helps,

kind regards,
Urk

[mark84]

lol, totally missed that, thanks. I'll look into it.

[galdarian]

lol, totally missed that, thanks. I'll look into it.

I just checked the sheet that you gave me mark and the URL is on the wrong line by the look.

CopyPasta error maybe?

[mark84]

@galdarian/urk_alter - The GTS 250 URLs are fine. If you look at them they benched the HD4770 and GTS 250 in the same review, so are used once in my sheet for each card.

Updated
- Fixed VBA code to remove extra "http://" in front of URLs.
- HD4770 CF
- Renamed HD4750 to HD4730 and updated readings
- HD4850X2 1GB
- GTX 250 2GB

[mark84]

Added
- GeForce GTX 275 1792MB
- FirePro V8700
- FireGL V7700
- FirePro V5700
- FirePro V3750
- FirePro V3700
- Quadro FX 5800
- Quardo FX 4800
- Quardo FX 3800
- Quadro FX 1800
- Quadro FX 580
- Quadro FX 380

Updated
- GeForce 9500 GT 512MB
- GeFerce GTX 295 (single PCB)

[mark84]

Added
- GTS 240
- FirePro V8750
- Radeon HD 4890 2GB OC
- GTX 285 4GB "MARS"

Updated
- GTX 285 2GB
- GeForce GTX 260 216SP (55nm) OC
- HD4730
- HD4890 OC
- GTX 295 (Single PCB)
- Several others from here

[mark84]

Added
- GeForce G210
- GeForce GTX295 4GB "MARS" SLI
- HD5870
- HD5850
- HD5870 CF
- HD4860
- HD4750

Updated
- HD4890 2GB OC
- GeForce GTX295 4GB "MARS"

[mark84]

Added
- HD5850 CF

Updated
- HD5850
- HD5870 CF
- GTX275 SLI
- GTX285 SLI

[mark84]

Added
- GeForce G220
- HD5770
- HD5750
- HD5770 CF

Updated
- HD5850
- HD5870 CF
- HD4850 1GB
- GTX260 216sp 55nm
- HD4870 1GB & 512MB
- GTX 295
- HD4550
- 9400GT
- HD4670
- HD4770
- 9600 GSO
- 9600 gt 512mb
- HD4830
- HD4850 512mb
- GTS 250 1GB
- 9800 GTX 512mb
- GTX 260 216sp 65nm
- HD4890 1GB
- GTX 260
- GTX 285
- GTX 275
- GTX 280
- 9800 GX2
- GTX 295
- HD4870X2
- HD4770 CF

Found some good info HERE that shows that having extra monitors attached to the card can in fact increase idle power draw. Seems to be a function of drivers wanting minimum speeds and what speeds the card needs to actually drive the extra monitor(s). HD5770 has results reversed in the test which I'd guess means driver needs fixing. I've updated the OP accordingly to convey this info.

I've altered the definition of 2D consumption for the graphs. It now includes video playback. Basically 2D is any load that isn't 3D rendering or GPGPU. Current 2D power readings only come from Xbitlabs and they seems to be the only ones doing it. So to potentially get more data for the cards I'll include any video playback data as 2D. GPU's these days tend to have dedicated silicon for video decoding and although I suppose it could use some GPGPU elements it's no where near what a GPGPU or 3d rendering task takes, so should be a good indicator of max non 3d/GPGPU draw. Let me know if you think this is a good/bad idea. I've included some bluray readings on a few of the cards updated this round from HERE

This post has been edited by mark84: Oct 13 2009, 11:31 PM

[mark84]

Added
- HD5750 CF + OC
- HD5870 + HD5850 CF
- HD5870 OC
- HD5850 OC
- HD5970 + OC + CF
- GT240

Updated
- HD5750
- HD5770 + CF
- HD5870 3x CF
- G210

[gamble]

I have two 12v rails at 20A and 17A. One rail is dedicated for PCIe but Im unsure which. To convert to watts, would you take 12*20A=240w and 12*17A=204w to get the watts? If so, going by your chart I need 201w for two HD 4850 in crossfire?

Thanks!

[mark84]

Your PSU usually comes with a chart or diagram showing which plugs are on what rails, so check that out for what is what (might be on the manufacturer's website too).

Also, if you read the whole article, some 75W to 150W will come directly via the PCI-E slots on the mother board, so the whole power draw doesn't come just from the PCI-E power connectors alone.

201W is typical 3D load, I haven't any data on max load, but more than likely max load will be around the 240W mark. (Even more if you OC)

Hope that helps!

[gamble]

Thx man!

[mark84]

Added
- 5670
- GT240 DDR3
- FX 370
- A link to mohawks recommended PSU's thread

Updated
- 5870 CF
- 5970 CF
- 210
- GT240 GDDR5
- 5750 & CF
- 5770 CF
- V3700
- FX 3800
- Many 2d readings from here

This post has been edited by mark84: Jan 23 2010, 05:12 PM

[mark84]

Added
- HD5450
- HD5450 CF
- HD5570
- Intel Clarkdale IGP
- HD4200 IGP

[dhanson865]

ATI 10.2 drivers are out and will lower the power numbers on most of the 5000 series cards.

Catalyst 10.2

3. Ultra Low Power State – This feature for lower-idling on Crossfire slave cards has been in the entire 5000 series. However it’s only being enabled across the board starting with this release.

This post has been edited by dhanson865: Feb 18 2010, 08:56 AM