Plug in a graphics card and the power leads, boot the PC, and run some tests that put a load on the GPU while logging power use. You can read our Powenetics project overview for additional details.Īfter assembling the necessary bits and pieces - some soldering is required, and we have a list of the best soldering irons to help - the testing process is relatively straightforward. Specifically, we're using Powenetics software in combination with various monitors from TinkerForge. And by "right way," we mean measuring in-line power consumption using hardware devices. Thankfully, the latest generation AMD Big Navi and Nvidia Ampere GPUs tend to report relatively accurate data, but we're doing things the right way. Depending on the GPU, it can be off by anywhere from a few watts to potentially 50W or more. We've used GPU-Z in the past, but it had some clear inaccuracies. The best and most accurate means of measuring the power use of a graphics card is to measure power draw in between the power supply (PSU) and the card, but it requires a lot more work. Alternatively, you can measure power at the outlet using something like a Kill-A-Watt power meter, but that only captures total system power, including PSU inefficiencies. The easiest approach is via software like GPU-Z, which will tell you what the hardware reports. There are various ways to determine power use, with varying levels of difficulty and accuracy. We're here to press the reset button on GPU power measurements and do things the right way. Measuring performance is relatively easy, but measuring power can be complex. To determine GPU power efficiency, we need to know both performance and power use. How much power do the best graphics cards use? It's an important question, and while the performance we show in our GPU benchmarks hierarchy is useful, one of the true measures of a GPU is how efficient it is.
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