[RTX 3000] Is Power Consumption A Big Deal?

[Knight77]

Just to understand a little more about power consumption, what are the drawbacks of a GPU consuming 350-400W or more?

 

That’s what the RTX 3000 Series are rumoured to be relying on, with them being 8nm, but is this a big issue?

 

I imagine more power = more heat? Or is this not the case?

 

Obviously you don’t want big power draw, although my system is good for 1200W (Corsair Platinum Power Supply) - so a big draw isn’t really an issue. 
 

Just wanted to seek out more information on this please. 

[Mateyyy]

3 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

what are the drawbacks of a GPU consuming 350-400W

heat and, well.. the monthly power bill 

3 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

I imagine more power = more heat?

yes

 

No official word on the actual power draw of these new GPUs yet, so we'll have to wait and see. Maybe the 3090 will be the new GTX 480, who knows

[jones177]

My RTX 2080 ti already uses over 375 watts so power usage of high end 3000 series cards will not be a big leap.

 

I don't have heat issues now so I don't expect to have it with the new cards but I do use high airflow cases.

[Kilrah]

One thing that might be an issue is the number of PCIe power connectors on your PSU. Some of the leaked photos show 3x 8-pin...

[Ankerson]

2 hours ago, jones177 said:

My RTX 2080 ti already uses over 375 watts so power usage of high end 3000 series cards will not be a big leap.

 

I don't have heat issues now so I don't expect to have it with the new cards but I do use high airflow cases.

 

 

Exactly..

[xg32]

4 hours ago, Knight77 said:

Just to understand a little more about power consumption, what are the drawbacks of a GPU consuming 350-400W or more?

 

That’s what the RTX 3000 Series are rumoured to be relying on, with them being 8nm, but is this a big issue?

 

I imagine more power = more heat? Or is this not the case?

 

Obviously you don’t want big power draw, although my system is good for 1200W (Corsair Platinum Power Supply) - so a big draw isn’t really an issue. 
 

Just wanted to seek out more information on this please. 

more power always=more heat, ur room will heat up. Anything more than 350w just feels disgusting without AC even if it's cooled properly. An GTX* 480 back in the days was awful lol. This may not be a concern for some people depending how the pc is positioned.

 

Power bill is also a thing but it's not a priority for most people that pays 1.5-2k for a gpu.

 

The real concern is the new report that the gddr6x on the back running at 96C on a bench, all it takes is one ram module to fail, think i'll just skip whatever model with ram on the back.

[jones177]

6 minutes ago, xg32 said:

more power always=more heat, ur room will heat up. Anything more than 350w just feels disgusting without AC even if it's cooled properly. An RTX 480 back in the days was awful lol. This may not be a concern for some people depending how the pc is positioned.

 

Power bill is also a thing but it's not a priority for most people that pays 1.5-2k for a gpu.

 

The real concern is the new report that the gddr6x on the back running at 96C on a bench, all it takes is one ram module to fail, think i'll just skip whatever model with ram on the back.

Where I live the A/C is on most of the times so the power usage of my computers is about equal to a few hot days. My power bills are about the same now as when I ran 486s so I am not unhappy running 2080 tis.

 

[i_build_nanosuits]

8 hours ago, Knight77 said:

Just to understand a little more about power consumption, what are the drawbacks of a GPU consuming 350-400W or more?

 

That’s what the RTX 3000 Series are rumoured to be relying on, with them being 8nm, but is this a big issue?

 

I imagine more power = more heat? Or is this not the case?

 

Obviously you don’t want big power draw, although my system is good for 1200W (Corsair Platinum Power Supply) - so a big draw isn’t really an issue. 
 

Just wanted to seek out more information on this please. 

More power = more heat = faster fans = more noise...

[Dr0y]

I saw that video this morning and found it interesting ...

 

 

[jasonc_01]

10 hours ago, jones177 said:

My RTX 2080 ti already uses over 375 watts so power usage of high end 3000 series cards will not be a big leap.

 

I don't have heat issues now so I don't expect to have it with the new cards but I do use high airflow cases.

A leak said that high end aib cards could be as high as 390 watts. So not a big increase.

 

I only buy EVGA cards with reference PCB so I'm good.

[xAcid9]

Yes, more heat to dump into your PC case/room. Need to spend more to power and cooling it.

[Knight77]

17 hours ago, Kilrah said:

One thing that might be an issue is the number of PCIe power connectors on your PSU. Some of the leaked photos show 3x 8-pin...

 
I used to have NVLink so I’ve got 4x8 cables available, I already knew of 3x 8-pin cards so made sure I was covered here!

[Knight77]

15 hours ago, xg32 said:

more power always=more heat, ur room will heat up. Anything more than 350w just feels disgusting without AC even if it's cooled properly. An GTX* 480 back in the days was awful lol. This may not be a concern for some people depending how the pc is positioned.

 

Power bill is also a thing but it's not a priority for most people that pays 1.5-2k for a gpu.

 

The real concern is the new report that the gddr6x on the back running at 96C on a bench, all it takes is one ram module to fail, think i'll just skip whatever model with ram on the back.

Ah ok, I’m in the UK so it’s pretty much cold and windy most of the time but I definitely understand that rooms can become like sauna’s !!

 

And of course, that’s a high temp for a component and risk of failure increases. 
 

Hoping 3rd party have sufficient cooling, I feel like the top end versions do but then it’s even more money. 
 

Monthly bills probably not an issue, I mean, I wonder how much it would cost gaming 2-4 Hours a day for 5 days or so at 400W + everything else?

[Knight77]

7 hours ago, jasonc_01 said:

A leak said that high end aib cards could be as high as 390 watts. So not a big increase.

 

I only buy EVGA cards with reference PCB so I'm good.

I only really buy Zotac’s best, the cards always perform well, have fastest OC from factory, go pretty high on further OC, quiet, well built & all round never had an issue myself. 
 

Preferences I guess!

[xg32]

33 minutes ago, Knight77 said:

Ah ok, I’m in the UK so it’s pretty much cold and windy most of the time but I definitely understand that rooms can become like sauna’s !!

 

And of course, that’s a high temp for a component and risk of failure increases. 
 

Hoping 3rd party have sufficient cooling, I feel like the top end versions do but then it’s even more money. 
 

Monthly bills probably not an issue, I mean, I wonder how much it would cost gaming 2-4 Hours a day for 5 days or so at 400W + everything else?

let say the 3090 draws 100w more than the 2080 ti, the difference is negligible, maybe 10 cents a day. 

 

The issue is that the 3rd party cooler is rumored to be stunted so far, so it won't come out for a 3090, i won't be pre-ordering the 3090 due to the latest rumor on the ram temps, definitely a wait and see attitude atm,

 

it might actually be just a <10% difference and the focus should be on the 3080 ti anyway, we'll see, hyped for next week.

[porina]

18 hours ago, jones177 said:

My RTX 2080 ti already uses over 375 watts so power usage of high end 3000 series cards will not be a big leap.

Is that a factory OC or manual OC?

 

18 hours ago, Kilrah said:

One thing that might be an issue is the number of PCIe power connectors on your PSU. Some of the leaked photos show 3x 8-pin...

Given that two 8-pins plus the slot gets you to a rated 375W, if powers in use are going to remain close to that then the 3rd connector would be required. If your PSU doesn't already have 3 of those connectors, chances are it isn't powerful enough to comfortably drive one of these GPUs plus the rest of the system. 

[jones177]

12 minutes ago, porina said:

Is that a factory OC or manual OC?

It is 2 watts over the 124% power limit. It can be achieved with plus 117 on the core with a FTW3 Ultra. The highest reading I ever got was 387 watts. 

[porina]

1 hour ago, jones177 said:

It is 2 watts over the 124% power limit. It can be achieved with plus 117 on the core with a FTW3 Ultra. The highest reading I ever got was 387 watts. 

I just want to keep things in perspective. The 2080Ti is 250W TDP. Your card is factory OC to 300W, and you further manually OC on top of that. I also note the card appears to have two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, which combined with the slot means you officially only have 375W available, matching up with the 24% power limit. 

 

Personally I'm more interested in where the net gen GPUs operate near stock, or with mild factory OC. To me perf gains obtained in that way are not worth the power efficiency loss from pushing further.

[jones177]

3 hours ago, porina said:

I just want to keep things in perspective. The 2080Ti is 250W TDP. Your card is factory OC to 300W, and you further manually OC on top of that.

The only 2080 tis that use the 250w TDP are the non A versions(TU102-300-K3-A1). Even the reference card uses a TU102-300A-K1-A(260w with reference PCB).

So it is hardly a standard when the only GPUs that us it are basically factory rejects limited to 280 watts max. 

 

An EVGA Kingpin also has a 250w TDP but can use 520 watts. Sort of makes TDP meaningless with these cards.

 

Also why does GPU Z has my TDP at 300w

 

 

Quote

I also note the card appears to have two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, which combined with the slot means you officially only have 375W available, matching up with the 24% power limit. 

When I first got the EVGA FTW3 Ultra and noticed the it was going over 375 watts on every bench. I was informed on the EVGA forum that the 150 watt on the 8 pin is a standard but much more power can go through them. 

Both of my EVGA FTW3 Ultra go over 375 watts in Pression X1 and GPUZ so it is either the sensors at fault or they actually do go over 375 watts.  

Quote

Personally I'm more interested in where the net gen GPUs operate near stock, or with mild factory OC. To me perf gains obtained in that way are not worth the power efficiency loss from pushing further.

If they get it right there won't a reason to overclock. I never overclock my GTX 1080 tis but had to with the 2080 tis since they don't perform well without it. 

 

Edited August 23, 2020 by jones177

[jasonc_01]

5 hours ago, jones177 said:

It is 2 watts over the 124% power limit. It can be achieved with plus 117 on the core with a FTW3 Ultra. The highest reading I ever got was 387 watts. 

Your card doesn't oc well.on memory huh

[porina]

1 hour ago, jones177 said:

The only 2080 tis that use the 250w TDP are the non A versions(TU102-300-K3-A1). Even the reference card uses a TU102-300A-K1-A(260w with reference PCB).

So it is hardly a standard when the only GPUs that us it are basically factory rejects limited to 280 watts max. 

I did see the FE was set at 260W, but 250W is still the official TDP isn't it? Regardless what cards actually ship at.

 

As another point of comparison, I have a Asus 1080Ti of some description, and that has a factory OC of 275W set compared to the 250W TDP. Manufacturers will want to one-up each other although personally I'd prefer running at TDP, or even lower depending on the use case.

 

1 hour ago, jones177 said:

An EVGA Kingpin also has a 250w TDP but can use 520 watts. Sort of makes TDP meaningless with these cards.

Is that the bonkers card for extreme (LN2) overclockers? I'd go the other way, I don't care how high they can go. If you OC hard enough, you can get those numbers silly high. TDP is a good reference point. Factory OC will be a little above that. Beyond that, doesn't really matter to most people.

 

1 hour ago, jones177 said:

Also why does GPU Z has my TDP at 300w

I don't see that. It says power limit, which is your factory OC.

 

1 hour ago, jones177 said:

When I first got the EVGA FTW3 Ultra and noticed the it was going over 375 watts on every bench. I was informed on the EVGA forum that the 150 watt on the 8 pin is a standard but much more power can go through them. 

I get that in the real world, they're unlikely to offer the bare minimum the standard requires, but it is still not best practice to exceed it.

[Ankerson]

6 hours ago, porina said:

I just want to keep things in perspective. The 2080Ti is 250W TDP. Your card is factory OC to 300W, and you further manually OC on top of that. I also note the card appears to have two 8-pin PCIe power connectors, which combined with the slot means you officially only have 375W available, matching up with the 24% power limit. 

 

Personally I'm more interested in where the net gen GPUs operate near stock, or with mild factory OC. To me perf gains obtained in that way are not worth the power efficiency loss from pushing further.

 

 

Here is mine, stock clocks..... 118% power 

 

Same card as @jones177

 

[Ankerson]

40 minutes ago, rrubberr said:

I don't believe what an overclocking program says the card "may draw" is a definitive measure of power being consumed. The only way to do that really is measure at the wires, or deduct system power from power draw with the card in it. For example:

The 2080Ti Lighting, for instance, has a 1770 MHz boost clock, using 332 watts. Similarly, Intel CPUs report power consumption at various stages, though power measured by the device itself rarely tells much/any of the real story.

 

 

 

 

The FTW3's have real time power monitoring built into the card itself....

 

Nothing is exact however, not even that expensive PSU testing equipment is 100% accurate...

 

Even doing the system power as you said doesn't take into count the 75W it's pulling from the PCIe slot on the MB....

 

It's difficult to separate all the different parts and what they actually do draw power wise unless they actually have onboard power monitoring.... Outside of a lab with $50K or more of testing equipment..... Little Henry boy with his $10 Kill Watt isn't really the answer..... Doesn't really show much of anything.....

 

Nothing is really exactly 100% accurate.....

 

The only thing we know for sure is that TDP ratings are normally BS, it's usually much higher than the TDP....

[xAcid9]

42 minutes ago, Ankerson said:

he only thing we know for sure is that TDP ratings are normally BS, it's usually much higher than the TDP....

I don't understand, what BS? TDP rating come from the card power limit, by increasing the power limit you basically increasing the TDP.

If you run power virus software like Furmark/Kombuster/OCCT of course it will consume much more than the rated BIOS TDP. 

 

Spoiler

average 304w at 100% stock when gaming. Same card. Just very slightly above the card rated TDP, margin of error.

 

If the rumored 3090 come with 350w-400w TDP, then you can expect it to consume much more with increase power limit.

[jones177]

3 hours ago, jasonc_01 said:

Your card doesn't oc well.on memory huh

That was when I first got the card. I went up +100 at a time and ended up with +800 for my 24/7 overclock and  + 1100 with the fans at 100%. At +1200 it artifacts.

 

3 hours ago, porina said:

As another point of comparison, I have a Asus 1080Ti of some description, and that has a factory OC of 275W set compared to the 250W TDP. Manufacturers will want to one-up each other although personally I'd prefer running at TDP, or even lower depending on the use case.

My GTX 1080 tis use about 290 watts max with only the factory overclock. They can only go +50 before artifacting so no point in overclocking them.

 

1 hour ago, xAcid9 said:

I don't understand, what BS? TDP rating come from the card power limit, by increasing the power limit you basically increasing the TDP.

If you run power virus software like Furmark/Kombuster/OCCT of course it will consume much more than the rated BIOS TDP. 

That describes what I am see so well put.