Wattage Software?

[Axno]

Is there some kind of software that can tell you how much your CPU, GPU, etc. are using?

 

 

[ttam]

9 minutes ago, Axno said:

Is there some kind of software that can tell you how much your CPU, GPU, etc. are using?

 

 

Nope. You get a physical meter that plugs into the wall

[imreloadin]

22 minutes ago, Axno said:

Is there some kind of software that can tell you how much your CPU, GPU, etc. are using?

 

 

No, if there was it'd be incredibly inaccurate. Just get a Kill-a-watt and call it a day.

[Naeaes]

It depends on your hardware if these are supported, but you might have luck with 
Intel power Gadget for the CPU https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-power-gadget 
and GPU-Z for GPU https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ 
The thing is, not all CPUs and GPUs support readouts for the current which is a requirement to extrapolate the wattage.

 

Also, you should note that the info you get using software readings is nearly useless. It doesn't take into account the efficiency (or the lack thereof) of the VRM. You know, the thing that transforms the 12VDC into the 1.2VDC (or whatever) that the processors can use. If it had 100% efficiency, these numbers would be something we could use but obviously it never is and there's no way of knowing where you're at. Maybe 90%, maybe 70%, who knows.

You can't really use a multimeter either. To measure the current, you need to cut the circuit and put the multimeter in a series with it. Basically, it'd mean destroying the motherboard. Also most commercial multimeters can't even begin to handle the current running in these systems. 

What you can do, is get a usage monitor that plugs in between the PSU and the wall. They are a cheap way to get aactual info of the consumption and take into account all inefficiencies. If you're interested in a more scientific/work-related way, you can get several usage monitors and sefveral PSUs, plug One PSU for each component and get measuging. 

 

The thing to take away from this wall of text is that the power of a processing unit (be it central or graphics) is not the same as the power delivered to it from the PSU, usually not even close.

[don_svetlio]

1 hour ago, Axno said:

Is there some kind of software that can tell you how much your CPU, GPU, etc. are using?

 

 

Kill-A-Watt meter

[STRMfrmXMN]

10 hours ago, Axno said:

Is there some kind of software that can tell you how much your CPU, GPU, etc. are using?

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462987888&sr=8-1&keywords=kill+o+watt

[quan289]

10 hours ago, Axno said:

Is there some kind of software that can tell you how much your CPU, GPU, etc. are using?

If you want a software based application, you will need to get a PSU that has that capability. The RMi, HXi, and AXi are the models that allow you do so for Corsair. There have been other brands that does this such as the Enermax Digifanless, Thermaltake DSP G, etc. I have not really put that much focus on these monitoring software, but ince Corsair has been doing this since the release of the AX1200i in 2012, they would likely be the best option, as they have more time to work out most of the issues.

Other than that, the most you probably can do is getting a power meter like a Kill-A-Watt as mentioned already. That will provide you the AC power draw of the entire system.

[mariushm]

Kill-a-watt devices measure the total energy consumption from the mains socket.  This includes the wasted power inside the power supply due to inefficiency (let's say 10%).
Otherwise, they're fairly accurate, I'd say you get the accurate power within a couple of watts.

 

If you want to measure the actual power used by a device in your computer, it's a bit harder.

 

The easiest method to measure the power consumption of a device would be to use a multimeter and a clampmeter at the same time - the multimeter will tell you the actual voltage and the clampmeter allows you to measure the current without cutting or modifying wires.

 

A good and cheap clampmeter for this job would be Uni-T UT210E, here's one of the first results on Amazon (no affiliate links or any profit from this) : http://www.amazon.com/Uni-T-UT210E-Current-Meters-Capacitance/dp/B00O1Q2HOQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1462991490&sr=8-2&keywords=uni-t+ut210e

 

 

This clampmeter can also measure the DC voltage with the multimeter probe leads supplied so you don't need an additional multimeter ( it doesn't measure the two at the same time, you just switch between current and dc voltage measurement using that wheel)

 

To measure the current, you simply have to put the wire carrying electricity in the center of that clamp (clamp opens up to insert the wire without cutting it) and read the measurement from the display.

In the case of a regular hard drive, if you'd want to measure how much power it uses from 12v , you'd grab the yellow wire from the four wires going into the molex or sata connector of your hard drive and put the clamp of the clampmeter around it - set the clampmeter to DC 2A or 20A and you get the current.  Now, put a multimeter on DC and probes on black and yellow pins inside another molex (hdd) connector and you have the voltage.

Now, you can multiply the voltage with the current and get the number of watts.

 

For the most precise measurement, you want to set the meter to the value (2A , 20A or 100A) closest to the value you expect to measure. WIth 2A you get 3 decimals, with 20A you get only 2 decimals and with 100A setting you have only one decimal.

 

With a video card, you can grab all yellow wires from the pci-e connectors, set the clampmeter to 20A (if the card uses maximum 240w or so, let's say 2xpci-e 6 pin or 1 pci-e 8pin + 1 pci-e 6pin ) or 100A if it's more and measure the current (put the bunch of yellow cables inside the clamp center).  The voltage, you can get through software or using the multimeter plugged into a molex hdd connector.

 

However, the video card can also pull up to 60w on 12v through the motherboard so it's not enough to just measure the energy coming into the video card through the pci-e connectors, you'll also have to measure the energy coming through the 12v wires of the 20-24 pin ATX connector (and that's going to be a bit innacurate, because from those 12v wires the motherboard also uses a bit of energy for fans and maybe other things)

 

People reviewing video cards or other pci express based components measure the power delivered through slot using pci-e extenders (also called riser cards/cables) : http://www.amazon.com/Express-Riser-Extender-Flexible-Extension/dp/B008BZBFTG

This way, they can cut the wires carrying 12v to the video card and insert a current measurement tool there (usually high end multimeters with logging capability, or clampmeter if they don't want to cut wires)