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[Help] Power-draw figures [SOLVED]

phill

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Nah those numbers are normal for Ryzen CPUs, it´s the voltage they apply for very short bursts to boost up to 4.2GHz. This is why I don´t like running stock, it does stay within 180W TDP, but jumps up and down with clocks and voltages every splitsecond. While 2 or 4 cores are @ 1.5V, the others are much lower and then they switch, this is why HWMonitor records 1.5V on all cores as this was the max. they reached, but not at the same time.

The high voltages are more often applied in idle, when it does not hit the power limit, under load I see ~1.2V on the non boosting cores.

But I would like to hear from you what your friend/colleague/guy said. Every input from other 1950x owners is helpful.

I'll see what I can do but I will definitely be interested in what his rig is pulling :)
 

cadaveca

My name is Dave
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I'm unsure on the specifics of a 1950X but I do think that the voltage on the VCore is too high.. 1.5??
Yeah, that voltage IS normal, just to confirm. My CPU doesn't just go that high, but 1.55 is very common with my CPU, especially if it is at boosts to 4.2.

what's more crazy is that 1.2V is fine for 4.0 GHz, but going higher, yeah voltage boost required is rather large.

CPU-Z screenshot I did just now is below:

Untitled.jpg


9edit) added a quick snapshot of AIDA64 to show that voltage and clockspeed is dynamic, but didn't get a boost up to 4.2 in the short time I waited to show the 1.55V, but it does show 1.52 for 4.1.

Untitled.jpg
 
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Update on the whole topic:

So I now have confirmed from multiple 1950x users, that my system should pull closer to half of what I´m seeing with exception of idle. It seems like the higher my power draw gets, the less realistic it is. Like 200W idle is maybe off by 10%, but the 1200W in gaming load should much rather be 600-700W at best.

I took a deep dive into what I remember from classes about electricity and how it works and my current theory are high non-linear loads from the PC / PSU, causing some severe overtones on the third harmonic which then get picked up by the wattmeter since it has neutral wire pass-through.
To explain that for everyone in short: Power delivery is split into 3 seperate phases, since this is what most electric generators (motors) work with (3-Pole) and by doing so it reduces losses from source to drain. The protective neutral wire that is used for equipotential bonding in theory carries no current because the 3 phases all have a shifted amplitude by 120° and cancel each other out on the neutral wire. (remember that AC is delivered in a switching freq.) By applying a non linear and fluctuating load however (PC-PSUs being a prime example), you destroy that balance on the neutral wire and even encourage the effect to turn from canceling to actually being additional. So the N-wire can carry multiple times the current of a single phase load which in old installations can cause fire, because the wire gauge used to be small since it usually carries no load.
Long story short, a PSU with such a high capacity has huge capacitors with an extreme inrush current on turn on, and the very alternating loads that a pc needs depending on what it is doing can cause these overtones which result in a current on the neutral wire. And I think that exactly this is happening and my watt meter picks that up.

No idea if that is true or not, I´m not an expert on any of this. Just my thoughts.

My additional steps so far:

Tested a different PSU from Corsair (RM850i) and it showed a lot less power draw under load. Idle was more or less the same (~180W) but the CPU load test had it at 325W and the full load with GPU settled around 750W. Which to me shows that my initial feeling was correct, the numbers with the EVGA T2 are way higher then they should be.

Now that I already have it open and a second 1600W T2 that I bought new for another project, I will swap the new one in and see if it behaves any different. I don´t expect it too, I think it has something to do with the high capacity, peak loads and the way my power meter works.

If my theory is correct then there is no worry for my PC parts, it all works fine. Just important to note that this PSU can set your house installation on fire if you have an old one with thin N-wires!
 
Joined
Jul 21, 2018
Messages
773 (0.37/day)
Location
Germany
System Name FATTYDOVE-R-SPEC
Processor Intel i9 10980XE
Motherboard EVGA X299 Dark
Cooling Water (1x 240mm, 1x 280mm, 1x 420mm + 2x Mo-Ra 360 external radiator)
Memory 64GB DDR4
Video Card(s) RTX 2080 Super / RTX 3090
Storage Crucial MX500
Display(s) 24", 1440p, freesync, 144hz
Case Open Benchtable (OBT)
Audio Device(s) beyerdynamic MMX 300
Power Supply EVGA Supernova T2 1600W
Mouse OG steelseries Sensei
Keyboard steelseries 6Gv2
Software Windows 10
Sorry for reviving this old thread, BUT I found out what caused the issue with the high power figures. Just today, over 2 years later.

The wattage measurement was off, because of an OCP strip that I used. This one, and only this one and not the other OCP and OVP strips I have mess up with the measurement. It got inflated by over 2x.

I have tested my current daily rig on full GPU load on both GPUs and saw 1210W from that wonky strip.
When I switched over to a different power strip I suddenly see 545W. Which is the correct value (The 2080 Super reports 114W draw with my undervolt and the 3090 reports 275W draw with my undervolt). Since my CPU is currently undervolted for max. efficiency as well this all adds up perfectly.

TLDR: Inflated numbers from watt-meter device, finally found the culprit in an OCP/OVP protection power strip.

I'll mark this thread as solved and edit the solution into my initial post!
 
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