Which power usage is correct?

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Jonathanese

Jonathanese

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on my Geforce 660, I currently have EVGA Precision X set at 178% for the power limit. According to Precision X, I regularly hit about 173%.

The thing is, according to NVIDIA Inspector 1.9.7.2, the highest I really hit is 93% or so. If that's true, then I'm really not getting much benefit from the power boost. But if EVGA Precision X is correct, then I'm exceeding the PCI-e spec by 100W.

So which one is it?
 
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IInuyasha74
Well yes that is roughly what I was saying, but if it is unstable without the power increase it must be. I thought maybe the Nvidia software was putting a safety in place, but if it is unstable without the raised power then the power level must be increasing. You must really be using that much. Its possible that you are getting more from the PCI-E connector than it is actually meant to send out. Just because its designed to give you 75w doesn't really mean its locked there. So my best guess is its pulling more power off of the connector than the connector is really meant to supply and just hasn't hit the roof yet.
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IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

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Well, unless I am mistaken the Geforce 660 needs a PCI-E power cable plugged in directly from the power supply. The PCI-E slot can only give 75w of power, but the PCI-E connector can give I think closer to 200w of power.

Why are you giving it so much extra power though? I understand giving it a little power if you are trying to overclock, but thats a huge amount more power.
 
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Jonathanese

Jonathanese

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I give it more because it keeps using it, apparently, and throttling for power usage. My temps are fine, which is one thing that makes me suspect of whether or not Precision X actually increases it.

My understanding is that PCI-e can supply 75W, the PCI-e 6-pin can supply another 75W for a total of 150w. THe standard TDP of the 660 is supposed to be 140W. Which is why it is normally limited to 110%. The extra oompf comes from a VGA BIOS tweak to change this maximum. I noticed higher clocks and more stability, but it doesn't run much hotter, and it shouldn't be hitting 173%. But each time I raised it, it kept maxing it out, so I kept going so long as the temps were fine.
 
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IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

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Well it does throttle, maybe you have just set it to be able to use up to this much power, but it hasn't been given reason to use that much yet. I really think you should go down a bit though, because it sounds like you are lucky to have not burnt out the card already. Giving the card extra power doesn't make it work any better. The only time you want to give it more is if you are overclocking, and only if it is unstable at the amount of power it already has.

Anyways, how you are getting to this voltage is probably the program is not functioning right, or the program is, but some built in hardware setting is preventing you from going to this voltage because of the high chance of burning up the card.
 
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Jonathanese

Jonathanese

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Well, the voltage Max is at the hard limit of 1.212v. There's a difference between power limit and voltage.

I have it overclocked to about 1200 core and 6800 memory. So yes, I'm overclocking, and yes, it does become unstable without the power boost. My highest temperature is about 72C. I suppose I can get it up to 74 on FurMark.

I asked earlier about the power usage on here, and the only response was "no. you're not using too much." and "You can't get it high enough". So it wasn't really a response.

I assume what YOU are saying, though, is that Precision X isn't even changing anything, just reporting higher power usage, and therefore NVIDIA Inspector is correct? That would sound more accurate. And in that case, I'd be curious how to actually increase it.

perhaps the only real option I have, then, is to raise the default power rating.
 
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IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

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Well yes that is roughly what I was saying, but if it is unstable without the power increase it must be. I thought maybe the Nvidia software was putting a safety in place, but if it is unstable without the raised power then the power level must be increasing. You must really be using that much. Its possible that you are getting more from the PCI-E connector than it is actually meant to send out. Just because its designed to give you 75w doesn't really mean its locked there. So my best guess is its pulling more power off of the connector than the connector is really meant to supply and just hasn't hit the roof yet.
 
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Jonathanese

Jonathanese

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Interesting. I'll have to do some more testing.

But then it really comes down to which one is correct, NVIDIA Inspector or Precision X. I feel like a GPU drawing 78% more would be quite hot.
 
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IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

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It should be, but beyond anything else I think the stability is the most decisive test. If it is not stable, then you increase the power with the Precision X tool, and it becomes stable, the power must be going to the card. I can't think of anything else that would explain this behavior.
 
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