Question Laptop GPU Power showing 0 watts ?

[JackFive]

My gpu shows zero wattage even when it's under load.
Games run fine but it just doesn't show any watts usage...tried many apps like msi ab and hwinfo,not even nvidia overlay shows watts.
What could be the issue?
Let me know if im missing any detail...

Laptop model: Dell Inspiron 15 7000
Specs:
CPU: I5-7300HQ
GPU: GTX1050 4GB shows 75 tdp in CPU-Z.
RAM: 16GB 2400mhz

Thanks!

 

[Lutfij]

Can you see if the laptop you're working with has any BIOS updates pending? Using GPU-Z, see if any fields show up with zero(0)'s and if you're seeing error code 43 in Device Manager.

You might want to mention what OS you're on. As for the drivers, use DDU to remove all GPU drivers(intel, AMD and Nvidia) in Safe Mode, then manually install the latest GPU driver sourced from Nvidia's support site in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

 

[JackFive]

Can you see if the laptop you're working with has any BIOS updates pending? Using GPU-Z, see if any fields show up with zero(0)'s and if you're seeing error code 43 in Device Manager.

You might want to mention what OS you're on. As for the drivers, use DDU to remove all GPU drivers(intel, AMD and Nvidia) in Safe Mode, then manually install the latest GPU driver sourced from Nvidia's support site in an elevated command, i.e, Right click installer>Run as Administrator.

I didn't understand the first paragraph can you please explain it?
Os is Windows 10 22H2 i think.

 

[Lutfij]

You've never updated the BIOS for your laptop?
Right click start>Device Manager>Display Adapters(is the GPU flagged with a yellow exclamation mark?)
GPU-Z is an app;https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ much like CPU-Z.

 

[JackFive]

You've never updated the BIOS for your laptop?
Right click start>Device Manager>Display Adapters(is the GPU flagged with a yellow exclamation mark?)
GPU-Z is an app;https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ much like CPU-Z.

I bought it few days ago
Coming from pc world now shifted to laptop for some personal reasons
I never updated bios on this laptop
I know about gpu z and the device manager doesn't show any exclamation mark on it
As i said games are running fine with decent fps but it just doesn't show any gpu power being drawn
I've also installed latest nvidia drivers from nvidia website and double checked from the app itself...
Let me know if im missing anything
Edit: i saw some videos on YouTube with the same laptop and their power usage is same 0.0 watts...is it something disabled from dell itself? Can we turn it off if so?

 

[Lutfij]

I bought it few days ago
I'm assuming you bought it second hand/used. If so, might want to reinstall the OS and start from scratch.

 

[JackFive]

I bought it few days ago
I'm assuming you bought it second hand/used. If so, might want to reinstall the OS and start from scratch.

I did reinstall it the day i bought it
Yes its second hand

 

[bill001g]

I have a very old gaming laptop that I seldom even turn on anymore so I forget details. Like yours (if I looked the part of correctly) it has a GPU on the cpu chip and a actual physically separate GPU chip. My laptop would turn off the actual gpu chip and use the GPU on the cpu chip to save power. There were settings to control this. It seemed to be smart enough if I loaded a game it would use the real GPU and only use the cpu one if I was just surfing web or something.

 

[JackFive]

I have a very old gaming laptop that I seldom even turn on anymore so I forget details. Like yours (if I looked the part of correctly) it has a GPU on the cpu chip and a actual physically separate GPU chip. My laptop would turn off the actual gpu chip and use the GPU on the cpu chip to save power. There were settings to control this. It seemed to be smart enough if I loaded a game it would use the real GPU and only use the cpu one if I was just surfing web or something.

yes you are right ,System uses iGPU to save power i think and dGPU is used when in game...But still it shows 0 watts..many should i try disabling iGPU to see if it might fix it?

 

[Teknoman2]

If the laptop is old there are 2 things that may cause this.
1. an incompatibility of the old BIOS version with newer versions of monitoring software
2. the sensor just doesn't work anymore and isn't reporting the power draw.

 

[JackFive]

If the laptop is old there are 2 things that may cause this.
1. an incompatibility of the old BIOS version with newer versions of monitoring software
2. the sensor just doesn't work anymore and isn't reporting the power draw.

So any solution for that?

 

[Teknoman2]

For 1 you need to update the BIOS
For 2 there's nothing you can do without specialized equipment and access to schematics and spare parts
As long as temperature stays at normal levels and you don't see problems with the performance or artifacts, i wouldn't worry about it.
Temperature is proportional to power draw so if the temperature is normal then the power draw is normal.

 

[JackFive]

For 1 you need to update the BIOS
For 2 there's nothing you can do without specialized equipment and access to schematics and spare parts
As long as temperature stays at normal levels and you don't see problems with the performance or artifacts, i wouldn't worry about it.
Temperature is proportional to power draw so if the temperature is normal then the power draw is normal.

max temp is 73 and never more than that
core/mem clocks are always fine 1700/1752 respectively...
but im concerned about the power usage of the system along with gpu
another thing im concerned about is cpu power/clocks(i know its not the thread to discuss but its kinda running low 15w max supposed to be 45w from website)

 

[Teknoman2]

Power draw is dynamic based on what you do and also based on the power settings of the system in windows. If its set to power saving mode, it will have a limit to the power it draws.

 

[JackFive]

Power draw is dynamic based on what you do and also based on the power settings of the system in windows. If its set to power saving mode, it will have a limit to the power it draws.

I have read a full thread somewhere on the internet about power limit in dell Inspiron
They said its limited to 15 watts only and there's a way to fix that using throttlestop but i dont understand that..

 

[Teknoman2]

Can't help with that, sorry. I never had a laptop. Try looking at windows settings - system - power and set it to performance. Also check around these settings for other power saving features you may want to turn off to gain performance. Remember that performance needs more power so less battery time.

 

[JackFive]

Can't help with that, sorry. I never had a laptop. Try looking at windows settings - system - power and set it to performance. Also check around these settings for other power saving features you may want to turn off to gain performance. Remember that performance needs more power so less battery time.

Me neither🙁
Always plugged in while gaming and on high performance.
For some reason its stuck on 15watt tdp..
Maybe i should try asking on a different thread.
Thank you guys but that gpu problem couldn't be addressed as i couldn't see the gpu power being pulled...
Its more of a dell limitations so i think im stuck here..