Question Is 130-160W idle normal for my build? (7950 X3D + X670-E + 7900 XT)

[element626]

I've put together a new build, and while I'm happy with the performance - I've noticed it draws a lot of power at the plug. When doing absolutely nothing, it draws 130W. Browsing the internet or running a youtube video brings it up to 160W. Coming from a Intel build that draws about 60-90W, this seems like a lot.

Is there anything I could do to reduce power consumption? I've already put Windows into the power saver plan and turned off the onboard audio and iGPU.

Normally, I wouldn't be too worried, but I'm on my PC working on excel spreadsheets and browsing for 12 hours a day. In California, I'd be paying over $200 a year just to do that on my gaming PC. At that rate, it would actually make financial sense for me to have a separate low power PC just for those tasks, leaving the gaming PC for just gaming.

CPU: AMD 7950 X3D
Motherboard: MSI X670-E Tomahawk Wifi
GPU: 7900 XT
RAM: 2x16GB G.Skill 6000 Mhz

 

[Eximo]

Do you have multiple monitors?

A common problem with the 7000 series GPUs is that they stay boosted when you have multiple monitors. You might actually be better off turning the iGPU back on and putting as many monitors on it is possible to get your discrete GPU down to one display.

Ryzen CPUs also have a need to keep at least two chiplets running at all times, the I/O die and at least one CCD, so the idle power draw on the CPU is basically doubled over Intel's monolithic CPUs.

Would also depend on the number of fans/pumps and drives you have what is considered normal.

Another power saving measure would be getting a 220V outlet run to where your desktop is. The higher voltage will make the PSU more efficient. You could also look into getting an 80+ Titanium rated PSU to save a little bit more.

 

[Misgar]

When doing absolutely nothing, it draws 130W.

Sounds similar to my 7950X, but I have 64GB RAM, 3 x M.2 NVMe, 1 x SATA SSD, 5 x hard disks and an RTX 3060.

When it's finished running a 9 hour video transcode I'll measure the idle power.

Another power saving measure would be getting a 220V outlet

I'm paying the equivalent of $0.37 per kWhr for a 240V AC 50Hz supply. Not sure if that is more or less than the price of electricity in California.

it would actually make financial sense for me to have a separate low power PC just for those tasks,

I use an old Pentium G3258 dual core system in the morning for browsing. Considerably less power consumption.

You could pick up an old low power Dell or HP office PC for very little. I bought a small Dell system complete with monitor, keyboard and mouse for $25.

A low power NUC would be much faster and use even less power, but cost considerably more.

 

[element626]

Do you have multiple monitors?

A common problem with the 7000 series GPUs is that they stay boosted when you have multiple monitors. You might actually be better off turning the iGPU back on and putting as many monitors on it is possible to get your discrete GPU down to one display.

Ryzen CPUs also have a need to keep at least two chiplets running at all times, the I/O die and at least one CCD, so the idle power draw on the CPU is basically doubled over Intel's monolithic CPUs.

Would also depend on the number of fans/pumps and drives you have what is considered normal.

Another power saving measure would be getting a 220V outlet run to where your desktop is. The higher voltage will make the PSU more efficient. You could also look into getting an 80+ Titanium rated PSU to save a little bit more.

I do have multiple monitors. I'll definitely give the iGPU thing a shot - especially since I only ever game on one display. Do you happen to know if should leave hybrid graphics on or off for that?

Yeah, I'm aware of the chiplet design thing now. It seems like a lot of the draw is actually coming from the motherboard. CPU reads 15-20W, CPU package is at 50W, and the GPU sits at about 33-45W.

The cooling set up was recycled from my last build, and the build is already pretty much passively cooled at idle. I'm going to try dropping a couple SSD's off the system to see how it acts.

Unfortunately a 220V outlet isn't an option - I rent. I'm currently on a a 80+ Gold PSU, and the calculations are showing that I'd only really save 5W ($7-20 ~ a year?) for a $200+ investment.

 

[Eximo]

Hybrid should be off I think. You just want the iGPU to act independently.

 

[element626]

Sounds similar to my 7950X, but I have 64GB RAM, 3 x M.2 NVMe, 1 x SATA SSD, 5 x hard disks and an RTX 3060.

When it's finished running a 9 hour video transcode I'll measure the idle power.


I'm paying the equivalent of $0.37 per kWhr for a 240V AC 50Hz supply. Not sure if that is more or less than the price of electricity in California.


I use an old Pentium G3258 dual core system in the morning for browsing. Considerably less power consumption.

You could pick up an old low power Dell or HP office PC for very little. I bought a small Dell system complete with monitor, keyboard and mouse for $25.

A low power NUC would be much faster and use even less power, but cost considerably more.

I'll appreciate that. If yours is lower, maybe there's a motherboard board setting I can mess around with.

I'm paying about the same per kWhr. I actually already have an old Dell SSF sitting next to me running as a proxmox server, and I'm watching it idle at 10-20W. I might end up with a 2nd one at this rate

 

[Eximo]

Unfortunately a 220V outlet isn't an option - I rent. I'm currently on a a 80+ Gold PSU, and the calculations are showing that I'd only really save 5W ($7-20 ~ a year?) for a $200+ investment.

Yeah, that is a lot of people's situation. Also the cost to get it done professionally is likely never to be recouped.

I've thought about doing it in my house, but it would be quite a bit of work.

A secondary system is how I deal with it. An i3-12100F and an Intel A380 (though if I really wanted savings, I would just get a CPU with the iGPU and use that. Maybe next time.

 

[element626]

For those interested in the future,
I played around and measured the how different settings affect power consumption:

Setting	Idle power consumption (W)	Video Player power consumption (W)
EXPO on	+5	+25
Global C State	Negligible	Negligible
PBO	Negligible	Negligible
iGPU / dGPU port	Negligible	Negligible
Hybrid Graphics	Negligible	Negligible
iGPU enable	Negligible	Negligible
HD Audio Enable	Negligible	+5

So all of that was a bit of a big nothing burger. What did make a difference was going into the graphics settings and telling Windows to use the iGPU for chrome / videos, which saved 15W with no noticeable impact to performance. I'd say to just offload any non-gaming workload (discord, etc) to the iGPU as possible.

Unfortunately it looks like this is just how the build is. I'll probably end up looking into a DisplayLink Adapter so I can run everything off my laptop when I'm not gaming.

 

[Misgar]

I'll appreciate that. If yours is lower, maybe there's a motherboard board setting I can mess around with.

I've just booted the 7950X and waited for it to settle down. It's sitting around 138W with the web browser running. Peak power during boot was 250W briefly when the Windows Desktop appeared.

Remember, I have 5 hard disks (2 x WD Purple 4TB, 1 x WD Purple 6TB and & 2 x Toshiba 8TB), three 1TB M.2 NVMe, one SATA SSD and one Blu-ray drive, plus an RTX 3060.

The two 8TB Toshiba MG08's idle at 5.6W each, the two WD 6TB PURZ at 4.9W each and the single WD 4TB PURZ at 4.3W, so that makes approx 25W for the five hard disks.

Add a few watts each for two of my three M.2 drives and we can probably knock 30W off my 138W figure for the whole computer, plus another 5W for the optical drive and a couple of watts for the SATA SSD.

Hence, I'd expect my 7950X + RTX3060 + one 1TB M.2 NVMe to idle somewhere around 100W with all the "surplus" disk drives unplugged.

Chances are your more powerful 7900XT accounts for the higher consumption of your machine.

CPUID HWMonitor shows my RTX3060 is pulling 13.3W (GPU), 6.78W (Core Power Supply), 2.02W (PCIe 12V) and 11.93W (8-pin #0) when idle. Make what you will of these figures. I'm sure there's some redundancy/overlap between the four power readings. When running video transcodes, the 3060 sometimes hits the 170W limit. The iGPU peaks around 45W during the same transcodes.

If you're brave enough to temporarily remove the 7900XT, you'll probably see a 30W+ reduction. My 3600 is deep inside the machine with an NH-D15 making it awkward to reach the release catch at the front of the PCI x16 slot.

I think you're just going to have to live with 130 to 160W idle/browsing power consumption. You could spend $10k to $15k on solar panels, batteries and inverters, like some of my neighbours.

Addendum: Just started another video transcode. Power consumption of PC now up to 399W (for the next 8 hours).

 

[Misgar]

I'd be paying over $200 a year just to do that on my gaming PC. At that rate, it would actually make financial sense for me to have a separate low power PC just for those tasks, leaving the gaming PC for just gaming.

Consider something like the Minisforum Venus NAB9 miniPC.
Only 6W power consumption when idle.
https://www.techradar.com/pro/minisforum-venus-nab9-mini-pc-review