TIG Dec 22, 2022 @ 2:29am
RTX 4090 low power usage issue in % or Watt
Hi all, I know this topic might be still under discussion and up to my best knowledge even with the recent GPU driver by Nvidia, ver 527.56, the situation is not yet resolved.

I have below mentioned Gaming Desktop specs and just got a new RTX 4090 Asus TUF and, unfortunately, found how it is very disappointed to have ONLY about 50% power efficiency (<250W) of this GPU in use for some heavy GPU demanding games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Enlisted, Microsoft Flight Sim 2020 …etc. Whereas at COD Modern Warfare 2 it might touch hardly 70%. All at super-ultra settings at 4K display.

I wish if anyone has an update or a suggestion or solution in this regard.

Here is what I did so far with no improvement on the GPU power usage issue in %:
• Reinstalled Nvidia graphics driver, Ver. 527.56.
• Updated the latest Motherboard BIOS
• Updated the latest GPU VBIOS
• Reinstalled GPU-Z
• Nvidia Control Panel been tweaked

** PC Specs
Asus Z690-G MB
Intel Core i9 12900K with 32G RAM system
RTX 4090 Asus TUF, OC 24G VRAM
4K display gaming

** Edit 1:
For all above mentioned games, RTX 3090 (what I had before) power usage in % and W was all the time around 99% and 380W


** Edit 2:
Time Spy Extreme 4K: Graphics Scor: 18662

GPU-Z readings for Call Of Duty MW2 at all ultra settings with 4K

GPU Clock: 2745 MHz
Memory Clock: 1312.7 MHz
GPU Temp: 51 C
Hot Spot: 58C
Memory Temp: 60 C
Fan 1 and 2 speed: 30% (was with RTX 3090 85%)
Memory Used: 21097 MB
GPU Load: 60% (was with RTX 3090 99%)
Board Power Draw: 214W (was with RTX 3090 380 W)
GPU Chip Power Dra: 163 W (was with RTX 3090 198 W)
16-Pin Power: 205.4W
16-Pin Voltage: 12.3 V
Power Consumption %: 47.7 % TDP (was with RTX 3090 98% TDP)
CPU Temp: 56 C
System Memory Used: 13292 MB


** Edit 3:
“Isonzo” Game at Steam when being set at ultra, GPU-Z showed everything normal and GPU Load was 97% and Board Powe Draw was 385 W. So what is going on here. I got more confused.


** Edit 4 - Problem Solved:
Power Usage % for most above mentioned games been improved to 95 % or above. Board Power Draw also was improved to about 400 W. No overclocking. It seems RTX 4090 is far more powerful than what I thought. if you disable DLSS at any of these games, power usage will jump to about 95% or more. So, RTX 4090 does not need DLSS unless you wish to have >500 FPS per game.
When I disabled DLSS in Red Deadredemption 2, I got easily 100 FPS at all ultra settings and 4K. I think problem solved. What was noticed for Isonzo game as mentioned in Edit 2 was because it does not have DLSS.
The bottleneck between RTX 4090 and i9 12900K is not significant.

Anyway, thank for you all...

Thanks All
Last edited by TIG; Dec 23, 2022 @ 1:33am
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Showing 1-8 of 8 comments
Tiberius Dec 22, 2022 @ 2:53am 
Burnt pin. RIP :steammocking:
Last edited by Tiberius; Dec 22, 2022 @ 5:06am
Supafly Dec 22, 2022 @ 3:29am 
Look at the power connectors and make sure

if you have/use a 4 to 1 connector make sure ALL of them are connected securely

Also check the high power connector is not damaged and secure in the GPU
Can you post a CPU-Z validation link?
Compare your Cinebench and 3DMark scores with similiar setups. If they're close to the mean value, your hardware is fine.

Are you using an FPS Limiter (VSync at 60 Hz) in RDR2 and Enlisted? RDR 2 should run into GPU limitations when over 100 FPS. Thus, rendering less frames takes less power.

Upscaling tech like DLSS/ FSR will further lower the power consumption of the GPU, since you're more likely to run into a CPU-side bottleneck with the 4090.
Chinela Preta Dec 22, 2022 @ 4:51am 
Top
Haruspex Dec 22, 2022 @ 5:27am 
From what I saw with testing on the 4090, the power consumption is typically way less than Nvidia originally said it was going to be. The original design had very high power consumption, and that's why they overbuilt the cooler so much, but in fine tuning the design they found it can run at a much, much lower wattage than they anticipated.

This is a good thing, and since the cooler is so overbuilt for the power consumption, you can expect low temperatures and a long life. (If that power connector doesn't kill it, that is.)

Wattage and usage aside, how's the performance?
Last edited by Haruspex; Dec 22, 2022 @ 5:27am
TIG Dec 22, 2022 @ 10:19am 
Thanks All for your effort here. I posted above Edit 2 in the main topic above that includes Time Spy GPU score and GPU-Z readings.
TIG Dec 22, 2022 @ 10:40am 
I just go a new interesting thing that I wish to share. Please see my Edit 3 above in the main topic. sorry for the long topic but it seems many people are suffering from the same issue.
TIG Dec 23, 2022 @ 1:31am 
Problem Solved. Please refer to the last and final update in the main topic above.
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Date Posted: Dec 22, 2022 @ 2:29am
Posts: 8