# How accurate is ATITool?



## xenolith (Oct 11, 2006)

Hi folks,

According to this article at X-bit Labs the X1900XTX consumes ~120 watts of power under load.  That comes to only 10 amps on the +12v rail.

ATITool v25b-14 reports that my single, default speed Sapphire X1900XTX is using 16.4 amps under load.  That's nearly 200 watts!  

This can't be accurate, can it?


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## ARTOSOFT (Oct 11, 2006)

The GPU is not using 12v.  It is ~1.5v in most case.

Regards,
Arto.


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## xenolith (Oct 11, 2006)

Thanks for the reply.

So your saying ATITool is measuring the current between the card's regulator and the GPU, as apposed to the raw incoming power from the PSU?

That would make more sense, because I can't imagine many PSU's handling 16.4 amps while still  providing enough power for drives, fans, or the CPU if they happen to be on the same 12v rail.  Not to mention the enormous amount of heat 200watts would dump out.


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## ARTOSOFT (Oct 11, 2006)

xenolith said:


> Thanks for the reply.
> 
> So your saying ATITool is measuring the current between the card's regulator and the GPU, as apposed to the raw incoming power from the PSU?
> 
> That would make more sense, because I can't imagine many PSU's handling 16.4 amps while still  providing enough power for drives, fans, or the CPU if they happen to be on the same 12v rail.  Not to mention the enormous amount of heat 200watts would dump out.


Precisely.

A little correction: ATITool does not measure the current/power into GPU.  The VGA hardware does it.  ATITool read current/power information provided by some VGA card which its hardware support it.

Regards,
Arto.


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