AMD Issues Statement Regarding Excessive Power Draw Through PCIE Bus for New RX 480 Video Card

AMD has issued a statement regarding potential excessive power draw through the PCIE bus for its new RX 480 video card, specifically addressing the reference models currently shipping. The coverage is brought to us by Origin PC and the new Origin Kronos gaming PC with the RX 480, which is customizable, upgradeable, and ready for VR.

The reference model comes equipped with one six-pin power connector, rated for 75 Watts, but can draw more depending on the power supply cable and other factors. It's also drawing the rest of its power through the PCIE slot, which is generally accepted and rated for a 75-Watt power draw. However, the RX 480 is exceeding this limit, especially with overclocking. To put this into perspective, when we overclocked our RX 40 card, we hit a GPU power draw of 1922 Watts. This is not just the GPU's power consumption; the board also has an additional 40 Watts from memory and other components, which increases as you stress the fixed clock rate and increase the power target.

In our own testing, we've observed that when we push the clock rate without touching the power percent Target, the clock will throttle itself very rarely. If you type in a clock speed of 1400 MHz, for example, it may never reach 1380 or 1350 based on the power draw because it's already struggling to cope. By increasing the power Target by 50%, we can overcome this limitation and achieve better performance. However, AMD has now identified select scenarios where the tuning of some RX 480s was not optimal, and they're working on software updates to adjust the tuning.

AMD's statement notes that 8 Gbits per second is not unprecedented when it comes to memory speed; however, the core matter at hand is not about the memory speed but the power draw. The discussion around driver updates to tune down the power draw translates to a throttle in our testing. In our "How to Overclock an RX 480" video, which will be available on our Channel soon, we demonstrate this throttling effect. What you'll see is that once you start pushing the clock rate without adjusting the power percent Target, the clock will throttle itself and rarely reach its target speed. By increasing the power Target by 50%, you can overcome this limitation and achieve better performance.

This throttling effect is a potential limiter to the clock rate, as well as FPS and performance and frame stability. However, AMD has acknowledged the issue and is working on software updates to address it. As a result, people who have already purchased these cards will receive an update that should help with cheaper motherboards, which may be affected by this power draw issue. In other words, this problem may impact some motherboard users more than others.

In addition to addressing the power draw issue, AMD has also mentioned that their RX 480 can actually do a few things that previous models can't, such as switching between 4 and 8 GB of memory for testing purposes. This is thanks in part to the fact that this is a review unit, not a reference model from the factory. The reviewer has purchased the card out of pocket and has been using it extensively to test its performance.

The reviewer will also be putting their RX 480 through further testing to see how it's affected by the upcoming driver update. They may also validate the results on this specific card to ensure that things are looking good before sharing their findings with readers. With this in mind, AMD is taking steps to address a power draw issue that could impact some users, and we'll be keeping a close eye on the situation as it develops.

Ultimately, AMD's response to this issue demonstrates their commitment to ensuring that their products meet the needs of their customers. By acknowledging the problem, working on software updates, and providing guidance on how to address it, AMD is showing that they're dedicated to delivering high-quality products that meet the demands of their users. Whether you're a power user or just looking for a reliable graphics card, AMD's RX 480 is definitely worth considering.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enAMD has issued a statement regarding potential excessive power draw through the pcie bus for its new rx480 video card and that includes the reference models currently shipping this coverage is brought to you by origin PC and the new origin Kronos gaming PC with the rx480 is customizable upgradeable and ready for VR to recap everyone very quickly the reference model has one six pin power connector those are rated for 75 Watts but they can draw more depends on the power supply the cable things like that and it's also drawing the rest of its power through the pcie slot this is normal the pcie slot is generally accepted and rated for a 75 wat power draw it can be exceeded it should not be just kind of as a a general safety rule for the motherboards uh power management but the rx480 is exceeding that limit especially with overclocking and to give you an idea of that when we overclocked this one which is a squ cool the rx40 that we built we were hitting a 1922 watt GPU power draw and that's for the GPU that's not the board the board power is an additional 40 Watts or so from the memory and other board components and then that increases of course as you overclock and really uh stress a fixed clock rate and you increase the power Target and things like that so we're looking at a range of 220 to 250 watts in our overclocking depending on what we're doing so that's a lot of power for one six pin to handle that means a lot of it's coming through the pcie bus so AMD has issued this statement regarding the issue they said as you know we continually see tune our gpus to maximize their performance within their given power envelopes and the speed of the memory interface which in this case is quote an unprecedented 8 gbits for gddr5 recently we identified select scenarios where the tuning of some RX 480s was not optimal and we can adjust this tuning via software basically is what they're saying and they're looking for a driver to fix these issues so first of all I want to point out that 8 gbits per second is not unprecedented just kind of get that out of the way marketing speak uh but the core of the matter is not about the memory speed it's about the power draw and so uh this discussion of doing driver updates to tune down the power draw what that translates to very likely is a throttle is we demonstrate this in our how to overclock the rx480 video which should be on the Channel now or very soon and what you'll see is once you've begun pushing the clock rate if you haven't touched the power percent Target so if you're not moved up to an additional 50% power the clock will actually throttle itself and very rarely if ever reach the targeted overclock value so you could type in 1400 MHz but it may never hit even 1380 or 1350 based on the power draw because it's already uh choking on power so you can fix that by by increasing power Target 50% but a driver update potentially throttling that back would uh I I think uh be a potential limiter to the clock rate and therefore FPS and performance and frame stability but we will test this separately once the new driver or whatever it is comes out I bought this card out of pocket this is an rx480 reference card so was this at one point but this is a reviewer model this can actually do a couple things that these can't like switch between 4 and 8 GB for testing this is fixed 8 GB it is a card you can buy off the shelf yourself I will be testing this one to see how it is affected by the driver update and we might validate on this just to make sure things are looking good but uh that's all for the update basically AMD knows about the issue they're looking at fixing it and it's a driver update uh so people who already bought these will receive that update and it should help with cheaper motherboards things like that which may be threatened by the overdrawn pcie but otherwise uh we'll have to look into the frame rate performance so as always thank you for watching patreon link the postal video if you want to help us out directly subscribe for more content and we'll be looking at some other not rx480 things very soon so do check back for that I'll see you all next timeAMD has issued a statement regarding potential excessive power draw through the pcie bus for its new rx480 video card and that includes the reference models currently shipping this coverage is brought to you by origin PC and the new origin Kronos gaming PC with the rx480 is customizable upgradeable and ready for VR to recap everyone very quickly the reference model has one six pin power connector those are rated for 75 Watts but they can draw more depends on the power supply the cable things like that and it's also drawing the rest of its power through the pcie slot this is normal the pcie slot is generally accepted and rated for a 75 wat power draw it can be exceeded it should not be just kind of as a a general safety rule for the motherboards uh power management but the rx480 is exceeding that limit especially with overclocking and to give you an idea of that when we overclocked this one which is a squ cool the rx40 that we built we were hitting a 1922 watt GPU power draw and that's for the GPU that's not the board the board power is an additional 40 Watts or so from the memory and other board components and then that increases of course as you overclock and really uh stress a fixed clock rate and you increase the power Target and things like that so we're looking at a range of 220 to 250 watts in our overclocking depending on what we're doing so that's a lot of power for one six pin to handle that means a lot of it's coming through the pcie bus so AMD has issued this statement regarding the issue they said as you know we continually see tune our gpus to maximize their performance within their given power envelopes and the speed of the memory interface which in this case is quote an unprecedented 8 gbits for gddr5 recently we identified select scenarios where the tuning of some RX 480s was not optimal and we can adjust this tuning via software basically is what they're saying and they're looking for a driver to fix these issues so first of all I want to point out that 8 gbits per second is not unprecedented just kind of get that out of the way marketing speak uh but the core of the matter is not about the memory speed it's about the power draw and so uh this discussion of doing driver updates to tune down the power draw what that translates to very likely is a throttle is we demonstrate this in our how to overclock the rx480 video which should be on the Channel now or very soon and what you'll see is once you've begun pushing the clock rate if you haven't touched the power percent Target so if you're not moved up to an additional 50% power the clock will actually throttle itself and very rarely if ever reach the targeted overclock value so you could type in 1400 MHz but it may never hit even 1380 or 1350 based on the power draw because it's already uh choking on power so you can fix that by by increasing power Target 50% but a driver update potentially throttling that back would uh I I think uh be a potential limiter to the clock rate and therefore FPS and performance and frame stability but we will test this separately once the new driver or whatever it is comes out I bought this card out of pocket this is an rx480 reference card so was this at one point but this is a reviewer model this can actually do a couple things that these can't like switch between 4 and 8 GB for testing this is fixed 8 GB it is a card you can buy off the shelf yourself I will be testing this one to see how it is affected by the driver update and we might validate on this just to make sure things are looking good but uh that's all for the update basically AMD knows about the issue they're looking at fixing it and it's a driver update uh so people who already bought these will receive that update and it should help with cheaper motherboards things like that which may be threatened by the overdrawn pcie but otherwise uh we'll have to look into the frame rate performance so as always thank you for watching patreon link the postal video if you want to help us out directly subscribe for more content and we'll be looking at some other not rx480 things very soon so do check back for that I'll see you all next time\n"