How to measure the power consumption ?

[jilljilljill]

Hello,

I am a user of VTune.

As we know, through VTune, we can obtain the number of processor cycles of a software costed.

Then, how to measure the power consumption of a software through Vtune?
(i.e. in unit of mw)

Thanks a lot.

[Vladimir_T_Intel]

Hi,

VTune is not intended to measure power consumption. I don't know anyCPU performanceevents that would allow to.
The best way of measuring power consuption is using HW power meters while running software benchmarks.

[jilljilljill]

Dear Vladimir,

Thank you very much.

As we know, the accuratepower consumption should be measured through hardware. In fact, in most cases, the users have not enough hardware equipments such as Fluke NetDAQ, which is used in http://www.intel.com/cd/ids/developer/apac/zho/dc/enterprise/technologies/325671.htm?page=1.

Then,
1, Could you give me details about "HW power meters" ?
2, Could you me some suggestions about measuring the power consumption of a software by some software tools. (i.e. VTune or others)
For example, how to obtain the 50 watts in fig 1 through intel tools , which is in :
http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/power-consumption-in-real-time-threaded-application/

Thanks a lot.

[Vladimir_T_Intel]

Hi,

1. I meant here the ordinary power meters with suitable characteristics (although, it won't help to identify a particular portion of power consuming code - you will need to create benchmarks).

2. I'm not sure which OS you are using, but there is a great site that contains good considerations regarding saving power on Linux-based platforms http://www.lesswatts.org/projects/power-performance/considerations.php

There isopen-source utility PowerTop which allow to figure out how wella system is using the hardware power-saving features and find software components that are preventing optimal usage ofthe hardware power savings http://www.lesswatts.org/projects/powertop/

Another interesting article on how to measure power consumption on Linux I've found out here: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_measure_power_consumption