My GTX 780ti was throttling!

[Dave3000]

Yesterday I received my PNY GTX 780ti. I was running Heaven 4.0 at the default benchmark settings at 1920x1080, and the GPU for the first 1 minute into the benchmark runs at 993 Mhz then throttles. It can go as low as 876 MHz (base clock) but not often during this benchmark and most of the time during this benchmark it hovers between 901 MHz to 967 MHz. Also the GPU temperature around 2 minutes into running Heaven 4.0 hits 83 C. Also I think I should be getting around 5% better performance than I am right now with this card from the reviews I seen. For example one review shows 66 fps in Valley benchmark for the 780ti and I get 63 fps with the same benchmark settings in Valley. Is my card throttling too much? Is my GPU reaching 83 C to quickly? Is it normal for the reference cooled and clocked 780ti to throttle all the way down to it's base clock during the Heaven benchmark?

 

[Majcric]

Are you using max performance in Nvidia Control panel?

 

[OCGuy]

83c is not a high temp.

Manually set the fan higher in Afterburner.

66 FPS and 63 FPS are within any reasonable margin of error or difference in CPU. It could easily be because your BIOS isn't allowing your fan to go above a certain point, which is causing your clock speed to not hit max boost.

 

[Dave3000]

Are you using max performance in Nvidia Control panel?

Yes I set it to that.

During Valley benchmark the GPU boost on my card hovers between 901-915 MHz most of the time. The specs the GPU boost clock on my card is 928 MHz.

 

[Termie]

Everything sounds normal to me. A custom fan profile is required to avoid throttling under 100% gpu load, which is what heaven represents.

What case do you have? A high powered card needs good airflow.

 

[Majcric]

Another thing make sure there are no applications running inthe background. This was the only time my 680 ever failed to boost properly.

 

[Dave3000]

Another thing make sure there are no applications running inthe background. This was the only time my 680 ever failed to boost properly.

Wouldn't Precision X be considered an application running in the background? I would need to have it running or another 3rd party application to set a custom fan profile.

 

[Majcric]

Precision X is fine. What drivers are you using?

 

[Dave3000]

Also I was running Precision X with setting the priority to Temperature Target instead of the priority to Power Target. With this setting it throttles down to 863 MHz (base clock is 876 MHz). Should it never throttle below the base clock?

 

[Dave3000]

Precision X is fine. What drivers are you using?

The latest ones.

 

[Majcric]

If you're using the WHQL try the beta and vice-versa.

 

[escrow4]

Rubbish card. My 780 Ti GHz from Gigabyte hits 1215MHz consistently in game (or slightly higher) and stays there, even with a big fat factory overclock. Temps from what I recall hover around 70 celsius in a HAF XM case.

 

[OCGuy]

Did you try increasing the fan so that it allows a higher temp?

 

[OCGuy]

Rubbish card. My 780 Ti GHz from Gigabyte hits 1215MHz consistently in game (or slightly higher) and stays there, even with a big fat factory overclock. Temps from what I recall hover around 70 celsius in a HAF XM case.

None of which is an apples to apples with what the OP is experiencing.

 

[toyota]

did anyone even ask if this was a reference cooled card? a reference cooled 780 ti is going to throttle at times. raise the power and temp limit and that should take care of nearly any full load throttling.

 

[toyota]

Are you using max performance in Nvidia Control panel?

that will not do anything except keep him from dropping below base clock even in an undemanding scenario. its a silly waste of power to have that setting globally enabled as every little thing that needs the gpu will unnecessarily keep it a base clocks.

 

[Majcric]

did anyone even ask if this was a reference cooled card? a reference cooled 780 ti is going to throttle at times. raise the power and temp limit and that should take care of nearly any full load throttling.

According to his other thread it is reference. But to my knowledge it still shouldn't throttle below Nvidia's guaranteed boost clock. Especially seeing his Temps are in line.

 

[Majcric]

that will not do anything except keep him from dropping below base clock even in an undemanding scenario. its a silly waste of power to have that setting globally enabled as every little thing that needs the gpu will unnecessarily keep it a base clocks.

This was a temp solution.

 

[OCGuy]

According to his other thread it is reference. But to my knowledge it still shouldn't throttle below Nvidia's guaranteed boost clock. Especially seeing his Temps are in line.

The only thing "guaranteed" is the base clock, similar to Intel processors. The boost clock potential is based on several variables, some of which you can control fairly easily to ensure you are always at your max boost.

The answer has been given to the OP, but after reading all of his original thread titles, I see a pattern.

 

[Majcric]

IDK why I said boost. The clock on the box

 

[toyota]

This was a temp solution.

he is not dropping below base clock anyway so it would have no impact.

 

[toyota]

IDK why I said boost. The clock on the box

I think you are getting confused by all the different clockspeeds. there is base, boost and actual in game boost.

 

[Stuka87]

83c is not a high temp.

Manually set the fan higher in Afterburner.

66 FPS and 63 FPS are within any reasonable margin of error or difference in CPU. It could easily be because your BIOS isn't allowing your fan to go above a certain point, which is causing your clock speed to not hit max boost.

83C is the max temp before throttling on the 780Ti. You may not think its high, but nVidia obviously does not want it going over that.

Higher fan profile should allow higher clocks before hitting that temp. This is assuming the high temps are not being caused by high case temps.

Although as others stated, base clock for a Ti is 845MHz. Anything over that is not guaranteed.

 

[toyota]

83C is the max temp before throttling on the 780Ti. You may not think its high, but nVidia obviously does not want it going over that.

Higher fan profile should allow higher clocks before hitting that temp. This is assuming the high temps are not being caused by high case temps.

Although as others stated, base clock for a Ti is 845MHz. Anything over that is not guaranteed.

base clock is 876. and again all he has to do is raise the power and temp target together. that will allow it to go up to 106% of power and 95C. it will not get to 95C unless he has a complete piece of crap for a case and lives in an attic with no ac in very hot climate.

 

[OCGuy]

83C is the max temp before throttling on the 780Ti. You may not think its high, but nVidia obviously does not want it going over that.

95c is the technical specification that NV gives.

Stock BIOS max fan-speed is set to give the optimal balance between boost clock, temp, and noise. A number of different factors can make the max clock different, including ambient temperature in the room.

Seeing as how his temp was fine and his clocks were only backing off of the max boost while running a non real-world stress test, I'd be willing to bet the card is performing exactly how it should be.