Power Limit/Throttling - Afterburner/Precision or NVidia driver/hardware bug

[flexy]

I am not the only one who complained here about the silliness of today's overclocking and the stupid throttling down for no apparent reason.

I found countless complaints on other forums as well which more or less confirm to me that something "is off" with Nvidia/Kepler throttling down for weird reasons.

ONE thing I found is ALSO an inconsistency using Afterburner, Precision, NV Inspector or ANY tool which allows setting the "power limit" level.

For example I can set power limit to 100% and see normal clock rate, set it to only +1 it clocks down 200-300, set it one more it goes back to normal and so forth.

The set "power limit" is NOT consistent and sometimes clocks down the card "erroneously" at some values.

It could, therefore, well be that people use those tools like Afterburner, NV inspector etc. and set a power limit and then see their card throttling/downclocking where it shouldn't. Try it, just use one notch more or less and see it corrects itself again.

(Right now I see it downclocking at each ODD number, but this is not consistent either. The next time I start Afterburner the same thing happens with each EVEN number. Result is therefore that you never know in advance whether you get to to "wrong" PL number where it downclocks, UNLESS you monitor and know what your normal clock rate is supposed to be).

At least this is the case here with my 660 TI and drivers 341.22

 

[Liquid_Static]

Perhaps it's just a driver issue? I've never experienced anything like what you're talking about.

 

[Sable]

Overclocking is a privilege not a right. Would you prefer zero OC?

With my 680 I slammed the power thingy to max (132%), +125mhz on the core and 400mhz on the memory.

The memory is a set OC I believe and the core adjusts itself based on temperatures and power etc. This is a GOOD thing. It means you get the maximum OC for your card, it will only downclock when you're exceeding either power threshhold or the temp threshhold which you wouldn't be able to achieve even if you could lock the speeds.

So chill out?

Please correct me if I'm wrong here kids btw.

 

[Grooveriding]

Overclocking is a privilege not a right. Would you prefer zero OC?

lol...

 

[Sable]

lol...

I'm serious. You buy your card from amd or nvidia and they guarantee it will work at the designated speeds. Same with processors. Suddenly it;s an outrage when a card/processor won't overclock to X mhz? MY GOD, CALL THE FDA (or whatever government department looks after computer parts that don;t overclock to what they theoretically might be capable of. OMG OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!!).

 

[Sable]

Which is actually the whole point. Not every piece of silicon is gonna be able to OC to certain speeds. Nvidia (in this case) guarantee the speeds it's sold at PLUS a boost speed. Nowhere do they state that a processor will be capable of a certain speed other than the stock speed.

So seriously, STFU, aka Stop Talking Flipping Uncalled-for-nonsense.

 

[futurefields]

Hey Sable, try and be less of a douchebag, that's my advice for you.

 

[Cookie Monster]

I'm serious. You buy your card from amd or nvidia and they guarantee it will work at the designated speeds. Same with processors. Suddenly it;s an outrage when a card/processor won't overclock to X mhz? MY GOD, CALL THE FDA (or whatever government department looks after computer parts that don;t overclock to what they theoretically might be capable of. OMG OUTRAGE!!!!!!!!!).

No need to get all angry there. And your right!

It's a simple concept that many fail to understand nor comprehend especially on this board. Most think overclocking or basically driving a device/electronic outside of its specification a given.

For one, I think GPU boost is pretty neat because as this technology matures, we won't have to touch a thing as it will control the clocks based on temp/power of your choosing (I would love to see more clock states between idle to full power mode). Obviously it kills the fun for those who run it to the absolute maximum by voiding the warranty..

 

[futurefields]

edit: n/m

 

[Sheninat0r]

Hey Sable, try and be less of a douchebag, that's my advice for you.

It's too bad he's right. People getting outraged over "oh my god no more overclocking!" need to sit down and really think about how they became so entitled and whiny.

 

[notty22]

This is my card's behavior.
Its bios has a slight o/c compared to stock 660' clocks.
So I don't add anything for the software to try to add.
I o/c the memory and move the TDP slider to 110%.
Core clocks for the most part stay @ 1150mhz.
Now I assume there are cases where a user dials in more core +XXX and then see the turbo clocks moving around in a small range if the TDP or heat limits are triggered. But in my mind throttling is having clocks drop below the stock core clocks in my case 1059.

 

[thilanliyan]

Obviously it kills the fun for those who run it to the absolute maximum by voiding the warranty..

Not every company voids your warranty because of overclocking. Heck some companies even let you change coolers without voiding the warranty.

 

[boxleitnerb]

What people need to understand:

There are TWO power limits.
1. GPU
2. Complete card

The user has only control over 1. If the card reaches 2., it will still throttle. The latest version of NV Inspector can display power usage for both, GPU and the card as a whole. Directly from the creator of NV Inspector, using the latest beta drivers:

http://www.forum-3dcenter.org/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=9732977&postcount=5

 

[flexy]

Somehow this debate doesn't even address what the topic is about

It's about that the act of applying a different Power Limit alone level causes throttling where it shouldn't. It's NOT about the specific value of the PL although this of course will play a role (Eg. setting PL to 50% will of course reduce clocks..) .. but this is NOT what this is about.

Example Set Power Level:

100% 1200 core
101% 1050 core
102% 1200 core
103% 1050 core

(Even/Odd is not always consistent, it depends on the original state as it seems).

The result is that someone might apply a chosen, custom PL and sees decreased core clocks because he hit one of the "unlucky" values.
(For example, one might set PL to 114% and sees decreased clocks, but he would NOT have the clock decrease at 113 or 115).

You can test this if you know your card's speed, run an app (like Heaven etc.) and look at your core speed. And then, stepwise, slowly increase only one notch P/L and observe how it deducts like 200 from the core, and the next one up (or down) it jumps back to the normal value.

Edit:
Cheezus I am about to make video...

 

[3DVagabond]

It's too bad he's right. People getting outraged over "oh my god no more overclocking!" need to sit down and really think about how they became so entitled and whiny.

They paid their money. They can whine if they want. It's in the "Customer's Bill of Rights".

Seriously, though. People need to speak with their wallets. If they aren't happy don't buy it. It's not like it's a secret that nVidia has locked voltage and limited O/C'ing.

It's the same as when people try running Eyefinity without a dp connection (and didn't buy a Sapphire Flex card) and then they complain. It's no secret that Eyefinity requires the use of a DP connection.

If someone is into O/C'ing to get the most performance don't buy Kepler.

 

[3DVagabond]

Not every company voids your warranty because of overclocking. Heck some companies even let you change coolers without voiding the warranty.

I've actually never seen a post by someone who's been refused RMA because they O/C'd.

 

[cmdrdredd]

I set my power level to +145% and it doesn't throttle. The only one time it may is when PrecisionX starts up with windows and opens too early (before the Nvidia control panel etc).

If I close it and open it again, everything is good.

 

[bystander36]

Why do you keep making posts on this? It is working as intended. Get over it already, or more on. Though AMD is doing the same thing on their Ghz edition cards, and likely future cards, so you'll have to get over it eventually.