Selective GPU load?

[EliteRetard]

Wondering if there's a small lightweight program I can get that will add a load to any GPU/s at a selected percentage...

I only need about 20-40% load, running in the background...to keep the GPU at sufficient clocks to run less demanding games. It seems to have developed a quirk where it will drop to idle (100MHz) and lag to hell if there isn't a constant high load applied. I don't want a program that will apply a massive load (like furmark) since that would also cause the game to lag like hell and probably destroy the GPU in the process.

After trying to run other games in the background and several other pieces of software the best solution I've found so far is a program that can force apply clockspeeds. I set a keyboard shortcut to give me the moderate clockspeed (400MHz), that way even with a less demanding game running the GPU thinks it has enough of a load to hold for a few seconds before dropping back to idle speed. I can just keep hitting the button, but that's getting tedious (and the games don't always run best at moderate speeds).

I need a combined GPU load of no less than 50% at full speed in order for it to hold clocks. There are several games that only use 35-60% of the max GPU speed, so I just need a bit more to keep it running proper. Running a second game in the background doesn't seem to work, they just stop requesting resources.

Temperature is not the issue, or anything else, since I can run demanding games that push the GPU harder just fine. Its the moderate load that's become the issue. I found the fix I need, but now I'm looking for a more automatic solution. Something to eat up a good chunk of the idle resources on the GPU when running a game without taking so much of the resources that the game runs bad or the GPU overheats.

There may not be any such specific program, but if not perhaps somebody knows another way to add a bit of a GPU load to a system.

 

[KingFatty]

I think the preferred approach is to adjust the settings of the video card to prevent it from dropping to idle? That way you don't have to pile on additional load to keep it out of idle, it just stays out of idle.

for example, you can flash a new bios to the video card that keeps it out of idle. Or, you could extract your current bios, adjust the idle numbers upward, then reflash that adjusted bios. Then when you want to switch back to normal/idle mode, just reflash the original bios.

Or, as a compromise, you could connect a 2nd monitor to the card and that would increase the idle clocks to be more than 100MHz, that may be enough of an increase to prevent lag in your game, though the increase won't be as much as possible. Another trick would be to open a very non-demanding GPU application like the control panel that displays a rotating 3D element, but not sure if your video card control panel has that (perhaps something to graphically demonstrate a 3D adjustment, while displayed, will get you out of idle).

 

[EliteRetard]

I'm pretty sure messing with the BIOS in this case is impossible.
No option to connect another monitor, and so far I haven't found any software with a low 3D load that will run in the background (which is what I'm currently looking for).

It's a Nvidia GPU, and I have tried all their software including the optional downloads. Their software is pretty much utter shit and doesn't perform even basic functions correctly.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Nvidia Inspector might offer what you seek.

You should see if the multi display power saver feature can allow you to setup your thresholds to the point where it won't downclock for you.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Uh...what games are causing this problem exactly? It doesn't make much sense to me, games will generally run as fast as possible until they run in to a hardware limitation or they're artificially capped frame rate wise.

It doesn't make sense that a game struggling with frame rate isn't loading the GPU enough to trigger 3D speed settings, these 2 things seem incompatible. I'd consider looking elsewhere for the source of these problems.

 

[EliteRetard]

Uh...what games are causing this problem exactly? It doesn't make much sense to me, games will generally run as fast as possible until they run in to a hardware limitation or they're artificially capped frame rate wise.

It doesn't make sense that a game struggling with frame rate isn't loading the GPU enough to trigger 3D speed settings, these 2 things seem incompatible. I'd consider looking elsewhere for the source of these problems.

I've verified the problem already...it was rather simple. I won't go into the details why, but I had a strong feeling that the GPU wasn't clocking up, or the games were stuck running on the IGP. After ensuring the game was selecting the DGPU I tried running 2 games at once. One that I knew worked correctly and got the card running full speed, and then tried running a game that wasn't running right.

Even though the game in the background stopped requesting resources I was able to clearly see through a FPS counter when I switched over that I was getting vastly higher speeds than before if only for a few seconds. There seems to be 3 speed steps, idle (100MHz), moderate (400MHz), and full load (730MHz). I could see the FPS drop quickly as it stepped to the middle rung and then to idle speed.

Like I said, I tried a variety of software after that to confirm and try to solve the issue...after I found software to force clockspeeds it was certain. I can load up the graphing tool sit in the game at 10FPS and then hit the button I selected to force the higher clocks. The FPS counter will jump 4-10x for a second before dropping to half that (as the GPU clocks down to mid). Usually the GPU will stay on the middle speed for a few seconds with enough load, but it will always drop to idle and take me back to 10FPS. The graph can track both FPS and clockspeeds, and there's a clear connection there. Anytime I bump the GPU speed my FPS goes way up.

For whatever reason many of the older games I have aren't triggering the GPU correctly. I can't find any way to counteract it either. Like I said, I can force clockspeeds...but if the GPU doesn't think it has a sufficient load it drops to the lower speeds pretty quickly. Currently Im using a keyboard button to keep forcing the mid speed...but I have to keep pressing it. That gets tedious.

I know with enough GPU load it will hold the higher clockspeed, so I'm looking for a way to add GPU load in the background. So far any other game I tried stopped requesting the GPU when it went to the background.

And like I said, I already check the windows options like power saving mode etc...I can't find any other solution.

 

[EliteRetard]

As for games, I currently have over 500 but Im trying to play some RPGs from like 200-2005 (Dungeon Siege, Morrowind etc). They all cause the issue. Most of the older games have the issue though, unless they are so old that they run good at idle speeds.

 

[coffeejunkee]

Is this a laptop? And if not, why are you using igp and videocard?

 

[BallaTheFeared]

???

 

[Monster_Munch]

Try disabling v-sync in the games so the framerate isn't limited. That should increase the load on the GPU. You could also force AA and AF in the graphics card settings to increase the load.

 

[jacktesterson]

Open up a 1080p MKV file with a video player and keep it paused. (With DXVA enabled, I use MPC-HC)

I find this will keep my 7970 from idling.


This does not make sense to me though, as without Vsync there should be no idle state.

I'd probably try a different driver.