Tweaking laptop clocks/voltage for Overwatch

[YoreyC]

tl;dr: What program can I use to monitor/log stuff so you can point where the problem is?

been working at this for a month and I need some help. I'm on a lenovo y50-70 with gtx 960m and i7 4720hq. i've tried overclocking, undervolting, but I can't figure out why my framerate in Overwatch is so wonky and unstable. Furmark clearly improves when my GPU is overclocked and doesn't seem to overheat or throttle, but Overwatch bounces frames around 25% (which I think means it is throttling), and crashes. Also can't tell clearly if gpu overclock/cpu undervolt+underclock is even doing anything except making it crash.

I've been using Throttlestop, Intel XTU, EVGA Precision X16, Nvidia Inspector, Speedfan, Furmark, Heaven, CPU-Z, Speedfan... just need to understand why what should be working doesn't seem to. Thanks

 

[coercitiv]

You need to understand the core issue, not just overclock / undervolt everything at the same time:

• Remove the CPU undervolt and the GPU overclock.
• Limit CPU frequency to 2.6Ghz (this will drastically drop temps and heat output)
• Check whether Overwatch bounces frames as much, see if it's stable. Monitor CPU & GPU temps.

Hardware64 has a logging function, essentially allowing you to leave it running in the background and log temps and clocks for an entire gaming session. This will allow you to see if there's any throttling during gaming. Alternatively, you can just play in windowed mode, and use whatever software you're familiar with to see if CPU drops to very low frequencies during gameplay (bellow 2Ghz when actually fighting).

If Overwatch:

• still crashes but temps are fine for both CPU & GPU, you may have a software (driver) problem. Troubleshoot that first.
• is stable and framerate is also (more) stable, you had a thermal problem and should concentrate on improving temps before anything else (replace thermal paste if easy, clean heatsink if necessary, start undervolting by using either a -50mV offset or if you want more, fix your Vcore at the maximum voltage needed for top frequency state --- using a higher than -50mV relative offset can lead to system being unstable when dropping frequency, since the same offset is applied to the lower frequency states as well --- which combined with possible throttling during gameplay can put your CPU in a situation where it becomes unstable, although you should see a bluescreen rather than just a game crash)
• is stable but framerate is still wonky and temps look fine, proceed to alternatively increase CPU speed from the max imposed limit of 2.6Ghz and GPU speed (overclock) and observe which has a stronger effect on performance. Don't undervolt, watch temps. If CPU going up over 2.6Ghz doesn't help much, go back to 2.6Ghz and start increasing GPU and VRAM clocks. If CPU going over 2.6Ghz helps, gradually increase until you reach the point where high temperatures lead to throttling: that's your cooling limit, balance around it.

 

[ZGR]

Disable turbo boost in Windows power plan or Throttlestop.

I use Rivatuner to monitor clockspeeds and temps in game.

Since you have Maxwell, you can create .bat files for Nvidia Inspector to create custom overclocking profiles.

My laptop will throttle the CPU down to 1.2 GHz for brief periods if too hot, or if power consumption is too high. I usually cap it in ThrottleStop. That coupled with Nvidia Inspector batch files lets me customize clocks on a per game basis.

If you want to go extreme, plug in a monitor + mouse and keyboard. Flip the laptop upside down, take the bottom lid off, and blow a fan directly on the motherboard. Make sure your power supply is also cooled.