Windowed mode= GPU Significantly cooler?

TheShmooDude

Junior Member
Aug 29, 2005
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Read all the posts to get a better context but here's the summary.

Using CSS video stress test at 1280x960 No AA/AF

398/493
123 fps Full screen @ 82C (or it WOULD get that hot eventually, takes about 30 or so minutes from my experience with playing)
102 fps Windowed @ 62C (I actually haven't tested long term in CSS, but that's the heat from running WoW in windowed, if I change wow to full screen it immediatly jumpts to 70C)

250/493 (underclocked to ensure there's no funny clock changes going on :) )
86 fps Full screen @ 65C (only the stress test, might of made it upto 70 if I had looped it or something)
76 fps Windowed @ 56C (same as above, only stress test, might of made it a few degrees higher)

Anyone have any explanation? I highly doubt the slightly lower fps caused this drastic an temprature drop but I suppose it could have

Below is the origional topic. Edited to change topic :)

Origional post:

Is there any way I can adjust the 2d clock for my Gigabyte x800? My primary game is wow and I like to play it in windowed/maximized mode so I can use my second monitor without having to alt+tab out of the game. However this seems to downclock my GPU clock to about 275 (number gotten by lowering the clock speed till I started to lose performance in windowed mode, it could be 300 I suppose and I just didn't notice :) ). This isn't necessarily a bad thing as wow performs decently at this clock speed and it cuts my temps from 80+C to ~60C.

Seeing as how the difference in clock speed amounts to about a 30% boost in speed (just from eyeballing the fps numbers) I'd really like to know if there's a way to fix this flaw in the (I assume) ATI drivers.

Thanks in advance
 

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
6
81
Im a bit confused after setting up a router but here goes.

Set up 2 profiles.

One with your gaming settings (3D work)

One with your "other" settings (2D work)

Use the options in ATI Tool to run the Gaming settings when 3D programs are opened and then run "other" settings when 3D programs are closed.

I use this with my 9800Pro. Set one at 300/300 for 2D when I need no power, 440/370 when 3D programs start. Stock is something like 375/375 or so.
 

TheShmooDude

Junior Member
Aug 29, 2005
18
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Except that ATI tool only displays one clock setting and any manipulation I do above 250ish sems to do nothing to windowed mode. I only notice a difference if I UNDERCLOCK it from the desktop clock (for example I can really throw my FPS down noticably by going from 250 to 150. There is also a noticable difference in temprature between windowed and full screen mode. In windowed I rarely if ever go above 62C but in windowed mode I'm almost immediatly upto 70C. No amount of tweaking with the slider seems to be able to override the "2d" mode that its in.

I have a feeling I'm just screwed until ATI fixes this driver problem (and I'm resonably sure its a driver probllem, ati tool does detect the 3d being activated and deactivated properly in windowed mode, I just can't seem to override it.
 

Fenuxx

Senior member
Dec 3, 2004
907
0
76
When you go into windowed mode, you're not using 2D. The slowdown may also have something to do with the resolution you play at. Is your desktop resolution higher than the one you choose in the game for fullscreen? If it is, and you're dragging the window to match the size of your monitor, this could explain the slowdown.

Also, it could be a driver bug ;) .
 

Munky

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2005
9,372
0
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It doesn't have anything to do with 2d/3d. The game still runs in 3d mode, but when you're using windowed mode it always runs slower than in full screen mode. This happens in every card I've owned, and I don't think it's a bug or anything you can do about it, because windowed mode is just not as efficient as full screen mode.
 

kylebisme

Diamond Member
Mar 25, 2000
9,396
0
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There is no sepration between 2d/3d clock rates with ATI cards, what they are clocked at is what they are at regardless of what you are doing with them.
 

TheShmooDude

Junior Member
Aug 29, 2005
18
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I'm still not so sure maybe Gigabyte didn't decide to impliment something themselves since its a passivly cooled card.

Anyone know why there'd be no FPS difference from ~250 all the way upto 400 core clock? I suppose that that's the point where I no longer have any idle clock cycles, but my CPU usage is only ~60% in windowed mode vs 100% in full screen depending on how crowded the area is.

Here's another problem one I'm more worried about. If I do World of Warcraft or CSS in windowed mode where it has a title bar (wow has a mode to mimic full screen by setting the game resolution = desktop resolution) is showing my fps goes to <2fps and I can actually SEE the frame changing between frames, basicly a line down the middle like when you see the weather channel update their radar. My CPU usage skyrockets to 100% so it appears that something is just eating the cpu cycles. Even with wow in maximized mode if I say open the start menu it has the same effect. Its really irritating...

I even did a CSS video stress test at my normal settings (I think I got 90 normally at the settings I have it at 1280x960 4x/8x) and got 1.54 fps... Not only that it took about tripple the normal completion time as it was noticably slower moving through the test
 

TheShmooDude

Junior Member
Aug 29, 2005
18
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0
Ok, I seem to have found a fix to the problem, though that only treats the symptom. If I switch my primary and secondary monitors there and back it fixes the second problem. I haven't restarted yet but if I had to guess that'll undo my fix and I'll have to do it every boot, we'll see.

I did a video stress test in windowed and non-windowed mode in CSS and came out with 109 windowed and 123 non-windowed @ 1280x960 No AA/AF which would be consistant with the clocks being the same. What I don't get is why is windowed upwards of 20C hotter!?! CSS after 30 minutes or so in full screen gets upwards of 85C where as windowed mode never gets above 65 (usually around 61-62 or so).

Ok, downclocked my card to 250/490 and got 86 full screen and 76 with temps differing from about 65C top for full and 56C or so top for windowed. Something about windowed mode is causing the GPU to run SIGNIFICANTLY cooler, especially at the higher clock speeds. Anyone have any idea what this is? because it'd be really useful to get my temps down seeing as this thing runs 80+C after 30 minutes of CSS. One thing to note is I don't belive its the slower performance from windowed mode since the 86fps test still ran hotter than the 109 fps windowed test at a higher clock rate...

Well I'm stumped, any ideas (I'll probably edit the main post in a bit, gonna try a few things.


EDIT: Restart didn't break it again :) I wonder what the problem was in the first place...
 

TheShmooDude

Junior Member
Aug 29, 2005
18
0
0
No one finds this latest tidbit about the temps interesting? It'd be neat if someone else did a test with a normal fan heatsink to see if it makes a temprature difference.