I don't get how GPU clocks work

[durrburger]

For refernece I'm using a Zotac 1080 Ti AMP card and currently a 1440p 60fps monitor, and I'm getting very inconsistant clock speeds in games.

 

Sometimes when a game is using like 70% GPU or less, clocks will drop as low as possible on their own to keep the noise and temperatures down, but sometimes they won't even in the exact same games and situations. For example yesterday while playing Sekiro, core clocks were usually around 1200-1500mhz range as the game is not demanding at this resolution, and the temps were around 50c. But today playing the exact same levels my GPU is staying at over 1900mhz constantly and I'm getting over 70c temps and more noise as a result, same thing across all games. The outside temperature is a bit higher today and so are GPU temps but can it also affect clock speeds?

 

I'm usually playing with vsync on and RTSS fps cap to 60, but sometimes GPU will drop clocks and temps as necessary and sometimes it won't even if there's no extra load or anyting different between the two scnenarios. When "dynamic" clocks do work, they even work with OC enabled in Afterburner but it seems to be completely random. Does anyone know why this happens and how can I control it? I'd much rather have less heat and noise whenever possible when the card is provably capable of doing that.

[Haro]

1 minute ago, durrburger said:

but can it also affect clock speeds?

If it gets too hot for it to boost to a certain frequency then yes 

 

2 minutes ago, durrburger said:

I'd much rather have less heat and noise whenever possible when the card is provably capable of doing that.

Then the power limit to something lower 

Set a fixed fan speed and see if that helps 

[durrburger]

18 minutes ago, TofuHaroto said:

If it gets too hot for it to boost to a certain frequency then yes 

 

Then the power limit to something lower 

Set a fixed fan speed and see if that helps 

I get outside temperature affects boosting up above the default frequency, but I'm asking if it's preventing the card from downclocking on its own like it does often.

 

Like one day, most games will rarely go above 1600mhz and the heat/noise is down, then the next day in those exact same games, the frequency is near its maximum all the time, regardless of GPU usage, that part is confusing to me. It's like power managment is set to maximum or something when it isn't.

 

I can lower the power limit but I'm wondering why the card isn't consistant in this behavior, why sometimes it drops the clock itself and at other times it won't.

[Mick Naughty]

Not all parts of the game are the same. 
also if it isn’t at 99% usage, it’s being held back. Unless they are old or easy to run games. 
All of my cards run at max usage and highest clock, give or take 1-2 steps. 

[rodrigoxm49]

2 hours ago, durrburger said:

For refernece I'm using a Zotac 1080 Ti AMP card and currently a 1440p 60fps monitor, and I'm getting very inconsistant clock speeds in games.

 

Sometimes when a game is using like 70% GPU or less, clocks will drop as low as possible on their own to keep the noise and temperatures down, but sometimes they won't even in the exact same games and situations. For example yesterday while playing Sekiro, core clocks were usually around 1200-1500mhz range as the game is not demanding at this resolution, and the temps were around 50c. But today playing the exact same levels my GPU is staying at over 1900mhz constantly and I'm getting over 70c temps and more noise as a result, same thing across all games. The outside temperature is a bit higher today and so are GPU temps but can it also affect clock speeds?

 

I'm usually playing with vsync on and RTSS fps cap to 60, but sometimes GPU will drop clocks and temps as necessary and sometimes it won't even if there's no extra load or anyting different between the two scnenarios. When "dynamic" clocks do work, they even work with OC enabled in Afterburner but it seems to be completely random. Does anyone know why this happens and how can I control it? I'd much rather have less heat and noise whenever possible when the card is provably capable of doing that.

Can you give more information about your system? CPU and memory??

[durrburger]

2 hours ago, rodrigoxm49 said:

Can you give more information about your system? CPU and memory??

It has an i7-7700k at 4.6ghz and 16 GB DDR4 2400mz ram, but GPU is the only variable in these situations I'm referring to. There were no CPU bottlenecks or anything 

[rodrigoxm49]

1 hour ago, durrburger said:

It has an i7-7700k at 4.6ghz and 16 GB DDR4 2400mz ram, but GPU is the only variable in these situations I'm referring to. There were no CPU bottlenecks or anything 

It could be a bottleneck, but it's obviously not since 7700 is enough for 1080TI at 1080p in virtually every game. But these 16GB are 2 modules or only one?

 

One thing I don't get very well. It happens with what games exaclty. Did you use always Vsync or RTSS cap or just in one test or something? If you cap frames, it's expected that 1080TI descrease clocks to save power. Did you tried maximum performance on nVidia CP?

 

Sekiro is a Playstation 2 game launched on 2019. Graphics are terrible and effects are boyound this decade. We need info from other games that actually make 1080TI to sweat.

[durrburger]

25 minutes ago, rodrigoxm49 said:

It could be a bottleneck, but it's obviously not since 7700 is enough for 1080TI at 1080p in virtually every game. But these 16GB are 2 modules or only one?

 

One thing I don't get very well. It happens with what games exaclty. Did you use always Vsync or RTSS cap or just in one test or something? If you cap frames, it's expected that 1080TI descrease clocks to save power. Did you tried maximum performance on nVidia CP?

 

Sekiro is a Playstation 2 game launched on 2019. Graphics are terrible and effects are boyound this decade. We need info from other games that actually make 1080TI to sweat.

I'm playing at 1440p with RAM in dual channel with 8 modules, and I meant Sekiro Shadows Die Twice from last year, so it uses about 50-60% of the GPU when locked at 60. But that's exactly what I'm wondering, the GPU isn't consistant about decreasing clocks to save power, sometimes it does across all games with low usage, and sometimes it doesn't under the exact same circumstances.

 

I've also noticed it in Far Cry 5, Dark Souls 3 and basically every game that doesn't tax the card over 80% or so. In the same zones/levels/areas, one day it will dynamically adjust the frequency and drop it as low as 700mhz when playing simple games like Telltale ones, or it will stay at max frequency despite low usage %. It's not literally happening every other day but it's completely random as far as I can tell.