Can someone explain this? Weird boost frequencies when Shadowplay is off.

[Mark Kaine]

So I got a new PSU, because my old Bequiet was only 500w... worked fine though, but I didn't think it's a good idea longterm for a 3070 (with whooping 270w power draw) 

 

Anyways so I'm checking if everything works... looking good, benchmarks got a bit better because I removed the power limit and the small underclock I had to keep it safe with the old PSU.... 

 

So I start playing the game I always play, suddenly the "boost frequency" is around 1000-1400mhz... so much too low, I used to get around 1950 MHz (with power limit 90 and slight under clock - 25)...  so I'm like wtf... 

 

runs fine though, like always, no dips... then I noticed Shadowplay turned itself off (it happens, just rarely)... 

 

Ok back out the game, turn on Shadowplay... start the game back up... 

 

1950 MHz....!? 

 

 

So nothing appears to be broken but I'm still curious, how? why? 

 

that wasn't like that with any other gpu I had...

 

 

Note GPU usage is up to 100%, CPU usage around 20%, no change at all to before I installed the new PSU... 

 

Can someone explain this because it makes no sense to me... shouldn't a 3070 always boost to whatever is the boost clock under load regardless of if Shadowplay is on??? 

 

ps: sadly I didn't really test this before switching PSUs, I always play with Shadowplay (and Vsync lol) 

 

[BetteBalterZen]

Do you use MSI Afterburner and have applied a profile with either overclock or undervolt? 

[Mark Kaine]

19 minutes ago, BetteBalterZen said:

Do you use MSI Afterburner and have applied a profile with either overclock or undervolt? 

only power limit to 90... 

 

I don't think this should make a difference...? it doesn't in benchmarks, I tried. 

[BetteBalterZen]

2 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

only power limit to 90... 

 

I don't think this should make a difference...? it doesn't in benchmarks, I tried. 

I also use Afterburner for undervolting, and I've experienced one time before where my clocks where really, really slow and kinda like stuck, like stuck in idle clockspeeds. 

With my game running, I tapped out, went into Afterburner, selected a profile with stock settings and selected my undervolt profile after and that fixed it. 

So my guess is that Afterburner can bug this but I'm not 100% sure. 

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, BetteBalterZen said:

I also use Afterburner for undervolting, and I've experienced one time before where my clocks where really, really slow and kinda like stuck, like stuck in idle clockspeeds. 

With my game running, I tapped out, went into Afterburner, selected a profile with stock settings and selected my undervolt profile after and that fixed it. 

So my guess is that Afterburner can bug this but I'm not 100% sure. 

Hmm I see, I agree it looks like a bug... honestly I shouldn't have gotten 60fps at these low frequencies but did (but that's just guesswork) the weird thing is as soon I turned shadow play back on the frequencies were normal again. 

 

And I actually didn't test with benchmarks and shadow play off... I'll have to do that.

[BetteBalterZen]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

Hmm I see, I agree it looks like a bug... honestly I shouldn't have gotten 60fps at these low frequencies but did (but that's just guesswork) the weird thing is as soon I turned shadow play back on the frequencies were normal again. 

 

And I actually didn't test with benchmarks and shadow play off... I'll have to do that.

Yeah it is weird...

[Mark Kaine]

14 hours ago, BetteBalterZen said:

Yeah it is weird...

it is... so I tried resetting Afterburner while the game is running, no effect, the only thing that shows the (likely) real clockspeeds is turning on Nvidia GFE Shadowplay... 

 

I also tested with Superposition benchmark Shadowplay on and off, which *did* show proper frequencies either way, and consequently had slightly better results with Shadowplay off. 

 

So it has to be a bug, but why it apparently only affects games I have no idea. 

 

Edit: ok another theory is... this card just doesn't boost higher than needed... 

 

 

Heaven benchmark with Vsync on = 800mhz 

with Vsync off = 1950 MHz 

 

So it's possible it just boosts higher with Shadowplay on since it obviously needs a bit more power... 

 

 

[BetteBalterZen]

2 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

it is... so I tried resetting Afterburner while the game is running, no effect, the only thing that shows the (likely) real clockspeeds is turning on Nvidia GFE Shadowplay... 

 

I also tested with Superposition benchmark Shadowplay on and off, which *did* show proper frequencies either way, and consequently had slightly better results with Shadowplay off. 

 

So it has to be a bug, but why it apparently only affects games I have no idea. 

 

Edit: ok another theory is... this card just doesn't boost higher than needed... 

 

 

Heaven benchmark with Vsync on = 800mhz 

with Vsync off = 1950 MHz 

 

So it's possible it just boosts higher with Shadowplay on since it obviously needs a bit more power... 

 

 

Ah, yes of course! 

That makes perfect sense actually