GPU Undervolting

[throwaway3224]

I think we could use a video about GPU undervolting.

 

I've seen increasing discussion about it recently because the Diablo II Resurrected and New World betas were really hard on GPU temperatures. Some GPUs died. Some people were too scared to run the games because if their GPU dies they can't afford to replace it.

 

I've seen this conversation dozens of times:

Bob> why is my gpu 10c hotter in this game than other games?

Dave> mine too
Steve> your cooling sux, git gud

 

I saw a video of someone limiting their gpu voltage in New World and they didn't even lose any performance! Some reading later reveals that undervolting properly (whatever that means) can quite often also result in better performance.

 

Why would a GPU draw power but not give you more performance in return. Consider all the GPUs in the world, if they're all drawing more power than they need then that's a significant environmental impact and financial cost.

 

People who tried to lower their GPU temperature by other means - lowering settings, resolution, no AA - ended up being CPU-limited instead, and being CPU limited in New World will result in your CPU having all the same thermal issues instead. So maybe undervolting the GPU is the solution that keeps you GPU-limited while also preventing your GPU from drawing excessive power and overheating.

 

There's definitely something to this line of thinking that needs more investigation by some nerdy YouTubers.

[xg32]

the gpus are released on the exponential part of the curve of performance per watt, it's not for efficiency, hence undervolting exists, there are already videos.

 

As for new world blowing up cards, that was on nvidia's cards ovp not working correctly, gotta have a fps limit in place just in case, lesson learned.

[Jurrunio]

I suppose everyone has an OC video to call themselves a tech youtuber, assume same for undervolting?

 

But no it doesnt need further investigation. Just because less people outside the tech world know about it doesn't mean enthusiasts don't. Just videos that carry the message to the masses will do.

 

18 minutes ago, throwaway3224 said:

if they're all drawing more power than they need then that's a significant environmental impact and financial cost.

That's called margin to account for difference in silicon capability. Heard of Nvidia 30 series mass crashing? That's Nvidia pushing too close to the boundary of stability. Testing each GPU individually for a GPU specific profile is an even bigger use of money than wasting power.

[BetteBalterZen]

30 minutes ago, throwaway3224 said:

I think we could use a video about GPU undervolting.

 

I've seen increasing discussion about it recently because the Diablo II Resurrected and New World betas were really hard on GPU temperatures. Some GPUs died. Some people were too scared to run the games because if their GPU dies they can't afford to replace it.

 

I've seen this conversation dozens of times:

Bob> why is my gpu 10c hotter in this game than other games?

Dave> mine too
Steve> your cooling sux, git gud

 

I saw a video of someone limiting their gpu voltage in New World and they didn't even lose any performance! Some reading later reveals that undervolting properly (whatever that means) can quite often also result in better performance.

 

Why would a GPU draw power but not give you more performance in return. Consider all the GPUs in the world, if they're all drawing more power than they need then that's a significant environmental impact and financial cost.

 

People who tried to lower their GPU temperature by other means - lowering settings, resolution, no AA - ended up being CPU-limited instead, and being CPU limited in New World will result in your CPU having all the same thermal issues instead. So maybe undervolting the GPU is the solution that keeps you GPU-limited while also preventing your GPU from drawing excessive power and overheating.

 

There's definitely something to this line of thinking that needs more investigation by some nerdy YouTubers.

First of all, I don't know about Diablo II but New World is beta and unoptimized - also it was confirmed that the EVGA cards that broke had a fault. It was not New World's fault, New World just triggered this fault in the graphics cards. Yes, I have also seen others report that their graphics card have died in New World, all sort of models, AMD and Nvidia cards but nothing was ever confirmed as far as I know - only the EVGA cards was confirmed, and by EVGA themselves. 

 

Some games just utilize the graphics cards much harder than most other games - two examples would be Days Gone and Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition. These two makes the GPU pull way more wattage than most other games, causing increase heat output aswell, and this is something some people report as a fault when it isn't. It's just like some benchmarks tanks hardware way more than other benchmarks. Also, yes, some might not really see the increase heat output, because they have a monster cooling setup or very, very good airflow. There are so many factors to why some report higher temps than other when having the same graphics card. 

 

Yes, undervolting CAN give you more performance than stock. A good example would be that when running stock / using a stock voltage curve, your GPU might pull 1.100V at 1900MHz, but at this point it has hit powerlimit - standard 100%. By removing the overall voltage that GPU can pull (undervolt), lets say we cap it at 0.900mV, this might save you 40watts over the 1.100V, and these last 40watts will let the GPU turbo to 1950MHz - therefor the undervolt just increased performance. Now the tricky part is to not lower the voltage too much because then the GPU becomes unstable. 

Yes, this could be further uptimized by the graphics card manufacturers but with a power limit in place, the GPU will "never" pull more power than said, therefor it is not more enviromentally unfriendly - if you could call it that. You pay for a 350W GPU, and it pulls 350W at max (kinda). Also the auto voltage, that feeds the GPU with more voltage than needed, just means stability is more certain. So it's also a way for the GPU manufacturers to make sure that the graphics cards run stable when costumers get them. 

 

I played the New World open beta and my GPU was never fully utilized and was never hot, but my CPU on the other hand, it was hot. 

Just my thoughts on your questions 

[Tan3l6]

I prefer lowering the power limit to 80% at Afterburner - much lower temps always, performance hit not so great.

[DeerDK]

On 9/16/2021 at 2:27 PM, Tan3l6 said:

I prefer lowering the power limit to 80% at Afterburner - much lower temps always, performance hit not so great.

I just tried the same.

Managed to have my MSI 3060 gaming x run at 61 degrees C with a fan speed set at 35% while gaming Warhammer 2.

Havent benchemarked it yet, but the noise was much more tolerable.