Undervolting Questions

[Endless_Anarchy]

Summary: I chose to undervolt my GPU because my Temps seemed very high in games, reaching 88-90 degrees. Before undervolting, I made sure to take apart my gpu and replaced the paste and the pads with the temperatures being about the same. I learned how to undervolt using MSI Afterburner manipulating the voltage/frequency curve from the video below. The game I used to stress my GPU while undervolting was ARK: Survival evolved, ultra graphics, which pegged my GPU at 100% at all times.

GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 3070 Gaming OC 8GB GDDR6 (https://a.co/d/cDT4COu) (Amazon Link)

After following this videos instructions my results were as followed

Initial: 1607mhz / 0.912v / 92c

After: 1607mhz / 0.725v / 72c

In the video the man only managed to undervolt his GPU about 0.080v but I was able to drop almost 0.2v while maintaining the same/improved FPS and stability.

 

What I wanted to know was is 0.2v a lot when it comes to undervolting? And is there anything else I should know since this is my first time undervolting and I know almost nothing about it? Anything is appreciated.

 

[Eigenvektor]

1 hour ago, Endless_Anarchy said:

The game I used to stress my GPU while undervolting was ARK: Survival evolved, ultra graphics, which pegged my GPU at 100% at all times.

I would recommend to test with multiple different games. An undervolt that is stable in one game, may not be stable in another, since the way it taxes the GPU may be different.

[Endless_Anarchy]

2 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

I would recommend to test with multiple different games. An undervolt that is stable in one game, may not be stable in another, since the way it taxes the GPU may be different.

I played a few games I usually play and haven't had any issues so far but I did hear that it could cause issues in some games and not others so I'll keep an eye out for it. So far I've played

1) ARK

2) Terraria

3) Minecraft

4) TCG card store simulator

5) and Valorant

and haven't had any issues which is a good sign. I've also restarted/ shut down my computer a few times since I did the undervolting and haven't had any issues... so far so good it seems but I won't be shocked if something were not to work in the future.

 

I'm planning on properly installing something to properly stress test the GPU for an extended period of time so that I can monitor temps/voltages/frequencies much closer. (I was thinking furmark but if there is something you, or anybody else things would be better I'm open to suggestions)

[Bagzie]

10 minutes ago, Endless_Anarchy said:

I played a few games I usually play and haven't had any issues so far but I did hear that it could cause issues in some games and not others so I'll keep an eye out for it. So far I've played

1) ARK

2) Terraria

3) Minecraft

4) TCG card store simulator

5) and Valorant

and haven't had any issues which is a good sign. I've also restarted/ shut down my computer a few times since I did the undervolting and haven't had any issues... so far so good it seems but I won't be shocked if something were not to work in the future.

 

I'm planning on properly installing something to properly stress test the GPU for an extended period of time so that I can monitor temps/voltages/frequencies much closer. (I was thinking furmark but if there is something you, or anybody else things would be better I'm open to suggestions)

Furmark is really bad for it since generally modern day drivers will downclock your gpu because it's notoriously hard on your gpu , Heaven or Timespy is a better bet.

[leclod]

I run my 3070 at 1710/0.775 and I use the 3dmark stresstests (and Furmark) to confirm

[leclod]

1 hour ago, Bagzie said:

Furmark is really bad for it since generally modern day drivers will downclock your gpu because it's notoriously hard on your gpu

From what I saw, the gpu is only downclocked by temperature too high (which might happen with Furmark)

[Mark Kaine]

3 hours ago, Endless_Anarchy said:

Initial: 1607mhz / 0.912v / 92c

After: 1607mhz / 0.725v / 72c

that's 200mhz under baseclock?

 

i don't understand how you managed this at default settings? 

 

either way this doesn't mirror my experience with a RTX 3070 Vision.

 

stock: 1815mhz/75C

 

undervolt: 2010Mhz/62C

 

 

see where this is going? (and sorry idk the voltages, that seems oddly irrelevant when all i care is temps,  but its definitely *lower* than stock) I don't really understand how your clock speeds are so low and yet the card pretty hot - on the other hand i acknowledge your temps were lowered and that was probably the goal. but a good UV looks different to me.

 

Also question: what's your max TDP? you can check with gpu-z.

 

Here's mine

Spoiler

 

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

I would recommend to test with multiple different games. An undervolt that is stable in one game, may not be stable in another, since the way it taxes the GPU may be different.

 superposition, heaven, firestrike, prime95 small FTs+superposition *at the same time* for ~15 minutes is the bare minimum for me to say something is probably stable...

 

(only 15 minutes because does that combo get hot and loud lmao... it's just to test max power draw anyway tbh, 504w in my case) 

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, Endless_Anarchy said:

I played a few games I usually play and haven't had any issues so far but I did hear that it could cause issues in some games and not others so I'll keep an eye out for it. So far I've played

1) ARK

2) Terraria

3) Minecraft

4) TCG card store simulator

5) and Valorant

and haven't had any issues which is a good sign. I've also restarted/ shut down my computer a few times since I did the undervolting and haven't had any issues... so far so good it seems but I won't be shocked if something were not to work in the future.

 

I'm planning on properly installing something to properly stress test the GPU for an extended period of time so that I can monitor temps/voltages/frequencies much closer. (I was thinking furmark but if there is something you, or anybody else things would be better I'm open to suggestions)

Prime95 small FTs + Superposition 4k max settings  =)

 

 

 

furmark is outdated nonsense,  it doesn't really proof anything.

[Salted Spinach]

9 hours ago, Endless_Anarchy said:

What I wanted to know was is 0.2v a lot when it comes to undervolting? And is there anything else I should know since this is my first time undervolting and I know almost nothing about it? Anything is appreciated.

0.2V is extreme for undervolting modern GPUs

 

You have to run benchmarks that give you a score in order to verify that you have not lost performance. Because some GPU simply clock stretch or cut their boost clock to avoid crashing when pushed too far

[Endless_Anarchy]

I have solved my issue. what happened was my case the corsair 4000D airflow, has a vertical GPU mount but it appears that the side panel is to close to the mounting area which is constricting airflow. I removed the side panel and all of a sudden tamps were perfect. Thank you all for the advice, especially the fact about my GPU running below stock which is because it was thermal throttling. The reason I was running my GPU vertical was because of space constraints being caused by my AIO. So I went ahead and completely redid my AIO placement so that I could horizontal mount my GPU. I'll run a few more tests with it mounted horizontally and I will let you  guys know if it works.

 

EDIT: BY repositioning all my fans and GPU I was able to bring my temperatures under control. I used MSI Afterburners automatic Overclocking and have my pc sitting comfortably at 1890mhz/79c/1.0v which is substantially better than what I was getting before. I ran Heaven for about 30-40 minutes and everything was stable. I know that I can probably get it overclocked higher than it is now but I don't feel like manually overclocking at this point since my priority was to fix my thermals. Once again thank you all for the help it was very informative.

Edited September 24, 2024 by Endless_Anarchy
Update

[Darkseth]

Uninstall heaven, that benchmark is useless nowadays. It's a 2009 Benchmark and outdated many years ago. It's absolutely NOT able to utilize modern GPUs well.

The newer version Valley also isn't great for testing Overclocking, as it's not sensible to stability. It was a bad choice 8 years ago.

Do Superposition, if it has to be unigine.

But i always chuckle if i see any youtuber use Heaven... Like as if they have zero knowledge of what they're actually doing.

 

Firestrike was much better for stability. i've seen my GPUs Valley-stable, while Firestrike froze during startup.

Timespy might be good, but just take the latest 3DMark Benchmark.

 

Also: Do some modern Games, that really do make the GPU sweat. Consider using DSR to have 4k Resolution, so the GPU is really sweating.