undervolting Experiencing problems undervolting a 5000 series GPU. I followed multiple guides, I adjust the voltage curve but my GPU clock drops substantially

[Euphoria]

I asked recently if some guides on undervolting a 5000 series GPU were still valid and accurate, I received a few responses on this forum and others saying that they were good guides and I should have no problems following them.

This is one of the guides I followed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPR06CxysMw

 

I followed them to the letter, checked my gpu clock and voltage in games and benchmarks then used MSI Afterburner to change the curve. I dropped about 50 mV at the same maximum clock then applied it after flattening out the rest of the curve.

However, when I then run games or benchmarks, my GPU voltage has dropped about the 50mV, but my GPU clock have dropped by 200+ MHz. And no matter what I do, no matter how I change the curve the clocks will not go back up unless I just reset the curve. If I try to reduce the voltage even more, the clocks just continue dropping.

 

Can anyone help me with what I'm doing wrong or what I'm missing, please? All of the guides I read and watched said that doing it this way, my GPU clocks would stay the same but at a slightly lower voltage.

 

Edit to add some numbers and context. I ran multiple games and benchmarks and my clock speed seemed to be 2820 MHz @1.040v. I set the curve to 0.990v @ 2820MHz. But when I load into a game or bench, my voltage is around .990-1.005v but my clock has dropped to 2600MHz.

I tried to increase the clock on the same voltage, 2950mhz @0.990v. But in-game the clock stays the same, 2600(ish) MHz or even less. And if I try 2820 MHz at let's say 0.960v my clock drops to 2400 MHz or less.

[Euphoria]

I will apologise in advance if I'm missing something incredibly obvious, can't see the wood for the trees type thing. Although I've been an enthusiast for a few decades, I've always bumped up voltage and overclocked, this is the first time I've ever undervolted a card so it's completely new territory for me.

[Mark Kaine]

2 hours ago, Euphoria said:

I will apologise in advance if I'm missing something incredibly obvious, can't see the wood for the trees type thing. Although I've been an enthusiast for a few decades, I've always bumped up voltage and overclocked, this is the first time I've ever undervolted a card so it's completely new territory for me.

Can you post a screenshot of your curve (the one you think is closest to what the tutorial told you)?

 

And maybe... you're missing something, possibly - yes, you can get higher clocks by undervolting but it's not guaranteed at all, typically the goal is to lower temps - which on many cards results in higher clocks, but not on all cards.

 

Did the temps at least become lower?

[Mark Kaine]

I think one trick is to make the curve as conservative as possible, don't bump up frequencies... Let it where the default curve would be then flatten it at the desired voltage.

 

Then test for stability.

 

Aka that *is* your goal, lower voltages than default, lower temps than default, "around the same" frequencies than default, it's totally ok if they're a bit lower...

 

 

THEN

 

ONLY THEN, IF YOU'RE *SURE* IT'S STABLE.

 

THEN you take your curve (pro tip: you can grab the whole thing) and BUMP IT UP.

 

 

THEN YOU TEST FOR STABILITY....

 

And so on, until you either crash or actually managed to get higher frequencies.

 

And then you test for clock stretching, aka benchmarks compared to default or your initial undervolt.

 

Because clock stretching is a thing, higher frequencies doesn't necessarily mean better performance!

 

 

UNDERVOLTING IS FUN!  

 

to me ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

 

[Euphoria]

Thank you for your replies and for taking the time.

 

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Can you post a screenshot of your curve (the one you think is closest to what the tutorial told you)?

Sure thing, I've attached a screenshot. The stock clock and voltage were 2820 MHz @1.040v, So I kept the same clock but dropped it 50mV to 0.990v.

 

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Did the temps at least become lower?

Yes, the temps did go down a little, which was nice, but the clock speed dropping as well means I'm dropping quite a bit of performance as it's 200+mhz, which is not what I was trying to achieve. I understand it's not guaranteed but I was hoping to reduce the voltage slightly but keep the same clock speeds.

 

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Aka that *is* your goal, lower voltages than default, lower temps than default, "around the same" frequencies than default, it's totally ok if they're a bit lower...

Yes, that's exactly it. I don't really want to overclock the card because it's already pushing the limits of this stupid 12VHPWR connector. I just want to reduce the voltage a little but keep the same clock speeds. If I could drop 50 or 60 mV and maybe the clock speeds stayed the same or dropped a little, I'd be fine with that, but as soon as I touch the curve, it seems to immediately drop the clock speeds by 200+ mhz.

 

I used to love overclocking and spending hours and hours over weeks dialling in voltage bumps, custom bios, even shunt mods back in the day. But I don't have the time anymore, plus as I mentioned, I don't want to pull any more power through that dumb 12 V connector