Ok guys here is the situation and basis of discussion. This post is also partially a question.
So my card a evga 970 FTW in stock configuration has on the bios preconfigured a 1215 base 3d clock, 1367 boost clock, 250 watt TDP limit, 170 watt power limit at 100% and 187 watt power limit at 187%.
Actual performance was as follows.
The card would top out at 1405mhz under low utilisation, however as utilisation increased it would drop to lower clocks, I believe this is the throttling people refer to. In situations with 100% utilisation or at least mid 90s the clock was as low as 1329mhz. So below EVGA's advertised boost speed of 1367mhz.
There was even occasions when the clock speed would drop below 1215mhz.
For those who have used a bios editor they will know that with the default clock states, that 1405mhz is bin 64. Bin 64 also has a voltage range of 1.075 to 1.281.
For reference my card asic quality is 71%.
When setting the power limit to 110% it was able to go one bin higher to 1418mhz (but again unable to hold this clock under high load). Voltage for that bin is 1.081 to 1.281.
Finally at stock configuration or 110% power, I had instability on the card, most apparent using unigine valley runs which generated driver resets during the test and project cars which had TDR's.
When increasing the voltage using precision X by 25mv, the card became stable as long as the power limit was also set to 95% or below. However this increased desktop temps (as it inreases voltage across the board) and also gave me netflix stability issues.
Overclocking the memory to circa 8000 was stable, no issues, attempting to overclock the gpu core, made things worse.
My 3dmark score was quite low compared to others Firestrike extreme score of 5122. http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5012963
At this point I made a post on evga forums and was considering RMA'ing the card. Three issues seemed apparent.
The voltages evga configured in the bios were too low to make my card stable, each clock in its bin slot has an assigned voltage.
The card has some kind of limit restricting power draw at a hardware level which may have resulted in the low voltages configured.
With a overvoltage applied in precision X 2d clocks became unstable.
So part 2 of the post.
I then found a modded bios guide on overclock.net.
The idea behind this bios was to increase the power limit of the card, set the base 3d clock to boost speed, and increase voltages on the higher and default bins.
So my first bios was like this based on their guide.
1291mhz TDP limit fallback speed
1531mhz base 3d gpu core speed.
1531mhz boost clock.
Voltage increases for TDP limit speed and base 3d clock as well as the higher bins.
The result was interesting.
The card generally was able to actually hit 1531 mhz and reported a voltage of 1.275v but I believe was actually 1.281v, it still could not hold this speed under high utilisation but the speed it fell back to generally was higher than what the default evga bios gave. Temperatures were about 10C higher under load.
Firestrike extreme score improved to around 5475 http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5334396
So clear progress but here is what I was not happy with at this stage.
1 - When playing project cars at 1531mhz, there was artifacts and TDR's. It became stable when I set -50 in precision X with a clock speed of 1480mhz using the max voltage.
2 - Temperatures e.g. sitting on game menus and low spec games were way higher than what I am used to as the 1480/1531 became the new base 3d clock. So card was using 1.281v sitting idle on game menus with high temps.
3 - I also discovered at this point that when adjusting clocks in precision X it affects all INTERMEDIATE hops for all bins, so e.g. bin 64 is 1405mhz but if -50 is set it becomes 1355, it doesnt just lower the max clock, this was very annoying, so be aware the clock adjuster isnt just a max clock speed limit, it affects each individual bin.
4 - Power usage was hitting some kind of invisible limit, max power draw was high 90s, increasing in precision X the card stil hit the same power limit and was no boost in performance at all. The limit still higher than stock evga bios, but I hit an invisible ceiling.
I then made a V2 modded bios.
This V2 bios had 2 simple changes.
1 - I set my stable memory overclock in the bios so no longer need to apply it in software.
2 - I reduced boost and 3d base clock to 1480.
These changes did not work as expected, all it served was to display 1480mhz speed in gpu-z but the actual clocks still boosted to 1531. I still had to set -50 in precision X which made gpu-z repot a speed of 1430 but actual speed were 1480.
V3 bios as follows.
1 - In the boost table I set the max table clock to 1481. This sadly has the same affect as -50 in the software all INTERMEDIATE clocks also get reduced.
2 - I capped the gpu clock speed in P0 and P2 states to 1481.mhz
This did work as expected, clock speed was capped and card was 100% stable at this stage. OI ran it like this for a while but the heat and power efficency was bugging me, also was I damaging my card lifespan at these settings.
Here comes the V4 bios, this is the first bios i did using no guides, I think noone has tried what I did here, or at least they didnt make it public.
1 - I increased the max boost clock in the boost tables back to 1531 to pump up the intermediate clocks again.
2 - I left the clock speed cap as 1481 in the boost states.
3 - I reduced the 3d base clock down to 1291mhz
4 - I reduced the 3d base clock voltages down to 1.206 from 1.281
5 - I adjusted all the voltages on the bins between the 1291 bin (bin 55) and 1481 bin (bin 70), I did this by setting the voltage for bin 70 to 1.281v which is the voltage I had on the top bin, (bin 74) and then decreased the voltages in single steps down to bin 55.
Interestingly bin 55 had a voltage of 1.018 much lower than the default voltage I had set for the base clock. The default bios has the same situation, my experience shows it settles on the voltage in the bin table.
The result was everything was still stable, in game menus and low powered games the clock was 1.291 with 1.018 voltage, card ran at lower temps again, but however it all wasnt perfect. I observed the clock in demanding situations never went up to 1481 and in fact was boosting to the same clock speed as the default evga bios 1405mhz, the only difference been with higher voltages (hence stable) and with the power draw a much lower %, so on default bios 1405 would be circa 100% power usage, on this bios its about 75%. this caught me by surprise and I was baffled, why is this the card stopping at the same clock whats special about bin64? So hence V5
V5 bios (my current one), I changed things again as the following.
1 - I increased the max table clock in the boost table to make intermediate bins higher so the aim was to increase the clock on bin 64, I increased it so 1481mhz was on bin 64 which happened to be a max table clock of 1607. Remember the actual clock speed cap is still set to 1481 in the boost states.
2 - Readjusted the voltages again to match the changes and also did this in 2 ways.
a - Slightly tune the voltages downwards for each clock as they I noticed too high. I increased voltages for the matching clocks to be 1-2 steps higher than stock, and with it been 1.281 on 1481mhz bin 64.
b - I this time adjusted all bins down to 35 not just the base 3d speed.
This bios partially worked as expected, the card now reaches higher clocks in games and benchmarks, my firestrike extreme score best ever is now 5569 http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7696846?
However for a reason I dont know the card still wont reach 1481mhz, even tho it can handle that clock and voltage when iforced to as the default 3d clock. However will clock up now to around 1430-1455 and hold there in project cars. Demanding stuff such as the first test in firestrike extreme wont hold those clocks it will throttle down. But the amount it throttles down is decreased significantly.
First test on firestrike extreme had following clocks.
default bios - 1240
v2 - 1367
v5 - 1418
Project cars is very stable now, it generally sits at a vddc of 1.200 and clock of 1430 or 1.225 and 1455 clock. Temps slightly higher than default bios under load. In game menus and light games the temps are similar to default bios maybe 1-2C higher. My desktop temps are now lower as I no longer have that +25 set in software raising my 2d voltages and netflix is fine.
Thoughts?
If needed I can share my bios's.
So my card a evga 970 FTW in stock configuration has on the bios preconfigured a 1215 base 3d clock, 1367 boost clock, 250 watt TDP limit, 170 watt power limit at 100% and 187 watt power limit at 187%.
Actual performance was as follows.
The card would top out at 1405mhz under low utilisation, however as utilisation increased it would drop to lower clocks, I believe this is the throttling people refer to. In situations with 100% utilisation or at least mid 90s the clock was as low as 1329mhz. So below EVGA's advertised boost speed of 1367mhz.
There was even occasions when the clock speed would drop below 1215mhz.
For those who have used a bios editor they will know that with the default clock states, that 1405mhz is bin 64. Bin 64 also has a voltage range of 1.075 to 1.281.
For reference my card asic quality is 71%.
When setting the power limit to 110% it was able to go one bin higher to 1418mhz (but again unable to hold this clock under high load). Voltage for that bin is 1.081 to 1.281.
Finally at stock configuration or 110% power, I had instability on the card, most apparent using unigine valley runs which generated driver resets during the test and project cars which had TDR's.
When increasing the voltage using precision X by 25mv, the card became stable as long as the power limit was also set to 95% or below. However this increased desktop temps (as it inreases voltage across the board) and also gave me netflix stability issues.
Overclocking the memory to circa 8000 was stable, no issues, attempting to overclock the gpu core, made things worse.
My 3dmark score was quite low compared to others Firestrike extreme score of 5122. http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5012963
At this point I made a post on evga forums and was considering RMA'ing the card. Three issues seemed apparent.
The voltages evga configured in the bios were too low to make my card stable, each clock in its bin slot has an assigned voltage.
The card has some kind of limit restricting power draw at a hardware level which may have resulted in the low voltages configured.
With a overvoltage applied in precision X 2d clocks became unstable.
So part 2 of the post.
I then found a modded bios guide on overclock.net.
The idea behind this bios was to increase the power limit of the card, set the base 3d clock to boost speed, and increase voltages on the higher and default bins.
So my first bios was like this based on their guide.
1291mhz TDP limit fallback speed
1531mhz base 3d gpu core speed.
1531mhz boost clock.
Voltage increases for TDP limit speed and base 3d clock as well as the higher bins.
The result was interesting.
The card generally was able to actually hit 1531 mhz and reported a voltage of 1.275v but I believe was actually 1.281v, it still could not hold this speed under high utilisation but the speed it fell back to generally was higher than what the default evga bios gave. Temperatures were about 10C higher under load.
Firestrike extreme score improved to around 5475 http://www.3dmark.com/fs/5334396
So clear progress but here is what I was not happy with at this stage.
1 - When playing project cars at 1531mhz, there was artifacts and TDR's. It became stable when I set -50 in precision X with a clock speed of 1480mhz using the max voltage.
2 - Temperatures e.g. sitting on game menus and low spec games were way higher than what I am used to as the 1480/1531 became the new base 3d clock. So card was using 1.281v sitting idle on game menus with high temps.
3 - I also discovered at this point that when adjusting clocks in precision X it affects all INTERMEDIATE hops for all bins, so e.g. bin 64 is 1405mhz but if -50 is set it becomes 1355, it doesnt just lower the max clock, this was very annoying, so be aware the clock adjuster isnt just a max clock speed limit, it affects each individual bin.
4 - Power usage was hitting some kind of invisible limit, max power draw was high 90s, increasing in precision X the card stil hit the same power limit and was no boost in performance at all. The limit still higher than stock evga bios, but I hit an invisible ceiling.
I then made a V2 modded bios.
This V2 bios had 2 simple changes.
1 - I set my stable memory overclock in the bios so no longer need to apply it in software.
2 - I reduced boost and 3d base clock to 1480.
These changes did not work as expected, all it served was to display 1480mhz speed in gpu-z but the actual clocks still boosted to 1531. I still had to set -50 in precision X which made gpu-z repot a speed of 1430 but actual speed were 1480.
V3 bios as follows.
1 - In the boost table I set the max table clock to 1481. This sadly has the same affect as -50 in the software all INTERMEDIATE clocks also get reduced.
2 - I capped the gpu clock speed in P0 and P2 states to 1481.mhz
This did work as expected, clock speed was capped and card was 100% stable at this stage. OI ran it like this for a while but the heat and power efficency was bugging me, also was I damaging my card lifespan at these settings.
Here comes the V4 bios, this is the first bios i did using no guides, I think noone has tried what I did here, or at least they didnt make it public.
1 - I increased the max boost clock in the boost tables back to 1531 to pump up the intermediate clocks again.
2 - I left the clock speed cap as 1481 in the boost states.
3 - I reduced the 3d base clock down to 1291mhz
4 - I reduced the 3d base clock voltages down to 1.206 from 1.281
5 - I adjusted all the voltages on the bins between the 1291 bin (bin 55) and 1481 bin (bin 70), I did this by setting the voltage for bin 70 to 1.281v which is the voltage I had on the top bin, (bin 74) and then decreased the voltages in single steps down to bin 55.
Interestingly bin 55 had a voltage of 1.018 much lower than the default voltage I had set for the base clock. The default bios has the same situation, my experience shows it settles on the voltage in the bin table.
The result was everything was still stable, in game menus and low powered games the clock was 1.291 with 1.018 voltage, card ran at lower temps again, but however it all wasnt perfect. I observed the clock in demanding situations never went up to 1481 and in fact was boosting to the same clock speed as the default evga bios 1405mhz, the only difference been with higher voltages (hence stable) and with the power draw a much lower %, so on default bios 1405 would be circa 100% power usage, on this bios its about 75%. this caught me by surprise and I was baffled, why is this the card stopping at the same clock whats special about bin64? So hence V5
V5 bios (my current one), I changed things again as the following.
1 - I increased the max table clock in the boost table to make intermediate bins higher so the aim was to increase the clock on bin 64, I increased it so 1481mhz was on bin 64 which happened to be a max table clock of 1607. Remember the actual clock speed cap is still set to 1481 in the boost states.
2 - Readjusted the voltages again to match the changes and also did this in 2 ways.
a - Slightly tune the voltages downwards for each clock as they I noticed too high. I increased voltages for the matching clocks to be 1-2 steps higher than stock, and with it been 1.281 on 1481mhz bin 64.
b - I this time adjusted all bins down to 35 not just the base 3d speed.
This bios partially worked as expected, the card now reaches higher clocks in games and benchmarks, my firestrike extreme score best ever is now 5569 http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/7696846?
However for a reason I dont know the card still wont reach 1481mhz, even tho it can handle that clock and voltage when iforced to as the default 3d clock. However will clock up now to around 1430-1455 and hold there in project cars. Demanding stuff such as the first test in firestrike extreme wont hold those clocks it will throttle down. But the amount it throttles down is decreased significantly.
First test on firestrike extreme had following clocks.
default bios - 1240
v2 - 1367
v5 - 1418
Project cars is very stable now, it generally sits at a vddc of 1.200 and clock of 1430 or 1.225 and 1455 clock. Temps slightly higher than default bios under load. In game menus and light games the temps are similar to default bios maybe 1-2C higher. My desktop temps are now lower as I no longer have that +25 set in software raising my 2d voltages and netflix is fine.
Thoughts?
If needed I can share my bios's.
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