GPU Power Limit Issue

[GumbyGreen88]

First off, my PC CPU is an i5-6402p and my GPU is a GTX 1060 3GB.

I am wondering why my GPU power is going over 100% while gaming when I have it limited to 100% in MSI Afterburner. I don't have my settings maxed out, I actually optimize them really well from game to game. But in games like the Witcher 3, Watch Dogs 2 and Rise of the Tomb Raider, I am noticing my GPU power go to around 105%.

My main reason for asking this is because of this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4FROGnCAqg&lc=z12ay3kbovqxvzeq104cen2iuoracf2zy1g.1491773198288617

This guy has very similar specs for his PC and his GPU power NEVER goes over 100% and his settings are MAXED OUT. My settings are not maxed out.

My goal is to somehow limit my GPU to 100%. I thought I did this in MSI Afterburner but it goes over for some reason.

 

[RCFProd]

Huh? Something is off. What is going up to 105% when you're playing games? How do you check your power limit randomly going over 100%?

 

[GumbyGreen88]

Huh? Something is off. What is going up to 105% when you're playing games? How do you check your power limit randomly going over 100%?

My GPU power is going over 100%. I don't check my power limit randomly going over 100%. My GPU power keeps going over 100%. I SET my power limit in MSI Afterburner. During game-play, the power goes from the high 80's, into the 90's, then just over 100%. As high as 105%. This make my GPU temp keep rising. So it forces me to not play for very long. What I'm also not understanding is that I set my graphic settings in the game to LESS than what my NVIDIA GeFore Experience recommends. But the I watch other people max out their settings with this same GPU and around the same i5 CPU(like an i5-6400 and i5-6500).

 

[hang-the-9]

Huh? Something is off. What is going up to 105% when you're playing games? How do you check your power limit randomly going over 100%?

My GPU power is going over 100%. I don't check my power limit randomly going over 100%. My GPU power keeps going over 100%. I SET my power limit in MSI Afterburner. During game-play, the power goes from the high 80's, into the 90's, then just over 100%. As high as 105%. This make my GPU temp keep rising. So it forces me to not play for very long. What I'm also not understanding is that I set my graphic settings in the game to LESS than what my NVIDIA GeFore Experience recommends. But the I watch other people max out their settings with this same GPU and around the same i5 CPU(like an i5-6400 and i5-6500).

So your issue is high temps? You may want to start out the post with the issue instead of something that may or may not help you with anything. Are you having issues with the system crashing or getting artifacts? Are your temps too high? What is the max temps for the video card while gaming?

 

[GumbyGreen88]

@hang-the-9: My main issue is the power going over 100%. I want to know why it is doing that and how to keep it from doing that. The PC crashes games when I notice them using over 100% GPU power. Usually when it hits around 105% and I continue to play for maybe 5-10 minutes, the game will crash.

No issues with artifacts. My GPU never gets near 80 degrees only because I stop playing. Mainly from seeing this 105% GPU power. I have to figure out why it is going that high and how to get it to stay at or below 100% GPU power. Then I can play the game for long periods of time.

The fix varies from game to game. And usually lowering the settings fixes it. But I have not gone that route yet because of this video... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4FROGnCAqg&lc=z12ay3kbovqxvzeq104cen2iuoracf2zy1g.1491773198288617

This guy has almost the same PC specs as me and is MAXING out his graphic settings. And his GPU power NEVER goes over 100%. Why? My graphic settings are much lower and still 100-105% GPU power.

 

[hang-the-9]

What is your power supply brand and model? What happens if you just reset the MSI program to defaults and uninstall it so nothing is messing with the video card outside of stock settings? Is anything overclocked?

 

[GumbyGreen88]

PSU: ATNG 600W ​80+ Model:​ ATM-600FB. It's a Korean aftermarket, but it has been doing it's job flawlessly. A lot of people say it sucks and ATNG has been a failing brand. But hey, I personally talked to a BestBuy manager about this PSU the day I bought this pre-built PC. He said "You'd be surprised how good this PSU actually outperforms the top dogs." It has been going strong for 4 months now without issues that I can see.

I don't know that I will be resetting my MSI program to defaults because that's where they have always been. Nothing is overclocked.

 

[hang-the-9]

Not sure about that power supply, you don't want to be running a cheap power supply. The PC is pre-built? Cyberpower or iBuypower by any chance?

 

[GumbyGreen88]

Cyberpower, why? The PSU is fine, I assure you.

 

[junkeymonkey]

you can see ??

you se the gpu power is maxed at 276.5 w ? then look down some and look at that total gpu power [% of tdp ] is at 110%?


now heres the bios of that card

Board power limit
Target: 250.0 W
Limit: 275.0 W
Adj. Range: -40%, +10%
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/178854/evga-gtx980ti-6144-151008

so its a 250w card +/- , then that 10% added = 275w [+/-] that's its power limit unless you mod the bios to increase that [not recommended]

 

[junkeymonkey]

''My goal is to somehow limit my GPU to 100%''

silly me. use that NVidia debug mode in the control panel
,
that may limit your card like you want ?

http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59594

sorry I had to re read and let it sink in [duaaa]

anyway see if that gives you what you need

''Adj. Range: -40%, +10%''

-40 % , ya, I can go from 60% of the power limit to 110% so I guess that's the -40%

what card do you have model and all to see if there is a bios it uses listed to look at its settings

 

[GumbyGreen88]

you can see ??

you se the gpu power is maxed at 276.5 w ? then look down some and look at that total gpu power [% of tdp ] is at 110%?


now heres the bios of that card

Board power limit
Target: 250.0 W
Limit: 275.0 W
Adj. Range: -40%, +10%
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/178854/evga-gtx980ti-6144-151008

so its a 250w card +/- , then that 10% added = 275w [+/-] that's its power limit unless you mod the bios to increase that [not recommended]

I'm not sure what this is telling me? I think it means it hitting 105% while gaming is under the maximum wattage, meaning it is normal?

If it's normal, I'm just wondering why the guy in the YouTube videos GPU power never goes over 100%? Yet, mine does. We have the exact same GPU and I have an i5-6402p CPU. His is an i5-6500 CPU. Exact same RAM. My graphic settings are LOWER than his as well. He has them maxed out.

 

[GumbyGreen88]

''My goal is to somehow limit my GPU to 100%''

silly me. use that NVidia debug mode in the control panel
,
that may limit your card like you want ?

http://www.evga.com/support/faq/afmviewfaq.aspx?faqid=59594

sorry I had to re read and let it sink in [duaaa]

anyway see if that gives you what you need

''Adj. Range: -40%, +10%''

-40 % , ya, I can go from 60% of the power limit to 110% so I guess that's the -40%

what card do you have model and all to see if there is a bios it uses listed to look at its settings

I can't use debug mode, it is grayed out. Says I have a reference model card if it is grayed out.

 

[hang-the-9]

Cyberpower, why? The PSU is fine, I assure you.

Look up some things on Cyberpower and their stock power supplies, did you wonder why I guessed you had one of those two brands? Because they are well known for using low quality power supplies that die quickly. Plus people buy them because they are cheaper than most other custom PC builders, the issue is that they use cheaper parts and don't have as good of a quality control in their builds.

 

[GumbyGreen88]

Cyberpower, why? The PSU is fine, I assure you.

Look up some things on Cyberpower and their stock power supplies, did you wonder why I guessed you had one of those two brands? Because they are well known for using low quality power supplies that die quickly. Plus people buy them because they are cheaper than most other custom PC builders, the issue is that they use cheaper parts and don't have as good of a quality control in their builds.

I've already done all that. This PSU has been performing flawlessly for 4 months. It was the only part in this build that I was worried about in the beginning. I talked to a Bestbuy manager about it after owning it a month or two and he said I will be surprised about how much better it will perform than all these "top dog" PSU's out there.

I took his word for it and so far, he has been right. Zero issues. I am looking into upgrading in about 2-6 months because it will no longer be under warranty in 6 months. I didn't purchase any additional warranties because those additional warranties never do what they are intended to do. Something still goes wrong when trying to utilize them.

As for the rest of the parts in my build, I am completely satisfied with them all. Not one of them is by any means "cheap" or "weak". This current topic is about my GPU powering around 105% when it is limited to 100%. I'm wanting to know why it is doing that and if it is normal.

 

[junkeymonkey]

''I can't use debug mode, it is grayed out. Says I have a reference model card if it is grayed out. '' do you ?? you said the same card that guy was using ??

I asked what card you were using and still nothing on that ? msi ? evga ?? reference ?? just saying gtx 1060 means nothing and theres like 100 different 1060's out there from several venders that offer several models each ?

''Debug mode should only be available to card with factory overclocks. If your card model has reference clock speeds there will be no debug mode available.''
https://forums.evga.com/NVIDIa-debug-mode-grayed-out-m2610490.aspx

[from your linked video ]
My PC SPECS:
GPU: Nvidia Msi GTX 1060 3GT OC : http://amzn.to/2j20Oa4
Nvidia Gigabyte GTX 750 TI OC : http://amzn.to/2jnglj8
AMD Sapphire RX 460 2GB : http://amzn.to/2jOrNCZ
CPU: Intel I5 6500 : http://amzn.to/2jZV548
Ram: DDR4 Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB 2133MHz : http://amzn.to/2k0bLIH
Motherboard: Asus H110M-D
SSD: kingston ssdnow v300 : http://amzn.to/2jnginy
Hard Drive: WD Blue 1TB x2 : http://amzn.to/2j23BQF
Power Supply: INTER-TECH Energon 650W
Case: NZXT S340 Matte Black/Blue


now from that video you linked he has 3 GPU's listed in his specs ?? how do you know its the 1060 being used ??

then he says the gpu's are overclocked ?? just in his explanation of his set up makes me scratch my head

thing is like said you cant go over 100% on the gpu load so with that for you it must be something else your looking at and that % he shows in the GPU part of that OSD is fan speed all I see it change with is his temps of the card used and then funny he starts out cold and setting up the test and the card is 60 c idling ?

that's why I showed you that screen shot use that hwinfo 64 run it in the background and after you do your test post that same screen shot as I did for your card to see whats, what

now look at this gpu -z see all that color [orange ] when your NVidia card get in to about 90% of your power limits that color shows up in that field

the closer to that limit you get the more broad the colored bars get so this gpu-z example that guy is banging his cards limits hard at 113% [like said that depends on the cards bios settings like I showed above ]

anyway long story short is use that hwinfo64 run it when you test your card when done save the screenshot and post it here to look at . show something solid for your card and all on whats going on with it

one more thing is pascal and that new NVidia gpu boost 3.0 and how it works [its a piece of work ] and now how temps can adversely affect clocking from card to card ?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10325/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-and-1070-founders-edition-review/15


hwinfo64
https://www.hwinfo.com/

 

[GumbyGreen88]

''I can't use debug mode, it is grayed out. Says I have a reference model card if it is grayed out. '' do you ?? you said the same card that guy was using ??

I asked what card you were using and still nothing on that ? msi ? evga ?? reference ?? just saying gtx 1060 means nothing and theres like 100 different 1060's out there from several venders that offer several models each ?

''Debug mode should only be available to card with factory overclocks. If your card model has reference clock speeds there will be no debug mode available.''
https://forums.evga.com/NVIDIa-debug-mode-grayed-out-m2610490.aspx

[from your linked video ]
My PC SPECS:
GPU: Nvidia Msi GTX 1060 3GT OC : http://amzn.to/2j20Oa4
Nvidia Gigabyte GTX 750 TI OC : http://amzn.to/2jnglj8
AMD Sapphire RX 460 2GB : http://amzn.to/2jOrNCZ
CPU: Intel I5 6500 : http://amzn.to/2jZV548
Ram: DDR4 Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB 2133MHz : http://amzn.to/2k0bLIH
Motherboard: Asus H110M-D
SSD: kingston ssdnow v300 : http://amzn.to/2jnginy
Hard Drive: WD Blue 1TB x2 : http://amzn.to/2j23BQF
Power Supply: INTER-TECH Energon 650W
Case: NZXT S340 Matte Black/Blue


now from that video you linked he has 3 GPU's listed in his specs ?? how do you know its the 1060 being used ??

then he says the gpu's are overclocked ?? just in his explanation of his set up makes me scratch my head

thing is like said you cant go over 100% on the gpu load so with that for you it must be something else your looking at and that % he shows in the GPU part of that OSD is fan speed all I see it change with is his temps of the card used and then funny he starts out cold and setting up the test and the card is 60 c idling ?

that's why I showed you that screen shot use that hwinfo 64 run it in the background and after you do your test post that same screen shot as I did for your card to see whats, what

now look at this gpu -z see all that color [orange ] when your NVidia card get in to about 90% of your power limits that color shows up in that field

the closer to that limit you get the more broad the colored bars get so this gpu-z example that guy is banging his cards limits hard at 113% [like said that depends on the cards bios settings like I showed above ]

anyway long story short is use that hwinfo64 run it when you test your card when done save the screenshot and post it here to look at . show something solid for your card and all on whats going on with it

one more thing is pascal and that new NVidia gpu boost 3.0 and how it works [its a piece of work ] and now how temps can adversely affect clocking from card to card ?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/10325/the-nvidia-geforce-gtx-1080-and-1070-founders-edition-review/15


hwinfo64
https://www.hwinfo.com/

My GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 1060 3GB GT OC Video Card

In that video, it's the GTX 1060 3GB being used.

In my PC, it is my GPU power that is going over 100%, I assure you. I turned everything off but the GPU power just to make sure of that because at first, I though it was the GPU usage.

Back to his video, that is also his GPU power NOT going over 100% but staying right there at it. His fan speed is all the way to the right.

I installed this hwinfo64 program, what do I do with it?

Could you answer this question please... Is my GPU power going over 105% normal? Is it safe? How do I get it to NOT go over 100% as this guys NEVER does in his video and HIS GRAPHIC SETTINGS ARE MAXED OUT. Mine are not.

 

[junkeymonkey]

ya, I guess if you got the slider in afterburner slid up to its limit .. then you will get that overage

now I don't know 100% if pascal with the gpu boost 3 will do that automatically to support the clocking but I would not worry my card with the slider to 110% as you see get that 110% from my screenshot [total gpu power % or tpd =110.6% / normalized = 110.8% ]

so you see even my card will go over 100% on power

your cards bios spec

Board power limit
Target: 120.0 W
Limit: 140.0 W
Adj. Range: -50%, +17%
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/186444/msi-gtx1060-3072-160809

see in that bios your card con go +17% over 100% weather you have to use something like afterburner and use the slider to set that or if pascal does it automatically your card is capable of doing 117%

I would take what you see in any of them vid's with a grain of salt no telling what he really had done to manipulate any of that behind the scenes .

this is why I say grab 3dmark firestrike bench and that hwinfo 64 then run the default firestrike 1080p test with the hwinfo64 running to record then results like I showed above when the bench finishes take a screenshot of that hwinfo gpu part and post it here to look at


I'm going to do a test of my card i'll post back when done on some of that [I don't have a pascal card but i'll try something ]

 

[GumbyGreen88]

ya, I guess if you got the slider in afterburner slid up to its limit .. then you will get that overage

now I don't know 100% if pascal with the gpu boost 3 will do that automatically to support the clocking but I would not worry my card with the slider to 110% as you see get that 110% from my screenshot [total gpu power % or tpd =110.6% / normalized = 110.8% ]

so you see even my card will go over 100% on power

your cards bios spec

Board power limit
Target: 120.0 W
Limit: 140.0 W
Adj. Range: -50%, +17%
https://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/186444/msi-gtx1060-3072-160809

see in that bios your card con go +17% over 100% weather you have to use something like afterburner and use the slider to set that or if pascal does it automatically your card is capable of doing 117%

I would take what you see in any of them vid's with a grain of salt no telling what he really had done to manipulate any of that behind the scenes .

this is why I say grab 3dmark firestrike bench and that hwinfo 64 then run the default firestrike 1080p test with the hwinfo64 running to record then results like I showed above when the bench finishes take a screenshot of that hwinfo gpu part and post it here to look at


I'm going to do a test of my card i'll post back when done on some of that [I don't have a pascal card but i'll try something ]

Here's a screenshot of using hwinfo64 with MSI AB. I basically played Rise of the Tomb Raider for 5 minutes and these are the results. It's the normalized(% of TDP) thingy that is going over 100%. I'm guessing that is normal? What is TDP? Throttling?

Wait, how do I post a screenshot? Says I have to put in a URL.

 

[junkeymonkey]

well , looks like it does that automatically to maintain the clocking stability of the card even with default 100% my card will still go over that to stabilize it

so it seems my card is +110% and will do that if needed even at stock default

so it seems normal your card will reach up to 117% as well now proves to seem normal operation

 

[GumbyGreen88]

How do you post pictures? I think you have answered my topic though. It's TDP that is going over and apparently is normal. I guess my new question is, how do I keep my TDP from going above 100% less than often?

 

[junkeymonkey]

I use this host site and make a account for yourself

http://imgur.com/

then load pic to it then use this

''BBCode (message boards & forums)''

to post it displayed as you see

or like this

''Image Link''
to post one like this

http://imgur.com/nwLaoL8

 

[GumbyGreen88]

Got it, thanks. And thanks for all your help. I have been trying to figure out this TDP(now) issue for weeks. The only time games use TDP on my PC is when I turn off v-sync and the game is pretty demanding or if my settings are too high with v-sync on.

 

[junkeymonkey]

''how do I keep my TDP from going above 100% less than often?''

well noithing I guess seems just how the cards operate with what ever there bios is set up to do it all runs under the parameters of NVidia GPU boost in your cards case gpu boost 3.0 / pascal [mine is 2.0 /Maxwell based ]

thing now is why that NVidia debug is grayed out seeing you DO NOT have a reference card ?? maybe a driver thing from one driver to the next ???

seeing you got a factory overclocked card it should be there to use ???

I don't use a later driver for my card so it was not instituted under the driver I use seems like it was added in like driver 378.xx , but that don't mean NVidia can remove or add it to any driver release maybe there in some and not available in others ??



''TDP on my PC is when I turn off v-sync and the game is pretty demanding or if my settings are too high with v-sync on.''

ya , to prove that testing I done I had to run the most demanding bench to make it kick up over 100% as well in both instances of testing that out

with the normal bench run it never went over 99% even when the slider was set to 110%