gpu usage fluctuating because voltage limit

[henkkrakers]

i have a 1060

is there something wrong with my card? or is it something else?

i am always hitting my max voltage limit even though i have not overclocked anything and my power % in msi afterburner is set too 80%

playing gta 5. voltage is 1.063 always except when indoors in a menu. can be overclocked to 1.093v however it just hits the ceiling anyway whatever i put it on. in game setting set on lowest in gta, nvidia control panel has aliasing set on high priority and most other things set to low to medium priority. playing games in 1080p no increases in dsr.

how can i be hitting my voltage limit when my power usage % is 80% (20% below normal)

reason I bring it up is that when i hit my voltage limit my gpu usage decreases by 10-50% which dramatically affects performance.

what can cause this problem? and can i fix it?

my computer specs:
-Asrock z97m oc formula
- i7 4790k
- supertalent 16gb 2x8gb ddr3 1600mhz pc3-12800 memory
-msi gtx 1060 armor 6gb oc v1
-corsair cx600 power supply
-samsung evo 850 250gb ssd
-windows 7 home sp1

 

[n0ns3ns3]

you don't need 1.63v.
if you want to have your card on "auto", then just set the power and voltage to max.
you may be hitting voltage limit since your card may require more voltage to run stable. power = current*voltage. since you set low power limit, the card is trying to compensate with voltage.
play with the curve in afterburner, you should be able to achieve best results by manually adjusting it.
I got the highest stable clock on 1.05v. in your case it might be different.

 

[surya13]

I don't know why you reduce your power limit to 80%. Just max out the power limit. You will see good gains in performance.

I get 5 to 15% increase in performance when I raise the power limit from 100% to 116% (max). But it also depends on the game. I have Zotac GTX 1060 Mini.

If you increase the power limit from 80% to 100%, you will get about 15 to 20% increase in performance. From 100% to maximum, you will get at least another 5% gain. So the overall gain you'll get is 20 to 25% just by maxing out your power limit.

 

[henkkrakers]

you guys misunderstand. I made it 80% to try to fix my problem so that it would use less power and as a result use less voltage. I have tried standard factory settings on the gpu. I have tried full on overclocking. yet my usage % drops because i hit my voltage limit no matter what settings i use on afterburner.

I have 3 profiles in msi.
oc profile = 100% core voltage
116% power limit
92c temp limit
+175 mhz core clock
+500 mhz memory clock
100% always fan speed

standard profile=
everything on +0 except fan speed

3rd profile =
the one with power limit at 80%

 

[henkkrakers]

you don't need 1.63v.
if you want to have your card on "auto", then just set the power and voltage to max.
you may be hitting voltage limit since your card may require more voltage to run stable. power = current*voltage. since you set low power limit, the card is trying to compensate with voltage.
play with the curve in afterburner, you should be able to achieve best results by manually adjusting it.
I got the highest stable clock on 1.05v. in your case it might be different.

I have already tried adding as much voltage as msi afterburner allows. standard was 1.063, max in afterburner is 1.093v. I have tried using different settings i have 3 profiles, oc profile, standard factory profile and, under power profile. I have the problem no matter which one i use i always hit the voltage limit.
what curve are you refereing too, the only curve i know of in afterburner is the fan speed curve.
how do i make it 1.05v when my lowest is 1.063v?

 

[surya13]

What monitor do you use?

Have you turned on Vsync?

I believe you have a 60Hz 1080p monitor. If you turn on Vsync, the frame rate will be capped to 60fps.

Your GPU usage will go only as much as required for 60fps.

For example, if your GPU can make 60fps with 70% utilization, it will go only upto 70%.

If the scene is more demanding, the utilization may go up to 90% for 60fps

If the scene is even more demanding, the GPU utilization reaches 100% and the GPU will produce as much frames as possible (<60fps). That is, your fps will drop (to 50 or even less).

If this is the case, turn off Vsync and see what GPU utilization do you get.

This doesn't apply if you get drop in both GPU utilization and fps. This is a case of CPU bottleneck. But this is unlikely with your 4790K.

 

[n0ns3ns3]

check out the pascal OC guide

 

[henkkrakers]

What monitor do you use?

Have you turned on Vsync?

I believe you have a 60Hz 1080p monitor. If you turn on Vsync, the frame rate will be capped to 60fps.

Your GPU usage will go only as much as required for 60fps.

For example, if your GPU can make 60fps with 70% utilization, it will go only upto 70%.

If the scene is more demanding, the utilization may go up to 90% for 60fps

If the scene is even more demanding, the GPU utilization reaches 100% and the GPU will produce as much frames as possible (<60fps))0pl. That is, your fps will drop (to 50 or even less).

If this is the case, turn off Vsync and see what GPU utilization do you get.

This doesn't apply if you get drop in both GPU utilization and fps. This is a case of CPU bottleneck. But this is unlikely with your 4790K.

I agree that's how it should work but how it works for me is like this

cap it at 60fps in riva tuner software results 60fps in non demanding situations and drop to 40fps in demanding situations while gpu usage goes down to 50%. instead of it using more gpu usage % to keep up with the demand the gpu usage goes down. why does it go down, i think because of the voltage limit being hit in demanding situations.

my monitors are dell u2412m.

when i use vsync the same thing happens it dips to 40fps and the gpu usage also drops in high demanding situations.

my problem is that when i need to maintain 60fps instead of my gpu increasing usage to maintain that 60 fps it instead decides to use less gpu usage and causes my frames to drop to 40 which is annoying because my gpu should be able to maintain 60 fps with gta 5's lowest settings

 

[henkkrakers]

think i fixed it myself.

my core clock was fluctuating a lot in msi afterburner when you press ctrl+f it bring up a graph and from that graph I pressed on the dot where the fluctuations started and pressed on it and pressed L to limit my core clock to that too make it stable. seems to have done the trick. for some reason my card was defaulting on 1936mhz when it's supposed to be 1544mhz base and 1759mhz boost. somehow msi afterburner was running 170mhz over what it should have been by default and it was not stable at +170mhz which is why i was still having problems at default settings. it's weird though because i added +175mhz on top of the broken default and it still worked without crashing however the core clock wasn't stable at default or +175 on top of the 170.

can an overclock be saved inside a graphics card? and how is it possible that the card is giving 1936mhz at default msi afterburner settings but the card is suppposed to be 1759mhz by default in the boost clock.

fyi i reinstalled windows recently which is why i'm thinking it saved the overclock in the gpu. or it was just broken and set to a higher clock by default and i never noticed it until now from when i bought it. thoughts?

 

[surya13]

How often does your framerate dip into the 40s?

What is the CPU usage when the framerate dips?

I checked a few reviews of the GTX 1060. In GTA V, the average framerate is around 100fps and the minimum is in the 40s range.

 

[henkkrakers]

How often does your framerate dip into the 40s?

What is the CPU usage when the framerate dips?

I checked a few reviews of the GTX 1060. In GTA V, the average framerate is around 100fps and the minimum is in the 40s range.

ill let you know once i've tested my new solution.

 

[henkkrakers]

How often does your framerate dip into the 40s?

What is the CPU usage when the framerate dips?

I checked a few reviews of the GTX 1060. In GTA V, the average framerate is around 100fps and the minimum is in the 40s range.

yeh i definetely fixed it. there are no more dips in fps well pretty much no dips. i would consider 58-62fps acceptable variance.

the problem was an unstable core clock. fixed it now and it's stable at 60fps, no dips at all =)

 

[surya13]

Yup. I wanted to say that. When a limit is reached (power, voltage or temperature) the core clock throttles to be within the specified limits.

 

[henkkrakers]

Yup. I wanted to say that. When a limit is reached (power, voltage or temperature) the core clock throttles to be within the specified limits.

i have been doing some testing and have found that my core clock is never stable above 0.850v even though my card is defaulted too 1.063v. why do you think my core clock fluctuates so much at far below it's default voltage?

it fluctuated in the benchmark msi kombustor gpu core burner v2 (furry donut) above 850mv / 0.850v.

 

[surya13]

You said you have MSI GTX 1060 Armor 6GB.

It has 1544 MHz base clock and 1759 MHz boost clock. That means you can be sure that your clocks will stay at atleast 1759 MHz.

But if the temperature and power limits permit, Nvidia GPU Boost 3.0 will automatically push the clocks even higher.

All this is for a non-overclocked scenario.

If your clocks are above 1759 MHz, you are okay. I don't think the clocks and voltages are directly related.

I have Zotac GTX 1060 Mini 6GB. I put +200 MHz offset on core and +650 MHz offest on memory. Memory runs at 4658 MHz. The core reaches a maximum on 2101 MHz and usually stays above 2000 MHz. But it sometimes it may throttle down to 1950 MHz due to temperature limit. But the voltage rarely exceeds 1.000V. So I guess voltage doesn't have much to do with the core clocks.

 

[henkkrakers]

You said you have MSI GTX 1060 Armor 6GB.

It has 1544 MHz base clock and 1759 MHz boost clock. That means you can be sure that your clocks will stay at atleast 1759 MHz.

But if the temperature and power limits permit, Nvidia GPU Boost 3.0 will automatically push the clocks even higher.

All this is for a non-overclocked scenario.

If your clocks are above 1759 MHz, you are okay. I don't think the clocks and voltages are directly related.

I have Zotac GTX 1060 Mini 6GB. I put +200 MHz offset on core and +650 MHz offest on memory. Memory runs at 4658 MHz. The core reaches a maximum on 2101 MHz and usually stays above 2000 MHz. But it sometimes it may throttle down to 1950 MHz due to temperature limit. But the voltage rarely exceeds 1.000V. So I guess voltage doesn't have much to do with the core clocks.

I have done like 20 benchmarks and my card is stable when i use only 850mv or less. you can see if it's stable if you have msi afterburner and press ctrl + F. then do a bunch of benchmarks and see if the frequency (core clock) fluctuates at all. Atleast i think that's how it works, correct me if i'm wrong but when a card is supposed to use 1063 to 1093 mv and is only stable at 850mv there's a problem with something in my system either the card or the psu. isnt a stable core clock the most important thing to a stable overclock, or in this case a forced underclock due to voltage issues?

 

[surya13]

Do you manually set the voltage to 0.850V or is it an automatic value?

Remove any overclocking applied and then play some intensive game.

See what clock speeds your get.

Edit: See what is the lowest core clock you get.

 

[anonymous890]

think i fixed it myself.

my core clock was fluctuating a lot in msi afterburner when you press ctrl+f it bring up a graph and from that graph I pressed on the dot where the fluctuations started and pressed on it and pressed L to limit my core clock to that too make it stable. seems to have done the trick. for some reason my card was defaulting on 1936mhz when it's supposed to be 1544mhz base and 1759mhz boost. somehow msi afterburner was running 170mhz over what it should have been by default and it was not stable at +170mhz which is why i was still having problems at default settings. it's weird though because i added +175mhz on top of the broken default and it still worked without crashing however the core clock wasn't stable at default or +175 on top of the 170.

can an overclock be saved inside a graphics card? and how is it possible that the card is giving 1936mhz at default msi afterburner settings but the card is suppposed to be 1759mhz by default in the boost clock.

fyi i reinstalled windows recently which is why i'm thinking it saved the overclock in the gpu. or it was just broken and set to a higher clock by default and i never noticed it until now from when i bought it. thoughts?

Hey hey, I have the same problem, super identical to yours, i also get more core clock than what is advertised, how did you fix it? you stated on how to do it but I kind of did not understand. Can you make it more clearly? like by step?

my card is advertised as Boost: 1708MHz/ Base: 1506MHz in Gaming Mode but I'm reaching 1900Mhz somethin.

 

[henkkrakers]

think i fixed it myself.

my core clock was fluctuating a lot in msi afterburner when you press ctrl+f it bring up a graph and from that graph I pressed on the dot where the fluctuations started and pressed on it and pressed L to limit my core clock to that too make it stable. seems to have done the trick. for some reason my card was defaulting on 1936mhz when it's supposed to be 1544mhz base and 1759mhz boost. somehow msi afterburner was running 170mhz over what it should have been by default and it was not stable at +170mhz which is why i was still having problems at default settings. it's weird though because i added +175mhz on top of the broken default and it still worked without crashing however the core clock wasn't stable at default or +175 on top of the 170.

can an overclock be saved inside a graphics card? and how is it possible that the card is giving 1936mhz at default msi afterburner settings but the card is suppposed to be 1759mhz by default in the boost clock.

fyi i reinstalled windows recently which is why i'm thinking it saved the overclock in the gpu. or it was just broken and set to a higher clock by default and i never noticed it until now from when i bought it. thoughts?

Hey hey, I have the same problem, super identical to yours, i also get more core clock than what is advertised, how did you fix it? you stated on how to do it but I kind of did not understand. Can you make it more clearly? like by step?

my card is advertised as Boost: 1708MHz/ Base: 1506MHz in Gaming Mode but I'm reaching 1900Mhz somethin.

 

[henkkrakers]

think i fixed it myself.

my core clock was fluctuating a lot in msi afterburner when you press ctrl+f it bring up a graph and from that graph I pressed on the dot where the fluctuations started and pressed on it and pressed L to limit my core clock to that too make it stable. seems to have done the trick. for some reason my card was defaulting on 1936mhz when it's supposed to be 1544mhz base and 1759mhz boost. somehow msi afterburner was running 170mhz over what it should have been by default and it was not stable at +170mhz which is why i was still having problems at default settings. it's weird though because i added +175mhz on top of the broken default and it still worked without crashing however the core clock wasn't stable at default or +175 on top of the 170.

can an overclock be saved inside a graphics card? and how is it possible that the card is giving 1936mhz at default msi afterburner settings but the card is suppposed to be 1759mhz by default in the boost clock.

fyi i reinstalled windows recently which is why i'm thinking it saved the overclock in the gpu. or it was just broken and set to a higher clock by default and i never noticed it until now from when i bought it. thoughts?

Hey hey, I have the same problem, super identical to yours, i also get more core clock than what is advertised, how did you fix it? you stated on how to do it but I kind of did not understand. Can you make it more clearly? like by step?

my card is advertised as Boost: 1708MHz/ Base: 1506MHz in Gaming Mode but I'm reaching 1900Mhz somethin.

 

[henkkrakers]

I just got better hardware and now I don't have this problem anymore.
I think the 4790k was holding my gpu back. which was why my gpu couldn't go up to 100% usage all the time. lowering my core clock on my gpu kinda helped with stability because my cpu could keep up better.

as far as I know, too lower the core clock vs voltage manually is too press ctrl+f in msi afterburner and lower each of the points to whatever you think is accurate to what you expect. e.g. if the higher point on the graph is 2000mhz but your graphics card is advertised at 1500mhz then lower the maximum to 1500. just adjust the curve to whatever you like and test it in games and adjust it if it's worse

 

[jheezy420]

think i fixed it myself.

my core clock was fluctuating a lot in msi afterburner when you press ctrl+f it bring up a graph and from that graph I pressed on the dot where the fluctuations started and pressed on it and pressed L to limit my core clock to that too make it stable. seems to have done the trick. for some reason my card was defaulting on 1936mhz when it's supposed to be 1544mhz base and 1759mhz boost. somehow msi afterburner was running 170mhz over what it should have been by default and it was not stable at +170mhz which is why i was still having problems at default settings. it's weird though because i added +175mhz on top of the broken default and it still worked without crashing however the core clock wasn't stable at default or +175 on top of the 170.

can an overclock be saved inside a graphics card? and how is it possible that the card is giving 1936mhz at default msi afterburner settings but the card is suppposed to be 1759mhz by default in the boost clock.

fyi i reinstalled windows recently which is why i'm thinking it saved the overclock in the gpu. or it was just broken and set to a higher clock by default and i never noticed it until now from when i bought it. thoughts?

could be a factory overclocked card so yes