gtx 1070 reaches power limit at stock setting

[Kane_9]

I have a new GTX 1070 running with no overclock. Running the unigine heaven benchmark also tested in superposition with ultra settings and stress, my GPU at the start has already reached over 100% power with the power limit reaching 1, indicating that it throttled down. I have an 850 watt power supply unit evga GQ, and my CPU is a intel i7 6700 running at 3.4 GHz on a asus h170 mobo

Why is my graphics card already at its power limit when it hasn't been overclocked? Is it anything to be worried about?

 

[SkyNetRising]

What manufacturer/model name? Factory overclocked card?

 

[Kane_9]

What manufacturer/model name? Factory overclocked card?

Nvidia founders edition, it's factory overlocked temps never getting above 75c with 60% fan curve. I also swapped out my 1060 before which was a gigabyte windforce and it too had the power limit reached

 

[derekullo]

A benchmark is made to stress test the component in an attempt to give you an accurate representation of what it could do.

Would you have rathered the card give it 50% and goof off the rest of the time messing up your benchmark score?


The frequency the gpu is running at and the power limit are 2 different things and are not necessarily correlated.

The gpu can be running at full frequency and not necessarily be at 100% of its power limit.

Even the reverse isn't necessarily true, I can run a card at its power limit but limit the frequency.

This limiting of frequency / power limit can be done with numerous programs, my favorite being MSI Afterburner.

http://xtrememehardware.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/guru3d-msi-afterburner-442-725x454.png


Having said all that running a gpu benchmarking program like unigine heaven benchmark or furmark will attempt to use all of the available gpu power and push frequencies as high as possible in order to calculate your score.

At some point the gpu will reach a maximum frequency and throttle.

This is normal and means this is highest frequency the card can perform at with your current cooling solution and power delivery.

Some games can also do this with certain settings, for instance, running Farcry 5 with ultra settings on 4k with most any setup.

 

[gaborbarla]

Yes, I think that is normal. I think many times when calculations get hectic 10 series cards throttle back a bit. My 1080FE is overclocked to around 2000 Mhz for about 2 years now and I had to increase the power limit quite a bit. I think you can only push it to 120%, of course this is done at your own risk and might void warranty etc. Some manufacturers let you do it though without voiding warranty. Also, best is to follow a guide, I am no expert on overclocking but seemed to have overclocked OK.

The point is, I think it is normal to reach 100% power limit out of the box. They optimised the card to do that and the MHz the card is set to goes hand in hand with the power limit it is set to. The throttle you should not really notice, it happens very quick and marginal throttle not frame drops.

 

[derekullo]

The more accurate question here is what was your score with your new GTX 1070 on unigine heaven ?

If your score is way lower than other people with the same card then that would be cause for concern.

 

[norcalsc]

you are seeing that in OSD correct? its normal

 

[Kane_9]

The more accurate question here is what was your score with your new GTX 1070 on unigine heaven ?

If your score is way lower than other people with the same card then that would be cause for concern.

2259 with it set to ultra settings. average fps was 82.3 with a minimum of 25