R9 290 downclocks when lowering settings

[gyking94]

Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 OC
Core i5 3570k @stock
Windows 7 64bit
8GB RAM
Asus P8 Z77-V LK
Seasonic M12II 620 Bronze

In some games like Far Cry 3, I get 45-50 fps average with everything on ultra 8x msaa, but since I'm the type of person who likes 60fps with vsync on, I lower some settings with 2x msaa to achieve that. Now when I do this, instead of the fps going up, the GPU usage just drops and I get the same fps as before (without vsync).

This also happens in NFS MW 2012 and Crysis. Heat is not a problem as this card runs at 80c full load with other games plus Unigene Heaven and doesn't downclock or lower GPU usage. CPU usage stays at 60% and below so no bottleneck there. I don't use any frame cap.

 

[dutche99]

This happens because when a GPU has less load, it will underclock itself to save power and lower temperature. You will notice if you download a program that monitors GPU core frequency, you will seethe core clocks go way down when idling (my r9 270 goes to 400mhz). http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/changing-2d-clocks-on-ati-cards.114562/ that website should help a bit

 

[nforce4max]

Another fine print detail that annoys people to no end, you can manually set the clocks and power levels yourself for more consistent performance but it will hurt any power savings that you currently have.

 

[gyking94]

This happens because when a GPU has less load, it will underclock itself to save power and lower temperature. You will notice if you download a program that monitors GPU core frequency, you will seethe core clocks go way down when idling (my r9 270 goes to 400mhz). http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/changing-2d-clocks-on-ati-cards.114562/ that website should help a bit

Another fine print detail that annoys people to no end, you can manually set the clocks and power levels yourself for more consistent performance but it will hurt any power savings that you currently have.

I tried locking the core clock in Unofficial MSI Afterburner but the GPU usage still drops and ends up with the same fps. I also tried forcing constant voltage and disabling ULPS but still doesn't work. Is there any other way to force the card to perform independent of power saving or temperature threshold features?