[SOLVED] Underclocking and Overclocking frequently

[Raikko Kiminen]

Ok, so, I have my RX 570 which I mostly run in complete underclocked state for two reasons. First, it keeps the PC silent, about 40C when idle. Second reason is that I don't play many games that require extreme power (so to say), usually Rocket League or Forza Horizon 4, which are not hardware demanding at all. I still get 144 FPS in RL in full underclock and 85 FPS in FH4, both running at 60C. Still, sometimes I want to play demanding stuff such as Shadow of the tomb raider and then I crank up my overclock limit controlling temps at 84C max. My question is - is it dangerous that I switch so often from 0 to 100? (from complete underclock to full overclock) Thanks in advance.

 

[bmockeg]

It’s no different than going from idle to loading a game. It won’t cause any problem.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Ok, so, I have my RX 570 which I mostly run in complete underclocked state for two reasons. First, it keeps the PC silent, about 40C when idle. Second reason is that I don't play many games that require extreme power (so to say), usually Rocket League or Forza Horizon 4, which are not hardware demanding at all. I still get 144 FPS in RL in full underclock and 85 FPS in FH4, both running at 60C. Still, sometimes I want to play demanding stuff such as Shadow of the tomb raider and then I crank up my overclock limit controlling temps at 84C max. My question is - is it dangerous that I switch so often from 0 to 100? (from complete underclock to full overclock) Thanks in advance.

In 2-D mode the GPU under-clocks itself...way way down, to like 10Mhz or lower. You shouldn't need to do anything to get cool and quiet while not in a demanding 3-D game or GPU-compute app.

But under-clocking may not be the best way to go for 3-D. You should instead lower the power limit...you might can lower it up to 50% on an RX570. The effect will be the same since limiting the power used will also reduce heat and noise but it can still hit a high clock briefly to get through a short section of highly complex rendering. That usually helps with the 1% lows which you see as occasional stuttering.

 

[Raikko Kiminen]

In 2-D mode the GPU under-clocks itself...way way down, to like 10Mhz or lower. You shouldn't need to do anything to get cool and quiet while not in a demanding 3-D game or GPU-compute app.

But under-clocking may not be the best way to go for 3-D. You should instead lower the power limit...you might can lower it up to 50% on an RX570. The effect will be the same since limiting the power used will also reduce heat and noise but it can still hit a high clock briefly to get through a short section of highly complex rendering. That usually helps with the 1% lows which you see as occasional stuttering.

Thank you very much! I guess it is time to create another MSI Afterburner profile to use. Your help is much appreciated.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Sure...nothing wrong with trading excess GPU horsepower for some lower power consumption and quieter experience in undemanding games!

When you go about it, it would probably be to your advantage to do it in a balanced way. That is: a little bit lowered clock setting along with a lowered power limit. Even explore undervolting; while I don't think Polaris is well known it, as Vega and Navi are, if lowering max clock it could work out for you.

If the game you're targeting has one, playing it's benchmark and paying attention to the lowest FPS would let you know if you're going too far.

 

[Raikko Kiminen]

Sure...nothing wrong with trading excess GPU horsepower for some lower power consumption and quieter experience in undemanding games!

When you go about it, it would probably be to your advantage to do it in a balanced way. That is: a little bit lowered clock setting along with a lowered power limit. Even explore undervolting; while I don't think Polaris is well known it, as Vega and Navi are, if lowering max clock it could work out for you.

If the game you're targeting has one, playing it's benchmark and paying attention to the lowest FPS would let you know if you're going too far.

I tried a demanding game with undervolt from 1150mV to 1120mV and that is the only stable undervolt, the temps get around 6C lower which is great, however, it only works on underclocked preset. If I go to even stockclock, the undervolt of -30mV still gets my PC frozen during gameplay. I've seeen some people using RX 570 and going to 1000mV which is -150mV and it's stable for them, but in my case, even -30mV is fatal unless the card is undervolted to the minimum. My RX 570 is Asrock Phantom Gaming 8GB OC, don't know which one they have.