[SOLVED] Undervolting Vega 56 - No Temp Difference?

[056265]

Trying to undervolt my MSI AirBoost Vega 56 as it obviously runs hot from being a blower card. To keep the fans non ear piercing, I have to run the card at about +20% power in Radeon settings, meaning I'm not getting anywhere near full performance. I've tried undervolting in Radeon Wattman as well as Afterburner and the temperature stays the exact same and the core clock goes from around 1590 to 1480-1520 when it hits 84-85 degrees. I've gone as far as changing the state 7 voltage from 1200 stock to 1050 and still, the temperature doesn't change whatsoever. What am I doing wrong here?

 

[tennis2]

Can you confirm with GPUz that the voltage you set is being correctly applied?

 

[056265]

Can you confirm with GPUz that the voltage you set is being correctly applied?

Yeah, I can see it is. Plus when I went too low the card crashed, so it's definitely being changed.

 

[tennis2]

Ok. And are the fans running at the same or different RPM @ each voltage (auto vs manual)

 

[056265]

Ok. And are the fans running at the same or different RPM @ each voltage (auto vs manual)

Fans are set with Wattman every time. I have them at 20% max when it hits 72-75 or so, anything higher and I can hear the damn fan through my headphones even with sound on. So yes, same RPM.

 

[056265]

Ok. And are the fans running at the same or different RPM @ each voltage (auto vs manual)

I seem to have gotten somewhere atleast.
This is what my Wattman looks like default:

And here's what I have modified it to:

My core clock used to drop below 1500 MHz on full load due to thermals, now it hits around 1530-1545 stable and I haven't had the card go above 83 degrees, whereas before it was hitting 84 and 85. Seems as if the card requires no energy at all lol, my TDP has dropped from around 292 to 195-200.

 

[tennis2]

That's quite an aggressive undervolt. If it's stable, you're a lucky duck. Congrats.

 

[056265]

That's quite an aggressive undervolt. If it's stable, you're a lucky duck. Congrats.

Really didn't see much of a temperature decrease though, I'm aware it's a blower style card and I should expect high temperatures, but running the card below stock on a lower voltage still yields 83 and 84 degrees sometimes, meaning the fan is on 20% and is far too loud even still. If I could have it around 16-17% at 80 I'd be a happy chappie, but it doesn't seem like I'll get there. I had to bump up the stock voltage on P6 and 7 a little more as at random times at full load in games like DOOM or even when I was playing Minecraft, my screen would go black and the card would ramp up to 100% fan until I reset my power through the case, which I presume is the card not getting enough power.

 

[tennis2]

20% fan is very low. That may be where my MSI GamingX fans start at.

If your fan is that loud at basically it's lowest speed setting there may be something wrong with it. Can you get a second opinion to make sure it's not just you being unrealistically picky.

 

[056265]

20% fan is very low. That may be where my MSI GamingX fans start at.

If your fan is that loud at basically it's lowest speed setting there may be something wrong with it. Can you get a second opinion to make sure it's not just you being unrealistically picky.

I live with multiple people and they are in complete agreement with me. Due to it being a blower card, 20% is about where it starts to get actual "fan noise" loud. Below that is pretty much general computer idle noise, my old 380 used to get somewhere inbetween on full load. I doubt the fan is faulty, just a typical blower card.

 

[tennis2]

That's cool. I certainly consider myself in the "sensitive to fan noise" category since I don't game with headphones. Sounds like you caught my drift regarding faulty fan vs picky ears though. I just felt like the question needed to be asked.

Ultimately at some point you're going to run into limitations based on the 20% fan speed restriction and a card that sucks 200W. Once you've: Undervolted, tried re-applying TIM, have good case airflow, Chill/FRTC, the only thing left is reducing clockspeeds/performance until you get a safe temp with that fan speed.

 

[TJ Hooker]

Really didn't see much of a temperature decrease though, I'm aware it's a blower style card and I should expect high temperatures, but running the card below stock on a lower voltage still yields 83 and 84 degrees sometimes, meaning the fan is on 20% and is far too loud even still.

Sounds like your card is taking advantage of the undervolt in order to boost to a higher frequency, which in turn results in higher power/temperature. So you're not running much cooler, but you're getting more performance for the same power/temperature.

 

[Rogue Leader]

20% fan is not enough, and there is no undervolting or anything you could do to change that. I know you say you are sensitive to it, but that means that you should consider other cooling options, get a liquid cooler kit, or replace the cooler with a multi fan setup (if someone even makes one aftermarket for that card), or just sell it and buy an aftermarket cooled one.

For being sensitive to the fan you picked the wrong card.

 

[056265]

That's cool. I certainly consider myself in the "sensitive to fan noise" category since I don't game with headphones. Sounds like you caught my drift regarding faulty fan vs picky ears though. I just felt like the question needed to be asked.

Ultimately at some point you're going to run into limitations based on the 20% fan speed restriction and a card that sucks 200W. Once you've: Undervolted, tried re-applying TIM, have good case airflow, Chill/FRTC, the only thing left is reducing clockspeeds/performance until you get a safe temp with that fan speed.

Yeah definitely, it's not like I really care about how the card is right now or it running at 20%, it's just the black screen problem I more worried about.

 

[056265]

Sounds like your card is taking advantage of the undervolt in order to boost to a higher frequency, which in turn results in higher power/temperature. So you're not running much cooler, but you're getting more performance for the same power/temperature.

20% fan is not enough, and there is no undervolting or anything you could do to change that. I know you say you are sensitive to it, but that means that you should consider other cooling options, get a liquid cooler kit, or replace the cooler with a multi fan setup (if someone even makes one aftermarket for that card), or just sell it and buy an aftermarket cooled one.

For being sensitive to the fan you picked the wrong card.

Even 20-30% doesn't make the card any cooler and increases the noise to a point where I can hear it through my noise-cancelling studio monitors at a decent volume in game. I'm happy to have it running 82-83 degrees, 85 just seemed a little too high. It was too cheap to pass up on so I'll probably end up just reducing the performance for temps if needed as the only games I typically play for full load are DOOM, and with Vulkan it easily runs over 200 fps at highest settings. Locking the card to 145 FPS has also helped.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Even 20-30% doesn't make the card any cooler and increases the noise to a point where I can hear it through my noise-cancelling studio monitors at a decent volume in game. I'm happy to have it running 82-83 degrees, 85 just seemed a little too high. It was too cheap to pass up on so I'll probably end up just reducing the performance for temps if needed as the only games I typically play for full load are DOOM, and with Vulkan it easily runs over 200 fps at highest settings. Locking the card to 145 FPS has also helped.

those temps are far beyond what it should be running at. You want it to be in the mid 70's range tops. 85 is almost shut down temperature. The memory is going to throttle at that temp.

The fan when its that hot should be running at 100%, with a blower style cooler there is literally no other way to dissipate heat, its all trapped within the shroud of the card.

 

[056265]

those temps are far beyond what it should be running at. You want it to be in the mid 70's range tops. 85 is almost shut down temperature. The memory is going to throttle at that temp.

The fan when its that hot should be running at 100%, with a blower style cooler there is literally no other way to dissipate heat, its all trapped within the shroud of the card.

I pretty much understand this and blower architecture, but that's still not going to happen. I'd rather not have to get building site level hearing protection just to use my computer.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I pretty much understand this and blower architecture, but that's still not going to happen. I'd rather not have to get building site level hearing protection just to use my computer.

Then you should consider purchasing another GPU. What you are asking it to do it isn't going to do. You could buy a liquid cooler for it, or maybe a shrouded fan setup if someone makes one I'm not sure. Otherwise if you understand how it works, and yet are ignoring it there really isn't anything anyone can do for you. The Vega is a HOT card, it needs a lot of cooling to run full speed. No amount of undervolting or underclocking will help, you asked what you're doing wrong, expecting to cool this thing with anything but the fan at max is what you're doing wrong.

 

[056265]

Then you should consider purchasing another GPU. What you are asking it to do it isn't going to do. You could buy a liquid cooler for it, or maybe a shrouded fan setup if someone makes one I'm not sure. Otherwise if you understand how it works, and yet are ignoring it there really isn't anything anyone can do for you. The Vega is a HOT card, it needs a lot of cooling to run full speed. No amount of undervolting or underclocking will help, you asked what you're doing wrong, expecting to cool this thing with anything but the fan at max is what you're doing wrong.

Running at 74 max right now at the same freq with 30 mhz knocked off the top clock and the power limit down to 40% rather than 50%. Turned the fan at 75 to 25 instead of 20 and I put insulating foam behind my case alongside another fan so the hot air blows away from the card. Runs fine and is not on 100% like you suggest it needs to be.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Running at 74 max right now at the same freq with 30 mhz knocked off the top clock and the power limit down to 40% rather than 50%. Turned the fan at 75 to 25 instead of 20 and I put insulating foam behind my case alongside another fan so the hot air blows away from the card. Runs fine and is not on 100% like you suggest it needs to be.

So instead of running it at 100% you have put an external fan, I'll take your word for it. Maybe a picture to illustrate for the public here.

 

[tennis2]

Wanted to drop by and share some info. I just reapplied (Noctua NT-H1) TIM to my MSI RX480 GamingX today and at the target temp of 70C running FurMark, my fans RPMs went from 1400 before to 900 after.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Wanted to drop by and share some info. I just reapplied (Noctua NT-H1) TIM to my MSI RX480 GamingX today and at the target temp of 70C running FurMark, my fans RPMs went from 1400 before to 900 after.

Doesn't really have anything to do with a completely different GPU and cooler setup, but ok sure.

 

[tennis2]

I was suggesting to try re-applying TIM to the OP's GPU since it helped me greatly.

 

[Rogue Leader]

I was suggesting to try re-applying TIM to the OP's GPU since it helped me greatly.

And that may help slightly but with barely any fan running on it all the new TIM in the world won't help. With a blower cooler and barely any fan running there is nothing to move the heat from the fins, and they are closed in by a shroud. OP says he has added a fan elsewhere and it works, I'd like to see that to believe it.