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r9 270x downclocking to prevent overheating

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souvikdas7

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May 16, 2014
i recently bought the xfx r9 270x dd 2gb and installed it with 14.4 drivers.. i installed the gpu z to check the temps on the card it showed 41 on idle and 70c+ on 100 load but i noticed the core clock only reaches 450 mhz and the meory clock reaches 1400mhz on load. I heard that if core clock dont reach the max speed then games will lag but in my case the games dont lag even if the core clock only reaches 450mhz. If i keep my pc off for some time and then start it and immediately start a game the core clock reaches 1050mhz and temps 100 -102c and fan speed 100% and i can hear the fan spinning loudly. So can anybody tell whats happening to my gpu and why it is running at 450mhz and the games dont lag not even watch dogs.
 
Its not overheating at those temps, that is for sure.

I would disable ULPS (can do so in MSI Afterburner) and see if that helps. Its possible it isn't coming out of that low powered state.
 
+1 to EarthDog

I wish my GPU's ran at 70C, that's still quite cool.


If you can, you can probably lower the voltage to 1.19, and run it at ~1100 Mhz core, somwhere around 1500Mhz memory if it can run that high.
 
diasbling ULPS seemed to have solved my problem for now but the temps are going 80c. Can u explain me how this worked and what is ULPS.

+1 to EarthDog

I wish my GPU's ran at 70C, that's still quite cool.


If you can, you can probably lower the voltage to 1.19, and run it at ~1100 Mhz core, somwhere around 1500Mhz memory if it can run that high.

Can u tell me how to do that??
 
I wouldn't bother... the temps are nowhere near 'hot' for the GPU. If software can't do it (MSI Afterburner has voltage control) you will have to flash the bios and it just isn't worth it (to me). If 80C is too warm for you, make a more aggressive fan profile.

ULPS is Ultra Low Power State. When at idle the clockspeeds and voltages drop. This has nothing to do with the load temps though.
 
the problem came back again. I disable the ULPS u said and i restarted the pc and started dota 2 and the core clock was runnning at 1050mhz and the cpu fan at 100% then i switched off the game and then started watch dogs and then the core clock was running again in 450mhz and fan at 60%.. So what is this now.
 
the problem came back again. I disable the ULPS u said and i restarted the pc and started dota 2 and the core clock was runnning at 1050mhz and the cpu fan at 100% then i switched off the game and then started watch dogs and then the core clock was running again in 450mhz and fan at 60%.. So what is this now.

It may not be the card you know...

I've seen games only use 2d clock on my 270x.
That said, I expect Watchdogs to be an intense game, thus needing the 3d clocks.

Any FPS lag or studdering in the game?
 
It may not be the card you know...

I've seen games only use 2d clock on my 270x.
That said, I expect Watchdogs to be an intense game, thus needing the 3d clocks.

Any FPS lag or studdering in the game?

no lag whatsoever is seen in the game. i think after every restart the 1st thing that fully utilies the gpu makes the gpu run at its max clocks and after closing that application the clocks run at max 450mhz on full load.
 
no lag whatsoever is seen in the game. i think after every restart the 1st thing that fully utilies the gpu makes the gpu run at its max clocks and after closing that application the clocks run at max 450mhz on full load.

The clocks adjust with GPU load, so if the game isn't using the GPU fully, It'll use lower clocks.

If other game use the GPU 100%, and the clocks are 1050Mhz again, and it still runs at 450Mhz on WatchDogs, I'd like to say it is just the game.
 
The clocks adjust with GPU load, so if the game isn't using the GPU fully, It'll use lower clocks.
News to me. The GPU, AFAIK, only knows idle, 2D, and 3D clock realms. It should not vary by the load amount.

I have never heard that before.
 
News to me. The GPU, AFAIK, only knows idle, 2D, and 3D clock realms. It should not vary by the load amount.

I have never heard that before.

Full load = use 3d clocks
low load = use 2d clock
no load (IE In Windows) = use lowest clocks

That how it works on my rig. :shrug:
Diablo 2 uses the 2d clocks, Minecraft, Far Cry 2 etc use 3d clocks, Windows uses 100Mhz core clock, the lowest possible.....


I thought that's how it works? :shrug:

I've seen my 270x use 2d clocks in Minecraft when my CPU was the bottleneck, the GPU load was at most 40%, so it bounced between 2d and 3d clocks depending on the GPU usage.
 
It has nothing to do with loads.

I don't play Diablo 2, but not one game, even Worms (more basic than Diable or minecraft) uses 2D clocks.

I could be mistaking, but, AKAIK, the GPU load has nothing to do with its clockspeeds. What TYPE of GPU load does.
 
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It has nothing to do with loads.

I don't play Diablo 2, but not one game, even Worms (more basic than Diable or minecraft) use 3D clocks.

I could be mistaking, but, AKAIK, the GPU load has nothing to do with its clockspeeds. What TYPE of GPU load does.

Type?
 
Yes. 2D or 3D type loads. Think MS Word versus a game, LOL!

But load % really has nothing to do with it AFAIK. If whatever you are using is using accelerated 3D functions, then it should clock up to 3D speeds.
 
Yes. 2D or 3D type loads. Think MS Word versus a game, LOL!

But load % really has nothing to do with it AFAIK. If whatever you are using is using accelerated 3D functions, then it should clock up to 3D speeds.

Makes sense...

Wonder why my rig does that then.. :shrug:
 
My case is the special one. My gpu load is 100% on watch dogs but still dont use full clock speeds and u guys know that how gpu intensive that game is and stillit runs smooth on 450mhz. I should try playing BF4 and see how that works with my gpu clocks
 
Yes. 2D or 3D type loads. Think MS Word versus a game, LOL!

But load % really has nothing to do with it AFAIK. If whatever you are using is using accelerated 3D functions, then it should clock up to 3D speeds.

can u tell me how the force constant voltage option works in msi afterburner works and i heard that it helps keep the gpu on 3d clocks.
 
In case that got missed:
Use 14.6 drivers for Watch Dogs, it's probably a bug with drivers that released before the game did.
 
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