[How To] Use Rivatuner as a better "Powermizer" alternative

For some people, like me, powermizer just doesnt work fine enough. It tends to raise the clocks at stupid occasions like moving around a window or something minor. So i figured out a way to keep the clocks down, and some people asked if i could make a guide so here goes.

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1. Get RivaTuner, install it.
                                                                                                                      
2. Get Powermizer Switch, and apply the reg entries (if it doesnt prompt you then youre fine) - Make sure its set to "on", on both AC and Battery.
                                                                                                                      
3. Start up RivaTuner.
   • Goto Settings, set it to minimize to tray, and make it startup at boot.
   • Goto power user
   • Expand "Rivatuner \ NVIDIA \ Overclocking"
   • Set "EnableLowPower3DControl" and "EnablePerfLevelForcing" to 1.
   • Close "Rivatuner \ NVIDIA \ Overclocking" and expand RivaTuner \ Overclocking \ Global"
   • Set maxclocklimit to 200 and minclocklimit to 0. (This removes all limits, dont mess about with overclocking now lol) However its a must, atleast for me.
                                                                                                                      
4. Goto main tab and do this:
   
   • Enable drive-level hardware overclocking.
   • Set "Force constant powerlevel to 'Performance 3D'
   • Now make sure "Performance 3D" is selected from the dropdown menu above.
   • Now i don't know what clocks you want to be the lowest, i use 200/400/200 myself, everything runs smooth.. Its a bit higher than what powermizer usually clocks down do, but it prevents the stuttering aero, and plays hd videos well etc.
   • When set, press save and call it "Lowpower". It all should look like:
     
   • Now we must create the maxpower clock. Find out what your GPUs max clocks are, and do the same thing again just set the clocks to whatever your default max clocks are, and save as "maxpower"
     
   • Now we have those two profiles.. Press OK.
     
                                                                                                                      
   
5. Now go to the launcher tab.                               
   • Press the green + then OK to regular item.
   • Call the launcher lowpower or something.
   • Put a check in "Associated overclocking profile", and select driverlevel from dropdown. Then beneath select the lowpower profile we made.
   • Press OK to save, and repeat just with the maxpower profile.
                                                                                                                      
   
6. Go to the scheduler tab
   
   • Press the green +.
   • Call it lowpower
   • Select lowpower from the dropdown.
   • Under schedule, select run at "on hardware mornitoring range"
   • Set it to be like this:
     
   • Do same with maxpower and set it like this:
     
   • Press OK etc.
                                                                                           
7. Return to the main tab.
   • Go to the hardware monitor:
     
   • Press the little red dot in the left bottom corner, like shown in screen, and then SETUP.
     
   • Under Data Sources (in SETUP) make sure that these items are checked:
     • Framerate
     • Event History
     • Hardware Acceleration
   • OK, then press OK.
   • Go to start and search for Rivatuner Statistics Server.
   • If nothing pops up, you have to reboot, otherwise it should something like this:
     
   • Ofcourse make sure that it is set to start at the boot of Windows.
   • Basically now it should work. You can use Hardware Monitor to see if any process is enabling hardware acceleration which causes the clocks to rise. If however it is a process where the high clock is not needed, then go to the Statistics Server and added that process (.exe) and press "None" under Application detection level. This will make Rivatuner ignore it.

Any questions? I might have missed something and if you have problems, then just ask.

 

This is great stuff R.E.B, a lot of things I missed when I set up mine. This will help a lot of people.

I'm going to use some of your methods and let you know how it goes

+rep

 

Great guide! PPl bookmark this and super + rep for REB... it dropped my temps with OC in game from 85C to 70-75C...

 

You're welcome guys, hope you made it work.

 

Sorry to say it but you can only drop the temps by undervolting the gpu or under clocking gpu in 3d extra mode.

 

well thanks for the heads up but on my weird computer , this fix has dropped temps like i have said... i've been using this fix each day and max gaming GPU temps are 75C with notebook cooling pad ... without this fix they were 85C... too bad my notebook rocks

 

It still confuses me that the ingame temps have changed Oh well ^^

 

This isn't too bad actually; although I like the method of assigning keyboard shortcuts to change the GPU clock speeds using Rivatuner, one key for low, the other for high.

Maybe you could add how to show the GPU temp in the taskbar as well?

 

I can add how to show GPU temp ingame?

 

lol lol lol ppl get this Fix especially if u got powermizer problem in windows 7 or u have overheating Hp!

 

Hi
If you can make a Video tutorial
that would be nice

So we know how to Use Rivatuner
& get benifit

 

A video tutorial only of the ingame OSD i hope? Not everything over again?

 

No trust me... his guide is great... u just have to do it slowly... don't trouble REB too much!!!!!

 

Hi, excuse my English!
I'm preparing to do this operation on a DV5 1161en (P8400, GF9600M GT, WIN7/64bit). Im am not a computer specialist but i worry about 88-90 celsius in avatar, 85-87 in torchlight.

My P8400 CPU is different from yours but I think this cannot affect undervolting GPU. I wonder if you do this undervolting operation on WIN7/64 bit following this tutorial and if there were some problems (or new things, or other procedure).
Thx!

 

@REB!
Sorry for my English
I'm preparing to follow your undervolting tutorial. I have a DV5 1161en (P8400, GF 9600M GT) with WIN7 / 64bit.
Will this work on WIN7 / 64 bit?
Pls detail / what is “Get Powermizer Switch, and apply the reg entries (if it doesnt prompt you then youre fine) - Make sure its set to "on", on both AC and Battery.”

I am not a computer specialist and I try to do this because of aprox 90 celsius in avatar and 85 celsius in torchlight, with notebook cooling pad AEOLUS on 800rpm(useless)

Thx REB! !!!!!!

 

I wish this would help against ingame tempatures but it really shouldnt.. This tutorial is all about keeping the clocks at the lowest while not gaming.

I have the exact same hardware as you, and if i play highend games then i get those temps too.. Dont worry, your pc can take it.

 

Thx for reply REB!

i got BSOD....in torchlight, avatar was played just for testing, so there is a reason to search for a solution. The laptop is clean, got a notpad cooler, and the room temperature is about 24 celsius...Any ideas?(except arctic silver 5, is too complicated to do it to this model)
{{{{sean473 said that after undervolting he has lower temp while gaming (or i didn't understand correct???)}}}}
now i understand: this guide is not about undervolting the GPU....i think i should search something like this. still sean473 observe lower temp on GPU....any ideas about undervolting this GPU - GF 9600M GT? Is there someone in bucharest that can help me with this issue?

 

Note this is not undervolting... This helps to keep clocks constant when ur on idle... it somehow reduces my temps... U cannot undervolt Graphics card on hp laptops... If u want to undervolt , u can only do that to the CPU... See the undervolting guide... Link below.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=235824

 

Hi,
thx for reply

finaly i understand about undervolting...still i need to do something on my video card, because in the summer (now is 0.5 meters of snow ))) i will see only BSOD...any ideas?

 

clean your computer vents and make sure u are using some good drivers

 

driver 195.62, works fine (there is a new beta but i prefere to keep this one for the moment)
the laptop is clean, i open it 1 week ago...
next step: i'll try to undervolt CPU to low the incinte (interior of the laptop) temp, this might help with 1-3 celsius on GPU's temp

 

You can undervolt you GPU on your notebook. You can use Nbitor to modify your GPU Bios file and change the clocks/voltages. I undervolted my GPU from 1.12V to .99V and get much lower temps.

 

can't do on Hp... u can't dump the VBIOS using GPU-Z as far as i know....

 

Whenever I try to set the Maxpower overclocking profile to the max values in step 4, it always resets to the 200/400/200 values from the Lowpower profile after clicking Ok. Can anyone provide some insight as to why that's happening? Thanks.

 

Well it shouldnt stay at maxpower unless hardware acceleration is on?

 

No, this is when I go to System Settings->Overclocking and set the values to 450/900/700 and save as Maxpower, but when I click Ok, it reverts back to the Lowpower values just before the window closes. I go back to that window and select the Maxpower profile and it shows as 200/400/200.

 

Oh yeah.. Try to rise the clocks slowly. Like rise it a bit, then press ok, then rise again, until you are at your desired clock.

 

Hey REB!, what's the lowest clock i can go without it starting flickering when i stream videos or scroll down webpages? Btw, your technique works perfectly!!!

 

Good to hear
Well, im not sure really.. Feel free to test out and report back

But i'd think something like the default powermizer low clocks, whatever they are

 

I personally use the low 2D clocks... they work well...

 

I think I figured out why seans gaming temps went down. Since his card is forced on "performance 3d", his in game voltage should be considerably lower. For example, here's my cards voltage settings. 1.05 down to .9

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9168/volts.png

I noticed my gaming temps went down too, unfortunately the system was unstable. So by forcing "performance 3d", you are automatically undervolting.

It makes sense to me anyway.

 

Hmm.. I havent had any problems at all, but, yes inded a good explanation

 

I did a clean install and now i've got a problem... I'm unable to in step 3 set maxclocklimit to 200 ... it only goes to 0 and 1... so what do i have to do to se it?

 

try 100? 199? any high number, the 200 is just something i threw out.. its just to remove any clock limit

 

didn't work lol... what else can i do? I followed each step as the guide said... is there some other tweak u have to enable?

 

I finally got it to work, but I had to reinstall Rivatuner. This time I set the maxpower values first by clicking on default and saving, then setting lowpower right after.

I tried rising the sliders incrementally before reinstalling, but they still kept going back. Same problem happened, but with lowpower when I decided to delete all the values and start over again. I think I'll have to reinstall again if I want to lower the lowpower values since it won't let me change them either!

Sounds like you're right-clicking and choosing between the gray and yellow light bulb. You can double-click on the adjacent column to set the value to 200. If that's the one that's not working then Rivatuner is behaving pretty strange...

 

Yup u were right. Thanks a lot.

 

try using this guide http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=439999
just don't use his bios file, make your own backup of your GPU bios by doing the bootable drive procedure, then pulling it off while in DOS mode.
Then modify that backup with Nbitor to undervolt and save it. Reboot and flash your bios with that modified one you made, make sure not to have changed the device ID. And there ya go.

 

Well its allright... This method already undervolts the GPU from what i heard... That's why my temps dropped...so i'll just follow this guide... i'm not too confident about flashing BIOS's yet.

 

When i tried to flash my bios, it resulted in massive failure.. so yeah.. im not doing that again

 

How can i force NVDIA system tools too keep Overclock everytime i start up? If i'm not using AC power , the overclock goes away... Is there anyway to keep the overclock even without AC power? Also how can i use riva tuner if possible?

 

Thanks so much REB! for this tutorial. It really works well and does exactly what you've described! I have a small question though, is it really necessary to start the Statistics Server at startup if we are not "ignoring" any applications?

@sean473 From personal experience with NVIDIA System Tools, if I were you I would use the Powermizer Switch to switch it to OFF and the clocks should stay the way you configured them. I am not familiar with OCing with RivaTuner so I don't know about that.

 

I think its a must ZubZub.. Its only 2mb used ram anyway

Glad it works for ya

 

Alright, thanks a lot again.

 

no problems now with NVDIA system tools... its holding the overclock even when i start up on battery... just had to make a profile and a rule...

 

Is there a way to "force" RivaTuner to detect a certain application as Hardware Acceleration so the clocks can go up?

In my case, when I run Ubuntu in a VirtualBox the clocks stay low because RivaTuner doesn't detect it in both the event history and hardware acceleration.

 

well just add the app to riva tuner's stats server... like when i added windows live mail , it detected hardware acceleration and GPU clocks went up... and when i didn't want hardware accleration , i just stopped the hardware acceleration from windows live mail being detected so clocks stayed down.

 

It didn't work out.

Statistics Server is not detecting VirtualBox.

 

well i don't know... really speaking it should detect the app...try PMing REB and see if he can help.

 

Good idea, +rep, I use CCC on my desktop and do the same thing, and have different profiles for each game, etc. Keeps my 4870 at 40C.