An attempt to control GPU clocks

I'm looking for a program that will give me software control over my GPU. basically the ability to change core clocks at different times, without being under the mercy of powermizer.

I've heard of a few ways to do this...

1. nvidia tools (or something)
2. riviatuner

I've got a 9800m gs mxm video card, with nvidia forceware 182.61

can someone recommend me the best one? and why? The more features, and the ability to make quick changing profile on the fly, or even better automatically change profiles during difference situations (like go very low for browsing, and then overclock for gaming)

thank you!

 

Nvidia system tools should do the job you described just fine. As for rivatuner, it is a great program for monitoring the your GPU frequencies/temp/fps, but it can only detect 3 levels of frequency of my 9800, leaving the highest clock undetected, so you might just want to avoid it.

Nvidia system tools is very user-friendly, you create different power profile for different programs, there are sliders for core/shader/memory frequencies, I am 100% positive you can let the GPU overclock automatically when you choose to open up a game you specified as it is just what I have been doing, but I don't think you can lower the minimum clock speed when you browse.

If you really want to lower your minimum clock while browsing, flashing your Vbios is an option which involves extracting and editing your Vbios through a program called Nbitor, it is a risky process if you don't know what exactly you are up to. I would not recommend downclocking your minimum clock speed as you will most likely see no improvement of dropping your temp, i flashed my Vbios many times, trust me, there are better means(undervolting CPU/GPU, external laptop cooler etc.) other than this to control your GPU temp.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showpost.php?p=4823559&postcount=6187

This link is from the HP HDX dragon forum. There are several posts about this on pages preceding and after, but this post, 6187, explains the process best, as the guy that brought it up speaks German and not so good on the English. I think he links to a video that demonstrates it as well, but I never watched it, and actually have never done this process. But some of the guys over there seem to like the convenience and it seems to be in line with what you are describing. Hope it helps.

 

thats great stuff hovercraftdriver, thanks.

about flashing the bios...i did before try and undervolt the thing, but didn't see any temperature decrease, so flashed it back to default and left it alone. I don't want to mess with that right now, this should be able to be controlled through software.

 

Isn't there another way to do it without having to switch in between?

 

Rivatuner is a great way to achive this. You can make it do it completely automatically.

This is how to looks when i for instance play Half Life:


It detects that HL.exe enables Hardware acceleration, and therefore it enables my "maximum clock" profile which gives full power. When HL.exe ends it enables my "low clocks" profile, which is low as you see.

Some apps that isnt games triggers the hardware acceleration, but rivatuner has a built in thing that lets you add exceptions, and you can always tell which processes it is that triggers the hardware acceleration, by looking in event history.

If you want a guide how to set-up rivatuner to act like this, just ask.

EDIT:
Oh yeah, and theres even a bonus of using Rivatuner.. Ofcourse it doesnt only do this, you can also overclock if thats your thing, but it also comes with a handy OSD that lets you enable "anything" to be shown ingame of all games. Like:


Great.. just great

 

Oh I REALLY like this. I'd die to see my temps in game, I'm always alt-tabbing, yuck.

I can't set up rivia tuner properly though...It doesn't read my card clocks properly =(

 

ok that's a great way but could u write a step by step guide to do this? Also does the GPU go to full 3D Mode when u play full HD videos? 1 last thing... do u have to disable powermixer? This would be a great solution if it does everything i said.

Cheers
Sean473

 

It sorta does.. It just miss out the last "Extra 3D" mode. Do you overclock?

I added firefox and my video player to the exception list, so no, my clocks stay low even when playing HD videos, (and the performance is fine... A gamer videocard isnt needed to play a high definition video ) but yes, normally video playing does trigger hardware acceleration which makes the clocks go skyhigh. Many apps does this, also things like photoshop. Its not that bad though, and make exceptions is no-problemo.

Nope, i dont disable powermizer, otherwise it wouldnt allow to clock down.. However i used Rivatuner and made it "always use performance clock", and then i created two profiles where the one of them had 200/400/200 as "performance clock" and another profile that had 500/1250/800 as performance clock.. Then it just switches between those two.

All this also fixes the audio stutter that powermizer can make due to the DPC latency going up and down or something.. atleast it helped here

I'll see if i can get around to make a guide.

 

Yeah I overclock well with ntune.

I got the in game OSD working though, it's great. I don't alt tab at all anymore =)

I actually just did a copper mod and it put my temps under control. I'm getting 55c-59c while browsing now, without my cooler and with my back panel on, which is great.

Running on classic theme I was getting around 51-52c, which is still a good deal lower. I don't get why my clocks shoot up when using glass. A guide would be appreciated, but no pressure =p

 

Your clocks go up because dwm.exe (Desktop Window Manager) tells powermizer to rise the clocks whenever you resize or move a window.. atleast thats what it does here

 

Well I've been playing with it some more. Did you figure out how to get extra 3d enabled? that is the important one after all.

 

fixed it, had to edit power user settings. I really wish there was a way to enable my "extra" clocks.

Ideally what I'd like to do is lock it in at 2d, and be able to switch it to 3d whenever i need


Looking at the exceptions, it doesn't seem to disable the program from starting 3d acceleration, but rather just changes if you can view it or not on riviatuner.

am i wrong? gah this is confusing

 

well any luck with the guide? I don't really know how to use Rivatuner..

 

Uhm, how about i just do it for ya over teamviewer or something

 

I don't get what u mean? Do u want to do it over PM? Can u just do it over the topic so everyone can use it?

 

Its not just a 5 steps guide... Its quite some work.. and what i meant was to control your PC with a remote control application called teamviewer.. there i can do it in no time

 

Could u just list out the steps plz? I don't want to do it that way. Thanks.

 

BUMP anyone help?

 

Hey, Ill show you tomorrow, I need some sleep =p

 

I helped him out, and it seemed to work... Did you make it work to? Like the downclocking controlled by Rivatuner instead of Powermizer?

 

Limercill , maybe u can show what way u used... a sort of mini guide for future

 

OK well for overclocking/underclocking your max clock speed, "extra 3d", you might need to install ntune. Riviatuner wont detect it on my card, and many others or so I hear. It detects all the other clockspeeds, though. Performance 3d, low power 3d, standard 2d, etc.

For underclocking it's simple, open up riviatuner and click the arrow button next to "customize...", then hit the icon that resembles a green video card. (there are two customize options, I'm referring to the one under driver settings)

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/2189/riviatuner.png

A window will pop up identical to the one in the picture. Click "enable driver-level hardware overclocking" and then "detect clocks". From there just move the sliders to your desired speed and check the "apply overclocking at windows startup". Don't let it mislead you, if you set the clocks at lower speeds it will be underclocking, not overclocking.

Also, if you can't change the settings for your "low power 3d" mode, you'll need to enable it in the power user tab under riviatuner/nvidia/overclocking.

If you want to see your temps in game, click the top "customize..." button and hit the "ram chip with eyeglass" icon. A window with a bunch of green/black sensors will pop up, click the setup button in the bottom right.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/4158/riviatuner2.png

In the next window look for Core temperature, highlight it, and click the setup button. Finally, click on "show temperature in on-screen display" and then "run server" (it's grayed out on mine because it's already running)

Feel free to add anything I'm missing R.E.B. Hopefully this helps you sean, it took a bit of playing around to figure it out, but that's the jist of it. What I ended up doing was leaving the lower clocks alone and just underclocking my "extra 3d" mode in ntune, which seemed to generate the most heat. Now my gpu never goes higher than 59c while browsing, viewing pictures, etc. And watching movies doesn't get it nearly as hot as it used to either.

 

When it does that, is it going into low power 3D mode or performance 3D mode?

 

For me it goes to "extra 3d" mode =(

You can monitor your cards clock rate with riviatuner or gpu-z. I like riviatuners better

 

And is there a way to stop this!? I found out that the clocks stay low on battery. I really like the new 19x.xx drivers but not the up and down clocks when i only internet. Temps are now around 50 and with the 18x.xx drivers 40degrees.

 

Download powermizer switch, start it and it should prompt you about some registry entries.. you just press yes, and after that it should say that powermizer is off on AC.. Just press on and it should be fixed.

 

With driver 195.62 (Dox) you can set the powermizer in NV controle panel On or Off.

I already test the powermizer switch and NV Gpu pro but problem stays the same.

See my post here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=449840&page=5

 

Well rivatuner can tame that, thats for sure ^__^

 

this is a great fix... idle temps is 45-52C from mid to high 50s... gaming temps in 70s for no reason... usually hit low to mid 80s... testing somemore today...

 

Sean what did you end up doing?

 

When I control my clocks I use Drivers from LV2Go and use the NVidia system tools V6.05 to UC or OC.

 

Well i did just like u and REB said.. force clocks on 2D on desktop with riva tuner stat server open... dropped idle temps to mid to high 40s... and when there's hardware acceleration , the full 3D clock kick in and in games , temps have been excellent... nver getting more than 70-75C....for the full fix u need to ask REB.. he did all of it... hardly get it myself

 

Nice, those gaming temps are really good. did you disable powermizer? Or just "force constant performance level"?


R.E.B did you find a way to enable his "extra 3d" clock in riviatuner? or did you use ntune?

If his gaming temps went down you must have downclocked his extra 3d mode. Or was 70-75c your temps before the fix? Either way those are rockin'

 

You can use nTune at the same time. Use nTune to overclock extra 3d, then rivatuner to do whatever with the rest

 

just like REB said , i used NVDIA system tools to OC... without this fix , temps were 80C++ in gaming.. now even in MW2 , they're in 70s...

 

I understand that you can use ntune along with rivia. I just wasn't sure if sean was using both programs, or if you found a fix to make riviatuner display the "extra 3d" clocksettings, thus eliminating the need for ntune.

I don't understand your gaming temps, sean. You're saying that OCing with ntune shaved 10c off your card?

 

when i was ocing earlier with ntune and without riva tuner , temps used to be 80-85C even hit 89... now with REB's tweak and my OC with system tools , temps are in 70-73C region... i'm myself shocked...

 

I dont even understand that lol i mean the clocks are the same.. oh well

 

i myself don't believe it... but temps hit 75C at most in any game... even when i'm continously playing...

 

got a ton of problems... i just don't know how to do it myself.. Can u make a guide plz REB otherwise i'll have to keep on troubling u? I just got no clue.

 

I want REB'S magic video card fix...OC your graphix and lower temps by 10c! with the click of a button! Hopefully it didn't knock your sensors out of whack.

What kind of problems are you having, sean? are you experiencing a decrease in fps?

 

when i did system restore , i lost all settings... had to go back to earlier point with settings... its very troublesome to do it especially since i don't know how to use riva tuner... It would save a lot of time for everyone and would help a lot if REB writes out his own guide.

 

OK fine.. i did my best <_<
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=5820738

Lets continue in there, shall we?

 

Thanks REB... ++++ rep