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    Possible to underclock a GPU too much?

    Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by 84CubsFan, Jan 9, 2011.

  1. 84CubsFan

    84CubsFan Notebook Consultant

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    A question for anyone out there in the know.

    On my ATI 5850, I set a catalyst control center profile give me automatic GPU clocks of 100/150 at low use state, 300/400 mid-range state, and stock 625/1000 clocks for full 3D. In monitoring the clocks, however, I never, ever, see the mid-range clocks at work -- it's either 100/150 or stock 625/1000. I swear I read somewhere that it wasn't good to go from such low clocks to high settings without anything in the middle. But I can't find that post, and really, I have no idea.

    So I ask: is ramping up from such a low clock setting directly to 625/1000 harmful to the GPU? I love what the low clocks are doing for my heat, and everything has been completely stable so far, but is this actually going to cause me a problem in the long run?
     
    84CubsFan, Jan 9, 2011
    #1
  2. Bearclaw

    Bearclaw Steaming

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    No it's not.

    I ramp mine from 100/150 to 840/1090 no problems.
     
    Bearclaw, Jan 10, 2011
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  3. DCMAKER

    DCMAKER Notebook Deity

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    interesting never knew that. That is a good question ^^ Mental note :)
     
    DCMAKER, Jan 10, 2011
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  4. bennyg

    bennyg Notebook Virtuoso

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    Not Ati but powermizer has a similar setup.

    Very occasionally I see lower clocks during a modern game, usually when the CPU is hopelessly bogged down (like running Supcom or Spring on a huge map with large numbers of AIs), sometimes (when the GPU utilisation numbers are just) right it will sit on the middle performance profile.

    Old games with vsync on - happens quite regularly e.g. Doom/Doom2 through gzdoom... better gameplay than most console drivel fpses /offtopic
     
    bennyg, Jan 10, 2011
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  5. Ruckus

    Ruckus Notebook Deity

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    300/400 are not midrange state. There is no midrange state on AMD vBios. What you call midrange state is UVD state. UVD is when you use hardware acceleration on videos. For example hardware accelerated flash video support or when you watch h264 with DXVA support. Personally I disable all that since video quality is better with ffdshow on CPU.
     
    Ruckus, Jan 10, 2011
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  6. 84CubsFan

    84CubsFan Notebook Consultant

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    I thought this, too, but accelerated flash goes to 500/1000. I've still not seen 300/400 in any use other than benchmarking.

    Thanks for the replies, all. Keep them coming. I'd love to have another confirmation or two that it's not harmful.
     
    84CubsFan, Jan 10, 2011
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  7. Meaker@Sager

    Meaker@Sager Company Representative

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    Also UVD state is used when driving multiple monitors.
     
    Meaker@Sager, Jan 10, 2011
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