M00_cow Posted October 31, 2009 Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 (edited) Hi all. Yes, I did open an account just to post, but I am a reader so please don't hate me. Recently have been looking for a little more fire power from my GPU, the 8600MGS. I have the model with DDR2 sadly, and with my 1440x900 res, it fails pretty hardcore these days. So I installed Rivatuner and got straight to it. Now, I am a noob in most respects when it comes to overclocking. I chucked up the core clock to 700, the shader clock to 1500 and the ram to 500, and got an increase in the CSS benchmarks of about ~25-30. The gpu sits on about 82-90 degrees celsius on load(Note, I do have it sitting off the table to create air flow, else the thing would implode) My problem is, with Rivatuner and it's profiles. There are three, 2D standard, low power 3D and performance 3D. First and second options are unchangeable rendering the performance 3d profile the only one editable. It is very good at choosing profiles for me. Will always choose performance 3D when I load up a game, but now, sometimes when I'm playing, mid way through and randomly, it will drop down to low power 3D, freezing the game until I alt tab, and alt tab again back into it, and also at the same time rendering the game unplayable as it drops down to... 300/600/200 from 700/1500/500. Furthering the annoyance, If I were to quit the game and get back in, it nothing will have changed. It will stay on low power 3D mode. Only way to resolve this issue is to reboot! It is really annoying and I can't find out how I can fix it. I don't even know what controls which profile is selected i.e. heat, processor load. I'm stumped. Does anybody here have any ideas on how I can fix this? **would also like to add that without Rivatuner, there is no problem. M00 Edited October 31, 2009 by M00_cow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amoney3 Posted October 31, 2009 Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 This is known as "downclocking." Such an occurrence usually signifies that your GPU's temp and/or clocks is/are too high. Drop it down a notch! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M00_cow Posted October 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 This is known as "downclocking." Such an occurrence usually signifies that your GPU's temp and/or clocks is/are too high. Drop it down a notch! Yeah. I understand downclocking and how the GPU is generally running underclocked to save power. In regards to the heat, I've seen it running much hotter for extended amounts of time without rivatuner running, so I had ruled out heat. I've also done a little bit of reading up on the 8600MGS and a few places have said that this card is made to withstand heats even up to 105 degrees celsius, so I would think that the 85 degree heat this card is sitting on on load isn't really the problem. As far as I knew, this problem only occurs WITH rivetuner installed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zipper Posted October 31, 2009 Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 Try overclocking with NVidia System Tools - most probably the behaviour is the same. My go5700 supposed to have 125 C safety downclock temperature but it clocked down at about 92 C requiring a reboot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M00_cow Posted October 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 Try overclocking with NVidia System Tools - most probably the behaviour is the same. My go5700 supposed to have 125 C safety downclock temperature but it clocked down at about 92 C requiring a reboot. So, you're saying that when it reaches 92 C is downclock itself until you reboot meaning its unbeatable? Damnit. That is bad news if its the case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amoney3 Posted October 31, 2009 Report Share Posted October 31, 2009 (edited) Yeah. I understand downclocking and how the GPU is generally running underclocked to save power. In regards to the heat, I've seen it running much hotter for extended amounts of time without rivatuner running, so I had ruled out heat. I've also done a little bit of reading up on the 8600MGS and a few places have said that this card is made to withstand heats even up to 105 degrees celsius, so I would think that the 85 degree heat this card is sitting on on load isn't really the problem. As far as I knew, this problem only occurs WITH rivetuner installed. The temperature given(105C) is the threshold of the gpu, where the chip will start to suffer immediate damage. However, at a lower temp, such as 92C, the gpu will suffer damage over time that effectively reduces it lifespan; therefore, the chip downclocks to prevent damage. I'm not saying that 92C is going to break your chip in 6 months, and it probably won't matter how much it reduces your chips lifespan, because the length will still be long enough for you to upgrade before it affects you. What I'm doing is just explaining this occurrence. What you can do is force a constant performance level in riva tuner. start up the software, go to the power users tab, and scroll down in the list and double click EnablePerfLevelForcing. Make sure the light bulb is on and a "1" is in the entry box that comes up. Now, go back to the overclocking window where you adjust your clocks, and you should see a box for forcing performance level; use it and pick 3D. After this, you shouldn't have anymore downclocking. Edited October 31, 2009 by amoney3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M00_cow Posted November 1, 2009 Author Report Share Posted November 1, 2009 (edited) Hmm. Thanks mate. Will try this out. Much appreciated. Does this mean it will never downclock to save power etc? Or it just won't downclock when it reaches that certain temp? Edited November 1, 2009 by M00_cow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amoney3 Posted November 1, 2009 Report Share Posted November 1, 2009 Hmm. Thanks mate. Will try this out. Much appreciated. Does this mean it will never downclock to save power etc? Or it just won't downclock when it reaches that certain temp? it will never downclock to save power. what i do is create a minimal clock profile on the 3d settings by bringing the sliders all the way to the left and then save it as "startup." next, i check the box to "start up with these settings," so that when my laptop boots up it has the lowest 3d settings(which is even lower than the default 2d clocks) for max power. one small caveat, though, is that if you're connecting to an external display, you might want to bump up the clocks a little because some displays wont play nice on the lowest clock settings, since the gpu is not running "fast" enough to push out a strong enough signal. also, whenever you go play games or run 3d-intensive programs, you have to apply overclock because your gpu won't clock up automatically, since it is forcing performance at the current level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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