MSI R9 290 / 290x gaming edition - powertune throttling the core clock discussion...

[toprock]

R9 290 / 290x - powertune throttling the core under load (updated with fix!)

Morning guys,

So there are many of us who have bought the MSI 290 gaming edition (or any 290/290x for that matter). Has anyone noticed the fluctuating core when gaming? At 90*c + I could understand but when temps are only hitting 63*c and fan speed not going above 40%, why is powertune so adament to lower the core clocks to stay on top of temps, instead of doing what cards have traditionally done which is simply increasing the fan speed some more?

AMD are sacrificing performance, for the sake of noise, which on a aftermarket cooler seems very strange

Eg. fps is good, but microstutter is present, and look at the core what i'd expect to be a straight line at 1077mhz, is all over the place dropping as low as around 700mhz!




I want to force it to stick at 1077mhz and let the fan go as loud as it wants before throttling the core, anyway to set this up? or disable powertune?

 

[toprock]

Try this,

In afterburner, go to settings, unofficial overclocking mode, select -Without powerplay support.

Next make sure power limit is maxxed in AB, dial in your overclock of 1077 on the core, hit apply and save the profile if you wish, next go into CCC and enable graphics overdrive, make sure the powerlimit is maxxed out in here too if not max it. (should be 50%).

Now try a game and see if the clocks drop, i use the above settings for my 24/7 oc of 1150/1400 and my clocks don't move a mhz.

Will try this now and report back.

 

[toprock]

What drivers are you fellas using and what are your system specs please?

on driver 13.12 as apparently the beta kills mining hash

Having trouble understanding the whole powertune idea, every article points to noise control at the expense of core clocking fluctuating

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...blem-but-nvidias-smear-attack-is-heavy-handed

 

[toprock]

ps. is powerplay another term for powertune?

pps. should I leave the fan on auto in AB?

 

[toprock]

Try this,

In afterburner, go to settings, unofficial overclocking mode, select -Without powerplay support.

Next make sure power limit is maxxed in AB, dial in your overclock of 1077 on the core, hit apply and save the profile if you wish, next go into CCC and enable graphics overdrive, make sure the powerlimit is maxxed out in here too if not max it. (should be 50%).

Now try a game and see if the clocks drop, i use the above settings for my 24/7 oc of 1150/1400 and my clocks don't move a mhz.

done all this and core is now at 1077 even in 2d mode, thats ok right about to try a game out

 

[toprock]

Left the fan on Auto, as on 55% I could hear it very slightly, so wanted to see what the card would choose itself to keep the temps down


3d core clocks a solid 1077mhz
max temp 68*c
max fan speed 42% (silent)
max mem use 2254mb

So fantastic all round, cool, quiet, and no microstutter, or clock throttle!





Question is if a 290 can hold its own in gaming @ less than 70*c with super low fan @ 42% whats the whole idea being powertune and using core throttle instead of locking it like above?

 

[toprock]

Cheers for the help, invaluable!

I hit the reset button on AB to browse the net, and noticed the CCC powerlimit reset, then when pressing 1 in AB for gaming it staying at 0 in CCC. Only niggle but worth it for decent fixed core!

"Btw one last thing and this maybe silly and obvious to some, but you MUST have the core overclocked for the cards clocks to remain locked, i don't know why you can't just run the card at stock with locked clocks but for some reason you can't.
"

so by this you mean if I set AB to run core at 977mhz, it would start its clock fluctuations again? but if I set it at 978mhz for example it would lock it? lol


The final thing which narked me, is with the core dropping to 700mhz ish with vanilla settings, my 280x was a better gaming card from a framerate and stutter perspective, so unless 290 owners force the core en masse they may have been better off buying a 280x!

 

[toprock]

So this fix doesn't allow the core to drop when idle?

No you need to hit reset on AB,

unless you were to setup a profile 2 in AB, to lower the core, but maintain the 50% power, which would maintain the 50% setting in CCC too I think? one less niggle?

 

[toprock]

Heres an example of how bad the card is with its vanilla powertune settings, the core drops to 485mhz! 55% drop from advertised clocks, and hand in hand the fps drops to 15fps!






So the fix although niggly, is worth its weight in gold

 

[toprock]

I'm going to have another play with ab when I get home from work as I've read somewhere you can assign a profile to 2d and 3d separately in AB so when gaming you get the rock solid oc core clock then when in 2d reverts back to your custom low power/clock profile.

that would be amazing

 

[toprock]

What?! Isn't the core guaranteed to not go below 600 or something?! I guess the card isn't running in 3d mode.

It was a heavy firefight in Skyrim high def, ultra'd out, powertune with its strict power/temp/noise criteria had no other choice but to dump the clocks I guess

Its ridiculous AMD would even do this, for such a huge performing card, with the now cool and quiet aftermarket coolers they need to start fixing 3d clocks and then letting the fans handle the temps.

Reference designs with their 90*c + gaming temps I can understand having to throttle.

 

[toprock]

Well, I will say this. The r9 290 had a base clock of 662mhz. Powertune cannot put the clock speed lower. If it would even need to throttle more, then the fan speed would break the pre set limit to keep clocks at least at that 662 base clock. But I don't know what you would be doing to make it do that.

This doesn't appear to be a problem with powertune in the way it was designed. So, it must be a problem somewhere else.

That was only an isolated incident i'll admit, but its the whole throttling of core clocks as a general I don't like about powertune, when there is still plenty of cooling in the tank via increasing the fan and maintaining core.

 

[toprock]

i'll try the same 1077mhz AB core lock as above but leave CCC defaulted and out of the equation then and re run a game...

 

[toprock]

Don't forget to set the power limit at +50% in afterburner.

hmmmm with CCC overdrive unticked, whenever I load profile 1 "1077" core and press apply the screen flashes and the core drops back to 977

edit: after a AB close and reopen its set now at 1077 with 50% core. CCC overdrive is left unticked.

 

[toprock]

works a treat max temp 68*c max fan 42*c core locked at 1077mhz (using unofficial without CCC overdrive)

ninja'd


So by not using unofficial overclocking mode, and just setting the sliders in AB that should work too?

 

[toprock]

Matt my settings screen is a little different to yours, but i've disabled "unoffical overclocking mode" and unticked "extend offical overclocking limits" and set the core clock to 1077mhz.

In game if fluctuates again by 150mhz delta...




It seems in unofficial overclocking mode as soon as I set 1077mhz core and hit apply the core goes to that in 2d and 3d.

In official overclocking mode when I set 1077mhz core, the core stays at 300mhz 2d mode, and in 3d does the usual powertune throttle.

I'm guessing this is just functionality built in 290 series and can't be disabled without the unofficial setting?

 

[toprock]

ok on it

 

[toprock]

Yeh my card is doing the same. Temp never goes above 73c but core clock is dropping down to 800mhz now and again and causing visual screen freezes for a millisecond. Why is it throttling if the temp is ok?

This is why its throttling

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...blem-but-nvidias-smear-attack-is-heavy-handed


So i'd definitely recommend locking the core at 1077mhz or 978mhz depending what version of the card youve got

 

[toprock]

Are you on 13.12 WHQL mate? Does it do the same thing at stock, or only when overclocked?



No it looks like something is conflicting somewhere.

One things for sure, you're using an old version of msi afterburner. So uninstall that, restart pc then download and install the latest beta. Copy my settings then report back.

http://www.guru3d.com/files_get/msi_afterburner_beta_download,20.html

The download is saying eta 2 hours! LOL So just to clarify the latest version of AB, should simply let me set power to 50%, clock to 1077mhz and hit APPLY, then the card should be locked at 1077mhz in games?

 

[toprock]

If I set UnofficialOverclockingMode = 1 I get screen flickering.

My core core clock is stable at 1007mhz in stress testing but is all over the place from 700mhz-950mhz in games.

Is this lowering my FPS? Temperature is around 60 degrees or so.

well the core running at 700mhz worst case is like a running a 290 underclocked

See page one my fps really suffered with all the throttling, as soon as I forced 1077mhz with unofficial overclocking mode no microstutter, solid core mhz, and far better fps.

Letting the core drop to 700mhz in games is akin to a 35% performance hit! all because powertune wants to keep the temps and noise in check!