1080 GPU Power Limit %age in Afterburner

[Storrm]

Hi all,

Just been playing with Afterburner and am a little confused about the meaning behind GPU Power Limit. I ran Heaven and monitored my card and saw that its usage was 99% for most of the time (good) and that the core and memory clocks were as expected. What I cant explain is the Power %age and Power Limit in the attached graphs. I'm assuming the Power Limit spikes are when my GPU requested (and got) more power than its TDP allows, and that Power % is simply a graph showing actual power use against TDP (100%). If correct, is there any damage caused by the power limit spikes?

On a related note, I've noticed sometimes that the power %age sometimes 'sticks' to around 48% even though the GPU usage is 99%. Does this mean I'm not getting full performance out of the card in those situations? What is the performance effect of the card only drawing 50% of its rated TDP?

TIA

PS I think the image links are fubar. The link to the image is https://ibb.co/iAueYS

 

[Radox-0]

Power usage does not necessarily correlate to clock speed. Some tasks may use be using the GPU showing 99% usage or clock speeds at 3D speeds but not heavily, less demanding games come to mind.

With that said, in your link, it shows the GPU sitting around the 90%-100% or so power pull mark which is normal then looks to drop at points lining up with clock speed drops which I assume is down to the scene changing then moving back up to the 90%-100% mark. At stock yes, you may see the card pull a few % higher then 100% (102% in your case) which is an absolute non issue.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Raising the power limit allows the card to draw more current. If hitting an imposed power limit, the card will simply settle at a clock bin and voltage it is able to supply. It is almost impossible to damage an NVIDIA GPU by increasing the power limit, as there are both hard and soft amperage limits in place that stop this from happening. Ideally, you want to be increasing this to the maximum to ensure you're getting the most performance.