Nvidia "GPU boost" - possibly overboosting?

[Mr_Sukebe]

Hoping that someone can help.

I have a 1070 PC, i5, 24Gb ram etc.
This week, I've had an issue with DCS crashing, and by crashing, I mean completely locking up my PC. So you can see the screen, but can't do anything but a hard reboot.

Tried a few other bits of software, all fine.
Tried DCS in both VR and non-VR, crashed in both.
Couldn't help but notice that the fan was rather noisy, so started wondering about heat from my GPU.
Turned on MSI Afterburner for a look (note that I don't overclock either the GPU or CPU) and then booted DCS to see what happened.

Whilst the game was booting to it's menu, GPU was idleing, as you'd expect.
Fire up the full game engine and the GPU clock speed jumped upto nearly 1950Mhz. Bearing in mind the stock clock speed for my Zotac card is 1540 (ish), I was more than a little surprised.
Didn't have a lot of time, but added a clock "lock" using afterburner, which looked like it would probably solve the issue.

Then asked if DCS is doing this, and was told that it's the Nvidia GPU "boost" technology.

Anyone got any thoughts or ideas?
Looks like I have a workaround, but I'm curious as to what's causing this.

 

[D1craig]

Nvidia gpus have boosted like that for many years.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Nvidia gpus have boosted like that for many years.

I'm a bit confused about that. You're saying that it's normal for a GPU to be running 1/3rd faster than it's supposed clock speed?
If it is, then shouldn't it throttle itself back before overheating to the point of "lock up"?

 

[Gregster]

It is normal for NVidia cards to boost to that speed. My 1080Ti states 1650Mhz (ish) clock speeds but will bost to 1950Mhz or even 1970Mhz. I would suggest that something else is up. Maybe try a different driver or see what the event viewer tells you.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Good feedback, thanks.

 

[erazor51]

What’s psu do you have?

Download and run a program called whocrashed.

It analyses the crash log file to tell you what caused the crash.

http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

 

[erazor51]

I'm a bit confused about that. You're saying that it's normal for a GPU to be running 1/3rd faster than it's supposed clock speed?
If it is, then shouldn't it throttle itself back before overheating to the point of "lock up"?

Boost technology works with the temperature so it should boost lower when the temps get higher.

If it’s not then could indicate something else causing the issue like gregster mentioned.

 

[D1craig]

I'm a bit confused about that. You're saying that it's normal for a GPU to be running 1/3rd faster than it's supposed clock speed?
If it is, then shouldn't it throttle itself back before overheating to the point of "lock up"?

I did type a fair bit more but deleted it before posting. Couldn't be sure I was right on the rest of it so decided not to post it.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

The crashes got more regular, so I think the 1070 was on the way out.
Luckily, still in warranty. So returned, refunded and replaced by a 1080, which are now not much more expensive.

Checked my PSU, which seems to be a decent brand 650w. Added a powered USB hub to avoid current usage from my Rift to the motherboard. DDU to clean up and replace the drivers.
Tested it last night, worked perfectly and also with more grunt whilst running DCS in VR.

 

[Nasher]

I've had 3 Nvidia cards in a row that do that, ever since a 480. They just don't seem to be 100% stable on boost and it gets worse as the card ages. Took me AGES to figure out what it was. Nothing you can do will fix it, sometimes underclocking helps but not always :/

Switched to AMD, no more crashes...