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Nvidia Power Management - Which setting are you using?

toon_mad

toon_mad

toon_mad

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It's been a long time since I owned a Nvidia Graphics Card, with the last one been a MSI GTX 460 TwinFrozr. I cannot remember there been such a setting in the Nvidia Control Panel back then, or if it was there I must not have payed much attention to it.

Anyway as I am coming back over from ATI I was looking through the Nvidia Control Panel at a few of the available options (under Manage 3D Settings) and came across the "Power management mode" entry. There are two available options here, "Adaptive" and "Prefer maximum performance".

I have had a look around on Google and could only really find explanations on this option, "Adapative" been the Graphics card will run at the required clock speeds when needed, and will down clock when not needed - so basically the card will try to automatically determine what speed the card should be running it. The "Prefer maximum performance" option should allow the graphics card to run continuously at maximum speed.

Reading earlier about this on some other forums and a few mentioned that "Adapative" mode can cause stuttering in games as the clock speeds are not been increased fast enough, or that they have been down clocked when they should not have been (Think of having Auto set for voltage on a CPU overclock and you know it can be unpredictable with the value been automatically set).

Then we have the "Prefer maximum performance" mode, which as the name suggests should be the ideal setting, surely everyone would benefit more from having this option on. However my doubts about this are, whether or not it means the Graphics card will be running at full speed outside of gaming eg, desktop browsing etc. That won't be a good idea and it possibly opens up new problems such as added heat, drawing power when not needed etc - admittedly I have not tried this option, the default is "Adapative" and so far I have not changed it.

What are your thoughts on this? Is everyone running it at default "Adapative" or have you changed it to "Prefer maximum performance" and to what effect does it have?

Cheers :)
 
There isn't really a right/wrong setting for it - you have to find which one works for you. It also gets a bit more complicated if you are running 120+Hz or multi-monitor.
 
I don't touch the Nvidia control panel so as default it's at adaptive. I don't want the card running flat out when I am only browsing the internet. My pc's only pulling 62w while I am typing this. Can't say I have seen any stuttering in games either.
 
Adaptive here.

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I thought the difference between the two was at the desktop using adaptive the clocks will clock down to 2D clocks but then ramp up when in a game.

And max performance keeps the clocks at 3D clocks which obviously inst desirable on the desktop?
 
opethdisciple said:
Adaptive here.

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I thought the difference between the two was at the desktop using adaptive the clocks will clock down to 2D clocks but then ramp up when in a game.

And max performance keeps the clocks at 3D clocks which obviously inst desirable on the desktop?
Click to expand...

Mine still goes to 2d clocks on the desktop with max perf.

The difference i have noticed is that in games, it wont drop below 43% power draw and 1190mhz core whatever is happening on my 980.
 
Ayahuasca said:
No it shouldn't.

The option is there so people can set it to what THEY want.

People confusing max performance to mean 3d clocks on desktop as well, that's not the case as Jono mentioned above.
Click to expand...

No, I'm not confusing anything. It should be set to adaptive, clock speeds wont be throttled incorrectly when gaming. Maybe in other apps, but not games.
 
"The default behavior in R190 drivers ("Adaptive") is for the graphics card to monitor GPU usage and seamlessly switch between modes based on the performance demands of the application. This allows the GPU to always use the minimum amount of power required to run a given application, and can allow even older 3D games to run in lower power modes if the game does not require full 3D performance. This mode is recommended by NVIDIA for best overall balance of power and performance."
 
If only it worked as intended, this is nVidia we're talking about who's last few drivers have been complete turd for most.

I've tried both and notice more clock speed fluctuations using adaptive than I do with max performance.
 
LambChop said:
No, I'm not confusing anything. It should be set to adaptive, clock speeds wont be throttled incorrectly when gaming. Maybe in other apps, but not games.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I don't know what's the whole point of setting this to max performance. It only makes your card run flat out even when you're not doing anything particularly demanding. I haven't noticed any clock fluctuations between those two settings, apart from my card not downclocking in idle when using max perf. People are ****ing in the wind if they think it'll miraculously make GPUs any faster when gaming.
 
Well if it makes yours run flat out when idle/not doing much then I can see why you don't use it but for me 2d clocks still work fine and I don't get fluctuations so that's why I use max performance.

I don't care which one you use but don't try and tell people what it should be set to that's all.
 
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