So explain why my card is not running all the time?

[Scougar]

So, this is beginning to pee me off. Ever since Crimson came along, it has been harder and harder to seemingly control what your card is doing.

I have powerlimit increased to 50%, running stock clocks... no v-sync or target frame rate control is on... yet my card is only running at 500mhz sometimes in Planetside 2. It is like there is v-sync controlling it... but there isn't anything on.

I have the monitoring tools on one monitor, and the game in fullscreen on another. I cannot stand my stuff running at there max, it's what I buy the kit for. It really erks me.

What is going on?

 

[Scougar]

CPU bound or not, I have never seen a GPU de-clock itself, unless it was using v-sync or hitting a thermal/power limit.

I know what PS2 runs like on an i5 2500k, and I know my CPU even though o/c'd can't compete with that, I am surprised to see this.

 

[Scougar]

Last decent GPU..... hmm.... been a while. GTX 480 probably the last independent card I had.

ULPS is disabled.

EDIT: I would note that I am now running on a 1440*900 monitor, so that is likely to put it in a CPU bound situation. My 4K screen is just too input laggy to play FPS games unfortunately, and I kinda smashed up my perfectly good Samsung 1680 screen with a sledgehammer..... but that's going off topic.

 

[Scougar]

What was the eek for?

1) The low resolution - I have 3 or four of these screens and I ran in them in a multi-card setup originally.
2) Last decent card being a GTX 480.. I have had other cards since... but this is the last fastest one I remember.
3) ULPS disabled already
4) Saying that my 4k 'TV' screen is a horrible experience and it put me off gaming - No joke.. it makes me queasy.. it was a bad investment for gaming, but an awesome investment for software development.
5) Or the sledgehammer reference. (in which case it was sitting just fine on my desk and I was mid argument, and trying to show how little my PC meant to me - it's just 'stuff'... I can live without it. Unfortunately, it nearly resulted in the police being called.... ) Suffice to say I beat the living snot out of that screen... I may have been a little emotional and put some serious angst into it).

 

[Scougar]

OK... as long as it's normal..... but it still annoys me. I want the thing running at a constant speed and wish I could turn that 'feature' off.

(and I know PS2 is a CPU hog, although I never actually have frame rate issues at the moment.)

 

[Scougar]

Why? If the card doesn't need to be fully utilized, downclocking will reduce heat, noise, power consumption and in theory, should help prolong the life of the card.

As mentioned, the gpu is waiting for the cpu to play catch up so it does not need to be working hard at that moment in time..

Because I don't want inconsistent FPS associated with waiting for the GPU to ramp up again.