No multiple clock/voltage modes on modern nVIDIA cards
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
No multiple clock/voltage modes on modern nVIDIA cards
I've recently got a 9600GT and am disappointed to find that it runs the same 650MHz core at 1.1V all of the time. This seems like a step backwards for me from earlier cards which used separate 2D, 3D (and throttle) clockspeeds and voltages.
I can obviously introduce separate 2D, 3D and throttle modes in NiBiTor, I've done so previously for a 5600, making it much better (where better does not mean the typical overclocker definition of hotter, louder and less stable) than when it left the Leadtek factory, but I'm just wondering, why have they got rid of the separate modes? Is there something else the card does that does not rely upon the BIOS to regulate clockspeeds and voltages in different usage situations?
I can obviously introduce separate 2D, 3D and throttle modes in NiBiTor, I've done so previously for a 5600, making it much better (where better does not mean the typical overclocker definition of hotter, louder and less stable) than when it left the Leadtek factory, but I'm just wondering, why have they got rid of the separate modes? Is there something else the card does that does not rely upon the BIOS to regulate clockspeeds and voltages in different usage situations?
It seems to me that nVidia thinks that the power consumption of the 9600GT is low enough already, and that there's no need bothering with several clockspeeds and voltages.
It's like with the 7900 series - 7900GTX was a hot card with different voltages in 2D and 3D, later came the 7950GT which didn't run so hot and had a set voltage.
AMD/ATi seems to be more "green" at the moment. I hope that nVidia jumps on the bandwagon soon and improves the idle numbers for the next generation of cards.
It's like with the 7900 series - 7900GTX was a hot card with different voltages in 2D and 3D, later came the 7950GT which didn't run so hot and had a set voltage.
AMD/ATi seems to be more "green" at the moment. I hope that nVidia jumps on the bandwagon soon and improves the idle numbers for the next generation of cards.
The 6600GT I have does the split modes and works very well for it, if only they'd also changes the fan speed down too.Vicotnik wrote:It seems to me that nVidia thinks that the power consumption of the 9600GT is low enough already, and that there's no need bothering with several clockspeeds and voltages.
It's like with the 7900 series - 7900GTX was a hot card with different voltages in 2D and 3D, later came the 7950GT which didn't run so hot and had a set voltage.
AMD/ATi seems to be more "green" at the moment. I hope that nVidia jumps on the bandwagon soon and improves the idle numbers for the next generation of cards.
Looking at the figures in this other thread there's probably 10W to be saved by underclocking/volting in 2D. I'll give it a go and see what comes out. My system currently idles at 80W which isn't that low.
Here's what I did to my old 5600, some of it is relevant to the 2D/3D modes discussion:line wrote:Hmm. I haven't heard of this before. I would very much like to hear about your results.
http://techangel.co.uk/forums/showpost. ... stcount=11
According to this review at sweclockers.com the Gigabyte heatpipe 9600gt has different speeds for 2d/3d. (In swedish)
http://sweclockers.com/recension/?id=6049
picture:
http://sweclockers.com/imagebank/200803 ... tor001.jpg
http://sweclockers.com/recension/?id=6049
picture:
http://sweclockers.com/imagebank/200803 ... tor001.jpg
I've just flashed it. As much as I despise Winfox for being one of those nasty programs supplied with computer components which fails to stick to any interface guidlines, has annoying noises and likes sitting in the taskbar for no reason whatsoever, it has a built in BIOS flashing program which I used.
I reprogrammed the BIOS in NiBiTor to give these 3 performance settings:
3D 650 1625 900 1.1V
Throttle 600 1500 900 1.1V
2D 300 750 900 1V
I've not had the time to test it thoroughly yet but it works OK. GPU temp might be about 3C lower at idle now but 'Powermizer' (nnnnrrrrhhh...) has taken control of the clocks under Linux which it wasn't before. More testing to come and then I'll push it further down.
I reprogrammed the BIOS in NiBiTor to give these 3 performance settings:
3D 650 1625 900 1.1V
Throttle 600 1500 900 1.1V
2D 300 750 900 1V
I've not had the time to test it thoroughly yet but it works OK. GPU temp might be about 3C lower at idle now but 'Powermizer' (nnnnrrrrhhh...) has taken control of the clocks under Linux which it wasn't before. More testing to come and then I'll push it further down.
http://www.mvktech.net/index.php?option ... 3&id=51481Just to remind the GeForce 9 series mainly work with the Extra mode which is different form all the previous series and don't include a 2D and 3D mode. Now as soon as you start applying a 2D and/or 3D mode you are no longer able to work just fine with the Extra mode which is the main level. So just don't play around these series are no longer using really the 2D and/or 3D mode except one special card from Gigabyte where they added an extra electronic logic to be able to use 2D and Extra mode.
Doesn't sound good.