GPU throttling

Hello community,

i have this problem for some time now and before I get into endcontent I want it fixed, because it's hard to play with it.

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/7...1433440116.png

My GPU clock is acting very strange. I can't really say when this problem started, but it was working perfectly fine at a time before.
My specs:
Macbook Pro Late 2013 15" with geforce gt 750m
Playing on bootcamp (windows 7 home premium) with latest graphics driver.
bought it Dec 2013

I already tried:

- Changing energy plan (changing processor state, high performance, etc.)
- Changing settings in Nvidia system control (changing energy setting for gpu to highest performance and some other settings)
- Forcing p-states (and forcing specific clock values) with Nvidia Inspector ---> helped at first, but after some time ingame it starts fluctuating again between 270 and 660 mhz
- Over- and Underclocking in conjunction with forcing p-states
- Force constant voltage with MSI afterburner
- Using ThrottleStop to control CPU usage
- clean uninstall of graphics driver and fresh install
- completely reinstall windows (also tried with windows 8)
- using older driver version (the version that bootcamp provides)
- Doing SMC and PRAM reset

Some of those of course weren't supposed to help in the first place but i was kind of desperate, so I tried anyways... also i'm not the extreme technician, I found all of those solutions via. google and really searched to death, but nothing helped.
I really don't think it's a temperature problem, since it stays at about 70°C, max 80°C with forcing p-states (so that it works for some minutes / seconds).

Also my Memory Clock stays perfect fine all the time, it's only the GPU-Clock, that is acting strange. Oh and I found out that somehow it goes down to performance level 1 when it starts fluctuating and switches between 0 and 1 (270mhz and 660mhz).
I tried changing the clocks of those states, but that didn't help as well, which is very confusing.

I did that test with Final Fantasy 14 ARR, but had same problems in guild wars 2, for example.

I did the apple diagnostic test and it didn't detect any faults in my hardware, then i checked on Mac OS, if i got the same issues there, but everything is fine there, no fluctuation etc.,
so this definitely is no hardware issue...

Did another test after SMC and PRAM reset... first everything seems alright, but gpu temp rises to 90+ (with no CPU controlling) then it starts to throttle... but after some time it cools down again and then still fluctuates...

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/1...1433455869.png

After playing around some more with p-states I found out something interesting:

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/2...1433458706.png

I forced it again via command line and it stays fine for some time ingame, but then it starts fluctuating again. Whenever I alt tab out of the game though, it goes back to max. After I alt tab back into the game it slows down again (sometimes right away, sometimes after some minutes).
I tried playing in windowed mode, but same problem... when I click on the Desktop to focus it, gpu clock goes up, but when I focus the game again it slows down.
Temperature never rose above 80°, because I used ThrottleStop at the same time.

Also did a complete log (using ThrottleStop as well here):

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/9...1433460134.png

-----------------------------------------------------------

By now I'm certain that this is a problem with the game client in conjunction with my graphics drivers... but I have no idea what to do to fix it.
I'm sure about that, because I tried other games, which worked fine (Terraria, RetroGrade).
Some games are showing the same problem though (GW2 and Planetary Annihilation)

Also I've seen people with the same rig without having this problem...

You could try to install older drivers. Sorry, cant help more.
Regards
Neifirst

Already tried following versions with no real difference:

332.28 (the version that bootcamp provides)
334.89
340.52
341.44
353.06 (latest)

By the way, sometimes it stays at 270mhz and doesn't even go up again.. game is at 5-10 fps then (crowded place) -- unplayable

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Yokami

By the way, sometimes it stays at 270mhz and doesn't even go up again.. game is at 5-10 fps then (crowded place) -- unplayable

---

There we can start. Do watch the CPU temps, clocks and voltage please.
You also can try to turn of "Intel HT"(Hyper Threading) and check all temps/clocks again while running an FF benchmark (dx9) or play the game and stay in crowded areas.
Perhaps the problem is not the GPU part at all.

Regards
Neifirst

CPU usage also important!! sorry i forgot about it

OK, I checked your picture again, my guess would be that the CPU is at its limit, try to turn of things that use a lot of CPU power and test again.

Regards
Neifirst

As you can see English is not my native language, so please excuse my writing.

I used ThrottleStop to limit my CPU's, but that didn't help :/

EDIT: I did another test and found something out, making a picture to visualize it
Maxed CPU at 1060 before starting the game and doubling it causes those GPU sinks.

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/e...1433526862.png

EDIT2:

When i max the CPU at its minimum (about 900mhz) the gpu clock never goes under 660 mhz and switches btween 765 mhz and 660 mhz all the time.

EDIT3:

That only happens in windowed mode with a small window. After I maximized the window it started going down to 270 mhz again and switches between 660 and 270.

looking at the graphs, i think the voltage one is the most relevant. I have no technical background here but are you using a strong enough power supply for your video adapter? Either the voltage drop causes the clock to drop, or something causes the whole video adapter to slow down. Heat maybe?

Well, what this additionnal graph tells me is your cpu is pulling too much juice and the video adapter drops in performance to compensate.
You could possibly fix this by using lower video settings. I don't know if it's possible to change power supplies on mac.
Just to rule that out, check your gpu power requirements and your mac's wattage.

EDIT: one easy way to cut down on ressources used, is to play fullscreen at a lower resolution.

Is it possible to turn off CPU cores completely?
Also i think it has enough voltage, gonna check on that though..

EDIT:

I disabled 4 CPU cores and restarted, then it was stuck at 270mhz permantly (gpu clock)
Then i enabled them again and restarted and all of a sudden I get this:

http://www.bilder-upload.eu/upload/3...1433529916.png

basically everything is fine now, except the GPU Usage, which now is causing fps stuttering... and of course the temperature is pretty high..

EDIT2:

I restarted once more to check that it stays the same and it does.
Actually GPU Usage is fine as well, but I have this severe temperature problem... GPU goes up to 94°C

"Macbook Pro" right?

On PC i'd say try task manager and set core affinity for the ffxiv process. I dunno on mac.

Ok, dann auf Deutsch^^
Zum ersten: Deine CPU hat nur 4 Kerne, 4 weitere sind HT=Hyperthreading (virtuell und helfen bei der Verwaltung der Aufgaben).
Zum zweiten, welche Auflösung nutzt du bei welchen Einstellungen, wie ist die CPU Temperatur, wie deine Raumtemperatur und hat dein Macbook nur einen passiven oder eine aktiven (mit Ventilator) Kühler.
Ich kann jetzt nicht rauslesen ob das Spiel jetzt läuft und nur die Graka heiß wird oder ob das Spiel noch immer ruckelt, wenn es ruckelt muss ich dir sagen das es in "Mor Dhona" nahezu immer ruckelt.
ALSO: wo ruckelt es bei welcher CPU und welcher GPU Auslastung und Temperatur (immer beides, da meistens die CPU die GPU limitiert).

Mit Freundlichen Grüßen
Neifirst

Ok ^^
Also es ruckelt inzwischen garnicht mehr, aber ich hab extreme Temperaturprobleme.
Hab mittels Throttlestop die CPU auf 8x Multiplier runtergeschraut, dass sie ihr Minimum an Leistung gibt und komme trotzdem über 90°C wenn ich mit HD Auflösung, also 1920x1080 spiele. Das sollte eigentlich nicht so sein... das könnte aber daran liegen dass ich noch nie die Lüfter gesäubert habe und das werde ich demnächst mal tun, sobald ich das Werkzeug habe...
Andere Ideen wie ich die Temperatur runterschrauben könnte?
Ich benutze auch bereits so einen Laptop-Kühler, der von unten nochmal draufbläst.. hilft aber relativ wenig.

Du kannst versuchen auf 30 fps zu fixieren (Systemconfig im Spiel) oder aber deine Grafikeinstellungen runterdrehen (besonders CPU lastiges wie Details anderer Charaktere und deren Schatten).
Und, naja es ist leider durchaus normal das die CPU auf diese Werte kommt. FF14 ist absolutes dx9 und wenn du mehr als 10 Charaktere siehst ist die CPU schnell am Ende, denn der Turbo ist hier kaum zu nutzen da durch die erhöhte Spannung auch die Temperatur nach oben springt. Ein Macbook ist nicht für seine Spieletauglichkeit bekannt fürchte ich.

And my old problem is back... clock fluctuating again.
It still stays above 660 as long as I stay on low resolution and cripple my CPU to minimum

I don't know how...

Und auf deutsch:
Selbes Problem wie vorher, solange ich die CPU auf min halte bleibt die clock allerdings über 660mhz, gleichzeitig ist die Temperatur bei ungefähr 80°...
Aber ich hol dadurch nur vielleicht 20-30% der Leistung raus die ich haben könnte wenn das Teil mal richtig funktionieren würde ^^, es geht ja, nur irgendwas verhindert das ständig treiber oder softwaretechnisch...

*************

This morning I got another Session where it worked fine again (except for the heating issue), I think I'm onto the problem... gotta do further testing.

In diesem Spiel muss vieles von der CPU berechnet werden, also braucht die Grafikkarte die Leistung der CPU >>> "Intel Turbo Core" beginnt viel Leistung aus der CPU hohlen >>> Frames sind gut >>> CPU wird heiß und Takt geht runter >>> Frames brechen ein.
Ab hier wird es Lustig da das einfache reduzieren des Taktes entweder reicht oder sogar noch Kerne abgeschaltet werden müssen damit sich die CPU wieder fangen kann, und danach alles wieder von vorne oder aber es bleibt gleichmäßig schlecht.
Bleibt fürs erste nur: Grafik zurückschrauben und dass weit genug um dein Macbook überzeugen zu können das es kein Raclette ist.

Mit Freundlichen Grüßen
Neifirst