Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Windows rMBP Throtteling GPU in-Game (please help)

D

DavidGillham

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 1, 2013
7
0
I have tried everything!
Surfed the forums, tried all tips and tricks, no success.
Im using Throttlestop to stop turbo boost, running at 2.07Ghz. Temperatures of CPU = at around 80. In game, running at 40% of CPU.
GPU force-state via Nvidia Inspector, to 1035/2800, and temps of around 73.
Force-state doest work properly. Using MSI afterburner, I can see that originally it works, but 10 minutes into game it drops to around 700, with spikes down to 125:confused:
The spikes are the throttling obviously.
Im running on dim, and trying to conserve power wherever I can, but nothing works. Throttlestop is supposed to help by using less power. I have noticed that while using it I have a serious drop in max temps, as much as 10 degrees.
What can I do?

Using AIDA64 I noticed that I only using 54W of power supply. So Powersupply is stable, temps are not bad, yet force state fails, and getting throttled sucks.

rMBP late 2012, 2.3Ghz quad core, windows 8.1 bootcamp, latest nvidia driver, GT650M.
 
Last edited:
thanks

Thanks for the reply Sadisterr.
Overheating doesnt seem to be the issue for me, as im using macfancontrol to get max rpm on fans, and also use an external cooling table. As I said, my CPU temps are stable at around 80, and my GPU is around 73-75. Now as far as I can see from the forums, these are supposed to be stable, none throttling level temps.
As stated, im also only using 54W of available power?
So if its not temps or power that is causing the Throttle, what is?????
 
Temperature does cause throttling, I use my fans to max all the time too. You better check your MAX temperature levels of what your CPU/GPU reaches at some point - Throttlestop shows that.

I have read somewhere here, that people were experiencing throttling on kinda low temperatures (80C +-).
 
Throttling at 80C + unaceptable

Sadisterr said:
Temperature does cause throttling, I use my fans to max all the time too. You better check your MAX temperature levels of what your CPU/GPU reaches at some point - Throttlestop shows that.

I have read somewhere here, that people were experiencing throttling on kinda low temperatures (80C +-).
Click to expand...

This must be the problem. What is weird is that I never used to experience this problem, it is very recent?
 
DavidGillham said:
I have tried everything!
Surfed the forums, tried all tips and tricks, no success.
Im using Throttlestop to stop turbo boost, running at 2.07Ghz. Temperatures of CPU = at around 80. In game, running at 40% of CPU.
GPU force-state via Nvidia Inspector, to 1035/2800, and temps of around 73.
Force-state doest work properly. Using MSI afterburner, I can see that originally it works, but 10 minutes into game it drops to around 700, with spikes down to 125:confused:

Using AIDA64 I noticed that I only using 54W of power supply. So Powersupply is stable, temps are not bad, yet force state fails, and getting throttled sucks.

rMBP late 2012, 2.3Ghz quad core, windows 8.1 bootcamp, latest nvidia driver, GT650M.
Click to expand...

DavidGillham said:
As stated, im also only using 54W of available power?
So if its not temps or power that is causing the Throttle, what is?????
Click to expand...

A new rMBP user here. 2.3/750m on Windows Server 2012 r2. Bootcamp default Nvidia Driver.

Software used/settings:

Throttlestop: no power savings, multiplier 23X

Lubbo's fan control: Allows for fans to ramp up first

MSI Afterburner: OC with +135 clock, + 270 memory


Findings that I've recalled from memory:

Furmark only

Lowest resolution : stays at the max clock for about 10 seconds, alternates between max and 835 mhz for the rest of the duration. Temps stable at 72-76 degrees depending on airconditioning/room temp. Drops down occasionally to 725 mhz (Furmark shows throttling in parentheses). Registers CPU temps mild at 68-70 degrees. CPU never throttles

Any higher resolution: max clock for shorter duration. Same behavior of alternating clock speeds.

Dota 2

Clockspeed stays at max for a while. Drops to 835 after.

Disclaimer: Have recalled these numbers. If you want to make an important judgement, send me a PM, I will redo the tests.

Conclusion: This isn't thermal throttling. It's power throttling on the GPU. Like the CPU, the GPU has a certain max wattage draw allowed and perhaps running it for more than a short duration causes it to exceed this wattage limit and it hence lowers clock speeds. So while Aida64 may be reporting at 54W total draw, your GPU may be reaching the limits of its allocated maximum.

Other questions:

1. Do all your 650m/750m have a stable clockspeed at 835 like mine? Is there a way to even reach the default clock of 967mhz?

2. Is there a documented max turbo draw of the GPU? Does the SMC have any control over this or is it on the GPU-level?

I am free to do more tests if it involves free and easily obtainable software.
 
Last edited:
yangchewren said:
Conclusion: This isn't thermal throttling. It's power throttling on the GPU. Like the CPU, the GPU has a certain max wattage draw allowed and perhaps running it for more than a short duration causes it to exceed this wattage limit and it hence lowers clock speeds. So while Aida64 may be reporting at 54W total draw, your GPU may be reaching the limits of its allocated maximum.
Click to expand...

Could this then be the result of the stock 85W power supply not supplying enough juice? It would be nice if there were some way to test with a higher rated PSU.
 
saturnotaku said:
Could this then be the result of the stock 85W power supply not supplying enough juice?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion :cool:

I have not done the total power benchmark as I did not install Aida64.

This conclusion was actually drawn from Gillham's earlier post on him seeing 54W total power consumption with GPU throttling.

So I had speculated (not definitive) that despite not reaching the total (GPU+CPU+components) wattage limit, we are hitting the limit of the GPU's power consumption (set through the SMC or GPU level).

saturnotaku said:
It would be nice if there were some way to test with a higher rated PSU.
Click to expand...

In a separate 'study' I too had pondered this exact question. Note that while we can garner a certain understanding of how a macbook handles its DC-input from this, it is again non-definite and partially speculation.

A summary of my study:

When running a power-throttled macbook air on a 60W adaptor, there was no measureble improvement. Moving up to a 85W power adaptor did not help too.

If we assume that in general, all macbooks reallocate their DC-input similarly, we would see no perceivable increase in performance for a higher wattage adaptor.

But all of this is no worry to us, as with throttlestop, we've not reached the hard-constraint of max wattage from the adaptor.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back