Rx480 performs better on lower clock speeds?

[Yanderia]

I haven't tweaked my gpu's core clock, etc since I got it and just now I found something weird.

My gpu is the ASUS Strix OC editon 8G RX480 that comes at a stock of 1310 mhz in gaming mode for the "most performance"

Everything was kept the same in my tests besides the core clocks which I kept changing to find a difference.

So memory clock was 2000mhz, voltage was all automanic, fan min speed when actviated was 2000rpm and max was 3000rpm and the max tempos were 85C and target being 65C.

On doom, on the first mission "UAC" I went to the part where u get the shotgun, kill the Imp and then I stood in a corner with the pistol and looked down the hallway. I was shooting the pistol aswell as standing still doing nothing to give me a range of fps data, but did not move the camera so the rendering assets were the same, on core clock speeds down below this was my result (ALL setting were on the highest at 1080p):

1400mhz: 126-131 fps
1350mhz: 128-133 fps
1300mhz: 131-136 fps
1275mhz: 138-145 fps wow the highest was
1265mhz: 135-143 fps
1250mhz: 131-134 fps
1200mhz: 126-129 fps

I was baffled that a lower core speed of 1275mhz gave me the most performance and it was 35mhz under the gaming mode claimed by asus. I was also surprised that the 1250mhz did better than 1400mhz which is 150mhz higher clock speed. My gpu temps were also consistent at 63C when at 1400mhz and actually lowered to 57C on 1275C even though 1275 was pushing more frames.

[InfinityJosh]

CPU?
RAM?

Resolution and details?

[Skankhunt42]

Interesting

[Yanderia]

Originally posted by Infinity Josh:

CPU?
RAM?

Resolution and details?

ALL settings were on the highest at 1080p it said in the description, cpu is an I76700k @ 4ghz and 16gb of ddr4 ram @ 2133mhz

[Copium]

Maybe it has huge fps drops when you set the Clock Speed that high, because it is clocking down due to high temperatures. Interesting would be not the average fps but the curve over time I think

[InfinityJosh]

Stay with 1275 mhz

[Yanderia]

Originally posted by timberwear:

Maybe it has huge fps drops when you set the Clock Speed that high, because it is clocking down due to high temperatures. Interesting would be not the average fps but the curve over time I think

I as interested in it as you are, but my settings are max temps of 85C but the tests on 1400mhz claimed to be 63C and performing slower, I wonder why it would run hotter (but not thermal throttling) and slower when 1275mhz ran faster at a lower temp. My target temperature was 70C in the ettings so thermal throttling was completely out of the question

[Copium]

I think there is not only a temperature target, there is a power target, too. Maybe it has to do something with this

[Yanderia]

Originally posted by timberwear:

I think there is not only a temperature target, there is a power target, too. Maybe it has to do something with this

The power limit option I didn't touch the slider is at 0%

[Yanderia]

Originally posted by timberwear:

I think there is not only a temperature target, there is a power target, too. Maybe it has to do something with this

Considering my card is a good way to cause a $2000 electricity bill i didnt bother with it

[Copium]

Yeah so 1275 mhz should be the sweet spot without deeper tweaking. Leave it there. Depends on the game of course, too.
If you want to get more performance, google and read forums, there should be good guides. But I think it is not worth the effort, max +5% which is nothing.

[Salamand3r-]

Originally posted by timberwear:

Maybe it has huge fps drops when you set the Clock Speed that high, because it is clocking down due to high temperatures. Interesting would be not the average fps but the curve over time I think

Sort of.

The problem is the power limit patch to stop the Polaris cards from spiking over PCIe spec.

It isn't downclocking due to temperatures, but due to the power limit.

The best way to fix it is either undervolt the card (typically a good way to save power on Polaris anyway) or max out the power limit. Maxing the power limit doesn't always do the trick on its own; you likely will still want to undervolt.

Video below has good instructions on this.

https://youtu.be/nWDgrAQ678g

[Yanderia]

Originally posted by Salamand3r:

Originally posted by timberwear:

Maybe it has huge fps drops when you set the Clock Speed that high, because it is clocking down due to high temperatures. Interesting would be not the average fps but the curve over time I think

Sort of.

The problem is the power limit patch to stop the Polaris cards from spiking over PCIe spec.

It isn't downclocking due to temperatures, but due to the power limit.

The best way to fix it is either undervolt the card (typically a good way to save power on Polaris anyway) or max out the power limit. Maxing the power limit doesn't always do the trick on its own; you likely will still want to undervolt.

Video below has good instructions on this.

https://youtu.be/nWDgrAQ678g

Yeah I'll stick with leaving the power limit on it's own. 1275mhz is like the exploit in a game where no enemies can touch you. In most of my games I seen a 20% increase in performance WHAT THE HELL?!

[Salamand3r-]

Originally posted by LuckyLilAlex:

Originally posted by Salamand3r:

Sort of.

The problem is the power limit patch to stop the Polaris cards from spiking over PCIe spec.

It isn't downclocking due to temperatures, but due to the power limit.

The best way to fix it is either undervolt the card (typically a good way to save power on Polaris anyway) or max out the power limit. Maxing the power limit doesn't always do the trick on its own; you likely will still want to undervolt.

Video below has good instructions on this.

https://youtu.be/nWDgrAQ678g

Yeah I'll stick with leaving the power limit on it's own. 1275mhz is like the exploit in a game where no enemies can touch you. In most of my games I seen a 20% increase in performance WHAT THE HELL?!

Power limit can't damage your card. No real reason not to max it - the extra couple of watts will add maybe a dollar a year to your electric bill.

If you still don't want to, just undervolt it as shown in the video. Same result, even less power used, even less heat generated.

Neither have any possibility of damaging your GPU or your system, and result in some free performance gains for an hour or so of your time.