OV Max Limit and Voltage Limit in MSI Afterburner with GTX 980 FTW

[The Giving One]

Hello good Steam users,

I have been researching this for a little while now and seem to be at a divide in being comfortable with my findings. I just got a new EVGA GTX 980 4 GB 256 bit FTW GPU and have been using MSI Afterburner to monitor it and control the fans a bit. My main issue is that I am seeing others that claim the parameters mentioned above (OV Max Limit and Voltage Limit) are randomly seen as being reached (Value of 1 is display) during game play. I understand that is due to higher GPU load yes, but some claim this is bad and others claim it is perfectly normal for the card as the BIOS is controlling the power consumption and clock rates and the limit is simply being reached and therefore all it good.

The problem for me is with seeing OV Max Limit. Does this simply mean the higher voltage the card is demanding is being seen as being utilized or does it mean that the card is getting too much power (Voltage) and that is bad ? It is just the term "Over Voltage Max Limit" that really bothers me and the fact there is some debate on the issue.

I thought I would come to the savvy and good users here in this forum for advice and knowledge. Please leave your input and all info is welcome.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT...I am not overclocking the card at all. Sorry I forgot to mention that.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

It's normal, the GPU will auto-adjust the Core Voltage based on Clocks and Loads.
It's not going to stay at one voltage. Even CPUs don't do that, they fluctuate between a base and an offset.

[The Giving One]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bad-Motha:

It's normal, the GPU will auto-adjust the Core Voltage based on Clocks and Loads.
It's not going to stay at one voltage. Even CPUs don't do that, they fluctuate between a base and an offset.

Good to see you here Bad-Motha and thanks for the input. I was leaning towards normal but thought I would ask here. I am not overclocking the card so that is not a factor in this case.

Thank you so much for looking at my thread and posting here.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yea on older cards it was normal for the Core Voltage to just be a steady one.
Like on GTX 500 series, those didn't have GPU Boost of any kind.
GPUs w/ GPU Boost the Core Voltage will fluctuate more and more based on overall clock changes and loads. It's much better this way for lower power consumption and heat when lower loads are needed, as those may mean not running at full clocks, thus the higher voltage really isn't needed.

[The Giving One]

Ursprünglich geschrieben von Bad-Motha:

Yea on older cards it was normal for the Core Voltage to just be a steady one.
Like on GTX 500 series, those didn't have GPU Boost of any kind.
GPUs w/ GPU Boost the Core Voltage will fluctuate more and more based on overall clock changes and loads. It's much better this way for lower power consumption and heat when lower loads are needed, as those may mean not running at full clocks, thus the higher voltage really isn't needed.

Totally understand and thanks again. I had another thread in a game forum posting and asking about the card and its performance running the game in question. One good user posted that this card is not that good because of the fluctuations and throttling, as compared to say the Gigabyte G1. The G1 is a great card also, but I have always had good luck with EVGA so I stuck with what I know.

My main concern was/is all the debate over the validity of these parameters that you can see on the net, that being some saying it is a big red flag, and others like yourself saying it is perfectly normal.

Always good to have your input in the forums, Bad-Motha.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Depends what they mean by "throttle" as typically your GPU might not run at the full OC or Clocks per PowerBoost depending on load. As with higher-end GPUs it generally might not have a load above 40-50% which is typical for something like 970 or 980 on a single screen of say 1080p res. The reason being is such GPUs have plenty of breathing room for running say, 3x 1080p screens. So u can't expect the GPU load on a single screen to be pushed fully. That does not mean however that it's not pushing their full GPU capable performance on a single screen, the lower load just reflects it leaving room for things that require more performance, such as when running multiple screen off a single GPU as these.

Now if have such a GPU and the card is constantly dipping back and forth with clocks when under high loads, that could indicate PSU or Heat related problems perhaps, that is typically "thermal throttling". But again due to how GPU power boost works under normal conditions, it's not uncommon for the GPU to downclock as needed, even in games. Again it can just be a matter of load those apps or games are putting on the GPU and the GPU auto-adjusting as it sees fit based on all that, similar to how Turbo works on all the modern CPUs that have this built-in. Now if it is throttling and that in-turn is negatively affecting in-game performance or FPS, then u have a problem here.

[The Giving One]

Sorry I just saw this newer post by you Bad-Motha. Thanks again and I am familiar with what you posted here. The game I was talking about in the other forum is 7 Days to Die, but as you maybe know that is alpha and it is having some issues with the more recent update, according to the forum for that game. My GPU is running in the high 90% ranges for power usage and GPU usage, with all the "wow" effects turned off and LOD and FOV all on default, so it seems to be holding constant with those types of demands from that game, and therefore the throttling seems to be normal as you posted here because it does not throttle at all while running that game, according to MSI. Now I can play Witcher 3 with some "wow" turned on and hair effects also and the card does not work as hard, but that game is much better optimized of course.

My cooling is good for air I think..I have a CoolerMaster HAF X Case and big fans, and I am running a fan profile and keeping a close eye on the temps, seeing as this is a new card. The ACX 2.0 cooling is doing a good job so far. And my PSU is a Seasonic Platinum 1000 full modular so I have got plenty of power.

I am seeing the card throttle while going in and out of higher demand as it would seem it is supposed to so I am comfortable with that also. The card comes with a higher clock than standard, as it is the FTW version so I am not going to do any overclocking as stated...I am happy with the stock performance of it.

Again, thanks for posting in my thread and giving your advice and knowledge here.