ClockBlocker (profiled AMD power-management control)

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon Drivers Section' started by A2Razor, Dec 10, 2015.

  1. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    ClockBlocker is a GPU power-management control software designed for AMD graphics cards. It started as a tool entirely designed for the Radeon R9 Fury series, yet many people have had success with the tool on a whole slew of different graphics hardware. While there may be other tools that already work on your hardware to stop downclocking, this is potentially another option available to you.

    Want to read a bit more? Check out the web-documentation linked right here.
    (Please be aware that the screenshots are a bit outdated at this point [more choices exist on dialogs], but the usage-guide is otherwise still valid)


    Direct Download links for the current latest version (Dallas):
    Installer
    7zip self extractor (for non-installation)
    Documentation
    Archived versions


    Mirrored links (Seattle):
    Installer
    7zip self extractor (for non-installation)
    Documentation
    Archived versions



    Guru3D Downloads

    Use Logitech Gaming Software?
    -There's a known issue where running ClockBlocker and having ClockBlocker trigger a "block" rule will disrupt LGS' ability to detect game processes.

    In the short term I've produced a workaround, which is posted about starting from here: here.
    1.0 -- tested on LGS 8.x (does not support older versions)
    1.1 -- tested on LGS 8.x and 5.x

    ** Please keep in mind that 1.1 is functionally the same and differs only in the injection method. If your hardware works with the latest LGS, then 1.0 may be best for you.

    self extracting 7zip
    LGS Hook 1.0.exe -- via proxy-DLL injector
    LGS Hook 1.1.exe -- via external injector (launcher)

    sha1 hash:
    35d4ad976023ec9556c9e3b813fd7a200687788a /Archive/Logitech Gaming Software/LGS Hook 1.0.exe
    200957799a296df7849a1579fc72ee8e5bcb52b3 /Archive/Logitech Gaming Software/LGS Hook 1.1.exe

    The jist:
    ^ This bug has been reported to Logitech, so presumably in later versions of their software it may be properly fixed and the workaround no longer needed.
    (it'd be wise to re-check if my proxy DLL is needed with newer releases)

    Want to check your download?
    Code:
    SHA1-hashes:
    ec8ec32bdbe290d81c7fe12e8d8d07f285407b8a  /Archive/1.0/1.0-4/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    624f56df64897e0fca06617da1db91fe132e586a  /Archive/1.0/1.0-5/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    9625df03a9bea61e213f22cde81745d28b32e3a6  /Archive/1.0/1.0-6/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    931241d9f3d5a8c569a942b935e90ca99258d8c1  /Archive/1.0/1.0-7/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    a16015350ead29d709fe6e08b04e3736d260893e  /Archive/1.0/1.0-8/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    928a7005a6883eab95ff1ef6588f3681e8921141  /Archive/1.1/1.1-2a/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    7a3bab8e2941fd92b6657065b10387f7b915a56a  /Archive/1.1/1.1-2a/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    1231a7a88519a5a48aaec5c7494f35b335d238e5  /Archive/1.1/1.1-3/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    7096853d0bd3828a9cefb12277cf0155626f78d2  /Archive/1.1/1.1-3/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    92c034def1558fc125fc68b0ef586cac3ec44d8f  /Archive/1.1/1.1-4/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    3f57e9f933007e6f8a2af7d82231649c282e3209  /Archive/1.1/1.1-4/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    de08952af3ae84fcff6abca3e73604056d8476ec  /Archive/1.2/1.2-0/ClockBlocker ADL Module 1.0.zip
    27ba3fba0140006681be65301dd68e86a7e135d8  /Archive/1.2/1.2-0/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    a49b96fa343e0ce3f0a15114e821b79b727d3fe4  /Archive/1.2/1.2-0/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    ff2e638d5aa94431cb04a3e194fbdfdf3bf89ca4  /Archive/1.2/1.2-1b/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    3edd2c14592befe371e5cde74100864213749eb9  /Archive/1.2/1.2-1b/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    2d10bfc451f03c1c240b0dfc8d178928dcaf9085  /Archive/1.2/1.2-2/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    15c256abe154770882acaadaf6851b8e63b346de  /Archive/1.2/1.2-2/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    cfd4c41e99c9d0c876f2ab512602f572762c9e74  /Archive/1.2/1.2-3/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    8201387c7ac45912f6ee97bb8a54900457ceac75  /Archive/1.2/1.2-3/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    cc3b2ba4a8027c826bd9d4944f6a666d3a11bd3c  /Archive/1.2/1.2-3a/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    fd7e0e2b899dd6c430639bab4f5ce53575828319  /Archive/1.2/1.2-3a/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    3080d7573dad3dc0dc0e26bc9ed2f9410a61613c  /Archive/1.2/1.2-4/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    fa992b82754a73d2220de5a8514541e21ad7ff6a  /Archive/1.2/1.2-4/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    80020f261122ef058dd04ada415e1d4a52d03859  /Archive/1.2/1.2-5/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    5a308ecf2284a5757e3d80f2e914add6e7472f05  /Archive/1.2/1.2-5/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    0981e10712fc3f02ec2acea3a5459bf6cb360e51  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.2/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    5203c582f946b4aaed41b2b37b234047f2d82ad4  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.2/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    68fe41ec855f14f9084b5a814213ef82141f70d8  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.3/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    320ab22b9fee8084c3f89c99867b6f9daab405a2  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.3/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    428415c618cb99b9972b32b07f1e35ace1142aa4  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.4/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    602b5940ba352987591a8e19bffa715218dba0ce  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.4/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    aab9c0e70ab36b4d2b936d4e060cc7dd0d8b9478  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.5/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    88deab4014eb4d258f49ffbd45fd987f43cb9307  /Archive/1.2/1.2-6.5/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    b1e8618f4f2b2ed8fc295e304c7ccdc8d3ae4688  /Archive/1.3/1.3.4/ClockBlocker_7zExtractor.exe
    4d347efb85737f2f6d6fa72d2fe9aa6c26919023  /Archive/1.3/1.3.4/ClockBlocker_Setup.exe
    3148104c3d1d0f3f7fdd75e6d45acbdd66650634  /Archive/BETA/ClockBlocker 1.3.3 BETA.exe
    35d4ad976023ec9556c9e3b813fd7a200687788a  /Archive/Logitech Gaming Software/LGS Hook 1.0.exe
    200957799a296df7849a1579fc72ee8e5bcb52b3  /Archive/Logitech Gaming Software/LGS Hook 1.1.exe
    
    This tool has been posted on AMD's forums in the Fury-X corruption thread, as it was designed due to 'THAT' problem which I was having. It is probably useful for far more purposes than screen-corruption though. While this has been tested now by many more people, I definitely would like to continue hearing if you have success or issues with ClockBlocker on your rigs. I'm also of course open to suggestions on the ClockBlocker UI or any other aspects of it.


    All that out of the way, brief section from the link:

    --I will of course respond on these forums, and to PM's on Guru3D. You do not need to register on our site.


    Knowing that the software is working:

    -The 'easiest' way to test if the tool works at all. Is to after installation edit the "DEFAULT" rule to "Block", instead of "Downclock". If everything is working right, at this point your Graphics Card would clock itself up to the maximum frequency (0% load, at idle on the Windows desktop).

    -I would suggest trying to do this before playing around with profiles for a starting point. Otherwise there's going to be alot of potential questions on if programs are properly being detected, the profile you've defined is actually working & detecting game processes, etc.

    -As long as you're in Windowed Mode, you can see whether or not ClockBlocker thinks it should be attempting to block downclocking by looking at the System-Tray Icon. If the program's icon is YELLOW, then blocking is not being applied. If it's RED, your profile has correctly identified the application.

    -A green tray-icon indicates upclock blocking.

    -Currently you'll need to use another utility, such as MSI-Afterburner, TriXX, or GPU-Z to see if your clock speeds are actually being increased. (do not take my software's tray-icon as truthful until you've verified my tool works on your system)

    **I will likely add AMD ADL to some future release to make this easier.


    Recent:

    New builds from 1.1 onward execute as multiple processes. If ClockBlocker's helper-container crashes, ClockBlocker will attempt to re-launch it as soon as an error message is OK'd. This may result in a chain of error messages if ClockBlocker is set to "block".
    ----If that happens, close ClockBlocker or disable Blocking before accepting the error prompt(s).


    You can either re-download the software from here, get it via a 7zip self extractor, or use the built in Software Update function (based on the installer).
    [Right Click on the Tray-Icon, Misc > Software Update]


    Prior installers are still available from here, for if the new version doesn't work for you and the older versions did.



    Confused on the rule system's advanced features? Here's a putting the recent new features together example:
    -This may give you an idea of how you'd use all these things with the direction the software is going.

    Code:
    ===============================================================
    Settings > General
    ===============================================================
    Start With Windows = TRUE
    Check for Updates on Startup = FALSE
    Always Ontop = TRUE
    Show Splash = FALSE
    Exclude ScreenSavers (fullscreen & 3D detection) = TRUE
    Disable Editor Confirmation = TRUE
    Window Fade Speed = FAST
    Blocking Method = ADL
    
    
    ===============================================================
    Settings > Rules
    ===============================================================
    [Executable]                                                                 | [Action]                                     | [Priority] | [Enabled]
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ | ++++++++++ | +++++++++
    "*.scr"                                                                      | "[ADL] Force-Downclock"                      | "100"      | "YES"  
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Fallout 4\Fallout4.exe"       | "Block"                                      | "50"       | "YES"  
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 12.0\Common7\IDE\devenv.exe" | "[ADL] Force-Downclock if in the foreground" | "0"        | "YES"  
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"                         | "[ADL] Force-Downclock if in the foreground" | "0"        | "YES"  
    "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\*"                            | "Block if in the foreground"                 | "0"        | "YES"  
    "FULLSCREEN_PROGRAM"                                                         | "Block"                                      | "0"        | "YES"  
    "3D_PROGRAM"                                                                 | "Block"                                      | "0"        | "NO"   
    "DEFAULT"                                                                    | "Downclock"                                  | "0"        | "YES"    
    And worded out what those rules all accomplish:

    -force downclocking if a screensaver is running. (priority example)
    -block downclocking if Fallout 4 is running in the foreground or the background, as long as a screensaver isn't running.
    -force downclocking if we're working in Visual Studio or browsing the web in Firefox, as long as Fallout 4 isn't running.
    -block downclocking if we're in any Steam game (windowed mode or fullscreen w/ current focus), as long as a screensaver isn't running.
    -and finally raise the clocks if any fullscreen program has focus (non Steam), with the same constraints as above on screensavers.


    There may be more cool things you can do such as with media-players or anything else to tame your card and tailor it to your usage, but hopefully this gives some ideas. -Also note that you do not have to have ADL set as the method to use "[ADL]" rule types. These will always use ADL regardless your selection.

    Let's find a way to get the most out of our cards.
    Cheers!
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2017
    Ass_As_Sin likes this.
  2. Hilbert Hagedoorn

    Hilbert Hagedoorn Don Vito Corleone Staff Member

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    Awesome little tool man, hope you get lots of good feedback.

    And to the rest of you, yes I read that name wrong at first as well :)
     
  3. theoneofgod

    theoneofgod Ancient Guru

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    Absolutely nothing wrong with a bit of clock blocking.

    Thanks for the tool.
     
  4. PrMinisterGR

    PrMinisterGR Ancient Guru

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    Thanks for the tool! The fact that it's even necessary is telling on the state of a lot of things.
     

  5. thatguy91

    thatguy91 Guest

    I was going to remark on that as well!
     
  6. JonasBeckman

    JonasBeckman Ancient Guru

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    Hey I wonder if that's the screen corruption issue I get on some occasions, might try this tool then if that can be remedied. :)

    https://community.amd.com/thread/188642
    (It's rare, and just turning off the monitor and turning it on again solves it for me and it only triggers on certain websites as the clock speeds fluctuate as I understood it, hopefully it won't require a bios update to fix but it's been months now without any driver correcting the problem although only a few users get this specific problem as I understood it.)
     
  7. mtrai

    mtrai Maha Guru

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    Does this tool only work with the fury or will it also work with the R9 290/290x? Anyhow I am trying it out. Set everything to block. Should my GPU clocks then be running at max speed no matter what I am doing? The icon is showing red, but not sure how to test this tool. I am on the latest Windows 10 and have 2 R9 290x crossfired.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2015
  8. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    It seems to for me, however if you read through that forum thread you'll also see that I had success with a +36mv voltage bump to my card. I'm now down to +24mv and haven't seen it repeat, even permitting clock jitter in low GPU load games. For whatever the reason, I absolutely cannot play games like Akiba's Trip and Zestiria without numerous corruptions an hour (yes, even at stock clocks). Now that I've figured out this workaround, I have effectively two solutions. Either I can lock the clockspeed at the maximum (stops the corruption), or I can raise the voltage.


    Right now I'm just locking the clockspeeds during most of the games that I play as my solution (as this yields better performance to do that, less stuttering), and then boosting voltage when otherwise using the PC for work (non gaming).


    You could probably stop the corruption by setting the DEFAULT profile to block, but this would also mean eating more power than just raising the voltage. Either way, hopefully it helps you in some way.


    EDIT: It's not clear to me from your link's image. But the defining trait of this type of corruption is that the screen scrunches up from the bottom, with either a "green" or "black" bar. Eg, you only get the top 70-80% of the screen that's visible, and this is overlapped through the corruption with the lower half.

    As an example: Here's one of my corruptions.
     
    Last edited: Dec 10, 2015
  9. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    I don't have a 290x to test it with, but it does appear to work with some non Fury's (I've tried a 7950) and even with my Geforce 980 on the NVidia side. If everything is on block and the icon is RED, then you should (assuming it was working) be seeing max clocks right now.


    ---If you're not seeing max clocks, it'd be helpful to see if there's any specific error messages under "Misc > Log Viewer" on a fresh start (after the profile edit).
     
  10. mtrai

    mtrai Maha Guru

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    Just tried the 64 bit version on my Windows and it errors and crashes can get you a screen shot if you need.

    The reason I was asking how to test it, I cannot remember seeing a downclock issue in gaming on my system.
     

  11. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    Crashes instantly with errors, interesting. Sure, screenshot of the error might help seeing what's happening or at what point of startup it's hosing.


    If you just wanted to test that the tool was working, you might try locking clocks on the desktop purely to see it lock your clocks at the maximum. If there's no downclocking in games, then probably you don't actually need it. --Yet I still appreciate testing it absolutely.


    EDIT: Does the 32bit version start properly? Is the crash specific to the 64bit build?
     
  12. mtrai

    mtrai Maha Guru

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    Interestingly it crashes only on the first start of it in 64 bit, then starts normally. It shows the splash screen then errors. I reinstalled it and did the exact same thing.

    The 32 bit start fine. Just trying to help.
     
  13. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    Crashing on the first start after each installation implies something special with it being launched from that Indigo Rose installer. Do I understand correctly that the 64bit build starts fine (for each launch) after it crashes one-time from being launched by the installer?


    -This is also pretty helpful, since OpenCL initialization doesn't happen until right after the Splash.

    -This is a huge help, very good observations. Appreciate it!
     
  14. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

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    I did not test your tool, yet. But I would like to point out one thing:
    What about thermal throttling/TDP throttling? People testing on other than well cooled GPUs should take some precautions.
     
  15. mtrai

    mtrai Maha Guru

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    Correct, after the first 64 bit launch on Win 10 64, it crashes while the load splash screen is showing. Then you can launch it and no crash. By no means will I say it is the coding, as it well may be my system.
     

  16. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    AMD's clock control is still completely active.

    In the case of exceeding the thermal / TDP limits, downclocking would still happen. So it should be completely safe as this is not an absolute lock, but rather a hint to the drivers to run the card under the expectation of full load.
     
  17. mtrai

    mtrai Maha Guru

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    Figured a way to test it. Yes it does work for R9 290/290x. Thought of a game I play that will downlock during loading screens and no longer downclocks.
     
  18. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    Yeah, I'll still put a high priority in tracking that down.. because the self-updater downloads and launches the installer with a "-silent" argument (the way that I've designed things). The installer scans through running processes, looks for a matching Window Handle to the app, issues it a request to close itself, overwrites the files, then re-launches the program.

    It doesn't happen here, but I also don't have a Windows 10 machine like I mentioned. We'll probably know soon as more people attempt to use it.


    -This would be a recurring issue on every update if it's a problem with the software.
     
  19. A2Razor

    A2Razor Guest

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    Awesome, great to know! :)

    The more working cards, the merrier.
     
  20. xxela

    xxela Master Guru

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    great tool it seems but in my case when I did the test it only works for couple of seconds and then it drops to 300 again. here a screenshot
    [​IMG]

    Anyway, keep up the good work!
     

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