Asus r9 290 DCU II downclocks during gaming

Discussion in 'Videocards - AMD Radeon' started by anish81, Dec 30, 2014.

  1. anish81

    anish81 Guest

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    Asus R9 290 DCUII OC
    Hi gurus,

    This is my first post here, so pardon if i miss anything :)

    Yesterday i have replaced my gtx 660 with an Asus R9 290 DCUII. Now, performance increase in games is massive, but, i am encountering an issue with GPU core clock.

    My GPU core clock fluctuates from 1000MHz to 300MHz in game. I have observed it with DAInquisition and Shadow of Mordor. I have checked temp during gaming through MSI afterburner and GPU temp stays within 60c and VRM temps also do not cross 60c. But, still my GPU is having fluctuating clock speeds. It affects my FPS in games. I have locked DA Inquisition to 30FPS, for having consistency with cut-scenes. Due to GPU downclocking, my FPS goes around 20s for a second or two.

    Please could you help me on this. So i can get stable clocks.

    I am using Catalyst Omega driver.

    I have radeonpro installed. CCC overdrive is not activated. Not very much used to with AMD gpus though :)

    Thanks in advance.
     
  2. red6joker

    red6joker Guest

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    That sounds pretty odd, I have the same card and it does not downclock for me while i game. I do not have Inquisition or SoM though so I can not comment on those games.
     
  3. ibitato

    ibitato Guest

    1) did you completely remove nvidia drivers ??
    2) set pc to "high performance" on power options
    3) with that card, there is no need to user any modded drivers , clean all and use lastest from amd --> lol no modded drivers, they're fine , cross posted with something else
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 30, 2014
  4. anish81

    anish81 Guest

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    Thank you for the reply. Please let me know, do you use, custom fan profile through MSI Afterburner?

    Is there a possibility that it downclocks as i cap the FPS to 30 in DAI.


    Also i have completely removed NVIDIA drivers using DDU.

    Best regards
     

  5. xLegendary

    xLegendary Guest

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    How's the temperatures looking? Even if its not too high, might be parts of the GPU not beeing cooled properly. Try to reseat the cooler. Maybe it will help?
     
  6. flow

    flow Maha Guru

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    GPU:
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    In ccc performance/overdrive you can enable overclocking.
    Now this will not overclock your card at all unless if you adjust the clocks yourself ofcourse.
    Then you can set the powerlimit settings at 20% or even 50%.
    We have a 290 tri-x at 10% and it doesn't downclock at all.
    Temps will be higher though so keep an eye out on that.

    Don't know if radeon pro allows this, msi afterburner does however.
    And there is no need to disable ccc.
    Just in some rare cases users benefit in certain games by not installing the ccc.
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2015
  7. Suicidal360Flip

    Suicidal360Flip Guest

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    Is this issue with the core clock exclusive to DA:Inquisition?

    Try disabling ULPS.
     
  8. DayGlow

    DayGlow Member

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    I have x2 290x's in crossfire and I saw 1 card constantly down clocking to 300mhz in games. I uninstalled Radeon Pro and I don't have this unusual behavior any more. It maybe since development stopped a year ago that something funky is going on with new drivers.
     
  9. LtMatt81

    LtMatt81 Master Guru

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    Please try removing RadeonPro to see if that may be causing the issue. However I have been able to replicate clock dropping myself by using vsync in Battlefield 4 and setting an fps cap of 30. I believe this may trick powertune into believing it can provide plenty of fps without running at maximum clocks so it lowers the gpu clock. What happens if you set the fps to 35 or 40?

    If none of the above works and RadeonPro is not causing the issue, i have a fix you can try.

     
    Last edited: Jan 6, 2015
  10. red6joker

    red6joker Guest

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    I do not use a custom fan profile in afterburner, I haf a HAF 920 and that has crazy airflow. A little to much in my opinion now since I do not use two GPU's anymore.I also do not use Radeonpro anymore either. I can not imagine that would cause the card to downclock though. I would try setting your power settings a little higher like others have mentioned doing in this thread. Good luck
     

  11. TeX_UK

    TeX_UK Guest

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    Over heating & down clocking there is a history of heat problems with these cards.
     
  12. MaskedMuchaco

    MaskedMuchaco Guest

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    GPU:
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    I'm having a similar problem with my MSI R9 290 Gaming in Farcry 4 and Max Payne 3, I haven't tried running anything else yet though. temperatures are always below 75 degrees.

    It seems that when the GPU load is low that the card is lowering the GPU clock so I have increased graphics settings to fully load the GPU and it mostly keeps the core clock stable. In Max Payne 3 this means turning everything up to max and using VSR.
    I always use vsync unless benchmarking.

    I am running my card overclocked at 1100mhz and haven't tried running at stock clocks to see if I get the same issue but I don't remember noticing it before I over clocked so will try going back to stock, I will also try turning powertune to 50% (it's currently at 20%)
     
  13. LtMatt81

    LtMatt81 Master Guru

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    Please let me know how you get on and what you discover and also if you're using vsync or an fps cap, thanks.
     
  14. Fox2232

    Fox2232 Guest

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    GPU:
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    Framerate cap is very likely culprit for downclocking. try to use higher details/force AA.
    Or move CAP to 60/59fps. If clocks stay UP, then you will be sure.
     
  15. Krelianz

    Krelianz Guest

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    Set +20% power in catalyst overdrive, that fixed the problem for me, and never put your system in maximum performance on energy options.
     

  16. MaskedMuchaco

    MaskedMuchaco Guest

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    GPU:
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    It happens at stock speed and with power tune at 50% with vsync on, when vsync is off it stays at near max clocks with the odd drop of 20mhz or so but is smooth.

    It seems to dropping the core clock when the gpu is unstressed to a level where it can still maintain 60fps to save power and produce less heat, a good idea in principal but it does seem to cause some minor stuttering at times that can be a little annoying.

    I never noticed this happening with my 7870xt but that was always pretty stressed trying to achieve 60fps in most games I have played recently so probably didn't get the chance to slow it's self down to take a rest.

    The solution would seem to be to turn vsync off but I really cant stand the tearing. :(

    In some games I can turn up the settings to keep gpu load over 90% to keep the clocks stable but in far cry 4 i can be getting as little as 30fps and the gpu is down clocking to 800ish mhz, so possibly a cpu bottleneck there then even though no core is over 50% loaded. I'll blame ubisoft for that one. ;)
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2015
  17. Anarion

    Anarion Ancient Guru

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    @anish81
    Clock speed will fluctuate a lot if you use vsync or cap your framerate. It can drop quite low if you cap it at 30 fps and the scene isn't complex. When I had 290 it rarely used maximum clock speed if gpu usage wasn't near 100%.
     
  18. prox1311

    prox1311 Guest

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    I am having your exact same issue that is causing fps drops when my core clock just plummets to 300 MHz. I will try some things and let you know. This does not happen for me in Shadow of Mordor though. I have only seen it with Battlefield 4 over the dozens of games I've run it on so far.
     
  19. I'm having these problems as well. I've had my card for about 5 months so far and I haven't really paid attention to the clock speeds even though I did overclock my card. 1135/1500.

    I started up Sniper Elite 3 today and I noticed I was getting a second of stuttering every 20 seconds or so. I tabbed out of the game and put Afterburner up on my second monitor. Sure enough those stutters turned out to be my core clock downclocking to 300. I exited and restarted the game and the core clock was hovering in the high 800s-high 900's.

    I have really only been playing FC4 and Bf4 the last couple months so I booted those games up and noticed that Bf4 (for the 5 minutes I played) the core clock stayed at 1135. When I tested FC4 the core clock performed similar to Sniper Elite....high 800's-high 900's, BUT, if I looked at the ground, something not graphically demanding, my core clock would then go up to 1135.

    Is this normal?
     
  20. anish81

    anish81 Guest

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    Sorry for being late to reply. I think AMDMatt you are right. If i cap FPS to 30FPS, somehow powertune kicks in and core clock goes down to 300MHz. But, i have checked with 60 FPS caps, it hovers around 8XX-9XX MHz. I also notice less stuttering now, by, using Radeonpro VSync instead of in game one.

    May be my GPU is too overpowered for 30FPS cap in DA Inquisition :D

    Also, one question, regarding raising power limit. I am using an corsair VS650 with r9 290. Is it safe for me to raise power limit, or should i need a better PSU.

    Thank you all :)
     

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