PC Drivers & Software

[madin3]

Hello,

i just did a clean update (DDU) from non whql 17.2.1 to 18.1.1. After that i played a game (Company of Heroes 2) and my Pc just turned off, no blue screen or anything else it was like killing it with the main switch on the power adapter.

I was guessing thermal problems and i did some investigations. I found out that the fan control is very sluggish so i reached 90° C and the GPU begins to throttle his clock speed and a few seconds later my Pc turns off. I tested this with 17.12.2 as well with the same issue.

So now I'm back to non whql 17.2.1 and did the same test, the GPU begins to throttle again but the Pc don't crash, after a while the fan is at a reasonable speed and the Clock is stable at 1330 MHz. Temps are about 80 - 85° C.

It looks like to me the throttle mode in the new drivers is broken.

System Info:

AMD RX 480 PowerColor red devil @ 1330 MHz, no OC was done by me.

I7 4790k @4.4 GHz Boost

Mainboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 5

16 Gb RAM @ 1866 MHz

Ennermax 600W power source

Win 10 pro 64bit with the latest updates

Dual Monitor setup running.

Gloabal WattMan settings are the default settings.

[kingfish]

I think the problem is user settings related. Have you set your Power Limit to +50?

Make these changes:

1. Temperature set to MANUAL and lowered to 75c

2. Power Limit to maximum + value (probably +50)

3. Click apply at the top of the page

Please read > AMD graphics performance

Do not change any other setting. Leave everything else at default/automatic.

OR.......

[merutsu]

85-90 temps are high. It seems your gpu vcore is too high or gpu has a poor contact with heatsink, or it's a fan failure.

Make sure all fans are spinning under gpu load.

Try to set manually vcore values via wattman for all DPM states.

DPM0(idle) cannot be changed by wattman as far as i know

DPM1 - 825mV

DPM2 - 900mV

DPM3 - 1000mV

DPM4 - 1025mV

DPM5 - 1075mV

DPM6 - 1100mV

DPM7 - 1100-1112-1125mV should be enough for 1330mhz. Start from 1100 and try higher values if getting artefacts in games or any stability issues.

[madin3]

Your ideas are both good and correct but i think they addressing the wrong problem.

I think the main issue here is a software bug who causes the GPU to crash, when the Clock begins to throttle. Iam guessing its not AMD's intend to crash the GPU when throttling the clock.

[merutsu]

vbios contains many various temp limits as max. temp, hotspot temp, shutdown temp. I guess one of the card's sensors detects critical temp and cause the system shutdown. Don't know how exactly it works because my card never reached so high temps, just saw these values when modded polaris vbios.

[madin3]

But what do you think about that my GPU is absolute stable with the old drivers?

[merutsu]

I don't know. Maybe amd did some changes how power efficiency works or older drivers could be just a less optimized for polaris architecture and as result less utilize gpu in some scenarios, gpu is less heating and it doesn't cause the system shutdown. Even 1C difference could be enough between stable/unstable.

[elstaci]

By any chance, do you have the latest Intel Chipset and Intel VGA On-Board Driver for your motherboard from MSI Support from here: Support For Z97 GAMING 5 | Motherboard - The world leader in motherboard design | MSI USA

I noticed from the above link that you can download and use a software called GAMING APP. This app can control your GPU card. I also saw Intel Extreme Tuning Utility that can control you GPU card or maybe it was made for the motherboard Intel on board graphics.

If you are using GAMING APP, I would uninstall it and use strictly Wattman. It is possible that app is in conflict with Wattman. IF you have the same problem after uninstalling the Gaming APP then reinstall it since that wasn't the problem.

[madin3]

I have the latest driver for my Chipset and BIOS installed and disabled VGA in BIOS.

I never used any other software to control my GPU beside AMD's driver.