# GPU-Z PerfCap Reason behavior...



## Flying Fish (May 18, 2019)

Hi...

I've just upgraded my GPU to an MSI 1660 Ti Gaming X from an MSI 960 Gaming 2GB...

On the old 960 PerfCap Reason was typically Vrel (or sometimes Pwr)...but under load there was always a PerfCap Reason...

On the 1660 Ti the behaviour is...odd...in that PerfCap Reason constantly stays at Idle even though the card is under full load and overclock boosting to 2130 GPU and 1625 memory. I've never seen that before and I don't know if it's normal or possible!

If I drop power limit down to...90 or 80% then PerfCap reason changes to Pwr and the GPU clock obviously drops...

Is this normal behaviour or is it acting a bit odd?

Obviously it's reporting a PerfCap reason if I drop the power but even leaving Power limit at 100% and increasing GPU clock +160mhz to 2130 boosted and +500 on the memory so it's running at 1625, it's still PerfCap Reason Idle which...just doesn't make sense...Power Consumption % is pinned at 98% at W is 130.

Thanks for any help.


----------



## W1zzard (May 18, 2019)

Hmm good question. Did a quick check, on the RTX 2080 in my work PC it properly switches away from "Idle".

Let me dig out a GTX 1660 Ti


----------



## Flying Fish (May 18, 2019)

Super, thanks 

I do like this MSI 1660 Ti Gaming X card but....
The first one I had was only running at PCIe x8. Took that back, got a replacement and then have this PerfCap shenanigans...

If it isn't right I don't know if I should try again...


----------



## newtekie1 (May 18, 2019)

Flying Fish said:


> If it isn't right I don't know if I should try again...



If the performance is where it should be, what does it matter if GPU-Z isn't reading PerfCap correctly?


----------



## W1zzard (May 21, 2019)

Flying Fish said:


> Is this normal behaviour or is it acting a bit odd?


Sorry for the delay. Confirmed, this is the normal behavior, a bit strange indeed.


----------



## Flying Fish (May 21, 2019)

Thanks very much for checking  At least I know my card is behaving normally now...

I've done some head scratching and testing since I posted and I saw in MSI Afterburner...

Temp limit, Power limit and Voltage limit are all 0 and No load limit is 1. If I drop power limit down to...90 or 80%, No load limit drops to 0 and Power limit goes to 1....this basically matches what I see in GPU-Z...so rather than an issue with GPU-Z it seems to be an issue with the card reporting.

It seems it may be something with MSI cards as I've done some googling around and found screenshots of several MSI ards with strange perfcap readings looking at the load on the card, including a 2080



			http://www.technews.lt/portal/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/msi-1660-ti-temp-freq.jpg
		



			http://www.vmodtech.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/21/msi-geforce-gtx-1160ti-gaming-x-review/fm.jpg
		



			https://www.overclock3d.net/gfx/articles/2018/09/18221345205l.jpg
		


But a couple of screenshots from other brand cards look...fairly normal



			https://legitreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/evga-1660ti-gpuz-load.jpg
		



			https://legitreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/asus-1660-load.jpg
		



			http://www.vmodtech.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/19/asus-geforce-gtx-1660-ti-rog-strix-gaming-review/furde.jpg
		



			https://greentechreviews.ru/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/4-6.jpg
		


Although the only perfcap reason i've seen anywhere on a 1660 Ti is Pwr...


----------



## W1zzard (May 21, 2019)

Flying Fish said:


> It seems it may be something with MSI cards


Board partners have no control over perfcap, NVIDIA has locked that tight.



Flying Fish said:


> Although the only perfcap reason i've seen anywhere on a 1660 Ti is Pwr...


Stop the fan with your fingers and put some load on the card, should see "Thrm" at some point

Did a quick test with ASUS GTX 1660 Ti STRIX, same behavior, always "idle" and "pwr"



W1zzard said:


> Stop the fan with your fingers and put some load on the card, should see "Thrm" at some point


I tested this for you, works as expected


----------



## Flying Fish (May 21, 2019)

Hmm ok then, thanks for that...

Still, it's pretty strange that it doesn't get a PerfCap Reason when running furmark or GPU-Z render test...I've done +800 on memory and +150 on core and i still haven't managed to get it to hit Pwr perfcap reason...

It leaves me scratching my head a bit since at stock it starts at 1995mhz and then drops to 1985 then 1965...without displaying a perfcap reason which makes little sense to me, if there's something causing it to throttle back, even slightly, you'd think there would be a reason...

Anyways, thanks for your help  Glad I know my card is fine!


----------



## W1zzard (May 21, 2019)

Flying Fish said:


> it starts at 1995mhz and then drops to 1985 then 1965.


temperature


----------



## Mantech (Jan 31, 2020)

Hi, having the same issues with my Asus strix 2070 super A8G. During load perfcap reason is IDLE, while no load perfcap reason is PWR. Everything seems to be running fine. Any chance W1zzard can  confirm this?


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 31, 2020)

That is strange, and clocks are correct in idle and load?


----------



## londiste (Jan 31, 2020)

Doesn't Idle mean that no limits are being hit?


----------



## Mantech (Jan 31, 2020)

W1zzard said:


> That is strange, and clocks are correct in idle and load?



Clock is 300 mhz, mem 101.1, temp 25 while idle
Clock is 1980-2010 mhz, mem 7001, 56-59c during load


londiste said:


> Doesn't Idle mean that no limits are being hit?



That's what I would think. Seems like the same issues as OP


----------



## W1zzard (Jan 31, 2020)

Looks normal indeed. No idea


----------



## Mantech (Jan 31, 2020)

Still within exchange period. Should I just grab another card because of this? Or just leave it be?


----------



## londiste (Jan 31, 2020)

Now that I am at my own computer, I tend to have Afterburner monitoring graphs on second screen. Names in Afterburner are a bit better - No load, Voltage, Power and Temp limits. No load/Idle is True when none of the other limits have been triggered, once some other limit triggers, No load/idle is False.

When GPU load is not maxed, it is common enough that No load/idle is still set. Basically at this point there is still some reserve performance available.


----------



## Mantech (Jan 31, 2020)

ASUS Republic of Gamers [ROG] | The Choice of Champions  Overclocking, PC Gaming, PC Modding, Support, Guides, Advice
					

This is the Official ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) discussion forum. To find out more about ASUS ROG, please go to http://rog.asus.com/.



					rog.asus.com
				









						ASUS Republic of Gamers [ROG] | The Choice of Champions  Overclocking, PC Gaming, PC Modding, Support, Guides, Advice
					

This is the Official ASUS Republic of Gamers (ROG) discussion forum. To find out more about ASUS ROG, please go to http://rog.asus.com/.



					rog.asus.com
				




Thanks, here are some pics for reference.


----------



## Naki (Jan 31, 2020)

Your pics do not work. Use a common image hosting site, not another forum we have no access to.
(or use the Attach files button)

EDIT: Examples of common, good free hosting websites are:








						Imgur
					

Imgur: The magic of the Internet




					imgur.com
				











						Flickr
					

The safest and most inclusive global community of photography enthusiasts. The best place for inspiration, connection, and sharing!




					www.flickr.com
				








						Postimages — free image hosting / image upload
					

Provides free image upload and hosting integration for forums. Free picture hosting and photo sharing for websites and blogs.




					postimage.org
				








						Photobucket | The safer way to store your photos
					

The safer way to store your photos




					photobucket.com
				




Tinypic was great too, but seems it died in Sept 2019. RIP Tinypic!


----------



## Mantech (Feb 1, 2020)

Sorry, still learning! Lmk if these pictures are showing. Thanks.


----------



## Naki (Feb 1, 2020)

Yep!  All fine now, thanks. You are welcome.
Let's see what *londiste *and @W1zzard say now.

EDIT: By the way, welcome to the TPU Forums!  Hope you like it here.


----------



## W1zzard (Feb 1, 2020)

I have no further ideas, try opening a ticket at Nvidia customer support, maybe something interesting comes out of it. They do reply fairly quickly


----------



## Mantech (Feb 1, 2020)

Thanks for the help everyone!


----------



## londiste (Feb 2, 2020)

Oh, I was not looking at the clocks, concentrating on the Idle while load part. 300MHz core and 100/400MHz VRAM clocks should be deep idle, usually with monitor(s) on standby. I am seeing power limit getting triggered in that state as well. This should not be a concern, probably a side effect of how exactly Nvidia managed idle clocks.


----------



## Hydro5 (Feb 4, 2020)

My 2070 SUPER does this when I have OCed even just a little bit past these values... 

+120 MHZ Core Clock
+200 MHZ Memory Clock

Almost constant perfcap reason of "Power"
My GPU BIOS is locked at %100 Power Limit, cannot adjust that setting at all.


----------



## Mantech (Feb 4, 2020)

Thanks guys, everything is running great and really enjoying this card.  Coming from a GTX 960!


----------

