How to underclock locked Nvidia card.

[tweeky]

Hi guys,

I just had to buy an old XFX GeForce 9800 GTX + card because my 9600 GT died. I have this card installed in a HTPC machine
to watch HD Sat and TDT TV. The old 9600 GT worked perfectly to run 2 HD channels at the same time plus an instance
of an recorded HD channel with PotPlayer. The new card works fine too for these tasks. I don´t play games at all with
this machine, so I need the card just to decode HD video.

The thing is that this XFX GeForce 9800 GTX + card seems to consume much power than the 9600 GT does, and I want
to reduce this energy consumption as much as possible. I´ve tried MSI Afterburner, but the voltages seem to be
locked on this card. Anyway, I´ve lowered the GPU Clock and Memory MHZ, but I´m not sure if this will help much
with saving energy... How can I unlock the voltages? Also, once done, how do I lower them safely?

Thanks in advance!


Cheers.

 

[droopyRO]

I don't know if it makes a difference, do you have a Watt-meter or something to monitor your power consumption ?

 

[Caring1]

I have to ask, why get another crap old card when a GT 710 can be found cheap, and use a lot less power.

 

[qubit]

I have to ask, why get another crap old card when a GT 710 can be found cheap, and use a lot less power.

That, or a GT 1030 with the latest tech for not a lot of money. Check out my comparison thread in my siggy. This thing has the same framerate performance as a GTX 285, which is much better than the 9800+ and consumes way less power. It's also got HDMI, there are fanless versions of it and it's great for HTPC.

Cut your losses bud and get one of these.

 

[tweeky]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply.

I bought this 9800 GTX+ for just 15 Euros; I didn´t want to spend much, and didn´t want to buy
a cheap new 4K capable card because I´m buying a new PC for that in a year or two when
4K TV channels are available; I think it´s too soon for it yet... So i wanted to buy a cheap
replacement for HD stuff.

So, how can I check the power consumption on this card? GPU-Z doesn´t show it nor do
MSI Afterburner and some other similar apps...

I just checked the card´s BIOS with NiBiTor and saw that in 2D mode, it reports a 1.05V
voltage, and the GPU Clock is set at 300, Shader at 600, and Mem at 100. So is this
positive? I saw an old review of this card at Tom´s Hardware where the power
consumption was rated very high for just displaying the desktop... That got me
worried because this PC is on many hours everyday to just watch TV at home.

Anyway, I still want something, a program to check its energy consumption. Perhaps it
doesn´t really make much difference against the 9600 GT card I had before... hopefully.

Thanks.

Regards.

Here you have screen shots of the card´s BIOS:

 

[qubit]

Ah well, for 15 euros, you can't go wrong as it's just a plaything and it doesn't stop you buying a better card later if you want to.

You're right to be concerned about high power consumption, since 24/7 operation can add up significantly over time. Sorry I can't help with figures as there are too many unknown variables.

Note that while it's possible to underclock a card and still have it operate properly, it probably won't make a huge difference to its power consumption since there's a certain floor to this, set by the GPU and power circuitry design. My recommendation remains to get a fanless GT 1030 if you can. Lovely little cards that are perfect for what you want.

 

[tweeky]

Ah well, for 15 euros, you can't go wrong as it's just a plaything and it doesn't stop you buying a better card later if you want to.

You're right to be concerned about high power consumption, since 24/7 operation can add up significantly over time. Sorry I can't help with figures as there are too many unknown variables.

Note that while it's possible to underclock a card and still have it operate properly, it probably won't make a huge difference to its power consumption since there's a certain floor to this, set by the GPU and power circuitry design. My recommendation remains to get a fanless GT 1030 if you can. Lovely little cards that are perfect for what you want.

I still want to try to undervolt this card. If I´d buy that card you recommend me, I´m sure I´d regret it because
later on when I buy a new HTPC, there should be on sale a new more powerful card for the same price.

And, out of curiosity, since you like much that fanless GT 1030 of yours, could you please tell me if it can decode
two 4K videos simultaneously and, what percentage of video engine load it uses on GPU-Z, and if it uses any
CPU at all?

I know some of these new gen cards available nowadays can decode 4K, but I don´t know how powerful they
really are...

You can test this with any 4K video with a good bitrate off the net, played back with 2 instances of PotPlayer or
any other player of your choice.

Thanks, mate!

 

[AltCapwn]

@tweeky

VLC 3.X uses very little CPU/GPU power to play 4K video. You should try.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/301568-33-undervolt-9800gtx
This thread already covers your issue and it seems like it's impossible except if you customise and flash the BIOS which I don't recommend.

You tried MSI Afterburner but have you tried RivaTuner? It's old school but might be more compatible with your GTX 9800.
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163

This article gives clues on how to lower power consumption and it seems like underclocking is enough to undervolt the GPU. Try underclocking it until you find the line between too underclocked and still useful.
https://www.techradar.com/news/comp...reducing-your-pc-s-power-consumption-661978/2

Good luck mate.

 

[tweeky]

@tweeky

VLC 3.X uses very little CPU/GPU power to play 4K video. You should try.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/301568-33-undervolt-9800gtx
This thread already covers your issue and it seems like it's impossible except if you customise and flash the BIOS which I don't recommend.

You tried MSI Afterburner but have you tried RivaTuner? It's old school but might be more compatible with your GTX 9800.
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=163

This article gives clues on how to lower power consumption and it seems like underclocking is enough to undervolt the GPU. Try underclocking it until you find the line between too underclocked and still useful.
https://www.techradar.com/news/comp...reducing-your-pc-s-power-consumption-661978/2

Good luck mate.

Thanks for your input.

Funny enough, I already read those links you passed me, hehe... Perhaps I´ll have to go the BIOS route.

Yes, I also tried RivaTuner, but it seems not to have a voltage editor.

Regarding playing back 4K videos, I wanted to test this GT 1030 card, two clips at the same time just
to see how powerful that card can be.

Cheers.

 

[qubit]

I still want to try to undervolt this card. If I´d buy that card you recommend me, I´m sure I´d regret it because
later on when I buy a new HTPC, there should be on sale a new more powerful card for the same price.

And, out of curiosity, since you like much that fanless GT 1030 of yours, could you please tell me if it can decode
two 4K videos simultaneously and, what percentage of video engine load it uses on GPU-Z, and if it uses any
CPU at all?

I know some of these new gen cards available nowadays can decode 4K, but I don´t know how powerful they
really are...

You can test this with any 4K video with a good bitrate off the net, played back with 2 instances of PotPlayer or
any other player of your choice.

Thanks, mate!

I'm sorry, but I'm not in a position to test this out at the moment. The one thing I can say is that it will definitely use some CPU and even with DMA, which is likely, there's still some impact. I'd hazard that two 4K streams would be too much for it and I'm not even sure it could handle one. It does display a 4K desktop just fine though and is surprisingly responsive. I used 4K DSR on my 1080p monitor at 144Hz.

Good luck with your underclock, will be nice to know how much power you can save.

 

[tweeky]

I thought this new cards would be powerful enough to handle 2 4K streams simultaneously. Oh well... perhaps
more powerful cards already available can do it, but they must be very expensive. Then the best option for me
is to wait a little before buying a new card/PC.