Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

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andrelip
Posts: 160
Joined: 21 Mar 2014, 17:50

Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by andrelip » 28 Jan 2022, 05:38

Direct answer: I made the games (CPU BOUND / CSGO ) butter smooth by UNDERCLOCKING the GPU and locking the clock in the lowest power state in the curve inside Afterburn.

Can you help me understand why?

Backstory:
I have an i7 9700k OC to 5.2 and a Strix RTX 3080.
I used to fix the clock at the maximum(OC'ed) in both CPU and GPU, disable any power savings options (that I know) in the Bios and Windows.
Put the high-performance plan (or Ultimate / Bitsum).
In Afterburn, my clock lines are always flat in the graph. No VRM issues, no Thermal Throttling, nothing.
Still, the feeling of the mouse was always inconstant.

Some of my theories:
1) For games like CSGO and Valorant, the GPU usage is very very low with a high clock and the render queue is almost zero, especially if it's fixed. The GPU could be doing some hidden power-saving features that are not just clock. Decreasing the clock will make GPU usage higher (30%+) and could avoid triggering this feature.

2) The GPU is rendering so fast that it empty the queue it returns the function faster and the CPU process is considered idle.

3) The clock graphs in afterburn are not accurate and those flat lines using a higher clock are not valid. So lowering the clock makes it more stable.

4) I usually don't like the EMI or Power issue theory. But in that context, it could be the GPU using less power, generating a lower magnetic field, stressing less the current, and so on.

Disclaimer: Monitor your GPU usage, it shouldn't be too high.
Disclaimer 2: Any input lag should pass to CPU and GPU, so the total input lag always includes CPU time + GPU time. The logic implies that it should increase the input lag, but I feel the opposite.

kriegsnake
Posts: 49
Joined: 06 Jan 2022, 17:50

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by kriegsnake » 28 Jan 2022, 09:15

Hey, so u suggest to run afterburner , go to the core clock settings , downvolt to the minimum state where the system doesn’t crash and put the graph constant ?

deama
Posts: 368
Joined: 07 Aug 2019, 12:00

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by deama » 28 Jan 2022, 12:38

I think number 4 is probably most likely.
I had a similar issue, but in my case instead of making the game smoother, it prevent it from constantly crashing.

andrelip
Posts: 160
Joined: 21 Mar 2014, 17:50

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by andrelip » 28 Jan 2022, 13:08

kriegsnake wrote:
28 Jan 2022, 09:15
Hey, so u suggest to run afterburner , go to the core clock settings , downvolt to the minimum state where the system doesn’t crash and put the graph constant ?
Go to the curve in Afterburn, select the lowest clock point, and CTRL+L to lock it in this state.

Check the GPU Utilization while gaming and try to target about 40~70%.
If not in that range, adjust:

- GPU Usage is under 40, then underclock it to increase the load.
- Higher than 70%, lock a higher clock point.

If my theory is right, it should not be low enough to trigger some power-saving features and not too high to queue some frames.

MegaMelmek
Posts: 235
Joined: 21 Jan 2021, 12:54

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by MegaMelmek » 28 Jan 2022, 14:33

4 is right- same with me
downclock cpu gpu make cs go gameplay smooth but is only time limited tweek
These working tweeks are all power connected and thats why i belive there is something wrong with electricity

andrelip
Posts: 160
Joined: 21 Mar 2014, 17:50

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by andrelip » 28 Jan 2022, 15:50

Honestly, I don’t believe this is power-related unless you have a thermal, power, or vrm issue throttling your system. I listed the 4 just in case.

I still believe this is a hidden power saving feature from GPU (my cpu is at 5.2 working in C0/C1). I will learn more about the architecture and bios mod to know if we have more control over it like AMD have with the features table in MorePowerTool.

Plznoinputlag
Posts: 75
Joined: 03 Nov 2021, 11:13

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by Plznoinputlag » 28 Jan 2022, 16:46

andrelip wrote:
28 Jan 2022, 05:38
Direct answer: I made the games (CPU BOUND / CSGO ) butter smooth by UNDERCLOCKING the GPU and locking the clock in the lowest power state in the curve inside Afterburn.

Can you help me understand why?

Backstory:
I have an i7 9700k OC to 5.2 and a Strix RTX 3080.
I used to fix the clock at the maximum(OC'ed) in both CPU and GPU, disable any power savings options (that I know) in the Bios and Windows.
Put the high-performance plan (or Ultimate / Bitsum).
In Afterburn, my clock lines are always flat in the graph. No VRM issues, no Thermal Throttling, nothing.
Still, the feeling of the mouse was always inconstant.

Some of my theories:
1) For games like CSGO and Valorant, the GPU usage is very very low with a high clock and the render queue is almost zero, especially if it's fixed. The GPU could be doing some hidden power-saving features that are not just clock. Decreasing the clock will make GPU usage higher (30%+) and could avoid triggering this feature.

2) The GPU is rendering so fast that it empty the queue it returns the function faster and the CPU process is considered idle.

3) The clock graphs in afterburn are not accurate and those flat lines using a higher clock are not valid. So lowering the clock makes it more stable.

4) I usually don't like the EMI or Power issue theory. But in that context, it could be the GPU using less power, generating a lower magnetic field, stressing less the current, and so on.

Disclaimer: Monitor your GPU usage, it shouldn't be too high.
Disclaimer 2: Any input lag should pass to CPU and GPU, so the total input lag always includes CPU time + GPU time. The logic implies that it should increase the input lag, but I feel the opposite.
stop with this all bullshit! why u need to downgrade the clock mhz to play games normally? its makes u feel better because when u downgrade the performance of your gpu/cpu its makes the feeling more smooth or whatever!! why any player without electricity problem just playing all the setting on default and playing normal? i know one guy with 3800 elo on faceit that didnt even disable vsync and just playing after playing after instaling nvidia drivers(optimal power saving option) in nvidia control panel, so all this bulllshit your talking about its just placebo and make things better but never fix the hitreg we are talking about

andrelip
Posts: 160
Joined: 21 Mar 2014, 17:50

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by andrelip » 28 Jan 2022, 21:25

Plznoinputlag wrote:
28 Jan 2022, 16:46

stop with this all bullshit! why u need to downgrade the clock mhz to play games normally? its makes u feel better because when u downgrade the performance of your gpu/cpu its makes the feeling more smooth or whatever!! why any player without electricity problem just playing all the setting on default and playing normal? i know one guy with 3800 elo on faceit that didnt even disable vsync and just playing after playing after instaling nvidia drivers(optimal power saving option) in nvidia control panel, so all this bulllshit your talking about its just placebo and make things better but never fix the hitreg we are talking about
Putting “optimal” reduces the clock when idle.

Being at a high elo don’t tell much. You can have 60hz players at a very high elo. Another example was Fer and Fnx (from SK) that won 2 majors playing with 125 pooling rate in the mouse. Does that means that a higher frequency or mouse frequency doesn’t matter to performance? Not at all, we have many tests and even academic studies that support this.

By the way, since I discovered it I have 9 victories in a row playing Faceit at level 5~7 with 1.46 average k/d. This streak and consistency is clearly an outlier range in the Graph.
https://www.faceit.com/en/players/andrelip

This account is new as I just moved to Portugal and I have only about 100 games.

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RealNC
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Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by RealNC » 29 Jan 2022, 09:50

Plznoinputlag wrote:
28 Jan 2022, 16:46
all this bulllshit your talking about
Please don't insult others just because you think they're wrong. Thanks.
SteamGitHubStack Overflow
The views and opinions expressed in my posts are my own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Blur Busters.

ukinar
Posts: 2
Joined: 05 Feb 2022, 21:41

Re: Made my games and Windows smooth. But the solution is counter intuitive.

Post by ukinar » 05 Feb 2022, 21:44

I did what you said and I can admit that fixed all of my Apex Legends problems! before this I tried thousands of tweaks and nothing helped me since I discovered your post. Seriously, if someone has Apex Issues like: choppy gameplay, bad hitregs or mouse stutter/weird feelings IT HELPS!

Im grateful mate, just registered to say thank you

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