GX640 automatic downclocking/undervolting using CCC profiles

Hello everybody,

I feel that there is a need for some of you folks who have GX640 (and all the others) and want a cooler/quieter notebook while keeping the power of GPU when gaming.

In this guide I will show how to easily make the GPU to downclock to low speeds when idle and rev up while gaming. The structure of the guide will be following:
Part I. Short step by step guide;
Part II. More thorough explanation of the steps;

You will need:
a. Orbmu2k GPU observer gadget from HERE .
b. Newest Catalyst drivers from AMD webpage. This guide is prepared using Catalyst 10.11.
Update Tested with Catalyst 11.2. The solution still works, while workaround for that is a little different. Described in the updated section of the guide.
d. Some good iniciative


Part I. Short guide for those who don't like long guides.

1. Install GPU observer gadget (to see the progress) and update drivers.
2. Go to Catalyst Control Center (CCC), open up advanced view, Disable PowerPlay.

Fig.1. PowerPlay Menu

3. Go to Overdrive tab, Unlock it and Enable.

Fig.2. Overdrive Menu

4. Select Options>Profiles>Profiles Manager...

Fig.3. Profile Manager selection menu

5. Write down the name of a profile, in the lower box, select only ATI Overdrive. Click Save and then Close

Fig.4. Profile Manager

6. In Control Panel, select Folder Options to Show hidden files, folders and drives

Fig.5. Folder Options

7. Go to C:\Users\"YOUR NAME"\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles. You'll see an .XML file with your profile name.

Fig.6. Profile Adress

8. Open up the file with Notepad (or other text editor). There you'll see something like this:

Code:

        <Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="62500" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="62500" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="62500" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="100000" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="100000" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="100000" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="1050" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="1050" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="1050" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="0" />
        </Feature>

9. Change it to your needs or something, that looks like this:

Code:

        <Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="[COLOR="Blue"]10000[/COLOR]" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="[COLOR="Green"]40000[/COLOR]" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="[COLOR="Red"]62500[/COLOR]" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="[COLOR="Blue"]15000[/COLOR]" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="[COLOR="Green"]40000[/COLOR]" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="[COLOR="Red"]100000[/COLOR]" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="[COLOR="Blue"]900[/COLOR]" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="1050" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="1050" />
        </Feature>
        <Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_0">
          <Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
          <Property name="Want_2" value="0" />
        </Feature>

Save the file.

Blue values represent low 2D/idle clocks;
Green values are some middle values and from my experience they are best when set on 400/400, because in this way we avoid screen flickering;
Red values are "Fullspeed" clocks. If you want some more juice when gaming, you can raise these up.
Voltage has 2 modes: 900 (0,9V) and 1050 (1,05V) Those values come from vBIOS.

10. Right click the CCC icon in your taskbar, select Activate Profile > "YOUR PROFILE"

Fig.7. Profile Activation


Congratulations, all done! You can check the frequencies/voltages and temperature in real time using GPU observer gadget.

Part II. Explanation

As you all know, Mobility Radeon HD5850 is quite powerful and power hungry card. Yet there is no need to keep it runing at full speed all the time. To conserve power/heat, reduce temperature of video card, keep whole notebook much quieter, downclock is recommended. There are few ways to achieve this:
1. Edit vBIOS with RBE, reflash custom vBIOS back to the card. But that's too risky for most of the users and highly prone to brick your card if done not careful enough.
2. Use AMD GPU clock tool and manually change the clocks every time you want a cool/silent notebook/gaming power. While it's not hard to do that, but most people prefer it better, when everything is smooth and automatic.
3. PowerPlay. This is ATI's solution to the problem. Yet, 300/300 is some weak downclocking and somehow it does not go to full speed when gaming. Hence, you still need to set the clocks manually.

This solution enables low clocks when GPU is idling and full speed (or even overclock) when you go into 3D application (game). The switching is automatic and seamless, completely safe for video card and useful for user. No performance is lost in games.

"Low" clocks are full enough for desktop tasks. When GPU needs more juice, it just jumps to full speed. Sometimes even when watching movies/scrolling the internet pages - no problems for user whatsoever.
For Flash videos, Adobe forces GPU to change the clocks into 500/1000 and nothing can be done to change this without editing the vBIOS but I see no problem with that. No problems when playing videos on Youtube etc. After you close the window/tab which has flash content, clocks go back to "Low".

Temperature difference
Default clocks idling:

Fig. 8. High Clocks Temperature
Downclocked idling:

Fig.9. Low Clocks Temperature

9 degrees C difference when idling. Room temperature...hmmm...I don't know, maybe 23-24C (don't have thermometer here). Not using any Notebook coolers, laptop is sitting on a wooden table. No thermal paste mods, no nothing - completely stock notebook.

One more mention: when temperature drops below 53C the fan noise decreases noticeably making notebook barely audible.

UPDATE (February 20, 2011):

OK so after updating my drivers to 11.2. Did an "overwrite" install (without uninstalling previous version). So far so good. All my profiles (now presets) remained unaltered.

However, when creating new profile (preset) I noticed that it lacks Overdrive settings.

To help with that, I'll provide you win an example profile .xml file contents, that is working for me.

Code:

<Profile>
<Caste name="Graphics">
<Groups>
<Group name="Overdrive5">
<Feature name="TimeUnlocked" />
<Feature name="OverclockEnabled">
<Property name="OverclockEnabledProperty" value="True" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="AutoTuneSupport" />
<Feature name="CoreClockTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="10000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="30000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="62500" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryClockTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="15000" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="40000" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="100000" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="CoreVoltageTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="900" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="1050" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="1050" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="MemoryVoltageTarget_0">
<Property name="Want_0" value="0" />
<Property name="Want_1" value="0" />
<Property name="Want_2" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedProtocol_0">
<Property name="FanSpeedProtocolProperty" value="Percent" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedAlgorithm_0">
<Property name="FanSpeedAlgorithm" value="Automatic" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedRPMTarget_0">
<Property name="Want" value="0" />
</Feature>
<Feature name="FanSpeedPercentTarget_0">
<Property name="Want" value="50" />
</Feature>
</Group>
</Groups>
<Adapter name="PCI_VEN_1002&amp;DEV_68A1&amp;SUBSYS_10611462&amp;REV_00_4&amp;2609CB15&amp;0&amp;0008A">
<Aspect name="Overdrive5" />
</Adapter>
</Caste>
</Profile>

Just create new profile (preset), go to C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles, open the file, delete contents and paste this into the .xml file. Save it, then right click the CCC icon in system tray, select Invoke Preset > YourProfileName. Ant that's it.

Got a user reply that this method works. The principle of setting the frequencies remains the same - just change values in profile (preset) file.

Thank you for your attention, I hope this will be useful. Any questions/comments are welcome of course.

Edit: I uploaded all the screenshots in a separate file and attached it to this post in case they'll be removed from imageshack in some time.

 

Thanks Molius for your step by step guide on how to set Radeon HD5850 of GX640 in automatic downclocking/undervolting using CCC profiles..

I already tried it and it works for me.. Im idling at 100MHz/150MHz @0.90V and max at 625MHz/1000MHz @1.05V automatically.. Im so impress to the result ive got.. +1 rep for you buddy!

Thanks Again!

 

Very helpful! Thanks!

It is very easy to see that this works. The simplest way is to browse the net in IE9 or Firefox4 beta or Chrome. All these browsers have 3d rendering enabled, and you will see change in clocks on the monitor widget.

Moral of the story, DO NOT enable browser 3D rendering.

 

Nice guide Molius, what vbios are you on right now?

 

Check this out son...36 C

Important Note! I have about 5 BGA RAM-Sinks on the GPU plate! This is not "stock" anymore. I will be adding more copper to the CPU side as well.

 

The same "newer" 35701 or so, don't remember accurately now as I'm at work currently.

 

nice, for some weird reson i cant run @ 100/150 0,9v without getting screen flickers, got newest bios, vbios and ec:/ Got to run 300/400 for now then, 200/300 crashed so ill skip that

edit* seems i can run 100/150 now all of a sudden. i think its just an issue with a second monitor.

 

I'm still on the old vbios and am curious to see if an automatic underclock of that nature would force me to boot to recovery. Not curious enough to try it for myself though and I don't really need to upgrade the vbios yet as I've just learned to never use sleep.

 

You see, those speeds are applied when CCC fully loads (this means, only in windows). I don't see what could go wrong. And if anything, you should be able to load into safe mode and remove the profile or change frequencies to "stable" values.
This tweak is applied at 'higher' software level than powerplay and if you get stable Low speeds, they won't cause black screen issue.

Using old vBIOS, I managed to get 50/75 with AMD GPU Clock tool in the past.

I could even use hibernate/sleep/close lid. This is all when PowerPlay is disabled.

 

nice turtorial. currently running @ 50/80 @ 0,85v without any issues on the new bios/vbios/ec. wil try to push it down further (50/75 @ 0.85v was too low)
750/1000 @ 1.0v is also stable and gives good temp results for me @ high clocks

now its time to see how much i can undervolt 300/400 (mid setting) or if it is a better value to use altogether

 

hmm, something weird is happening after i have been gaming for a while. it has happened several times now. after some gaming the clocks gets stuck on 500/1000 no matter what. i even tried to run furmark to bump it up, but it won't move from 500/1000. anyone else have this problem, or know the cause?

 

500/1000 is set automatically whe an internet explorer/opera/firefox/chrome window is open and displaying flash content (youtube video, some streaming etc. etc.)

Just close your browser and it will go down to low speeds.

 

aah, good to know its not my pc acting up weird. but is there a fix with the limitation on this? if i run chrome in the background and start a game it seems to be sticking to 500/1000 and not to be bumping up to 750/1000 as i want it to. not even furmark extreme burning rise it to more:/

 

we should talk to Adobe about this and their implementation of hardware acceleration in flash videos.

 

Did this work for everyone who tried it? It's not appearing to work for me and I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong/what is different. Same specs, triple-checked the process... ???

EDIT: It won't let me underclock below 625/1000 -- the sliders don't go any lower. Is this the problem? And how do I change the default values?

 

Works like a charm for me. The whole point of this exercise is to relieve the user of slider duties.

For Overclocking, I use AMD GPU Clock Tool--> AMD GPU Clock Tool v0.9.26.0 For HD 5870 download from Guru3D.com

 

It's the strangest thing. It's like it's still locked, or rather like the profiles function isn't working properly. Everything's fully updated on a GX640. Can't figure out why it won't work. Anyone have any ideas?

EDIT: Okay, now it changes to 300/1000 but doesn't move from there. It's like the clocks are stuck, but with random numbers. I rebooted, tried resetting, etc., but no change.

EDIT2: I'm wondering whether this is a Catalyst 10.12 problem.

 

Erm...I tried to make it as simple as possible. You don't have to play with any sliders anywhere, you enter the frequency/voltage values straight into .xml files (open with any text editor).

At first, just try to do everything step by step as shown in screens/description and then if it works OK you can have some fun with the possible values.

Good luck.

 

Yes, it's extremely simple, which is why I can't figure why it's not working. I'm not trying to play with the sliders, I'm simply indicating that the overdrive doesn't let me underclock even if I want to do it manually.

If I set up everything as indicated in this thread, nothing happens. If I set a profile as indicated in this thread, with the modified .XML, and turn powerplay back ON (wouldn't want to do this normally, obviously), the clocks go to 300/1000 and stick there. I have to reset to default (a few times) in order to set everything back to the stock 625/1000.

Has anyone tried this method with Catalyst 10.12 and gotten it to work? I'm wondering whether I should simply roll back the driver to 10.11 (or 10.10).

Thanks to all for your help/advice/know-how. (+rep)

 

Delete your profile file and start over. Perhaps that would fix it.

 

Yeah, tried that several times. It must be the new driver. Unless anyone out there can confirm that this works for them with 10.12?

EDIT: Sure enough, it's the driver. Everything works great on 10.11. Man, I thought I was going crazy. Way to go, AMD.

 

this method is working perfectly fine for me and im using 10.12

thanks a lot OP! I really needed this because I've had to send this laptop back 2 times already, both times because of overheating issues. This laptop truly is a nightmare. This laptop spent more time in the shop than in my hands.

 

Try a couple of cooling mods and you will definitely see the difference. This is a fairly decent laptop for the price. I certainly don't feel cheated.

 

Bizarre. Glad it works for you with 10.12. I wonder what the conflict was on my system. Rolling back to 10.11 solved whatever problem there was. And sorry you're having so much trouble with your GX640. I've been babying mine and so far haven't had any unfixable problems. I hope it will last me a couple of years, but have doubts given what I've been reading about MSI warranty support...

Yes, thanks again to the original OP. This method keeps my laptop 10 degrees C cooler during normal use, which is great.

 

This seems to work great when plugged in, but when on battery this does not seem to work. No matter how many times I try to activate my custom profile, the gpu does no changes its clocks. Also, the "overdrive" tab in CCC seems to be locked as everything is grayed out. However, pressing the unlock button does nothing as it says that overdrive was already unlocked....maybe I should switch to 10.11?

 

It will not work without AC power. When you pull the plug, the GPU clocks freeze to either its lowest value or the next to lowest one.

 

Works perfectly for me on 10.11 in both AC power and battery mode. Launching the game in battery pulls clocks to high values (700/1000 for me)

 

Lot of inconsistency going around. Luck of the draw?

 

Seems to be working just fine for me on battery. Still with 10.11.

 

I copied the values of the OP and everything seem to work fine..but on connecting my hdtv using an hdmi, i get screen flickering especially when watching movies. How do i fix this?

 

So is this pretty much like having an integrated GPU to save power?

 

For now, I also experienced this issue when connected to TV through HDMI. I guess it has something to do with "middle" values. Unfortunately, I have no TV at my current place of living to check it out and provide more feedback and possible solution.
On the other hand, when you connect to HDTV, you look at TV, not your PC monitor, so you can just close the notebook and forget about that

 

Something like that. This is purely to lower the temps and thus save power - prolong life on battery, keep the fan noise down. I'm afraid it's not as effective as having integrated GPU (my work notebook dell E5510 with integrated GPU, same i5 stays up to 5 hours on a 6 cell battery.). However, my MSI gaming notebook stays only 2,5 to 3 hours max with 9 cells.

Yet, when comparing with "stock" clocks it's really helping to keep notebook cooler and more quiet.

 

I get working GPU temps that hover around 45 C when I'm word processing in a warm room (as opposed to 55 C with stock settings) and 3+ hours battery life (4 when I turn off wifi). No problems. I'm extremely happy.

One thing I noticed, though, was that when plugging in to project on an LCD projector, the clocks stuck at stock numbers even after I unplugged the projector. The solution was simply to reselect my CCC profile. Using an external monitor must override the CCC profile?

 

Molius, the new ATI drivers have a new layout.. I cant get to the "Profiles Manager". I am able to use preset but the xml file has different codes in it

 

Thnx for the notice, I'll look into it and try it out with new drivers.

 

OK so after updating my drivers to 11.2. Did an "overwrite" install (without uninstalling previous version). So far so good. All my profiles (now presets) remained unaltered.

However, when creating new profile (preset) I noticed that it lacks Overdrive settings.

To help with that, I'll provide you win an example profile .xml file contents, that is working for me.

Just create new profile (preset), go to C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\ATI\ACE\Profiles, open the file, delete contents and paste this into the .xml file. Save it, then right click the CCC icon in system tray, select "Invoke Profile > YourProfileName". Ant that's it.

Update me if it works.

 

Thanks will try this now

update: Watching my temps drop as i type thanks for the help!

 

Thanks for feedback,

Updated first post with this *workaround*

 

Its not working for me. The clocks don't change when I invoke the preset.
Any clue why?

I'm on 11.2 powerplay off and overdrive on

 

un plug your power source then plug it back in (or vice versa)... that worked for me

 

Still nothing.. Ive tried everything. The clocks never change.
Just stuck at 625/1000.

Unless i turn on powerplay then core goes down to 405

 

Sounds like the problem I had. I thought the fix was to roll back drivers, but since people have subsequently gotten it to work on later versions, perhaps the fix is simply to uninstall the driver completely (and use driver sweeper in safe mode), then reinstall clean.

 

It's sad I can't reproduce your situation. I've configured my profiles on earlier driver version (10.8 or so...) yet after updating the drivers (overwriting 11.2 on top) I still have my GPU perfectly switching between Low/Med/High clocks. I've uploaded my [profileName].xml file contents to first post and bimmerboii confirmed it's working.
Agree, it was confusint at start for me too (I even bricked my GPU once trying to modify vBios!!!), but in the end now I have a quiet and cool system which handles all the games I throw at it and I've almost forgotten that GPU is switching clocks automatically - it just seems natural...

 

doesnt work for me too. even rolling back to old drivers.

 

Here's what I did.

1) Uninstall ATI Catalyst Install Manager from the "Programs > Uninstall a program" under the Control Panel.
2) Manually deleted left over ATI folders
3) Reboot
4) Download and install latest ATI drivers from the official website.
5) Reboot
6) Open CCC
7) Disable power play and activate overdrive
8) Create a profile as per Molius's instructions
9) Copy everything from Molius's post on page 4 & paste in the profile
10) Activate the profile

Note: Sometimes I have to plug/unplug my power cord for this to work. I do not know the connection by doing this but it's the only way I know to make it work on my laptop

 

tried many times but still doesnt work =(

 

i bought my GX640 two weeks ago and had to roll back to the older BIOS cause i had br36533.006 on ist and was stuck with 625/1000 @ 0.9 V and no onderclock possible. I flashed the BR35701.031 and everythings runs cool and quiet at 100/150 , 300/400 and above. So maybe you have the same problem with yout rig.

regards

 

Ahhh, so there's a new Vbios? this may be the answer. Did you noticed any other differences other than inability to properly downclock?

 

So I attempted to do this on my newly refurb'ed GX640. Shortly after, I lost all video signal. I already processed the RMA for it, but if anyone has any bright ideas as to the cause before I send it out, then that would save me a great deal of time and anguish.