GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.8-rc4

This is a release candidate for testing. The app does not offer it as an update. It replaces 0.4.8-rc3: that one had a bug that kept its main change from working.

Fixed

• A run now sees the card's own temperature target. 0.4.8-rc3 made the Undervolt profile follow the temperature from which a card slows itself down, so that the fans of a card that runs hot no longer go to full speed. gao --status read that target, but a run did not: every run logged the card reports no temperature target of its own and used the profile's fixed 75 °C, as before. A run with rc3 therefore did not test what rc3 was for. With rc4 the measurement at stock logs, for example, the card's own temperature target: 84 C (its default).

Changed

• Stopping a run puts your saved tune back. Before, a stopped run left the card at stock. When the app ran in the notification area as well, it took that for a driver reset, applied the tune again and counted it as one of the four resets an hour after which it calls a tune unstable. Now a run checks before it starts whether your saved tune is on the card, and if you stop it, it puts that tune back itself. A card that was at stock, or had settings of another program, goes to stock as before. The same holds for gao --optimize, --undervolt and --retest stopped with Ctrl+C.
• The result page after a stop says which of the two happened, and the texts by the Optimize GPU and Abort buttons say it too.

What was checked on a card

On the reference RTX 4070, driver 617.42: a run stopped during the measurement at stock and one stopped during the search both put the saved tune back, and the app in the notification area did not step in. The measurement at stock logs the card's temperature target. A whole All in one run passed with rc3 the same day; the changes since touch only the temperature target and stopping.

Still not seen on a card that runs hot. That is what this release candidate is for: please run Undervolt once more, now with rc4.

Before a run

1. Close MSI Afterburner completely, also its icon in the notification area, and RivaTuner if you have it. If Afterburner has set a temp limit or a power limit, click its Reset first: those stay on the card after it is closed.
2. NVIDIA app, System, Performance: switch Automatic Tuning off.
3. Keep the NVIDIA overlay (Alt+Z) closed during the run.
4. Close games, and also what does not look heavy: code editors, browsers, videos, chat programs. The app tells you which ones it sees.

Afterwards, please send C:\ProgramData\GpuAutoOptimizer\run.log and a picture of the last screen, whatever happens.

Known

• Only the Undervolt profile follows the card's own limit. Best of my GPU and Max performance still use their fixed limits, and on a card that runs hot they will most likely end with "the result is slower than stock".
• The measurement at stock still stops at 85 °C, also on a card that is built to run warmer.
• Nothing measures yet how loud a result is.
• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start. On VirusTotal one engine of 71 (SecureAge) flagged rc3; that is reported as a false positive. If your antivirus program reports something, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42.

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.8-rc3

This is a release candidate for testing. The app does not offer it as an update. It is for one thing: the Undervolt profile on a graphics card that runs hot, where the first undervolt that worked made the card cooler and louder instead of cooler and quieter.

Changed

• Undervolt on a card that runs hot no longer puts the fans at full speed. A card that reaches more than the profile's 75 °C by itself at stock was already allowed that temperature during the search, but the fans still went to 100 % from 75 °C on. On the tester's RTX 3080 Ti that meant 74 °C with the fans at 93 %, where the card had run 86 °C at 66 % before. The fan curve now moves up with the limit the card has: the fans start and idle as before, and reach 100 % only at that limit.
• That limit is the card's own. Every NVIDIA card has a temperature from which it slows itself down instead of running its fans faster. The app reads it and uses it as the highest temperature a run aims for. If you set a lower one yourself with another tool (MSI Afterburner calls it the temp limit), that one is respected.
• The Fan page shows the red line at that limit, offers its presets moved up with it, and says why.

New in the log

A run begins by measuring the card at stock. That part of run.log now also has:

• the card's own temperature target, and whether it is the card's default. A tool like MSI Afterburner leaves its temp limit on the card when it is closed; the measurement is then not one of the card at stock, and the log says so;
• a line every ten seconds with the clock, the temperature, the power and the fan speed.

gao --status shows the temperature target as well.

What was checked on a card, and what was not

On the reference RTX 4070 the temperature target reads 84 °C, which is its default, and nothing else changes: that card reaches 67 °C at stock, below every profile's limit.

Nothing of this has run on a card that runs hot. That is what this release candidate is for. Not known yet: how warm and how loud such a card ends up with the moved curve, and whether an undervolt found at one temperature holds at the higher one it then runs at. The new log lines have not been seen in a real run either.

Before a run

1. Close MSI Afterburner completely, also its icon in the notification area, and RivaTuner if you have it. If Afterburner has set a temp limit or a power limit, click its Reset first: those stay on the card after it is closed.
2. NVIDIA app, System, Performance: switch Automatic Tuning off.
3. Keep the NVIDIA overlay (Alt+Z) closed during the run.
4. Close games, and also what does not look heavy: code editors, browsers, videos, chat programs. The app tells you which ones it sees.

Afterwards, please send C:\ProgramData\GpuAutoOptimizer\run.log and a picture of the last screen, whatever happens.

Known

• Only the Undervolt profile follows the card's own limit. Best of my GPU and Max performance still use their fixed limits, and on a card that runs hot they will most likely end with "the result is slower than stock".
• The measurement at stock still stops at 85 °C, also on a card that is built to run warmer.
• Nothing measures yet how loud a result is.
• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start, and a detection by an antivirus program cannot be ruled out; if you see one, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42.

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.8-rc2

Full Changelog: v0.4.8-rc1...v0.4.8-rc2

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.8-rc1

Full Changelog: v0.4.7...v0.4.8-rc1

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.7

This is a pre-release for testing. The app does not offer it as an update. It follows a day of card tests in which the numbers would not repeat, and the finding of why: another program was using the graphics card the whole time.

New

• A run looks at what else uses the card first, and asks. A run measures the card under full load, and every other program on the card takes from what it measures. An editor that only stood open, using 2 % of the card while idle, cost 8 % of the score on the reference card for a whole day; a video playing in a browser made readings jump by 3 to 8 %. Before a run the app now names every program that uses the card and asks: Check again, Go on anyway or Cancel. It closes nothing for you. What it found is written to the run's log, and after an optimize run it looks once more: if a program started or stopped under the run, the result says that its comparison with stock is not to be trusted.
• The memory search has two passes, and remembers where a card's memory gave out. It goes up until a step fails or has clearly lost bandwidth, then measures again from 200 MHz below the highest step that passed and keeps the lowest offset within 1 % of the best. A single reading that is off no longer ends the search. The offset where the memory gave out is remembered for that card and driver, so a later run stays below it without going there again.
• The run screen says which step the run is at, with a bar and the time left for a step that lasts. The countdown stands at the right edge and the bar fills evenly.
• A demo mode for looking at the window: GpuAutoOptimizer.exe --demo plays a run in about a minute, with made-up numbers, without a graphics card being touched and without administrator rights. --demo=run skips the question about other programs.
• gao --busy shows the programs a run would find on the card, and changes nothing.

Fixed

• The memory offset differed wildly from run to run on a card whose bandwidth rises until its memory fails: +650, +1600, +550 and +100 MHz on one day on the reference card. Where the search ended was chance, and the chance came from the other program on the card. The two changes above are the answer: the app looks for such programs, and the search no longer lets one reading decide.
• A bandwidth measurement that lost the device said bandwidth measurement failed: and nothing after it. It now says what happened.

Changed on the command line

gao --optimize, --undervolt and --retest do not start while other programs use the card: they name them and stop, with nothing changed. Add --busy-ok as the last argument to go on as it is.

What was checked on a card, and what was not

On the reference RTX 4070, driver 617.42:

• Best of my GPU with the new memory search, on a quiet card, with the memory's edge already known from an earlier run: the search stopped 200 MHz below that edge, measured again and kept +2100, applied +1450 MHz; no driver reset; 5918 it/s against 5741 at stock (+3.1 %), in sixteen and a half minutes.
• The check for other programs: next to an open editor, gao --retest named it, did not start and changed nothing.
• Not run on a card: going on with --busy-ok, and the three answers in the window on a real run (seen in the demo mode only). A first memory search on a card whose edge is not known yet. All in one, Undervolt and the tune test with this version.

Before a run

1. Close MSI Afterburner completely, also its icon in the notification area, and RivaTuner if you have it.
2. NVIDIA app, System, Performance: switch Automatic Tuning off.
3. Keep the NVIDIA overlay (Alt+Z) closed during the run.
4. Close games, and also what does not look heavy: code editors, browsers, videos, chat programs. The app tells you which ones it sees.

If your card runs hot

Use Undervolt. Best of my GPU will most likely end with "the result is slower than stock" and leave the card as it was: that is the app being honest, not a failure. Please send C:\ProgramData\GpuAutoOptimizer\run.log and a picture of the last screen, whatever happens.

Known

• The first memory search on a card goes up until the memory gives out. That can end in a wrong result from the test load, or in a driver reset: the screen goes black for a moment and the search carries on lower. It happens once per card and driver; the offset is remembered.
• A card that does have a bandwidth peak keeps an offset up to 200 MHz below it.
• The app can only see other programs before and after a run, not during it. A program that is busy only now and then can be missed. An application that draws through an embedded browser is named as that browser (msedgewebview2), not by its own name.
• On some cards the memory-bandwidth measurement does not settle inside a run; the memory is then left at stock. Not solved in this version.
• A profile's temperature limit is fixed. For a card that is above it at stock the speed profiles have nothing to offer yet.
• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start, and a detection by an antivirus program cannot be ruled out; if you see one, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42.

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.6

This is a pre-release for testing. The app does not offer it as an update. It follows the first runs on a second card, an RTX 3080 Ti that runs 83 °C at stock with its fans at 100 %, and the checks on the reference card that came after.

Fixed

• The Undervolt profile refused a card that runs hot at stock (the card is not stable at stock (TOO HOT)). It now starts with the same measurement at stock as every other run, which stops at 85 °C and goes on, and it no longer stops a candidate for a temperature the card already had before anything was changed. An undervolt only makes a card cooler.
• The undervolt search gave up at its first step when it had not measured stock itself. Its load had only just started, the first three seconds read slower than the card is, and that counted as a failed step. In All in one this meant the undervolt step never searched below the point where it cut the curve off, in every version that has that step. The load now runs five seconds first.
• A tune found on a warm card could not be put back on a cooler one (the point already runs more than the target). All in one ended at stock after its third step because of it. The app now holds that point on the target.
• Best of my GPU and Max performance could end slower than stock and call it done. On a card that is warmer at stock than the profile allows, the power limit has to come down, and that can cost more than the clocks win back. Such a result is no longer applied or saved; the run says what it found and points to Undervolt.
• A confirm test that was too hot within a second counted as confirmed. It now counts only when the clock was loaded for ten seconds first.

New

• After a driver update the saved tune can be tested again instead of found again: the dashboard says why the tune is not applied and shows Test the tune (5 min). If it holds, it is applied and belongs to the new driver; if not, the card goes to stock. On the command line: gao --retest.

What was checked on a card, and what was not

On the reference RTX 4070: the Undervolt profile to the end, twice (2790 MHz at 990 mV instead of 1090 mV, 189 W to 149 W, fans 70 % to 53 %, 1.9 % less score); the tune test after an imitated driver update, passing and failing; and All in one through its first three steps, with the undervolt step searching for the first time. The last two steps of All in one have not run on a card since the fix that lets them start. On a card that runs hot, none of this has run yet.

If your card runs hot

Use Undervolt. Best of my GPU will most likely end with "the result is slower than stock" and leave the card as it was: that is the app being honest, not a failure. Please send C:\ProgramData\GpuAutoOptimizer\run.log and a picture of the last screen, whatever happens.

Before a run

1. Close MSI Afterburner completely, also its icon in the notification area, and RivaTuner if you have it.
2. NVIDIA app, System, Performance: switch Automatic Tuning off.
3. Keep the NVIDIA overlay (Alt+Z) closed during the run.
4. Close games and other programs that use the graphics card.

Known

• On some cards the memory-bandwidth measurement does not settle inside a run; the memory is then left at stock. Not solved in this version.
• A profile's temperature limit is fixed. For a card that is above it at stock the speed profiles have nothing to offer yet.
• The NVIDIA overlay is not detected; keeping it closed is up to you.
• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start, and a detection by an antivirus program cannot be ruled out; if you see one, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42.

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.5

This is a pre-release for testing. The app does not offer it as an update. It is 0.4.4 with one addition, made to find out why the memory-bandwidth measurement fails on some cards.

New

• gao --bandwidth shows what the measurement looked like: every run with its reading, or that it was thrown away because the clock changed under it. With --after-load <seconds> it measures right after that many seconds of full load, as a run does. It changes no setting.
• A measurement that never settled says why in run.log: how many runs gave a reading, between which values, and how many were thrown away.

If the app finds no memory overclock on your card

Since 0.4.4 a bandwidth measurement that does not work leaves the memory at stock. To help find out why it does not work, run the measurement by itself and send what it prints:

1. Unzip, open the folder, and open a terminal there (right-click in the folder, Open in Terminal).
2. Run .\gao.exe --bandwidth --after-load 30 and wait about 40 seconds. The fans may speed up.
3. Copy everything it printed into an issue or a message.

Before a run

1. Close MSI Afterburner completely, also its icon in the notification area, and RivaTuner if you have it.
2. NVIDIA app, System, Performance: switch Automatic Tuning off.
3. Keep the NVIDIA overlay (Alt+Z) closed during the run.
4. Close games and other programs that use the graphics card.

Known

• On a card where the bandwidth measurement does not work, no memory overclock is found. On the reference card a lowered power limit was ruled out as the cause; what it is on other cards is not known yet.
• A card that is hotter at stock than a profile allows gets its power limit lowered to meet the profile's temperature, which can make "Best of my GPU" slower than stock. Not solved in this version.
• The NVIDIA overlay is not detected; keeping it closed is up to you.
• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start, and a detection by an antivirus program cannot be ruled out; if you see one, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42.

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.4

This is a pre-release for testing. The app does not offer it as an update. It follows 0.4.3, in which a memory search went too far on a tester's card and froze the PC.

Fixed

• The memory search could climb until the PC froze. The search finds the memory offset by measuring memory bandwidth and stops at the peak, long before the first error. When that measurement did not work, it climbed on stability alone instead. On an RTX 3080 Ti that climb went to +2300 MHz and the machine froze with a corrupted screen. Now a bandwidth measurement that does not work means no memory overclock: the run says so, leaves the memory at stock and still searches the core.

New

• run.log. Every line a run shows is also written to C:\ProgramData\GpuAutoOptimizer\run.log, as it happens, so that it is still there after a crash. Please send it along with a problem report.
• A run does not start next to MSI Afterburner or RivaTuner, and says which one to close.
• A run does not start while Automatic Tuning is on in the NVIDIA app (System, Performance): NVIDIA's own scanner loads the card and changes its clocks when it sees fit, also in the middle of a run. gao --status shows what the app reads.
• The list of probes on the run screen uses the rest of the window.

Before a run

1. Close MSI Afterburner completely, also its icon in the notification area, and RivaTuner if you have it.
2. NVIDIA app, System, Performance: switch Automatic Tuning off.
3. Keep the NVIDIA overlay (Alt+Z) closed during the run.
4. Close games and other programs that use the graphics card.

Installing

Download the zip below, unzip it and start GpuAutoOptimizer.exe. Answer Yes when it offers to replace an older copy in the tray.

Known

• On a card where the bandwidth measurement does not work, this version finds no memory overclock at all. Why it failed on the card above is not known yet; run.log is there to find out.
• A card that is hotter at stock than a profile allows gets its power limit lowered to meet the profile's temperature. On the RTX 3080 Ti above that made "Best of my GPU" slower than stock. Not solved in this version.
• The NVIDIA overlay is not detected; keeping it closed is up to you.
• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start, and a detection by an antivirus program cannot be ruled out; if you see one, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42.

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.3

Warning

Do not use this version; use 0.4.4. On a card where the bandwidth measurement does not work, the memory search of 0.4.3 can climb until the PC freezes. That happened on an RTX 3080 Ti.

This is a pre-release for testing. The app does not offer it as an update; it is here for a card on which no run could start. It has passed the automated tests, and has not run on a graphics card yet.

Fixed

• No run could start on a card that gets hot at stock: the card is not stable at stock (TOO HOT). Every run begins by measuring the card at stock, with the fans left to the NVIDIA driver. On some cards the driver lets the card reach 85 °C under full load (an RTX 3080 Ti Founders Edition did, with its fans at 65 %). The app took that for an unstable card and stopped, whatever fan curve was chosen for the run. Now the measurement still stops at 85 °C, what it measured is the "before" of the result, the card cools for up to a minute, and the run goes on with the fans on the profile's curve.
• The undervolt search left the fans to the NVIDIA driver while it stopped at 75 °C, which such a card cannot meet. The search now keeps the fans on the fan curve in use, as the overclock search does, and the app's fan control is on afterwards, as after every other tune.

Installing

Download the zip below, unzip it and start GpuAutoOptimizer.exe. Answer Yes when it offers to replace an older copy in the tray. Close MSI Afterburner and other programs that set clocks or fans first.

Known

• Whether the fans at 100 % keep a card like that below 75 °C at stock power is not known. The overclock profiles lower the power limit when they do not; the Undervolt profile cannot, and may still stop with TOO HOT.
• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start, and a detection by an antivirus program cannot be ruled out; if you see one, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42. This version has not been run on it yet.

GPU Auto Optimizer v0.4.2

A small fix release for two things that got in the way of starting and updating the app.

Fixed

• An update failed with could not copy ... (error 5). That happened when the installed copy had been started without administrator rights: it may not replace its own files in Program Files. A click on Update available now asks for those rights when it needs them, and installs the update after that.
• Windows' search did not find the app. There was no Start menu entry. The installed copy now has one, GPU Auto Optimizer, made when Apply at logon is switched on and removed when it is switched off. If you already have the app installed, the entry appears with this update.

Upgrading

From 0.3.1 or newer: click Update available at the bottom left of the window. If that fails with error 5, which 0.4.1 and older can do, click Restart as administrator first and then Update available again; from this version on that is not needed. From 0.3.0 or older: download the zip below, unzip it and start GpuAutoOptimizer.exe; answer Yes when it offers to replace the older copy in the tray.

Known

• The executables are not signed. Windows SmartScreen may warn at the first start, and a detection by an antivirus program cannot be ruled out; if you see one, please open an issue.
• Tested on one PC: an RTX 4070 with driver 617.42, where the user is an administrator. On a PC where the user is not, Windows asks for another account's password when the app needs administrator rights; that was not tested.