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.