Default GPU Frequency
Before we look at performance, we need to find out the actual real-world gaming frequency the video card performs. With both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs today, the GPU frequency is very dynamic. What may be quoted as the “Boost Clock” is not necessarily the performance it will actually run at. Typically, GPUs today can exceed the “Boost Clock” dynamically. We need to find out what it actually runs at, in this way we can see how well things like cooling, and power headroom are working.
To do this we will record the GPU clock frequency over time while playing a game. We use Cyberpunk 2077 for this with a very long manual run-through at “Ultra” settings. We also record GPUz sensor data to look at GPU temperature, Voltage and Power.
The game clock on this video card is set at 2015MHz and the boost clock is set at 2250MHz. According to our graph, the actual real-world frequency starts well above the boost clock in the 2300MHz+ range, but then declines over time and finally settles around the 2260MHz range. At this range, the clock frequency is right at the boost clock, and well above the game clock setting of 2015MHz. The average of the clock speed above is 2286MHz. This is really great as it means the GPU clock frequency remains quite a bit above the game clock and is actually running at the boost clock range while gaming. This means you are getting the most from the card while gaming without overclocking.
According to GPUz, it is managing to do this at 82c GPU temp and 95c hot spot GPU temp at only 36% fan speed. The GPU Voltage is at 1.175V by default and 256W GPU Chip Power Draw. The GPU temp may be a bit warm, but at this lower fan speed, the video card is quiet. One thing we can’t measure, which would be curious about is the memory temperature.
