Thermal throttling can be a serious concern for gamers, as it can have a significant impact on the performance of GPUs. It may even put the hardware at risk. Thermal throttling is more common and noticeable with the increased power consumption of today’s GPUs.
It isn’t as hard as you might think to prevent thermal throttling. You can give your GPU enough thermal headroom to run at full capacity without being throttled by making some software adjustments and cleaning it.
What exactly is GPU thermal throttle? Modern GPUs have high clock speeds for the core and memory, which correlates directly with improved performance. To achieve such high speeds, however, requires significant power consumption. Nvidia RTX 40 Series GPUs, for example, can consume between 200W and 450W of Total Graphics Power. This power is necessary to achieve excellent performance but it also produces a lot of heat. When the GPU reaches an unacceptable temperature, it’s performance is reduced until the temperature drops. Thermal throttling, in essence, is the GPU’s way to prevent overheating when under extreme load.
As your GPU reaches the specified temperature threshold, it will slow down. This is usually around 195 Fahrenheit but may vary between different GPU models.
GPU thermal throttling can have a significant impact on gaming performance. Thermal throttling can cause a dramatic drop in performance and even damage your GPU. Thermal throttling prevents your GPU from becoming overheated.
Thermal throttling can reduce performance. This is expected to have a negative impact on the frame rate of games and your GPU’s overall performance. This issue can be easily resolved.
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Reduce GPU Load
Reduce the GPU’s workload to reduce thermal throttling. The GPU will consume less power when it is not under strain. This results in lower temperatures.
You can do this in a number of ways. The first thing to do is lower the graphics settings in game. This approach is effective if the game you are playing is CPU-bound rather than GPU-bound.
It is also wise to limit your frames per second in-game. You want to make sure that your FPS matches the refresh rate on your monitor. This will prevent the GPU from being pushed to its maximum capacity and rendering frames you won’t see. While rendering frames that are beyond the display of the monitor may provide some benefits in terms of latency and reduce the risk of overheating the GPU, you should not push it to its maximum.
V-Sync allows you to achieve this in a matter of seconds, saving the time and effort required to adjust settings within the game. V-Sync may cause input lag or performance drops. It should be used only as a last option.
A laptop with a low power plan or a balanced power plan will also reduce the GPU load, by limiting power consumption. It is especially beneficial to the battery life of your laptop when you are on the move, as the dedicated GPU consumes less power. Mobile GPUs may have a Total Graphics Power rating (TGP), which is up to 120W. This can be a significant amount for a portable system.
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System Maintenance
Dust accumulation is a serious threat to the performance and thermal management of your computer, regardless of whether it’s a gaming laptop or high-end desktop. Dust clogging up fan vents can cause the cooling system to malfunction, preventing the airflow needed to cool your GPU or other components. This will ultimately lead you to thermal throttling.
It is likely that your PC still uses fans to move air, even if it has water cooling. It’s important to ensure proper airflow in your computer for cooling. This means cleaning out the fan vents, and removing any dust.
This task is fairly simple. You can quickly remove the majority of dust from your vents by using compressed air or a blower.
Thermal repasting is also a great way to keep temperatures down, especially in high-performance laptops with power-hungry parts. We do not recommend repasting your GPU until you are confident opening your system. It is also not something that should be done often. Thermal paste of high quality should last a long time.
If you experience high temperatures consistently (above 190 Fahrenheit) during GPU operation even when the GPU is idle, this could indicate inadequate cooling. This issue should be resolved by thorough system maintenance.
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Undervolt Your GPU
Undervolting is a viable solution in situations where optimizing thermal management and reducing GPU load are not enough to keep your GPU cool. Undervolting is a technique that lowers your GPU’s energy consumption while maintaining core and memory clock rates.
Undervolting has the advantage that it’s safer than overclocking. It reduces your risk of damaging hardware. It does take some research, manual adjustment, and multiple restarts in order to achieve the best results.
Undervolting your GPU, if done correctly, can actually yield better performance. It is because a GPU that is undervolted is more stable at maximum usage than a GPU running on stock settings.
Undervolting is made easier with tools like MSI Afterburner. We have a guide for undervolting gaming notebook GPUs. However, the same principles also apply to desktop GPUs.
Maximizing GPU Performance
In order to get the most out of their graphics cards, gamers need to find a balance in terms of power consumption, GPU load and thermal solutions. It may take some time, but the rewards in terms of performance are worth it.
