How to undervolt Nvidia (GTX 1060, 1070, 1080Ti, RTX 2060, 2080)

AMD video cards are not easy, but they are very tweakable. You can fiddle with their vBIOS, overclock, undervolt, fine tune them for mining.

Nvidia video cards are better at saving power. Which is very important in a critical situations with the current market dip. Many people pay for electricity each month out of crypto earnings.
I tought Nvidia cards are much less tweakable, but I was wrong. Here is how I managed to beat my previous attempt:

Preparation for Nvidia overclock optimization for mining:

1.Disable all all other tools you were using up to now. Disable them from startup to avoid interference. You may want to write down your current power draw if you have a power meter (for comparison after tweaking).
2. Download Nvidia Inspector and Nvidia Profile Inspector
3. Run Nvidia Profile Inspector and find:

   - CUDA - Force P2 State - set it to OFF

   - Power management mode - Prefer maximum performance

The first one disables forced P2 (power) state, in which the GPU tries to save electricity by slowing itself down a bit. The second one has similar use. This way the GPU will enter maximum speed mode, without ANY throttling. Don't worry, we'll tune it as we like (for better mining).

Nvidia Overclocking And Undervolting

Plan:
 1. undervolt GPU (to achieve maximum power savings).
 2. overclock GPU (to achieve maximum hashing speed).
 3. set fan speed to a value, which keeps GPU temperature around 60 Celsius (to achive maximum GPU lifespan).

   The first time I tried to use Nvidia Inspector то undervolt Nvidia, I could not see why it is better than MSI Afterburner.

Someone might like it, some might not, but it is the only software which can downvolt a Nvidia GPU (except playing around with Nvidia SMI console).

Undervolting Nvidia

Instead of running the GUI and sliding the sliders, we're going to create an empty .txt file in the same folder where nvidiainspector.exe is. Why you might ask? Because GUI application cannot adjust voltage. And undervolting is the main power saver! Copy and paste this in your txt file:

SET VOLT=655000

SET MEMORY=500

SET CORE=100

SET GPU0=-lockVoltagePoint:0,655000 -setBaseClockOffset:0,0,100 -setMemoryClockOffset:0,0,110 -setTempTarget:0,0,65

SET GPU1=-lockVoltagePoint:1,655000 -setBaseClockOffset:1,0,100 -setMemoryClockOffset:1,0,110 -setTempTarget:1,0,65

SET GPU2=-lockVoltagePoint:2,655000 -setBaseClockOffset:2,0,100 -setMemoryClockOffset:2,0,110 -setTempTarget:2,0,65 -setFanSpeed:2,48

SET GPU3=-lockVoltagePoint:3,655000 -setBaseClockOffset:3,0,100 -setMemoryClockOffset:3,0,110 -setTempTarget:3,0,65

SET GPU4=-lockVoltagePoint:4,650000 -setBaseClockOffset:4,0,100 -setMemoryClockOffset:4,0,110 -setTempTarget:4,0,65 -setFanSpeed:4,60

SET GPU5=-lockVoltagePoint:5,655000 -setBaseClockOffset:5,0,100 -setMemoryClockOffset:5,0,110 -setTempTarget:5,0,65

nvidiaInspector.exe %GPU0% %GPU1% %GPU2% %GPU3% %GPU4% %GPU5%

Core Voltage (Nvidia GPU undervolting)

As you may have already seen, In all overclocking tools, the Nvidia Core voltage is greyed out and cannot be decreased, only increased. With stock settings, default Vcore reaches 1.2V. Here comes lockVoltagePoint:0,655000  - the main culprit in this article. It forces GPU to work at 0.655 volts which is 0.125 Volts less than my previous undervolting attempt with MSI AB (which was already low!). The lowest possible value with Nvidia 10 Series is 0.650V. If your GPUs work stable at that low - use it!

GPU Core overclock

setBaseClockOffset overclocks the GPU core. GPU core clock should be above 1100Mhz for stable hashing. If it is lower, increase it by adding extra 10-20Mhz. For mining Etherium or other memory intensive algos, keep core clock around 1100Mhz (*1080 might need this a bit higher to be stable). For Cryptonight or Equihash or other core clock intensive algos, keep core clock higher (the higher, the better, depends on GPU quality). You can usualy get +150Mhz stable on any VGA card, and +200Mhz on the good ones. We can monitor real time clocks and voltages in HWinfo or Aida64 or GPU-Z.

Nvidia Memory overclock 

  -setMemoryClockOffset overclocks the memory. The higher, the better. Each 10 series Nvidia GPU should handle atleast +500Mhz Mem clock.

If overclock is unstable, you can increase a bit the voltage (very slightly). Now save the file and rename the .txt to .bat. Then run the bat file. It will set the values inside to each GPU mentioned. 

We can use these base values to fine-tune our GPUs.

Set memory to max stable clock, increasing every 15 min with 100Mhz, untill you reach the promised land. After it starts crashing, decrease the last clock with 50Mhz and enjoy a stable rig.
Usually Hynix memory overclocks up to 400-550Mhz, Micron - 500-700Mhz, Samsung - 650-850Mhz.

Core clock max is between +150 and +230Mhz. Beyond that you need water cooling or it will be unstable.

If you want to increase the number of GPUs, add more lines and add another %GPU*%  on the last line. To decrease the number of GPUs according to your rig, delete items from last line.

GPU temperatures

If the internally controlled fan speed is not enough, you can set the parameter: -setFanSpeed:2,48, where 2 is the number of the GPU, 48 is the % speed of it's fan. You can also use external tool for controlling the fans. My personal belief is that max temp should be limited to 65C. While optimal temp is anything below 60C.

*Remember, it's not the hashrate which gives you coins, it's the correctly submitted number of shares. Overclocking too much can decrease the number of mined shares. Sometimes steping down with 20Mhz can Increase the profit. 

Undervolting and overclocking result:

After using this method, my 6 Nvidia 1060 6GB GPU rig went down from 517W (already optimized for best hashing and lowest power consumption) to 475W! Temps went down with 5 degrees Celsius.

All this at the same hashrate plus a bonus - a more stable rig and less hassle with MSI AB's bad multi GPU interface!

*Hint: you can add the .bat file to Task Manager and set it to run every 30 min since first boot. This will ensure that badly behaving cards will be less likely to lose their settings.


Please share your overclocking achievements in the comments below!

I don't like ads so I disabled them in this blog. However if you want to support further experiments, please contribute ETH 0x288677B90E4F22737c2bCC0ae87e6FFE2d63007E 


You can also put your rig's CPU to work, mining JSEcoin - see here.

How to optimize Nvidia 1060, 1070 and 1080 power usage, using MSI AB

It all varies from card to card, as not all gpus were created equal. However if you compare before and after power usage (Watt meter only! Software measuring is not correct!):

1. Set core clock to +150Mhz, Mem clock to + whatever your hardware allows (at least +500Mhz). This is your basic overclock good enough for almost any coin. Set TDP to your desired value - 50% for best power usage and less heat, 100% or more for highest hashrate and heat/noise. Optimal setting is between 50% and 75%.
2. Then open MSIAB, click settings, put a check on the "voltage monitoring" check box and fire up your software miner.
3. Write down total rig power usage, on your WATT meter and current GPU core voltage value.
4. Click on the 3 bars in front of the core clock slider in MSIAB.
5. Select the 1000miliVolt dot and move it upwards until it reaches 2140Mhz.
6. Put the curve window away (but keep it open) so you can see MSIAB main window. Then lower the  core clock to -400Mhz.
7. Return to voltage curve window, select first dot on the left and raise it to 1596Mhz (any value lower than 1600Mhz).
8. Watch the main window's Vcore value of 1050mV(default) and click Apply (check symbol).
9. The card should downvolt itself from 1050mV to 800mV. The GPU temperature will drop with at least 5 degrees C (if fan speed is constant).

- Note: lower or increase GPU TDP, otherwise this limit might not work on TDP 100% for example.

Experimenting with the 1000mV dot value by using the dots can give even better results.

If you have 1070 or 1080, please share your results!!

If this guide helped you save you money on electricity and heat: ETH 0x288677B90E4F22737c2bCC0ae87e6FFE2d63007E


Update: Now there is a more efficient way to undervolt and overclock. See here

New nVidia PCI IDs arrived

There are new PCI.IDS for Nvidia

 A PCI ID is the thing that identifies a piece of hardware in our PCs. Which later allows the driver to recognize this part. So the news is that these IDs are now registered to Nvidia.

You can find all of them at the bottom here.

They were updated on July 21. Here is which Vendor/model IDs were added:

1e07 GV102
1e3c GV102GL
1e87 GV104 [GeForce GTX 1180]
1eab GV104M

GL is a  Quadro and M means mobile GPU version

Do you think the GV102 will be a 1160 or a1170 or something else?

The most power efficient GPU?

There was always a fight between the two camps - intel vs AMD, AMD vs Nvidia. When mining, nobody cares about this. All miners want is the best hashrate and most power efficient GPU.

See below how the Team Green and Team Red perform on EThash algo:

Best Hashrate per Watt ratio GPUs

Nvidia:

Model - Watts - hashrate = efficiency

---------------------------------------------

1050Ti - 50W - 15mhs = 0.3 Mh/W

1060 - 60W - 25mhs = 0.41 Mh/W

1070 - 86W- 32mhs = 0.37 Mh/W

1070Ti - 100W - 34mh/s = 0.33 Mh/W

*1080 - 160W - 54mh/s = 0.33 Mh/W

*1080Ti - 170W - 56mh/s = 0.32 Mh/W

  2080 - 145W - 41mh/s = 0.28 Mh/W

*(with the ethlargement pill)

Don't believe? Learn how to undervolt Nvidia

AMD:

Model - Watts - hashrate = efficiency

---------------------------------------------

RX470 - 105W- 26Mhs = 0.24 Mh/W

Rx480 - 120W - 29Mhs = 0.24 Mh/W

RX570 - 90W - 30mhs = 0.33 Mh/W

Rx580 - 95W - 31mhs = 0.32 Mh/W

Vega56 -170W - 46mhs = 0.27 Mh/W

Vega64 - 200W - 48mhs = 0.24 Mh/W

** All video cards are overclocked, undervolted and optimized for best stable hashrate while keeping the cost and temperatures as low as possible for 24/7 mining!

*** The results are calculated for cards using Samsung memory (Nvidia only!). This is the best case scenario -  Second best is for Micron, Hynix has a memory controller limit, which limits the maximum load to around 90%, preventing the card to go to full speed during mining. During gaming it works normally.

*** All power values should be measured with a watt meter. Software meters are not correct.
All of the above values are approximate. There are too many variables which can influence the numbers. However the biggest difference should be no more than 4Mh/s:

1. Is the GPU tuned for best power efficiency?
2. At what temp the GPU is running? Higher temps cause worse power efficiency due to fan speed increase.
3. At what TDP value you are running them? Minimum is 50%, max is 100.
4. GPU quality - how stable power delivery the card has; -how good is the cooling (more heat pipes, copper pipes, etc); -memory brand used; -core voltage achievable.
5. PSU (Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze) MB, CPU, Risers, HDD/SSD used. You can shave off some watts by using SSD and downclocking and undervolting the CPU.
6. Linux or Windows? Windows tends to have a little bit better options for fine tuning.
7. How stable it is for 24/7 mining operation?

How do YOU manage to get the most out of your cards? Please share your hashrate!