Are games not requiring more TDP space when overclocking the 3090?
Are games not requiring more TDP space when overclocking the 3090?
Hi Guys,
I’ve been working on my Gigabyte 3090 Gaming OC with MSI Afterburner over the last few days. The stock performance was mediocre, but I managed to boost benchmarks by about 8-10% by raising the power limit from 370W to 390W (105%) and adjusting the frequency/voltage settings using the latest version of MSI Afterburner (4.6.3). All tests—Port Royal, Fire Strike, Time Spy, Superposition—remained stable.
However, after trying Microsoft Flight Sim, I started experiencing frequent crashes to desktop, even when I reduced the overclock significantly. Analysis with GPU-Z suggests the game isn’t utilizing the higher TDP limits; it caps around 360-370W and still tries to push the clocks up, leading to crashes. Running DCS also showed the same issue—power draw never exceeds 370W, yet performance remains limited. In both cases, when power nears 370W, GPU-Z reports a PWR (TDP) limit. It seems the card isn’t leveraging the extra power.
Anyone have insights on why this happens? It’s strange that frequency/voltage settings stay fixed while TDP limits don’t, and the draw stays high in benchmarks.
Thanks for your help,
-bbsmitz
complete system specifications are available, including the PSU make and model.
Summary of key details
.
Full specifications available
.
Key points to note
.
Corsair RMx 850W PSU, Aorus Master x570 MB, Ryzen 5600x with OC and 200Mhz using PBO, boosted to 110 Watts.
B-die RAM is overclocked to 3600MHz with acceptable timings (likely 15-15-15-34).
HDDs are not yet installed.
Edit: GPU temperatures stay under 70, averaging about 67 during MSFS.
I've made a few adjustments. Here are two interesting observations.
It turns out my assumptions were off. Raising the TDP from 100% to 105% after burner does alter the performance. MSFS shifts from around 75-80% of TDP (as reported by GPU-Z) to over 95%. This means the game is actually using less power than allocated.
Interestingly, if I raise the TDP from 100% to 105% without changing anything else—like not overclocking—I end up with instability. Giving more power headroom without adjusting the curve leads to crashes. Anyone have a explanation for this? I thought higher frequencies achievable with more power would be stable, but the logs show otherwise.