Solving the issue with the Zotac GTX 1070 mini
Solving the issue with the Zotac GTX 1070 mini
Hello everyone. I'm using a Zotac GTX 1070 mini and am looking into ways to undervolt the GPU for better temperature control and lower power consumption. My current idle temperature is around 65°C and peaks at 82°C. I'd appreciate any advice on the optimal undervolting settings. Thanks!
Have to get air to the gpu. Without a decent supply of air, there's nothing for the fans to blow over the gpu heatsink. If nothing is moving over the heatsink, nothing gets cooled off.
So the cooler the supply of air you can get pushed to the gpu, the lower your gpu temps have a shot at being. If you can get enough air over there, you'll reach a saturation point, and thats where the actual voltages and workloads have set the amount of heat and nothing airflow-wise will change that. It is the same way with the cpu. That's when voltage changes will be of any affect.
Load temps are somewhat different. The gpu will then put out far more heat with the upscale in power use, and while airflow has an affect, it's nowhere near the affect that...
When using MSI Afterburner or similar software to adjust NVIDIA GPUs, you need to modify the VF curve so each point exceeds the standard setting. Instead of fixing a voltage, you specify the desired frequency at each voltage level (with dozens of steps). Alternatively, an OC scanner can handle this automatically. To "undervolt" the GPU, you must overclock it, since GPUs operate on a VF curve.
Regarding temperature, the load temperature is acceptable, but the idle temperature isn't typical. We should check:
- Is the GPU clock higher than 300–400MHz when idle? This suggests background processes or mismatched refresh rates (e.g., 144Hz vs 60Hz displays).
- Does the GPU have a "zero RPM fan" setting? If so, it will idle at elevated temps, usually staying around 50°C unless another condition applies.
- Is there adequate airflow in the case?
My GPU clock at idle is 1518 MHz. The stock freq for 900mv is 1672, but I adjusted it to 1850 and tried it. The temperature only went down to 78°C at peak, and the FPS is still decent. Can you help me figure out the best setting for undervolting this? Thanks a lot.
I would search for video guides online, it’s a bit tricky to do but I discovered some useful ones after trying. After using it, I don’t think anyone could copy everything from the videos I watched. It’s not difficult, just need to handle patients carefully and follow a systematic approach.
I'm trying to understand this by watching some videos, but I still have questions from them. I'll check for more videos later. Thanks for your help!
And that's the main issue. Reducing the card's voltage won't solve it because during idle it only draws 10-12 watts, which is a very small current compared to its capabilities. Address the idle temperature problem first—it's usually due to airflow or insufficient cooling, and adjusting load temperatures will help. You should aim for an idle range of 30-40°C at the worst case, which is about 20°C lower than it currently is.
I understand. Then I'll attempt to improve my airflow or look for a different case with better airflow than my present one. Thanks for your guidance.
Have to get air to the gpu. Without a decent supply of air, there's nothing for the fans to blow over the gpu heatsink. If nothing is moving over the heatsink, nothing gets cooled off.
So the cooler the supply of air you can get pushed to the gpu, the lower your gpu temps have a shot at being. If you can get enough air over there, you'll reach a saturation point, and thats where the actual voltages and workloads have set the amount of heat and nothing airflow-wise will change that. It is the same way with the cpu. That's when voltage changes will be of any affect.
Load temps are somewhat different. The gpu will then put out far more heat with the upscale in power use, and while airflow has an affect, it's nowhere near the affect that power plays on the temps.
1w can change 1cubic foot of air about 3°F in 6 minutes. A normal mid size atx case is around 1cubic foot in volume. So with no airflow, a gpu at idle could raise that air @ 3°F in 1 minute.
A 50cfm fan (120mm) can move 50 cubic feet of air in 1 minute. Or about 1 cubic foot of air per second. So figure a pair (intake/exhaust) will totally refresh a case with outside air completely in less than 2 seconds. A 10w gpu at idle raising 3°F in a minute doesn't stand an ants chance of heating up a case. Even if the fans were spinning at 50%, that's still 5-6 seconds for total refresh, all heat gone.
Without good airflow, a case becomes an oven. Because it's physically impossible to cool an object to below ambient temps by mechanical means (fan blowing air is mechanical) if your case is reaching 50ish °C inside, the gpu and cpu has no hope of being less, and because of workloads is usually @ 10ish°C more.
With good airflow, a gpu/cpu should be somewhere around 30-35 if the room is 20-25°C ambient.