I was suffering some server connection problems earlier this week (could be server-side, could be my Wi-Fi), so I verified file integrity on steam. Following this, my game is running at higher temperature than before, consistently reaching 80 degrees Celsius and higher while in missions, when it used to only run at 74~77 degrees Celsius. I’ve cleaned my laptop and done system diagnostic checks and have installed the newest Nvidia graphics driver (565.90). I still cannot cap the game’s framerate with Nvidia control panel if I have FSR3 frame-gen active.
Images attached show high GPU temperature during gameplay (shouldn’t be this high).
tl;dr: Set your frame cap to half of what you want it to actually be with frame gen.
This is how frame generation works but not many games have it so it’s not explained very well. Frame gen creates a fake frame between real frames giving (not quite) double the fps you’d get otherwise. For example, setting a 60fps cap gives you (visually) up to 120 fps but it’s more complicated than that.
You’re still technically playing the game at 60 fps in terms of input latency (and game logic if it’s in a game with a hard 60fps cap, not applicable here) but frame gen also adds a slight delay to calculate a new frame to send to your screen so it will feel slightly worse than 60fps when you move your mouse but the game itself should look like 120fps in motion.
iirc you should still be able to use dlss upscaling and the low latency thing (blanking on the name) in conjunction with frame gen to help combat the slight input lag. You should anyway, FSR 3.1 decoupled frame gen from upscaling so it can be used without any upscaling or with different upscalers. That said if your screen is only 60hz and that’s the cap you want then setting your fps to 30 will feel very bad regardless. AMD does recommend a minimum of 60fps before frame gen to avoid the laggy feeling and how it effects you depends on how sensitive you are to input latency. It really depends on the person.
This is one of those odd things that depends on how a game implements frame gen. Some games will see that frame gen is on and look at your fps cap/vsync and dynamically set an internal frame cap of half of that. Ideally Fatshark will do something like that or at least in the mean time add a popup to the toggle telling you to set your frame cap to half your desired framerate.
One thing you should know though is according to the patch notes a known issue is that frame gen doesn’t always work right in the game if there’s too many screen effects (blood splatter, stims, psyker’s peril effects, etc). I haven’t seen that happen but I also have lens effects off in my settings. Your millage may vary. Also I’ve noticed game performance be weird when changing these settings in game so I recommend restarting the game every time you change settings. Good luck!
I have my in-game frame cap set to 40 so I get 80fps with frame gen. However, this frame gen value is somehow not limited by Nvidia control panel (which shouldn’t be the case). My issue is mainly that the game is running much hotter on my GPU than before and I need that fixed.
I’ve tried everything available, cleaning fan dust in my laptop, changing graphics driver (now at the newest 566.03), changing laptop power management setting, activating/deactivating Nvidia Image Scaling, trying frame cap in Nvidia control panel (still bugged & ignored by the game’s frame gen), dropping mesh LOD to the lowest possible value (even though it makes some cosmetics I have bug out), dropping resolution much lower than before, and setting every graphical option to low/off. The game is still running at 80~82 Celsius (sometimes even higher like 85~86) in missions, when I used to be able to get only 74~76 Celsius. I’ve asked several people in game, and they all report higher GPU heat than before. I’d really like to be able to play this game without risking thermal throttle.
Update:
I’ve now tried the DLSS3-to-FSR3 frame gen mod from Nexus mods (using FSR3 frame gen to replace DLSS3 frame gen, thereby allowing RTX-30 series to have DLSS frame gen option).
With this mod, both mourningstar and psykhanium GPU temps dropped significantly, but it could still reach as high as 86 Celsius in gameplay. Seems like it’s not entirely a frame gen problem (still not where it should be), more like the game just runs worse in terms of framerate & GPU heat as a whole.
I have a 3080 and like to keep it quiet (I hate to hear the fans). I have limited its power using Geforce Experience to 46%, which keeps the fans as quiet as I prefer. Obviously this means I must lower settings in various games to keep 60 fps, but I’m ok with that. You might try something similar to reduce heat.
Tried it. Unfortunately, still had much more heat generation tha with DLSS3-to-FSR3 frame gen mod (pseudo DLSS frame gen, even though it’s using FSR3 frame gen)
Something is still not working right with FSR3 frame gen.
Update on my tests so far: (all using DLSS performance, I’ve done resetting upscaling & frame gen methods)
DLSS3-to-FSR3 frame gen mod, 1920x1080p, 72fps cap in game: 72~78 Celsius
FSR3.1 frame gen (in-game), 1477x831p / 1366x768p, 40fps cap in game (80fps with frame gen): 75~82 Celsius
FSR3.1 frame gen (in-game), 1920x1080p, 40fps cap in game (80fps with frame gen): approaching thermal throttle (81~86 Celsius)
I think both “Fullscreen” and FSR3.1 frame gen options are not properly optimized. There’s no logical reason for the same frame gen effect to have such drastically different GPU temperature values. Even lowering my resolution drastically below native isn’t enough to reduce the temperature anywhere near what the frame-gen mod does.
In addition, if the “Fullscreen” mode has a resolution <native selected, it’ll glitch out the entire screen and make mouse inputs inaccurate for both menus & game itself.
Hey, just FYI most people achieve this not by limiting the power but by undervolting.
I’ve undervolted my 3080 very early on and never looked back, it can vary a bit by silicon lottery, but if you’re looking for not hearing the fans and generating less heat like I was, undervolting pays off big.
This means that you don’t need to limit FPS to 60 or lower settings.
Is undervolting good for laptops too? Since I’m prob not gonna be switching devices in the near future and I rly want my laptop to last. I’ve tried some overclocking software but all their options are greyed out for me which made me think my device is manufacturer-locked in these settings.
Starter 950mV undervolt (uv) alone can be noticeable reduction in heat+noise, but may also vary a lot by case and in this case more cramped laptop confines or other mobile considerations, I’m guessing.
FWIW I also undervolt my desktop AMD CPU but also have a big roomy case with lots of fans, but buddies have more cramped quarters with no CPU uv and benefited from GPU uv.
Still, it’s likely an avenue worth pursuing, at worse you spent a bit of time and found it didn’t work well for you.
Again, better to google it rather than take some sleep-deprived stranger’s 2 cents.
Thanks. I tried various methods of undervolting but never substantially reduced fan noise. Limiting the watts is more of a hammer, but it worked. I just observed how many watts created more noise than I wanted, and put the limit below that.
MSI Afterburner+RTSS or the nVidia stuff are very popular you can also have the Afterburner graphs on secondary screen window and log stuff too.
P.S. Just make sure you don’t run every overlay under the sun like some tend to do (then complains about slowdowns), even disabling the steam overlay for DT can help some.
I used Afterburner when I tried undervolts, but I’m just using Geforce Experience now. Alt-R shows stats. Alt-Z lets me adjust wattage.
BTW, one thing I’ve never gotten about undervolting is heat is caused by power, not voltage. Power = voltage times amps. If you lower voltage, Nvidia can still draw more power. So I don’t see why undervolt helps heat (and I didn’t find that it did). Throttling power gets it done. (OTOH, if you are trying to increase performance, I think undervolting is really a type of overclocking. I do overclock.)
Undervolting is not overclocking. You’re capping voltage vs core clock on the graphs as per the guides. P=VI yes, but I won’t magically increase to meet the same P, it’s just a lower P overall, you’re effectively capping P but because of a lower more efficient V.
Less heat means less fan RPM, less noise and power draw for fans, maybe even less case fan RPM to boot. You can also cap fan RPM, GPU and case and/or set simple custom curves for both and find a good equilibrium. For instance with decent case fans you can maybe spin them up a bit more to where you still can’t hear them over GPU fans etc. but they’re exchanging more air.
YMMV based on silicon lottery, GPU model and case thermals (and fans); it sucks it didn’t work for you, but the two methods of “capping” P are different.
Tons of resources on the subject out there, it boomed in popularity 4 years ago with the nV 30xx series.
Thanks. I agree undervolt isn’t always overclock, but it is using one of the 2 popular methods (where you have a higher frequency at most voltages then cap the frequency after that). I tried both, and the card would still reach over 200 watts, which causes the fan to annoy me. I think the issue is I have a compact case (from Origin) with a 3080.
The good news is even running at 46% power (147 watts), my 3080 can get me 60 fps with good graphics in everything I play. When that starts to fail, I’m thinking of moving to a 4070 super, which I understand uses less power.
