Tuesday, June 21st 2016
TechPowerUp Impact: MSI Issues "OC Mode by Default" BIOSes
MSI today issued its first official statement on our investigation which found that the company had a pattern of sending reviewers samples with higher clock-speeds out-of-the-box, than what retail cards offer out-of-the-box, by means of enabling a higher software overclock profile by default, which consumers otherwise had to enable using the MSI Gaming app. We had argued that this practice was deceptive and the review samples weren't 100% representative of retail cards.
The company today released corrective BIOS updates for at least two Gaming series graphics cards, the MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X, and the GTX 1070 Gaming X, which enable the "OC mode" clock-speed profile by default. These BIOS updates enable you to have "OC mode" clock speeds without you having to install the MSI Gaming app to enable them. The company, however, did not mention whether the cards that are currently under production will ship with "OC mode" out of the box, going forward. Without that assurance, this is a farcical workaround which will appease only those bold and skilled enough to update graphics card BIOSes, and not corrective action.
In its statement (quoted verbatim below), MSI argued that the company shipped review samples with "OC mode" out-of-the-box because it believes that the MSI Gaming app normally required to enable "OC mode" is "not often used in reviews." There's no satisfactory reply to the question we asked in our investigation, which was "If the OC mode is how the card is intended to be used, then why make OC mode the default for reviewers only, and not your own customers?"
MSI statement begins with a strawman argument that it clearly mentions the clock speeds for each of the three modes on the product pages of its graphics cards, on the company website. That was never in question. What was in question, was what people get out of the box. Reviewers are getting "OC Mode" enabled out of the box, consumers are not. "Gaming Mode" is the default mode (since that's what consumers are getting out of the box), and reviewers aren't testing the cards at those speeds. This, in our opinion, is the deception.
You can download the video BIOS for GTX 1080 Gaming X and GTX 1070 Gaming X, and flash it at your own risk, from the following links:
The company today released corrective BIOS updates for at least two Gaming series graphics cards, the MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X, and the GTX 1070 Gaming X, which enable the "OC mode" clock-speed profile by default. These BIOS updates enable you to have "OC mode" clock speeds without you having to install the MSI Gaming app to enable them. The company, however, did not mention whether the cards that are currently under production will ship with "OC mode" out of the box, going forward. Without that assurance, this is a farcical workaround which will appease only those bold and skilled enough to update graphics card BIOSes, and not corrective action.
MSI statement begins with a strawman argument that it clearly mentions the clock speeds for each of the three modes on the product pages of its graphics cards, on the company website. That was never in question. What was in question, was what people get out of the box. Reviewers are getting "OC Mode" enabled out of the box, consumers are not. "Gaming Mode" is the default mode (since that's what consumers are getting out of the box), and reviewers aren't testing the cards at those speeds. This, in our opinion, is the deception.
You can download the video BIOS for GTX 1080 Gaming X and GTX 1070 Gaming X, and flash it at your own risk, from the following links:
- MSI GTX 1080 Gaming X: https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/support/GeForce-GTX-1080-GAMING-X-8G.html#down-bios
- MSI GTX 1070 Gaming X: https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/support/GeForce-GTX-1070-GAMING-X-8G.html#down-bios
Official statement addressing 'OC mode' on MSI GAMING X graphics cards
MSI Review samples and MSI retail cards are identical in terms of hardware and performance. Both have the exact same performance profiles available through the MSI Gaming App. All information about these performance profiles is clearly communicated and can be found on the respective product pages. (example: https://www.msi.com/Graphics-card/GEFORCE-GTX-1070-GAMING-X-8G.html)Retail cards are set to 'Gaming Mode' by default, which offers the best Performance per Watt, while still giving close to 'OC Mode' in-game performance. In order to enjoy the best performance and all features of MSI GAMING products, we highly recommend to use the MSI Gaming App which is available for free on MSI.com and the driver CD. The MSI Gaming App allows you to apply one of three performance profiles with a single click, instantly giving you the desired performance.
As several reviewers have stated, software like the MSI Gaming App is often not used in reviews. This is why review samples of the MSI GeForce GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 GAMING X graphics cards are set to 'OC Mode' to ensure that reviews demonstrate the same performance available through the MSI Gaming App. The award winning TWIN FROZR VI cooling is designed to handle each performance profile flawlessly, giving you the lowest noise in the industry and consistent performance so gamers can focus on their gameplay.
For those who prefer not to use the MSI Gaming App but still want to enjoy the same 'OC Mode' performance by default, we have released an alternative vBIOS with 'OC Mode' enabled by default.
Links to the BIOS updates presented before the statement
Learn more about the MSI Gaming app: https://gaming.msi.com/article/msi-gaming-app-article
89 Comments on TechPowerUp Impact: MSI Issues "OC Mode by Default" BIOSes
Had the review samples come with the Gaming Mode BIOS as default, do you think that any reviewer worth his salt would have published their benchmarks using this middle of the road preset, or would they have tested the cards using the OC BIOS mode to show the highest factory Core and Boost Clock available?
"Worth its salt would" be to test it as it arrives out of the box. That is the fundamental problem a lot of people are having is that the review samples, mine included, come by default with the OC speeds.Seems to me you are not in OC mode bub. That is how you get teh BASE boost of 1797. We all (should) know by now that what GPUz reports is supposed to be the MINIMUM boost, but as we all (should) know it boosts well above that in most cases.
It is after all, possibly the most salient feature these cards are offering, and to ignore that spec in the benchmarks would be an incomplete review.
Your post initially suggested they review with that preset while your follow up post now states they should check it for stability. Two completely different things.
Second, I have never EVER run across a case where the preset OC would not work on the card. Now I am sure there are some instances of it, but its not nearly enough for a reviewer to waste their time over testing it. No way is this worth my time as a reviewer to check if its stable in that mode. If this was a real concern, you would have seen people testing it and failures coming back. As it stands, nobody tests it for a reason.
Remember, boost has been implemented for generations. So even though the boost tends to go well over what is listed (you need to understand how boost works), it is still perfectly stable.
What if you tested solely the Gaming Mode preset, but if it was discovered that the OC Mode preset would not maintain the high boost clocks after 15 minutes due to thermal throttling, would you not be remiss?
If I'm thinking of buying either of these cards, I want to know how it performs at the highest clock preset since there are no guarantees that I will be able to manually OC any further.
Thermal throttling will vary by user. For example, I run a bit warmer than some as I am on an open air test bench with no airFLOW. Some have a worse situation than me, some better. How can speak conclusively about thermal throttling when there are many other variables effecting that outcome? I report the temps I receive in my environment.
Do you believe no increase in voltage and a ~24 MHz clock increase are going to cause such an increase in temps?
My review will be published in a few days, but I can tell you that a 60MHz increase with a minor voltage bump (.05V) I was 1C warmer with the default fan curve. Also note, while it is a workaround, you can raise the throttling temp. ;)
Bigger fish to fry... and if I may, I feel you are looking at the minutia but not the big picture when it comes to what you take from reviews (at least in this point).You must have me on ignore, lol...
Those are gaming clocks bubba. We know what retail cards come in at. :)
Mission Accomplished, ASUS and MSI! Having pointed this out, will you now review the card using the OC Mode, or will you now select the GAMING Mode BIOS for your benchmarks, or will you do both, or all three BIOS?
As to thermal testing, I think an open air bench with only the card's cooling fan(s) is the only way to be consistent as there are too many variables with chassis fans.
I think every reviewer should always test the highest advertised settings to show prospective buyers what to expect using the featured high performance specs.
Anyway, with whatever point you are trying to make, I disagree with how they should be used. A bencher isn't going to touch that one touch overclocking software and as you said, will natually overclock anyways. So why would I bother with a 'factory' overclock for that demographic? Though I wouldn't do it anyway as everyone has a different way they use this kind of software, if I were to use it, I would use the OC Mode and Gaming mode for the gamers. Again benchers don't use this one-touch software like MSI Gaming App (they would use afterburner and push it).
I recall this happening to a Newegg customer who bought an EVGA 980 Classified that was unable go beyond the factory OC.
Im betting it would reach really high clocks on LN2, that 980 Classified... that is what it is made and binned for. People on air/water shouldn't really get those cards when one costing $30+ less reached the same clocks on air/water.
Helps to be an educated consumer and not a marketing lemming. :)
The OC preset is just that. There is no stability guarantee. That is why it is misleading to test games in that mode.
I recall EVGA having too many customer complaints about 980 FTW not being stable at the factory OC which was indicative of poor QC, and to EVGA's credit they allowed RMA of these cards.
If a company chooses to release a factory OC preset of their own making(which theoretically should be up to or lower than the total OC headroom which is never guaranteed) it had better stand by that presets stability or this is nothing more than a bait and switch. If reviewers chose not to deliberately test the highest boost clock advertised for stability, that would allow companies to engage in marketing shenanigans.
Perhaps a better question would be; what is the purpose of the OC Mode then, if not reliable or useful?
Some seem to believe that if a sample is tested that way, that one sample makes the rest bad so you wouldn't get it. That is pure ignorance I hate to say. Now, if 20 reviewers tested it and most borked... there would be a problem. However, that will never happen, particularly to reviewers. It is true that sometimes things are discovered that way... but testing for stability on a factory overclock option like this isn't warranted.
Its just not worth it to test like this. 99%+ of cards will overclock the 24 MHz of card we are talking about here with this card (Gaming X). Its not worth anyone's time to check like that as it really doesn't tell you much against 10K cards.The gaming preset is a slight overclock over stock and so is the OC... its just more aggressive. With the 1070 the difference between silent and OC is 100 Mhz while the 980Ti is 178 MHz (less % against the 980Ti).