Per-app GPU power management for NVIDIA GPUs
Gamers can apply different power and memory settings to games or software.
Some games (especially the old ones) do not require a lot of power. Yet, graphics cards will do their best to deliver the best performance possible, unless users manually lock the framerate or drop power limits. Those things are easy to do, but this still has to be done either through software like MSI Afterburner or manually through command lines for NVIDIA-SMI (System Management Interface).
This is where the “NVIDIA GPU Power Management” tool comes in. But here we should note that contrary to the software’s name, this is not an NVIDIA tool. However, it takes advantage of NVIDIA GPU driver software that is not clearly exposed to end-users. Such options could have been easily implemented through Afterburner or other software, but unlike those tools, this software focuses on per-app profiles.
The GPU Power Management is essentially a GUI for what users can do manually through command lines. The NVIDIA-SMI has been part of the NVIDIA GeForce driver package for a long time, and users can easily change or read current power limits data. You can read more about this tool here.
GPU Power Management (NVPMM), Power Limit Profile (NVPL Profile) tool, Source: Macer @ Guru3D
NVIDIA GPU Power Management Features
- Automatically apply Power Limit after booting the system
Automatically apply GPU Power Limit after booting OS. - Power Limit Profile Management (NVPL Profile)
You can define power limits for your application on the NVIDIA Power Management. The range of power limit depends on your graphics card. Usually GeForce RTX 4090 has more power max/min range. - Adaptive VRAM Clock Control
Adaptive VRAM Clock. App whitelist, automatically adjusts minimum VRAM Clock to prevent GPU into the deep power saving. - NVIDIA GPU Performance State Monitor
As always, we do not recommend using such tools unless absolutely necessary. The tool appears to be safe according to Virus Total, but there are always risks involved when modifying the GPU configurations, let it be overclocking, undervolting or adjusting power profiles. The use case for this tool appears to be limited, but it is always interesting to see what advanced users can be built around the software that is easily available to users.
Source: Guru3D
