UVD-power summary of MSI 5770 Hawk, 5570, & 785GTM-E45; Hawk min voltage

Question

MSI R5770 Hawk
MSI R5570-MD1G
MSI 785GTM-E45
GPU  PWR SYS f_GPU f_VRAM V_GPU set V_GPU meas Note 1: freq & voltage                 Note 2: system state
     DCW     Mhz   Mhz    V         V 
785  35      197   400                         idle stock                             idle, light (5 min max)
785  46      498   400                         UVD stock                              1x  720p sharpen complex 2
5570 43      157   200    0.9                  idle stock                             idle, light (5 min max)
5570 54      400   800    1                    UVD stock                              1x  720p sharpen complex 2
5570 52      400   800    0.9       0.8987     UVD undervolt/underclock 1             1x  720p sharpen complex 2
5570 55      400   800    0.9       0.9001     UVD undervolt/underclock 1             1x 1080p sharpen complex 2
5770 53      157   300    0.95      0.956      idle stock                             idle, light (5 min max)
5770 58      157   600    0.95      0.957      idle 2x f_VRAM                         idle, light (5 min max)
5770 65      157  1200    0.95      0.957      idle 4x f_VRAM (nom. max)              idle, light (5 min max)
5770 61      400   900    0.95      0.958      idle @ UVD stock                       idle, light (5 min max)
5770 72      400   900    0.95      0.9499     UVD stock                              1x  720p sharpen complex 2
5770 75      400   900    0.95      0.9508     UVD stock                              1x 1080p sharpen complex 2
5770 60      157   300    0.95      0.9498     UVD undervolt/underclock 1             1x  720p sharpen complex 2
5770 63      157   300    0.95      0.9503     UVD undervolt/underclock 1             1x 1080p sharpen complex 2
5770 61      157   200    0.95      0.9497     UVD undervolt/underclock 2             1x  720p sharpen complex 2
5770 61      157   200    0.95      0.9497     UVD undervolt/underclock 2             1x 1080p sharpen complex 2
AMD Power Play states are glitchy, and not all videos detect and run with DirectX Video Acceleration.  So max power during playback can end up on the highest power state which is not shown above.
MSI R5770 Hawk minimum power
The uP6204 power controller used on the MSI R5770 Hawk design nominally supports 0.5625 to 1.3500V in 0.0125V steps.
With a stock video BIOS, MSI Afterburner 1.50/1.51 allows the MSI R5770 Hawk to be soft-modded from 1.000 to 1.350V in the roughly 0.0125V steps.
The video BIOS can be set as low as 0.950V but with no steps between 0.950 and 1.000V.
MSI Afterburner 1.60 beta 4 or earlier adds the AllowCaptureVoltageDefaults profile setting.  Acquiring, then changing the default GPU voltage allows "resetting" the Hawk to 0.950V in Afterburner for the highest frequency state.  This allows maintaining Power Play transitions and running the max frequency at 0.950V, where Afterburner by itself is limited to 1.000V.
The max frequency state of the Hawk is 875 MHz 1200 MHz 1.200V.  To have the most flexibilty on control the Hawk, lowest power in the Desktop/HTPC/light gaming, and the ability to manually overvolt/overclock for specific games:  run the Hawk at 0.950V in the max frequency state.
How-to work around Afterburner and the Hawk design to run 1.000V in the max frequency state. *
 1) in the video BIOS, leave the voltage as 1.200V in the BIOS--which is required for Afterburner to change the Hawk voltages in Windows
 2) in the video BIOS, change the GPU frequency of that state to something less than or equal to the maximum stable frequency at 1.000V
 3) in Afterburner, Reset to default settings **
 4) in Afterburner, change "Core Voltage" to 1.000V
 5) in Afterburner, Apply
 6) in Afterburner, Save to Profile 1
 7) in Afterburner, \Settings\Profiles\2D Profile\ & "3D Profile" choose "Profile 1" ***
 8) on each Windows startup, run Afterburner
How-to work around Afterburner and the Hawk design to run 0.950V in the max frequency state.*
 1) in the video BIOS, leave the voltage as 1.200V in the BIOS--which is required for Afterburner to change the Hawk voltages in Windows
 2) in the video BIOS, change the GPU frequency of that state to something less than or equal to the maximum stable frequency at 0.950V
 3) in Afterburner, confirm the voltage default setting for 0.950V--capture voltage defaults as needed using AllowCaptureVoltageDefaults mentioned above
 4) in notepad as an Administrator (Win 6.x), change the Hawk's profile configuration file to 0.950V
example:
 [Settings]
 uP6204_Defaults=D7 20
 5) in Afterburner, Reset to default settings **
 6) in Afterburner, change "Core Voltage" to 1.000V--changing the profile setting to 0950/950 is not useful as of 1.60 beta 4.
 7) in Afterburner, Apply
 8) in Afterburner, Save to Profile 1
 9) in Afterburner, \Settings\Profiles\2D Profile\ & "3D Profile" choose "Profile 1" ***
 10) on each Windows startup, run Afterburner
 11) in Afterburner, "Reset" to re-enable 0.950V.
*   UnlockVoltageControl in the primary Afterburner profile's [Settings] will likely be needed.
**  Only default profiles support Power Play states correctly.
*** Having a non-"default" profile in 3D results in the "3D Profile" activating instead of the UVD in the BIOS.
MSI Afterburner, default voltages
Profile   Idle V_GPU @ V_CORE (V)
D7 12     1.125
D7 14     1.100
D7 16     1.047
D7 18     1.049
D7 19     1.037
D7 20     0.949
D7 21     0.937
D7 22     0.925
D7 23     0.912
D7 24     0.899
Power Play states in RBE 1.25
0 Boot         00 -> 00 -> 00
1 Power saving 01 -> 02 -> 00
2 UVD          03 -> 03 -> 03
3 Power saving 04 -> 02 -> 00
4 ACPI         01 -> 01 -> 01
Stock clocks & V_GPU
Clock info 00   01   02   03   04
f_GPU       875  157  600  400  400
f_RAM      1200  300 1200  900 1200
V_GPU      1.20 0.95 1.00 0.95 0.95
My current and likely final settings for MSI R5770 Hawk:
MOD clocks & V_GPU
Clock info 00   01   02   03   04
f_GPU       714  157  600  157  400
f_RAM      1200  300  600  300  600
V_GPU      1.20 0.95 0.95 0.95 0.95
Afterburner Profiles
#  CoreVoltage  CoreClk  MemClk
1  0950         714000   1200000
2  1000         785000   1200000
3  1125         902000   1200000
5  1200         951000   1200000
More data & full system config:
http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1858205&postcount=1

Answer 1