I've encountered a problem where my GPU's clock speed is capped at 450MHz (300 idle) and there doesn't seem to be a way to increase it. The default capped clock speed is 850MHz.
The problem has occurred a couple of times: first time after some Windows update and now just randomly without and rhyme or reason. I've tried re-installing the drivers (9.0.0.3 -- outdated as heck, but it's all Dell offer... another major grievance I have with products) and updated the default VGA drivers, but the problem persists.
Initially I thought it might be a power related problem because, at first, unplugging the power supply actually allowed the GPU to become fully utilised. But this was no "fix", obviously, so I swept the video drivers clean and re-installed and now the GPU will not go above 300Mhz idle / 450MHz under load (in-game). *Tested using MSI Afterburner
So, to surmise:
- GPU not being utilised above 300/450MHz
- occurred seemingly randomly, without a re-boot or update
- 'fixed' the first time by simply unplugging the A/C adaptor
- re-installation of drivers had no effect
- edited "EnableUlps" registry address to "0" to no effect
My specs:
Radeon HD 7970M (2GB)
Intel i7 3840QM (16GB)
Windows 7 Ultimate (SP1, Build 7601)