HWiNFO Adds NVIDIA GPU ASIC Quality: What SPEEDO Means for Undervolting and Overclocking

What changed in HWiNFO​

VideoCardz reports that HWiNFO added an ASIC Quality reading for newer NVIDIA GPUs in beta 8.55 build 6093. It uses a hardware-defined value called SPEEDO to produce a percentage that reflects the GPU's factory voltage and frequency characteristics.

This is a new way to view existing data, not a new tuning control. The SPEEDO value isn't new, and enthusiasts could previously pull it from extended reports generated by MSI Afterburner.

HWiNFO has reported ASIC Quality for older hardware for years. Its version history lists ASIC Quality reporting for NVIDIA Fermi, Kepler and Maxwell GPUs, and a later entry adds reporting for newer NVIDIA GPUs. The version history confirms that line item. The sources I reviewed don't give a full list of supported models.

Where to find it​

• TweakTown says the metric is in the app's main menu, in the video adapter sub-menu.
• VideoCardz adds that it sits in the main hardware information window, so you must disable Sensors-only mode to see it.
• It is a static characteristic of the chip, not a live sensor. Don't look for it in the sensor graphs.

What SPEEDO actually means​

VideoCardz quotes MSI Afterburner developer Alexey "Unwinder" Nicolaychuk. He says SPEEDO helps determine a GPU's default voltage/frequency curve. Between two chips of the same model with identical factory overclock settings, the higher-SPEEDO chip should run a higher clock at the same voltage point.

That can indicate better efficiency at stock settings, but it doesn't necessarily mean higher maximum overclocks. Nicolaychuk also says SPEEDO is set by GPU fuses, so a BIOS flash can't change it.

TweakTown frames the same point in terms of the factory curve. It argues that NVIDIA uses SPEEDO to set a baseline voltage-frequency curve, so high-SPEEDO chips likely already boost closer to the silicon's limits. That reasoning is TweakTown's, and it isn't a measured result.

The percentage is not a percentile​

The percentage is easy to misread.

• HWiNFO converts SPEEDO into an ASIC Quality percentage using a range defined for the GPU model.
• For the RTX 5090, VideoCardz reports a SPEEDO range of 2018.94 to 2284.87. One Founders Edition owner's value of 2176 works out to about 59.06%.
• That figure shows where the value sits inside the model's range. It does not mean the chip beats 59% of RTX 5090s.
• Mumak, HWiNFO's developer, was asked whether under 50% is poor and over 60% is good. VideoCardz reports he said there isn't enough comparative data for such categories.

An independent open-source Linux tool describes the same normalization. Its formula is the SPEEDO value's position between a minimum and maximum, and it states that this is not a population percentile or GPU health score. That repository is a third-party project, not NVIDIA documentation. It is consistent with how VideoCardz describes HWiNFO's approach.

Why it doesn't predict overclocking​

TweakTown cites overclock.net reports. VideoCardz found a couple of results. One RTX 5090 with a SPEEDO of 2207 struggled to hold 3200 MHz in games. Another with a much lower 2076 still achieved competitive 3DMark results. These are anecdotes, not a controlled comparison. They do show why the number shouldn't be read as an overclocking grade.

VideoCardz also relays Nicolaychuk's note on IDDQ, a separate factory characteristic tied to leakage current. SPEEDO helps determine frequency scaling, while IDDQ affects the default reliability voltage limit (Vrel). On the RTX 5090, higher IDDQ generally means a lower default Vrel limit. Neither value alone gives a full picture of manual overclocking potential. HWiNFO's new reading covers only the SPEEDO side.

How to use it for undervolting​

TweakTown suggests the reading may help with undervolting at stock frequencies. That is plausible, since SPEEDO shapes the stock curve. The sources don't back anything stronger. They give no universal undervolt procedure, no voltage target, no wattage estimate, and no guarantee that a higher score means a better undervolt.

A sensible approach:

1. Note your card's ASIC Quality percentage and compare it only with the same model.
2. Treat it as one descriptive data point.
3. Test real behavior under your own workload: power draw, clocks, temperatures and stability at your chosen settings.
4. Don't compare cards of different models. Each model has its own range.

The bottom line​

HWiNFO has made a factory-derived characteristic easier to inspect. For RTX 5090 owners and other recent-NVIDIA users, it's a fun number to look at. It is not an independently validated measure of efficiency, and it isn't an overclocking score. The 8.55 release is still a beta, and the sources don't give complete release notes for it, so expect behavior to evolve.