What on Earth Is SPEEDO?
HWiNFO has introduced a new feature that gives enthusiasts another way to peer into the characteristics of their NVIDIA graphics card. The popular hardware monitoring tool now displays an ASIC Quality percentage for newer NVIDIA GPUs, derived from a factory-defined value called SPEEDO. The feature was added in HWiNFO beta version 8.55 build 6093.
For those who have never heard of SPEEDO—and you’re not alone—it’s not a new concept. The value has existed for years, but accessing it previously required digging through extended reports generated by MSI Afterburner. Now, HWiNFO makes it readily visible, converting SPEEDO into a percentage based on a range defined for each GPU model.
How SPEEDO Works
According to Alexey “Unwinder” Nicolaychuk, the developer of MSI Afterburner, SPEEDO is a hardware-defined characteristic used to determine a GPU’s default voltage and frequency curve. When comparing two chips of the same model with identical factory overclocking settings, the chip with a higher SPEEDO value should operate at a higher clock frequency at the same voltage point.
In other words, a higher SPEEDO can indicate better efficiency at stock settings. However, Unwinder is careful to note that this does not necessarily translate into higher maximum overclocking frequencies. SPEEDO is defined by GPU fuses and cannot be changed by flashing a different BIOS.
IDDQ: The Leakage Current Factor
Unwinder also discussed IDDQ, another factory-defined characteristic related to leakage current. Unlike SPEEDO, which helps determine frequency scaling, IDDQ affects the GPU’s default reliability voltage limit, known as Vrel. On the RTX 5090, higher IDDQ values generally result in lower default Vrel limits. A chip with lower leakage can therefore have more voltage headroom under its default configuration. Both characteristics are useful for understanding factory behavior, but neither provides a complete picture of manual overclocking potential.
ASIC Quality Percentage: What It Really Means
For the GeForce RTX 5090, the reported SPEEDO range is 2018.94 to 2284.87. One RTX 5090 Founders Edition owner reported a SPEEDO value of 2176, which translates to an ASIC Quality reading of approximately 59.06% . This percentage represents the value’s location within the defined range—it does not mean the chip is better than 59% of manufactured RTX 5090 GPUs.
When asked whether values below 50% should be considered poor and values above 60% good, Mumak, a contributor to the feature, explained that there is not enough comparative data to establish such categories. In other words, don’t read too much into the percentage.
Not an Overclocking Score
There are already examples of why the ASIC Quality number should not be treated as a direct overclocking rating. One enthusiast reported an RTX 5090 with a SPEEDO value of 2207 that struggled to maintain 3200 MHz in games, while another reported a much lower value of 2076 despite achieving competitive 3DMark results.
So basically, a higher SPEEDO does not guarantee higher overclocking potential. But at least now you know your RTX 5090 silently wears SPEEDOS.
Also, Read
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- Borderless Gaming Adds DLSS 5 Neural Rendering Without Modifying Game Files
How to Check Your GPU’s ASIC Quality
To see your GPU’s ASIC Quality reading in HWiNFO, you’ll need to disable Sensors-only mode. The value appears in the main hardware information window, typically under the GPU section. If you’re curious about your card’s factory characteristics, it’s worth a look—just don’t expect it to tell you how far you can push your overclock.
Source: overclock, overclock, unikoshardware