GTX 970 High clock speed when idle with dual monitor setup

[Mechev]

Hey, guys! I need some help from You.

 

I have EVGA 970 FTW+ GPU and it has been awesome card for now. I used it with dual monitor setup, one was 24" DELL 1080p the other was an old IPS Eizo 4:3 1600x1200,

the Dell was connected through DP and Eizo with DVI cable. I had no problems with it at it ran fine for my video editing needs.

 

Two days ago I bought an Acer XB1, which is with awesome quality (very little back light bleed in the down right corner that is noticeable only on black screen),

never had high refresh rate monitor before and right now I felt like reborn. So I ditched the 4:3 Eizo and left with 1080p Dell and 25x14 Acer, hooked up with two DP cables.

I noticed that when I turn on the second monitor that is now the Dell 1080p my GPU clock speed and ram clock goes 975Mhz/3500Mhz respectively

and temps rize to 50C and stay there at all times. When I turn off the second monitor everything goes back to normal.

I've seen this problem before with a GTX 570 and dual 1080p monitors setup on it as well and never found a solution.

 

I would really like to find an explanation for this bug and a fix, so Your help will be greatly appreciated.

[don_svetlio]

It's a driver thing. It's normal

[Godlygamer23]

There is no fix as it is not a problem - it's a normal response with multiple displays running.

[Mechev]

Yea, but I ran multiple display setup before that and this problem was not present.

[Godlygamer23]

8 minutes ago, Mechev said:

Yea, but I ran multiple display setup before that and this problem was not present.

I have the same thing. My 970 is running at 900MHz right now with two displays connected. You are running a higher refresh rate on one side versus the other. It's going to take more power to drive the panel. I'm currently running a 144Hz and 60Hz panel.

[Mechev]

Almost same here, 165Hz main and 60Hz secondary. Previous was dual 60Hz monitors.

 

Anyway it is still strange since this problem was apparent on my old GTX 570 with dual 1080p 60Hz monitors.

[Godlygamer23]

1 minute ago, Mechev said:

Almost same here, 165Hz main and 60Hz secondary. Previous was dual 60Hz monitors.

 

Anyway it is still strange since this problem was apparent on my old GTX 570 with dual 1080p 60Hz monitors.

At best, you can try doing a fresh install of your drivers to see what happens. But it's not really a problem.

[Mechev]

Just found a topic on reddit with a comment from a month ago that suggests the same thing, to do fresh install of the drivers and set Nvidia Control Panel "Power Management" from "High Performance" to "Adaptive".

[Godlygamer23]

20 minutes ago, Mechev said:

Just found a topic on reddit with a comment from a month ago that suggests the same thing, to do fresh install of the drivers and set Nvidia Control Panel "Power Management" from "High Performance" to "Adaptive".

Although that's only for 3D loads. In fact, the setting is found under "Manage 3D Settings."

 

Though as an FYI, I have my drivers set to Adaptive and my clocks are at 900MHz. 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

3 hours ago, Mechev said:

Hey, guys! I need some help from You.

 

I have EVGA 970 FTW+ GPU and it has been awesome card for now. I used it with dual monitor setup, one was 24" DELL 1080p the other was an old IPS Eizo 4:3 1600x1200,

the Dell was connected through DP and Eizo with DVI cable. I had no problems with it at it ran fine for my video editing needs.

 

Two days ago I bought an Acer XB1, which is with awesome quality (very little back light bleed in the down right corner that is noticeable only on black screen),

never had high refresh rate monitor before and right now I felt like reborn. So I ditched the 4:3 Eizo and left with 1080p Dell and 25x14 Acer, hooked up with two DP cables.

I noticed that when I turn on the second monitor that is now the Dell 1080p my GPU clock speed and ram clock goes 975Mhz/3500Mhz respectively

and temps rize to 50C and stay there at all times. When I turn off the second monitor everything goes back to normal.

I've seen this problem before with a GTX 570 and dual 1080p monitors setup on it as well and never found a solution.

 

I would really like to find an explanation for this bug and a fix, so Your help will be greatly appreciated.

 

You did not have a problem before because your old dual monitor setup does not have a 165hz panel. 

 

Its a problem with the gpu that ramps up the clock speed. 

 

 

It most certainly is a problem since the card is supposed to down clock. My 390x ends up cooler and consumes less power than the 970 that you guys are running now. 

 

This problem has been further investigated by pcper: http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/Testing-GPU-Power-Draw-Increased-Refresh-Rates-using-ASUS-PG279Q

3 hours ago, Godlygamer23 said:

There is no fix as it is not a problem - it's a normal response with multiple displays running.

[Mechev]

I know that thread from PCper and it is already half an year old, I thought till now nvidia would have fixed that thing. 

Damn, maybe I should have stayed on AMD. 

Or find a way to force 120Hz when on desktop use and higher in games.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

40 minutes ago, Mechev said:

I know that thread from PCper and it is already half an year old, I thought till now nvidia would have fixed that thing. 

Damn, maybe I should have stayed on AMD. 

Or find a way to force 120Hz when on desktop use and higher in games.

 

Its hardware related. So... not so much they can do about it. Nvidia is still trying, i don't believe they won't do anything about it since the problem is more prominent in the 980 ti

 

At least you get still 165hz

[Mechev]

I think I got solution for now!

 

I opened nvidia Control Panel > Change resolution > lowered the Acer main monitor to 120Hz

Then in the Manage 3D Settings in Global Settings I cheked the line that says Preferred refresh rate - Highest available, Power management mode is still - Adaptive.

In the Acer OSD there is a setting to see the refresh rate as an overlay on the screen and on desktop it is 120Hz and the clock on the GPU is as low as it can be

135/324 - GPU/memory.

 

My main concern was that the games may run and 120Hz as well, they do but only if they are in windowed mode or borderless window.

I launched CS:GO to check on numbers, vsync is OFF of cource. Monitor refresh rate overlay jumps to 165Hz, if I alt+tab, switches to 120Hz. 

If I change the video settings to windowed mode overlay says 120Hz, when I switch to fullscreen goes back to 165Hz.

 

Also tried GTA 5 but it runs between 40-60 fps with that res and settngs so the refresh rate overlay changes accordingly to the fps, because.... gsync, you know!

 

So in conclusion I only changed the refresh rate of the screen to 120Hz  from 165Hz. After launching a game it switches automagically to highest available from the panel.

Oh, and my second 1080p monitor ran at the whole time monitoring Afterburner.

 

So, yeah, try it for yourselfs and give me feedback in successful.