980Ti Memory Clock Locked at 3506MHz

[v0id]

Title says it all. Doesn't matter if it's at idle (Windows desktop), playing a game or browsing the web, the memory clock absolutely refuses to budge. I'm using MSI Afterburner to monitor as I play games and use my system, and it doesn't move. Is this normal? And according to the spec sheet (https://www.evga.com/products/specs/gpu.aspx?pn=16add31d-8463-430a-a2a3-f9f1fd49e9a6), the effective clock should be around 7000MHz...am I dense and just missing something here? I never overclock and the settings have remained at stock for six years. Never paid attention to things like this till I switched to AMD, circa end of 2020 so for all I know it's been like this all this time. The Internet says that since I have dual monitors, Nvidia clocks the memory higher for some reason but the workaround, Nvidia Inspector, does not work. Shouldn't it be like in the hundreds of megahertz at idle? My temps remain reasonably fine, idling between 35-40C but I feel like it's wasting power. Thoughts?

 

Thanks. If you need more info just let me know.

[SavageNeo]

that is normal. 3500mhz is 7000mhz effective

2x3500mhz is 7000mhz.

GPUZ will show your VRAM at 1750mhz. 4x1750=7000

 

It depedns on the software you use

[v0id]

50 minutes ago, SavageNeo said:

that is normal. 3500mhz is 7000mhz effective

2x3500mhz is 7000mhz.

GPUZ will show your VRAM at 1750mhz. 4x1750=7000

 

It depedns on the software you use

Huh...did not know that. Interesting. Well, that's one mystery solved. Thank you!

 

What about the fact that it IS running that fast even at idle? I mean, isn't it supposed to scale itself back when not in use, kinda like the CPU? Or is that just what it runs at 24/7 and I just never noticed?

[Sarra]

36 minutes ago, v0id said:

Huh...did not know that. Interesting. Well, that's one mystery solved. Thank you!

 

What about the fact that it IS running that fast even at idle? I mean, isn't it supposed to scale itself back when not in use, kinda like the CPU? Or is that just what it runs at 24/7 and I just never noticed?

There's a setting in the NVidia control panel that lets the card clock the core and memory down at idle. If it's clocking the core down but not the memory, try reinstalling your driver.

 

My 980 runs 3.8 ghz on the Memory lol I think I can push it to 4, but I start slamming into the power limit for the card so I generally didn't do that very often.

[v0id]

16 hours ago, Sarra said:

There's a setting in the NVidia control panel that lets the card clock the core and memory down at idle

Can you be a little more specific? I'm scanning the app and don't see anything relating to core/memory clocks.

 

16 hours ago, Sarra said:

My 980 runs 3.8 ghz on the Memory lol I think I can push it to 4

Does it run like that for games or at idle? Or both? I think that's my concern, that there's no need for it to operate at that speed if I'm not doing anything graphically intensive. Like my CPU is rated for 4.7GHz but it doesn't run like that unless there is demand for it; I feel like VRAM should be the same way, but maybe that's not how memory works? I tried Googling it and all I could find were forums about memory usage but not speed.

[Motleyguts]

Core should idle down to 135Mhz and Mem to 405Mhz (as reported by msi afterburner). There are reasons why it wouldn't clock down fully but somewhere midway if you use multiple monitors and lets say one is 60Hz and another is 144Hz, or some similar odd mismatch in refresh.

[v0id]

1 hour ago, Motleyguts said:

Core should idle down to 135Mhz and Mem to 405Mhz (as reported by msi afterburner)

This is at idle just after startup. The only modification I've done is up the power limit. I have dual 165Hz, 1440p monitors.

[Motleyguts]

Try just one connected at 60Hz to test I guess.

[v0id]

2 hours ago, Motleyguts said:

Try just one connected at 60Hz to test I guess.

Clocks drop way down to the numbers you referenced early. So now I've narrowed down the 'why' my clocks are high, any suggestions on how to lower them? I've browsed both GeForce Experience and Nvidia Control Panel but no obvious setting stands out.

 

Google says Nvidia Inspector but when I tick the box for target GPUs both my screens go to two different colors and freak out for some reason. No fix that I can find. Here's the quote from the EVGA forum I found where another user has my exact same issue with the software, though I only have one GPU:

 

Tried the Nvidia Inspector fix, but when I select my GPU that's actually running my monitors it trips them all out, lower half solid dark blue, top half solid light blue and have to force restart computer to get them back to normal. This is about a week old clean install of 10 anniversary and newest driver was clean installed last night, always use ddu for uninstall and cleaning of old drivers as well. I can select the second GPU and this does not happen, but of course that's not the one running the monitors so it doesn't help being able to do that one.
 
Ideas?

[Motleyguts]

You won't like the answer. You probably have to clock them both at 120Hz. I get those idle speeds if I only have my one 144Hz connected. If I connect my other occasional use 60Hz, then I don't get good idle speeds. If I downclock the 144Hz to 120Hz I keep the 60Hz connected with low idles. It's just been that way for the last 10 years and nowadays you're pushing even more pixels and more Hz. I don't think it'll ever change to be honest. It's a lot to drive that nice hardware. I don't have anything better than Titan X, essentially the same card, to be able to say if anything changes for more modern hardware, but I doubt it does.

[v0id]

17 hours ago, Motleyguts said:

You won't like the answer. You probably have to clock them both at 120Hz. I get those idle speeds if I only have my one 144Hz connected. If I connect my other occasional use 60Hz, then I don't get good idle speeds. If I downclock the 144Hz to 120Hz I keep the 60Hz connected with low idles. It's just been that way for the last 10 years and nowadays you're pushing even more pixels and more Hz. I don't think it'll ever change to be honest. It's a lot to drive that nice hardware. I don't have anything better than Titan X, essentially the same card, to be able to say if anything changes for more modern hardware, but I doubt it does.

Well shit. Ya think my silicon is okay running at those speeds basically all the time? Like, the card will be six years old this summer and I want it to last as possible due to the shortages, will those speeds significantly reduce its lifespan ya think?

[Guest]

21 hours ago, v0id said:

This is at idle just after startup. The only modification I've done is up the power limit. I have dual 165Hz, 1440p monitors.

Why up the power limits without the frequency? These cards generally OC decently. 

[v0id]

36 minutes ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Why up the power limits without the frequency? These cards generally OC decently. 

I watched a JayzTwoCents video like two or three years ago, and he mentioned that if you want to get a little more performance without tweaking clocks or voltage, you can max the power limit if you've got some to spare. And I have a fairly beefy power supply. I'm not confident enough to OC my stuff so I figured that was an easy way to gain a bit of performance. Figured I got the headroom, why not use it?

 

Why? Is it worthless? Genuine question, I'm not very good in this department.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, v0id said:

I watched a JayzTwoCents video like two or three years ago, and he mentioned that if you want to get a little more performance without tweaking clocks or voltage, you can max the power limit if you've got some to spare. And I have a fairly beefy power supply. I'm not confident enough to OC my stuff so I figured that was an easy way to gain a bit of performance. Figured I got the headroom, why not use it?

 

Why? Is it worthless? Genuine question, I'm not very good in this department.

Worthless? That depends on the load temps. But the card will only self boost to a certain frequency. 

So with increased power limits, it may still not boost past 1228mhz by it's self.

You should be able to squeeze a cool 100mhz without over-volting. Maybe try 50mhz increments.

 

 

 

 

[Motleyguts]

I wasnt going to get into oc but yeah not too hard to whack +400 to +500 on the memory. I run my Titan X at +120 core, +400 mem with +20 to core voltage. That takes it from 1.16v to 1.18v. Its been balls out since 2015, running it hard to temp limit as well. No complaints yet. Not the best oc'er still... wish it was a 980Ti hehe.

 

If gpus werent so scarce, id shunt mod her and try for 1500Mhz core haha 

[v0id]

3 hours ago, ShrimpBrime said:

Worthless? That depends on the load temps. But the card will only self boost to a certain frequency. 

So with increased power limits, it may still not boost past 1228mhz by it's self.

You should be able to squeeze a cool 100mhz without over-volting. Maybe try 50mhz increments.

 

 

 

 

It will boost by itself to around 1300MHz but settle in around 900MHz for most titles I play, and the highest real world temps I've seen hover around 65C with the GPU usage at 99% for a couple games. So I'm pretty satisfied with what it can do, and frankly with the market the way it is I don't wanna push her anymore than I have to, hence my concern with the high idle clocks. I understand needing a bit more horsepower to drive more displays, but I guess I wasn't prepared for the uptick. I'm just afraid that those clocks might 'wear' down the card faster? Maybe? I don't know, I'm ignorant on this matter.

 

2 hours ago, Motleyguts said:

I wasnt going to get into oc but yeah not too hard to whack +400 to +500 on the memory. I run my Titan X at +120 core, +400 mem with +20 to core voltage. That takes it from 1.16v to 1.18v. Its been balls out since 2015, running it hard to temp limit as well. No complaints yet. Not the best oc'er still... wish it was a 980Ti hehe.

 

If gpus werent so scarce, id shunt mod her and try for 1500Mhz core haha 

Yeah I'm not into OC, don't wanna touch it frankly at this stage with its age and the market so volatile. And honestly I want my clocks to come down if anything, especially at idle. But as you mentioned previously, looks like that ain't going to happen.

 

I'll leave this thread up for a little bit in case anyone else has other ideas on what I can do, or if it's not really harming the card I can just deal with it for as long as the card will chug along. Thanks all.