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RTX 2080 perfcap reason idle under load.

necrophagist
By necrophagist
in Graphics Cards
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I have an RTX 2080 and I'm using GPU-Z and the "perfcap reason" always says IDLE until I hit maybe 90-100% GPU usage. Is this normal? I have no problems with performance or clock speeds or temperatures or anything but how can it say idle when it's quite literally not? Of course, when I'm not doing anything (like right now) it says idle; however, when I'm playing a game that's not that demanding or if I use vsync and the GPU isn't at 99% usage, the program says "idle". How can this be? How is 20, 30, 40% usage considered idle? Maybe "idle" in this case means simply "not utilized completely"? Because using pure logic, anything over like 5% is not idle because the GPU is actually doing something. For example, I play Jedi Fallen Order with vsync at 1080p and my GPU usage is always around 60% or less and GPU-Z still says "perfcap reason: IDLE" even though 60% is definitely NOT idle. When I turn off vsync and my GPU usage is maxed out, that "IDLE" changes to "Pwr", which is I think is just a normal sign that the GPU is getting the maximum amount of power it's allowed to get. Is this behavior normal? I've also checked Hwmonitor and the utilization limit is at "1" until GPU usage is almost maxed out and that's when the Power Limit switches to "1" from "0" and at the same time, GPU-Z changes its perfcap reason from IDLE to PWR, so both programs are detecting the same thing at the same time. 

My main question is: Is it normal for GPU-Z to say that my GPU is idle even when it's under mild load such as 20-60%?

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Yes. Perfcap is reporting why your performance is capped or limited. It can be limited because it's too hot or is running out or memory or whatever. IDLE just means that nothing is limiting the performance so, as the man said, don't worry, be happy

5950X/3080Ti primary rig  |  1920X/1070Ti Unraid for dockers  |  200TB TrueNAS w/ 1:1 backup

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3 hours ago, OddOod said:

Yes. Perfcap is reporting why your performance is capped or limited. It can be limited because it's too hot or is running out or memory or whatever. IDLE just means that nothing is limiting the performance so, as the man said, don't worry, be happy

Let me get this straight, "IDLE" doesn't mean that my GPU is not doing anything, but that it's simply not being pushed hard?? Even if I'm at like 50% GPU usage? Does GPU-Z do the same thing on your computer? 
 

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Yup. Idle is the "there is no problem" state. It's just cruisin. Ideally even when you slam your card it would be at idle, but that's impossible unless you have a friend sitting there feeding it liquid nitrogen while you game

5950X/3080Ti primary rig  |  1920X/1070Ti Unraid for dockers  |  200TB TrueNAS w/ 1:1 backup

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13 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Yup. Idle is the "there is no problem" state. It's just cruisin. Ideally even when you slam your card it would be at idle, but that's impossible unless you have a friend sitting there feeding it liquid nitrogen while you game

Thank you! I finally completely understand.

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