GTX 980ti high idle temp and ram usage

[Lefty the Dingo]

Hello Everyone,

 

I am currently running a system with a ASUS Strix GTX 980 ti inside an NZXT H440 mid-tower case. I'm also using an ASUS PG278Q 144Hz 2560 x 1440 Monitor. This system is only about 2 weeks old, so there is no dust or dirt in the system yet, however, I seem to be having some issues with my GPU. As I type this, my GPU is currently idling at 61°C and the ram is at 3600MHz. I'm no expert, but that seems quite high in ram usage and temperature for just an idle. Also, the ambient temperature around the system is only 24°C. Additionally, all 4 stock fans are running at 100% and the side panel is off. While playing Fallout 4, my GPU climbs to 79-80°C consistently and has throttled once. I don't understand why this is.

[Minsekt]

core should downclock to 135mhz and vram should downclock to 405mhz. but temps are kinda normal with the strix cooler, since its always off until youre actually starting a 3D application.

did you try to reinstall the driver yet? what driver are you using? the newest one? if so, id suggest to roll back to 362.00 since thats the latest stable driver that doesnt cause that much problems like 364. the gpu shouldnt throttle at 80c, throttle starts at 87c or even 91c. 

 

but the pic is kinda pointless since your cpu is on load and the temps arent at idle too, obviously you had someting running in the background while you took that picture. since your min clocks and temps are fine, did you took that pic right after closing fo4? it takes some time to cool down the card again without active cooling.

[done12many2]

You can see that the GPU at idle is actually only running at 135MHz GPU / 405 MHz Mem / 33C under the "MIN" column.  Something is causing it to ramp up to 900+ GPU / 3600 Mem / 61C.  

 

Has your BIOS been flashed or are you using any OC software?  The OC software would still allow the GPU to properly idle at no load, but if you flashed your BIOS there may be a more aggressive ramping behavior going on. 

[Carl2608]

Are you running at 144 Hz with that monitor? I've had issues when at the desktop at 144 Hz with Nvidia cards. Reason being, is that the card thinks, for some reason, it's in a workload with that many frames being pushed, and boosts core clock and RAM clocks. Maybe you could try and set the monitor to 120 Hz? You can do it in the Nvidia Control Panel > Change resolution. 

[Lefty the Dingo]

1 hour ago, Minsekt said:

core should downclock to 135mhz and vram should downclock to 405mhz. but temps are kinda normal with the strix cooler, since its always off until youre actually starting a 3D application.

did you try to reinstall the driver yet? what driver are you using? the newest one? if so, id suggest to roll back to 362.00 since thats the latest stable driver that doesnt cause that much problems like 364. the gpu shouldnt throttle at 80c, throttle starts at 87c or even 91c. 

 

but the pic is kinda pointless since your cpu is on load and the temps arent at idle too, obviously you had someting running in the background while you took that picture. since your min clocks and temps are fine, did you took that pic right after closing fo4? it takes some time to cool down the card again without active cooling.

I currently have the most recent drivers updated on the system. I don't know exactly what temperature it throttled at, because i did not have the CAM software up so i could see, but at the time, the side panel was still on, so i figured it got too hot. At the time I took that picture, I only had Chrome running and the software for the temperatures. My system had only been on for about 30 minutes, for the first time today, and i did not run anything at all before taking that picture. It should be noted that I also currently have a second monitor attached that is an ASUS VE248H 24" 60 Hz. When i am running a game i have my temperature up on the second screen. The reason i mention this is because i left for about 2 hours and the screens went to sleep. When they came back up, the temperature was at 48°C, so maybe 2 monitors is whats causing the issue?

[Lefty the Dingo]

2 hours ago, done12many2 said:

You can see that the GPU at idle is actually only running at 135MHz GPU / 405 MHz Mem / 33C under the "MIN" column.  Something is causing it to ramp up to 900+ GPU / 3600 Mem / 61C.  

 

Has your BIOS been flashed or are you using any OC software?  The OC software would still allow the GPU to properly idle at no load, but if you flashed your BIOS there may be a more aggressive ramping behavior going on. 

I have not flashed the BIOS, nor am I running any OC software. It just sits like this no matter what, even if I shut down all the programs I'm using.

[danrey84]

42 minutes ago, Lefty the Dingo said:

I have not flashed the BIOS, nor am I running any OC software. It just sits like this no matter what, even if I shut down all the programs I'm using.

Have you downloaded Geforce Experience by any chance???

[Simon771]

61°C at idle ... are fans spinning at those temps?

My R9 390 is on 50°C at idle because fans are off untill it reach 55°C.

80°C while gaming ... well not that bad. I would expect it to be on 75°C or under but that's not big difference.

If it will be running on 85°C or more I would start to worry.

[Snadzies]

Seems to be related to 144hz monitors.

Most people say it only happens with their multi monitor setup but a few people have it happen with their single monitor setup as well.

 

http://www.overclock.net/t/1497172/did-you-know-that-running-144-hz-causes-ridiculously-high-idle-temperatures-and-power-draw-on-your-nvidia-gpu/140

 

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/779363/144hz-monitor-your-gpu-will-not-down-clock-high-power-usage/

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/3931g5/980_ti_high_idle_temps_on_144_hz_monitor/

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/nvidia/comments/38vonq/psa_nvidia_users_with_a_high_refresh_rate_monitor/

[Lefty the Dingo]

5 hours ago, danrey84 said:

Have you downloaded Geforce Experience by any chance???

I do have the GeForce experience program, yes.

[Lefty the Dingo]

2 hours ago, Simon771 said:

61°C at idle ... are fans spinning at those temps?

My R9 390 is on 50°C at idle because fans are off untill it reach 55°C.

80°C while gaming ... well not that bad. I would expect it to be on 75°C or under but that's not big difference.

If it will be running on 85°C or more I would start to worry.

Yes, the fans start up at 60°C, and run from there. The good news is it seems the temp never exceeds 80°C at least since I took off the side panel.

[Lefty the Dingo]

UPDATE: I unplugged the second monitor and rebooted the system. Everything is now fine on idle. So that was solved, however, the heat is a bit concerning. I just played Fallout 4 for about 4 hours, and the CPU maxed out at 77°C and the GPU at 79°C. Not really alarming from what my research has shown, although, it wouldn't hurt to have it a bit cooler.

[Simon771]

Well if you want it to run cooler,get water cooling sytem. But it would cost kinda a lot

So fans are not spinning untill it reaches 60°C just like I suspected. Everything okay with that.

 

If you are worried about life span of GPU because running at high temps, get cutom water cooling or something like Kraken G10 + kraken x31/41/61.

[zberry7]

If your 980Ti has a reference board, EVGA also sells the Hybrid kit, it will give you everything you need to turn your card into an EVGA 980Ti Hybrid. Mine doesn't go above 45c with the core overclocked to 1500Mhz 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

9 hours ago, Lefty the Dingo said:

UPDATE: I unplugged the second monitor and rebooted the system. Everything is now fine on idle. So that was solved, however, the heat is a bit concerning. I just played Fallout 4 for about 4 hours, and the CPU maxed out at 77°C and the GPU at 79°C. Not really alarming from what my research has shown, although, it wouldn't hurt to have it a bit cooler.

 

Yeap defenitly that problem. Sadly you won't be getting a fix anytime soon.