New GTX970 won't "sleep" when not used

[Worldinc]

Hi everyone,

 

I've had an EVGA GTX 970 SSC (3975) for over a year now and that one works fine. When not used (browsing, on the desktop, etc), it overs around 135Mhz as core clock, memory at 324Mhz, fans are off, power consumption is around 7% and voltage is at 0.86V. BIOS version is 84.04.31.00.70.

 

My problem is with the new EVGA GTX 970 SSC (3975) I installed yesterday to get SLI. This one, while the other "sleeps" stays relatively high. Core clock stays around 963Mhz, memory at 3506Mhz, fans are on (260rpm), power consumption is at 22% and voltage is at 1.006V. It never goes lower than that. BIOS version is 84.04.36.00.72.

 

The cards are not overclocked. I just booted my computer since shutting it down last night, monitoring window is fresh. See the GPU-Z screenshots attached for each card.

 

Any advice to make the new card behave like my old one does is really appreciated.

 

Worldinc

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Are u running a 144hz/gsync display? 

[Worldinc]

Yes, bought a PG279Q at the same time as the card, so 165Hz G-SYNC monitor yes.

[Worldinc]

That's it Pohernori, I tried 60Hz and all the values drop to "sleep" mode, like the other card. I guess I need to get used to that....:(

Thanks mate

[don_svetlio]

5 minutes ago, Worldinc said:

Yes, bought a PG279Q at the same time as the card, so 165Hz G-SYNC monitor yes.

That's the reason. Nvidia drivers force max clockspeed when above 120Hz

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

3 minutes ago, Worldinc said:

That's it Pohernori, I tried 60Hz and all the values drop to "sleep" mode, like the other card. I guess I need to get used to that....:(

Thanks mate

 

Yes unfortunately, its some hardware issue. The problem actually already existed in the previous generation cards. 

http://www.pcper.com/news/Graphics-Cards/Testing-GPU-Power-Draw-Increased-Refresh-Rates-using-ASUS-PG279Q

PCper tested this issue, you might wanna have a read. 

 

Nvidia did try to fix it, but it only worked on peeps running one monitor and one GPU. But You could go up to 120hz most likely and not have a significant power draw increase.