1070 will not idle

[Godryc]

I'm having an issue where my 1070 (Asus Strix will no longer idle below 911MHz (clock) and 4007MHz (Memory).
 

I have attempted:

- Googling the issue (most users reporting the issue were able to resolve the problem after uninstalling this program or that, none of which I have installed to begin with)
- changed the Power Managment Mode in nvidia control panel from "Optimal" to "Adaptive"

- Un/Re-installing Asus Gpu Tweak II

- Installing/ Unistalling the newest version of Asus PGU Tweak II

- Installing/ Uninstalling MSI Afterburner

- Updated to the latest nvidia drivers
- set both my monitors from 144Hz to 60Hz
- disabled secondary monitor and ran only 1 monitor at 60Hz

- Performed two clean installations of the nvidia drivers in safe mode using DDU from guru3d

- attempted to change the Performance Level from P0 to P2, P5 and P8 using nvidia Inspector (setting P-State does not apply however, it remains at P0)
 

I'm about to pull out my hair as I do not understand what is causing this or how to fix it. Any help would be appreciated!

[pavichokche]

Try closing any program(s) that are using Hardware acceleration (internet browsers, video players, even Discord by default). Then also kill ApplicationFrameHost.exe from the task manager if it is running (it manages all the windows 10 apps, so if any are running it will close them).

 

Also Optimal is better than Adaptive for keeping the GPU at a lower power state.

[Godryc]

34 minutes ago, Top Cat said:

Try closing any program(s) that are using Hardware acceleration (internet browsers, video players, even Discord by default). Then also kill ApplicationFrameHost.exe from the task manager if it is running (it manages all the windows 10 apps, so if any are running it will close them).

 

Also Optimal is better than Adaptive for keeping the GPU at a lower power state.

I should have added that as part of my troubleshooting process so far. The only thing I haven't done is kill the process you mentioned. In addition to the things you mentioned I have also tried disabling Geforce Overlay and Streaming.

Some of the forums I have read suggested to set Adaptive in NV Control Panel instead of Optimal. I figured default Optimal would be better, so thank you for confirming that!

I'm attaching a screenshot of NV Inspector. It is curious how it will not allow me to change the Performance level from P0 to P2 after applying the setting.

 

Spoiler

 

[pavichokche]

I would recommend downloading Process Explorer. You can add GPU usage and GPU memory usage information per process, and sort by it. I usually sort by 'GPU Commited Bytes' since some applications don't show up in some of the other columns. This application helped me pinpoint the last troublemakers when my GPU was having unwanted power state behaviour.

 

Oh you could also upgrade to the Windows 10 Fall Update and use the task manager (I just did that and it's pretty cool), although the tool I mentioned above might still be showing more info.

 

 

[Godryc]

I intuit the issue is a setting, registry or something written directly to the issue. I've pretty much ruled out that there is a process keeping my GPU clocks locked by attempting to reset the Performance Level in NV Inspector. The fact that I am unable to change the Performance Level from a P0 to anything lower tells me there is something else going on and is keeping my GPU locked at a permanent CUDA P0 level. I'll check on the Fall update though so I can verify with certainty and rule that out as the culprit. That 3rd party tool you mentioned seem nifty but seems to have a steep learning curve. I'll look into that further this weekend if I haven't been able to resolve the issue by then.

[pavichokche]

No no, Process Explorer is basically task manager but it can show you extra columns. It's super simple, has no learning curve!

 

I know it's a long shot, but did you try the Link State Power Management option in the advanced power settings in the 'Edit Plan Settings' for your current plan in windows?

[Godryc]

30 minutes ago, Top Cat said:

No no, Process Explorer is basically task manager but it can show you extra columns. It's super simple, has no learning curve!

 

I know it's a long shot, but did you try the Link State Power Management option in the advanced power settings in the 'Edit Plan Settings' for your current plan in windows?

Hmmm... I can't see where in Process Explorer the GPU monitor is, nor how to add it manually. I'll take another look.

I just tried the PCI setting, it did not change the clocks.

Something got "hardwritten" somewhere, there has to be some corresponding ini file or a registry entry I can tweak.

EDIT: Yeah, I can't figure out how to see the GPU Performance nor how to add it:

 

Spoiler

I might just wait for the forced Fall update to complete. Not a huge deal as my suspicion is it has nothing to do with a background app anyway. Then again I might have to come back and eat my words, lol!

[Godryc]

Update: After being able to see the GPU performance using the new W10 task manager, it is verified that there is not an app forcing the GPU to run at higher than what is considered normal at 'idle'.

PS: I am rapidly running out of hair to pull out. The idea of reinstalling Windows has crossed my mind, but, UGH.

[pavichokche]

Go into the 'Process GPU' tab and enable all items. I would still trust Process Explorer to give you more info, since it shows memory usage as well.

[Godryc]

Found the GPU setting in Process Explorer, thank you for that! It did not show anything out of the ordinary, ie, no app or program that should be causing the GPU to clock up.

[pavichokche]

But which ones are? Can you sort by that memory consumption thing I mentioned earlier and take a screenshot?

When I was having these issues, I literally had the Windows 10 Setting app and/or the CALCULATOR cause issues. It's because APPARENTLY the windows 10 apps use hardware acceleration...

[Godryc]

29 minutes ago, Top Cat said:

But which ones are? Can you sort by that memory consumption thing I mentioned earlier and take a screenshot?

When I was having these issues, I literally had the Windows 10 Setting app and/or the CALCULATOR cause issues. It's because APPARENTLY the windows 10 apps use hardware acceleration...

You have no idea how much I appreciate your continued help with this!

Here's a screenshot (note the System monitor gadget in the lower right):

 

Spoiler

 

[pavichokche]

9 minutes ago, Godryc said:

You have no idea how much I appreciate your continued help with this!

Here's a screenshot (note the System monitor gadget in the lower right):

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Haha no worries, it would be great if we can solve this. I had a similar issue with my GPU which is still more or less unresolved, I just know how to work around it.

 

I would try closing the search ui too, I feel like that may have been one of the things that was triggering my GPU...

 

Also did you try this:

"1.Go to shadow play overlay
2. Hit the spoke wheels
3. go down to "privacy controll"
4. Select NO"

[Godryc]

27 minutes ago, Top Cat said:

Haha no worries, it would be great if we can solve this. I had a similar issue with my GPU which is still more or less unresolved, I just know how to work around it.

 

I would try closing the search ui too, I feel like that may have been one of the things that was triggering my GPU...

 

Also did you try this:

"1.Go to shadow play overlay
2. Hit the spoke wheels
3. go down to "privacy controll"
4. Select NO"

I sure did try that as one my very first troubleshooting steps. I also tried uninstalling geforce altogether. Sorry I forgot to mention that in the OP.

[pavichokche]

Have you tried installing a different version of the Nvidia drivers? I would uninstall Nvidia entirely, do a reboot (Windows will grab some drivers on its own then), then go and grab some random drivers from like a month ago. Just drivers, without geforce experience.

Oh and also the Asus overclocking utility (for the GPU) should not be installed either while debugging this, to eliminate extra variables.

[Simon771]

Too lazy to read everything.

My GTX 1070 would also idle, but ever since I plugged TV to my GPU aswell, it won't ever go below 1600MHz core frequency.

 

The problem is because you have more monitors plugged in.

Unplug one, and see if your GPU will start idling then.

[pavichokche]

3 minutes ago, Simon771 said:

Too lazy to read everything.

My GTX 1070 would also idle, but ever since I plugged TV to my GPU aswell, it won't ever go below 1600MHz core frequency.

 

The problem is because you have more monitors plugged in.

Unplug one, and see if your GPU will start idling then.

OP said in his 1st post that he already tried disabling his second monitor (not that many). Also that's a shitty bandaid, not a solution.

[Simon771]

2 minutes ago, Top Cat said:

OP said in his 1st post that he already tried disabling his second monitor (not that many). Also that's a shitty bandaid, not a solution.

I'm not quiet sure what "disabling" monitor means.

I have to unplug my HDMI grom GPU and restart my PC if I want my GPU to idle.

 

Trust me, I know that's not a solution ... and I still haven't found any good solution for my problem with this. I just gave up and let GPU run at 1600MHz all the time.

[pavichokche]

Just now, Simon771 said:

I'm not quiet sure what "disabling" monitor means.

I have to unplug my HDMI grom GPU and restart my PC if I want my GPU to idle.

 

Trust me, I know that's not a solution ... and I still haven't found any good solution for my problem with this. I just gave up and let GPU run at 1600MHz all the time.

How long has that been going on for?

[Simon771]

1 minute ago, Top Cat said:

How long has that been going on for?

For about 2 months now.

There was some option in nvidia control panel or nvidia inspector, to set P state ... GPU would idle yeah ... but my games became very laggy, so I simply stopped looking for solution.

[pavichokche]

Just now, Simon771 said:

For about 2 months now.

There was some option in nvidia control panel or nvidia inspector, to set P state ... GPU would idle yeah ... but my games became very laggy, so I simply stopped looking for solution.

So your problem seems to be somehow different, since OP's GPU is refusing to switch P states through Nvidia inspector.

It seems online most people who get these issues solve them with different Nvidia drivers, it's just concerning that over 2 months there hasn't been an update to fix yours...I hope what I suggested for OP works since his bug might be different.

[Frankenburger]

Have you tried enabling the Multi Display Power Saver feature from within Inspector?

 

http://pcgamesbeat.blogspot.com/2012/08/enable-power-saving-mode-on-nvidia-gpus.html

[Godryc]

I feel a bit stupid now but I suppose I should not merely disabled the second monitor via settings but I should have physically unplugged the monitor. Because after reading the new replies I did just that and it worked. GPU will downclock if the second monitor is unplugged. It's just odd that it seemingly happened out of the blue, I had been running a dual monitor setup for several months now without any hiccups.
 

22 minutes ago, Frankenburger said:

Have you tried enabling the Multi Display Power Saver feature from within Inspector?

 

http://pcgamesbeat.blogspot.com/2012/08/enable-power-saving-mode-on-nvidia-gpus.html

That does seem to help. My GPU just downclocked for the first time in days simply by enabling this option. However, now my GPU won't clock up when running a game. I'll have to play around with those settings a bit and report back with my results. It is interesting to note that I ran with a dual monitor setup for several months without this issue occuring.

[Godryc]

Reporting back after having played around with the Multi Display Power Saver feature from within Inspector for a bit, it seems to be a bit of a bandaid fix as the clocks won't clock themselves UP properly. Typically the clocks will be set at 608MHz while gaming and then shoot up to ~1868MHz from time to time for ~ 2 sec at a time before dropping back down to 608MHz resulting a very laggy and stuttery game experience. I'll fiddle with the thresholds a bit to see if that helps.

[Frankenburger]

22 minutes ago, Godryc said:

Reporting back after having played around with the Multi Display Power Saver feature from within Inspector for a bit, it seems to be a bit of a bandaid fix as the clocks won't clock themselves UP properly. Typically the clocks will be set at 608MHz while gaming and then shoot up to ~1868MHz from time to time for ~ 2 sec at a time before dropping back down to 608MHz resulting a very laggy and stuttery game experience. I'll fiddle with the thresholds a bit to see if that helps.

Inspector's Multi Display Power Saver feature is a bit tricky to work with. I stopped using it because it would make my primary display freak out when trying to run at 144hz on the desktop. I can only assume the higher power state with multiple monitors is intended for stability reasons.

 

Regardless, you should be able to add game .exe's as an exception to help the power state from bouncing around in games if messing with the threshold doesn't yield positive results.