GPU boot up, clocking up and down

Zeebedy · 26 Aug 2021 at 15:39

Hey guys,

quick question, sometimes from a cold boot (if left overnight say) when I boot into Windows, AfterBurner shows my GPU boosting up and down for 3-4 minutes, then "settles" on a idle state?

Is this just the GPU doing its thing until the system has "warmed up" and settling in?

Jay85 · 26 Aug 2021 at 15:54

Are you running any background startup apps that uses the gpu like live wallpaper etc?

Tetras · 26 Aug 2021 at 15:54

A lot of startup apps use GPU even though they don't look like it.

Alt0153 · 26 Aug 2021 at 15:54

you prob have **** booting up with your pc thats using the card

Zeebedy · 26 Aug 2021 at 15:58

Jay85 said:
Are you running any background startup apps that uses the gpu like live wallpaper etc?

The only apps I have that I have in my taskbar is, Spotify, SteelSeries (for the headset), AfterBurner and GeForce Experience.

Tetras said:
A lot of startup apps use GPU even though they don't look like it.

Ahh OK, didnt realise that.

Alt0153 said:
you prob have **** booting up with your pc thats using the card

Yeah, hopefully its one if the above causing that, aslong as the card is OK though, im not overfussed!

Zeebedy · 26 Aug 2021 at 17:00

Hmm, must be background tasks guys?

Just left my PC for 15 minutes, and came back and the usage was fluxuating for a short period?

Spils · 26 Aug 2021 at 17:24

Zeebedy said:
Hmm, must be background tasks guys?

Just left my PC for 15 minutes, and came back and the usage was fluxuating for a short period?

Open up task manager when windows loads. A while ago it updated to show you gpu usage of tasks. Open up that tab and far right hand field should show which apps are using the GPU.

Zeebedy · 27 Aug 2021 at 15:40

Spils said:
Open up task manager when windows loads. A while ago it updated to show you gpu usage of tasks. Open up that tab and far right hand field should show which apps are using the GPU.

Thanks Spils, I checked today when I booted my machine, and yes, there were Windows processes using a little bit of the GPU..

Thanks dude!

Spils · 29 Aug 2021 at 21:44

Zeebedy said:
Thanks Spils, I checked today when I booted my machine, and yes, there were Windows processes using a little bit of the GPU..

Thanks dude!

No problem mate.

Zeebedy · 14 Sep 2021 at 17:59

Reviving this thread.

Now, sometimes even when I am doing idle / basic tasks my AfterBurner is fluctuating from a low state to :

There is use in the Task Manager, but nothing crazy..

Is this normal, as well as at boot up??

Zeebedy · 14 Sep 2021 at 18:10

Strange, watching the Apple Keynote and the usage is constantly low now? :confused:

Is that just the GPU sensing that when its not doing much, its just doing background stuff like a CPU would do??

Radox-0 · 14 Sep 2021 at 18:21

Is the power usage going up significantly when it goes up and down? I doubt it is and mostly just the clocks and slight increase in power / clocks then settling down. Does happen, opening tabs in browser I see my clocks shoot up then settle fine, even opening explorer seems clock speeds notch up then drop / settle. I would expect the keynote to be fine, its all pretty much settled at that point and nothing significant changing.

TBH sounds fine. Your card drops clocks once things settle. it will increase clock speeds, even with what seems like small changes / background bits, as long as your not seeing power hit the roof, then not an issue IMO.

Zeebedy · 14 Sep 2021 at 19:22

Radox-0 said:
Is the power usage going up significantly when it goes up and down? I doubt it is and mostly just the clocks and slight increase in power / clocks then settling down. Does happen, opening tabs in browser I see my clocks shoot up then settle fine, even opening explorer seems clock speeds notch up then drop / settle. I would expect the keynote to be fine, its all pretty much settled at that point and nothing significant changing.

TBH sounds fine. Your card drops clocks once things settle. it will increase clock speeds, even with what seems like small changes / background bits, as long as your not seeing power hit the roof, then not an issue IMO.

Hi Radox, thanks for the reply.

Yeah, its only after opening or doing something minor. Now and again it will stick at those numbers for a few minutes before settling down, but the power usage and temps dont "go through the roof".

I just checked my AfterBurner settings and during these spikes my Wattage on the card is around 110W and peaks around 335W under high load, eg.. games.

Zeebedy · 14 Sep 2021 at 19:35

Sorry its a bit hard to see, but here are my AB readings, I took a second ago.

Radox-0 · 14 Sep 2021 at 19:42

Zeebedy said:
Hi Radox, thanks for the reply.

Yeah, its only after opening or doing something minor. Now and again it will stick at those numbers for a few minutes before settling down, but the power usage and temps dont "go through the roof".

I just checked my AfterBurner settings and during these spikes my Wattage on the card is around 110W and peaks around 335W under high load, eg.. games.

Yeah looks okay to me. peaking at 100w with light minor tasks is okay and then ramping up to 335w under a heavy 3D load. mine is similar (ignore the constant bit at start, was in a game) but can see later on lots of up and and downs and this is just browsing and replying to this thread. Settles for bits where nothing much changes.

Zeebedy · 14 Sep 2021 at 19:49

@Radox-0 thanks mate for posting your setup diagnostics. I cant seem to get afterburner to like a custom fan curve? Do you have one? Also have you undervolted your GPU too?

Radox-0 · 14 Sep 2021 at 19:55

Zeebedy said:
@Radox-0 thanks mate for posting your setup diagnostics. I cant seem to get afterburner to like a custom fan curve? Do you have one? Also have you undervolted your GPU too?

I did set up custom fans, but was finicky, at the time (when the GPUs came out / start of this year) it only ran at certain speeds so did not work that well for me and since then moved to GPU waterblock so did not invest to much time in custom fans to be able to help.

Yep, undervolted the GPU compared to stock. But do not cut the voltage right down like others to save max power in most games (some games suck down more power so need bigger undervolt). Go for a undervolt + overclock on the core / memory.

Zeebedy · 14 Sep 2021 at 19:57

Radox-0 said:
I did set up custom fans, but was finicky, at the time (when the GPUs came out / start of this year) it only ran at certain speeds so did not work that well for me and since then moved to GPU waterblock so did not invest to much time in custom fans to be able to help.

Yep, undervolted the GPU compared to stock. But do not cut the voltage right down like others to save max power in most games (some games suck down more power so need bigger undervolt). Go for a undervolt + overclock on the core / memory.

Can you give me a guide to your settings?? that would be appreciated. What model 3090 are you rocking also Radox?

Zeebedy · 14 Sep 2021 at 20:19

@Radox-0

deffo a problem here mate, i have been monitoring my Wattage on AB and the Memory is boosting to 9501MHz most the time, and only down-clocking to around 405MHz / 40W~ every so often..?

Im a bit baffled? I wonder if its new new NVIDIA driver I got the other day, as it was fine beforehand tbh.

Radox-0 · 14 Sep 2021 at 20:39

Zeebedy said:
Can you give me a guide to your settings?? that would be appreciated. What model 3090 are you rocking also Radox?

Going to be best to check a guide as no one size fits all, depends on power your trying to save, type of game etc, your silicone lottery, temps etc this thread could be a place to start: 3080 Undervolting | Overclockers UK Forums

For me, I have a number of profiles set up designed to ensure for the game in question I am not hitting my power limit on the FE model which is what causes problems, for most games playing atm, I use 1.0 volt @ 2100Mhz which works fine and means it sips around 300w or so in something like AC Vallhalla.

For more power hungry games, will cut the voltage down as will hit into 400w limit in something like CP2077 at 1v. So usually 0.9v @ 2010mhz or something.

Zeebedy said:
@Radox-0

deffo a problem here mate, i have been monitoring my Wattage on AB and the Memory is boosting to 9501MHz most the time, and only down-clocking to around 405MHz / 40W~ every so often..?

Im a bit baffled? I wonder if its new new NVIDIA driver I got the other day, as it was fine beforehand tbh.

Hmm, could try rolling back, I think your spikes is not massively unusual, but if it was more settled before, could be worth trying. I am not on latest drivers myself, rather on 466.11, so not sure if newer ones have introduced anything more pronounced.