Increased Idle GPU Temp with Dual Monitors...

Kosmiche · 7 Jun 2013 at 13:35

I have recently added a second monitor to my setup, and my idle temp has shot up from around 50c to right now 69c.

I am also using a custom fan profile in msi afterburner as my graphics card fan is very loud at default settings. Its at 45% speed which is loud enough to be a bit annoying...especially at night.

The sunny weather is also playing its part I suppose.

Anything I can do about this, my load temp hasn't changed just the idle is a bit toasty.

Is this normal and is a idle temp of 69c anything to worry about? Its a XFX 6870 1Gb.

Thanks

Mr.Fantastic · 7 Jun 2013 at 14:05

This is caused because the core/memory clocks are bumped up because of using a 2nd monitor so the card needs up the speeds of both clocks, if you are worried about the temps then buy an after-market cooler to drop the temperature.

Five.Stars · 7 Jun 2013 at 14:24

As has been stated, this is normal.

Pretty certain the memory will clock up to full speed and the core will also clock up (although not to full 3d clocks). To do this though, and the reason for the increase in temps is that to run the clocks stable at the voltage also is increased to the full voltage.

As an example (from memory) my 7970 clocks are:

Idle single monitor: 300mhz core/ 150mhz memory @ 0.850V

Idle multi-monitor: 500Mhz core/ 1375mhz memory @ 1.174V

DarkBahamut · 7 Jun 2013 at 22:02

It will be the clock speeds as mentioned above. I have no idea why they force this on us, as it definitely isn't performance issues.

I have the same issue as I run an AV Receiver for my Audio, which counts as a second monitor and thus increases my clocks/temps/noise levels. As I use an AMD card, I use ATT to run manual profiles which I can use to force my card to run down at it's usual 2D speeds even when I have both 'monitors' enabled. As long as you can find an application to do the same for your Nvidia card then you should be able to work around it (Afterburner wouldn't work for me on my 6970).

BluD · 7 Jun 2013 at 22:17

Whats your load temps like?

Simon42 · 7 Jun 2013 at 22:47

After years of Nvidia GPUs I switched to AMD a couple of years back and had just this issue with a dual monitor setup on two different AMD cards no matter which driver version I tried. The same monitors connected to a second PC using an NVidia card was fine.

I've since switched the main PC back to NVidia (GTX670) and increased to 3 x 27" and the clocks remain the same as a single monitor setup, 324MHz core, 162Mhz memory & 0.987v at idle. Maybe I had bad luck with GPU/driver versions but I saw a couple of reviews mentioning higher clocks and voltage on some AMD cards with multi-monitor setups and I've never seen that on any of the NVidia cards I've owned. I was really surprised there could be such a difference.

sadbuttrue · 8 Jun 2013 at 09:34

With AMD the monitors both need to be 60hz and the same resolution of 1080p or lower to maintain idle clocks. You can force lower temps by disabling powerplay in MSI afterburner and creting a separate idle mode underclock. It will still be above the usual idle mode but temps and power load will be much better.