AMD has finally fixed the vRAM running at high speed/3d clocks with high refresh rate monitors

[Mussels]

This is a hardware thing, and it's related to the bandwidth your monitors user over your HDMI/displayport connection

I play around with a lot of monitor overclocking and once you pass certain thresholds the GPU's either need to clock up, or you get visual artifacting.
Nvidia and AMD over time raise these limits to avoid issues as monitor tech progresses so my 3090 can handle 2x 1440p 165Hz fine, while my GTX 1080 clocks up

Summary: lower your refresh rates. Often 144Hz idles while 165Hz doesnt, or use 120Hz vs 144.


Sometimes drivers raise the clocks when they detect certain situations to try and resolve bugs, especially with DP->VGA/HDMI converters

 

[DoLlyBirD]

Unless the VRAM running at normal speeds with 22.5.2 is a bug, not a feature, and AMD "corrected" it in 22.6.1 (I hope not).

vRam on most drivers will run at full 3d clocks with a high refresh monitor even in desktop mode when it should downclock, apart from the 22.5.2 driver you have to go back to 2019 to find a driver that works the way it should, it's definitely an issue, as soon as I uninstalled 22.6.1 and reinstalled 22.5.2 I could run 165hz at low clocks again

 

[izy]

I had the same problem with my old rx 580 when overclocking my monitor at 75hz (DVI), i dont know if this bug has been fixed too as i do not have that monitor anymore and my rx 580 is sitting in the storeroom.As far as i know the problem was that AMD cards couldnt keep vram in idle with non standard monitor timings.

 

[Bomby569]

I had this problem with my rx5700, it took them what like 4/5 years. Good job AMD.

anyway i went with the other solution, changed to Nvidia, solved.

 

[DoLlyBirD]

This is a hardware thing, and it's related to the bandwidth your monitors user over your HDMI/displayport connection

I play around with a lot of monitor overclocking and once you pass certain thresholds the GPU's either need to clock up, or you get visual artifacting.
Nvidia and AMD over time raise these limits to avoid issues as monitor tech progresses so my 3090 can handle 2x 1440p 165Hz fine, while my GTX 1080 clocks up

Summary: lower your refresh rates. Often 144Hz idles while 165Hz doesnt, or use 120Hz vs 144.


Sometimes drivers raise the clocks when they detect certain situations to try and resolve bugs, especially with DP->VGA/HDMI converters

Whilst true, it's more of a problem on AMD than Nvidia, and anything over 100hz in my situation means full 3d clocks and is unacceptable, if it can work properly with a certain driver and be reproduced then it's a driver problem and nothing to do with bandwidth or specific monitor in this case

 

[Bomby569]

I kept the exact same monitor, same cable, same PC, changed to Nvidia, and the problem was solved instantly, so no it's not a monitor issue or cable issue, or any other issue besides AMD drivers. Because as he can see it wasn't even a AMD gpu (hardware) issue. But lot's of AMD fans kept insisting on this and i guess they will insist it's all but the obvious until the end of days.

 

[Mussels]

Whilst true, it's more of a problem on AMD than Nvidia, and anything over 100hz in my situation means full 3d clocks and is unacceptable, if it can work properly with a certain driver and be reproduced then it's a driver problem and nothing to do with bandwidth or specific monitor in this case

The driver problem is to fix issues that other people are experiencing with similar hardware - like with the example of DP to HDMI converters.

Native DP-DP seems to be the most reliable way to keep clocks down

 

[DoLlyBirD]

The driver problem is to fix issues that other people are experiencing with similar hardware - like with the example of DP to HDMI converters.

Native DP-DP seems to be the most reliable way to keep clocks down

I am running native dp no adaptors, I've experienced this on multiple monitors and AMD graphics cards as many others have for years, there can be issues with adaptors and certain configurations of course but this is a long standing problem with AMD regardless of other factors that Nvidia doesn't have as frequently

 

[noel_fs]

i have it, im on rx 6800, samsung qn90a 4k@120hz

just makes me run away from amd, giving me ptsd from UVD bug

like why wont the fix a fucking bug that ruins the fucking product, imagine drawing 50w 24/7 for no fucking reason

 

[Athlonite]

Yeah not fixed here either Sapphire Nitro+ RX6800 OC + AOC 24G2 1080p 144Hz IPS monitor still shows 2000MHz Vram speed even just sitting on the desktop

 

[Lew Zealand]

VRAM speeds at desktop idle with the most recent drivers. DDU'd and fresh installed on 5600XT as was testing along with a 1080, and upgraded with clean install/factory reset on 6600XT. BTW in my games that have a built-in benchmark (about eight 2015-21 games) the 1080 is 0-10% faster than the 5600XT (avg about 7%) with both cards running fastest 100% stable settings that I actually use in-games.

5600XT
60, 120Hz: VRAM lo
75, 90, 144Hz: VRAM HI

6600XT
VRAM lo at all refresh rates

So the 5600XT's VRAM still doesn't 'like' the 'unusual' speeds of 75, 90, and 144. Even tho my kids have 75Hz monitors and 144Hz is the standard for entry-level HRR.

 

[Space Lynx]

Yeah not fixed here either Sapphire Nitro+ RX6800 OC + AOC 24G2 1080p 144Hz IPS monitor still shows 2000MHz Vram speed even just sitting on the desktop

View attachment 261414

Did you pick the "clean install" "factory reset" options during the AMD driver install process?

 

[steen]

Those with VRAM not downclocking on idle might try setting the VRAM clock manually 5-10MHz above/below default clock in the OC panel. It then seems to downclock VRAM properly.

 

[Mussels]

It's never going to get fixed on certain series of cards, because those cards need the higher bandwidth to prevent issues with certain monitor setups
The "fix" applied in the driver was that cards that did NOT need the higher clocks, no long received them.


You can run lower refresh rates, tweak the clocks in the AMD panel, or create custom refresh rates to find what works on your setup - this stuff happens to Nvidia users as well, and generally only newer hardware can fix it permanently.

 

[Athlonite]

Those with VRAM not downclocking on idle might try setting the VRAM clock manually 5-10MHz above/below default clock in the OC panel. It then seems to downclock VRAM properly.

yeah nope doesn't work here

 

[Lapx]

Hi

2 months later, is the problem still there?

I had 2 bad experiences at AMD in over 10 years, an RX 290X that literally stopped working (died) and after several years at NVIDIA I decided to try AMD again with the RX 5700 XT ( almost 3 years ago now) and I quickly realized that there was a problem with the VRAM on the desktop (high speed).

Message to AMD support, response: This is completely normal behavior...

I sent the card back to return to NVIDIA again.
Now I see that the problem still exists but with some improvements

Today I have 2 FULL HD 144hz DP and 240hz DP screens, do you think the problem will reappear if I decide to try AMD for the 3rd time with the RX 6950 XT card?

Sry for my english.
Thanks

 

[B_Bang]

Wish they'd fix the horrendous driver control panel performance, constantly crashing, taking ages to switch from one tab to another, corrupting saved profiles for no reason... the cards are good but the software, man. Thankfully someone was bright enough to add an option to install just the drivers and skip all the bloatware.

Can't say I've ever had tthis Iissue, using AMD on 33 different rigs for years. From 5x580 to 5700xt and now 6700xt and 6600.

As a former technician I'd suggestt you might have faulty memory or corrupt windows. At the very least run a memtest or get your machine diagnosed. I'd check corruption first though run sfc see link below.

How to Repair Corrupted Windows System Files with the SFC and DISM Commands

You should try to fix the problem before you nuke your Windows installation.

www.howtogeek.com

Crystal disk info to check drive health (if it's anything other than green you need to replace it).

Download

[2025/04/05] CrystalMark Retro 2.0.2 – Manual / History Installer: Standard Edition Aoi Edition ZIP： Standard Edition for 9x for NT Aoi Edition Aoi for 9x Aoi for NT Source Code Standard Edition Aoi Edition [2025/03/11] CrystalDiskInfo 9.6.3 – Manual / History Aoi Edition 4 themes / 43M...

crystalmark.info

Memtest below, Guide then download link.

How to Test PC RAM with MemTest86: CD, DVD, and USB

Find errors with your PC memory with this guide Unreliable RAM, or random-access memory, can lead to a variety of problems with your computer, including corrupted data, crashes, and strange, unexplained behaviour. Having flawed or damaged...

www.wikihow.com

https://www.memtest.org/download/v6.00/mt86plus_6.00_USB_Installer.exe

 

[Steevo]

I personally have no issue with the control panel, but the driver itself... *sigh*

It would all be nice if everything worked all the time, but there's always something to tarnish the otherwise great experience of owning an AMD card. I had a 5700 XT that I sold about a year ago because it kept crashing with "the driver didn't respond and reset itself" messages that were quite common on the 5700 series, unfortunately. Now I have a 6500 XT which, despite all the hate it gets, is not a bad card. It plays the games that I want at decent framerates, and is super silent... it's just that the driver sometimes decides that it should be even more silent by not turning the fan on when I'm on an OC profile. It was freaky as hell when the card nearly overheated after 5 minutes of ME: Andromeda the other day with fans at 0 rpm... on an unmodified fan profile!

AMD software engineers should focus on making things just simply work instead of overcomplicating unnecessary things.

I want my god damn video control panel back.

 

[Kapone33]

I am running native dp no adaptors, I've experienced this on multiple monitors and AMD graphics cards as many others have for years, there can be issues with adaptors and certain configurations of course but this is a long standing problem with AMD regardless of other factors that Nvidia doesn't have as frequently

This issue can even be with Cables especially on DP. That can give you a myriad of issues that are not always the GPU driver but sometimes a Windows Update can effect it too. I find it most happens with High Resolutions combined with high refresh rates. I was shocked when I saw how much power an OLED pulls vs an LCD LED.