Temperature too high at idle

[mpelley92]

I have an MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming 6GB and because of stuttering, throttling and temperature issues, I decided to modify the BIOS using "Maxwell BIOS Tweaker". It was successful, I upped my power limit to 134% and upped my voltage to 1.23 V. I realize with higher voltages, comes higher temperatures, but my idle temps I believe are a little too high.

Ambient: 21 C
Card at idle: Core 1265 MHz, Memory 1984 MHz, 57 C, 1.112 V

This was an issue even before the flash. I was able to modify the fan profile and make it so at idle, my fan speed is around 43%. This problem confuses me, because I thought these "Twin Frozr" coolers were supposed to be efficient. Right now, my card throttles at 88 C, which is nicer than throttling due to power.

I'm thinking that I may have an issue with thermal paste being bad, so I'm going to try and apply some new stuff tomorrow.

As for the temperature issue, is there any way to use Maxwell BIOS Tweaker to down clock the core and memory at idle? I run dual 144 Hz monitors, so that may also be causing the issue of the card not properly idling. I have used Nvidia Inspector in the past force a down clock, but I had so many issues with it that I had to give it up. It would randomly down clock during gaming, which obviously isn't desirable.

I'm not all that familiar with Maxwell BIOS Tweaker. There are some guides I have found from Google, but none of them really explain what I need to change in order to achieve my goal.

I basically want to be able to down clock the card to 300 MHz at idle, and lower the memory at a respective amount, as well as the voltage, so the card isn't consuming a lot of power and can actually run at a lower temperature.

Thanks in advanced to anyone who is able to help.

 

[eidairaman1]

First, fill out your system specifications to include all parts inside the case and their ratings, the case and any fans.

Put the card back to stock bios, replace thermal compound on the gpu die and thermal pads on the ram and vrm circuitry, clean all case fans and gpu fans.

If need be mount a fan near the gpu in your case, whether you need to make a custom mount or not.

Gpu makers put safeguards in for those who don't know what they are doing to prevent bricking the card.

Since you haven't a clue on bios modding I wouldn't do it. See my signature below.


Last but not least replace the gpu with a 1070.

 

[mpelley92]

I appreciate the response. I will put some specifications in my profile.

I'll be replacing the thermal paste tomorrow, we'll see how that helps.

As for everything else, I'm very aware of the possible consequences of my actions. I am comfortable not knowing what I'm doing, and learning, instead of staying ignorant. I had done tons of research before I performed my flash, and everything went smoothly, so I plan on keeping it the same.

I'm just looking for more information on how to further tweak my BIOS in order to achieve idle clocks. To use less power and have lower temperatures, when I'm not doing anything GPU intensive. If you or anyone here is not willing to help with that, please direct me to a forum where I can get some more information.

Thanks.

 

[Vya Domus]

I appreciate the response. I will put some specifications in my profile.

I'll be replacing the thermal paste tomorrow, we'll see how that helps.

As for everything else, I'm very aware of the possible consequences of my actions. I am comfortable not knowing what I'm doing, and learning, instead of staying ignorant. I had done tons of research before I performed my flash, and everything went smoothly, so I plan on keeping it the same.

I'm just looking for more information on how to further tweak my BIOS in order to achieve idle clocks. To use less power and have lower temperatures, when I'm not doing anything GPU intensive. If you or anyone here is not willing to help with that, please direct me to a forum where I can get some more information.

Thanks.

Those temps are clearly because of the high clock speed at idle, whether that's because of the BIOS or something else I don't know. Also that card should not reach 88C , I see no point in continuing this for better overclocks if it throttles.

You can brick your card beyond repair if you toy with these things, you wont see anyone here or anywhere else for that matter encouraging you to do it. So you have the same advice from me : flash the card back to stock , it's plenty fast already.

 

[P4-630]

I'm just looking for more information on how to further tweak my BIOS

GL!

 

[mpelley92]

GL!

Thanks. Hopefully someone here can provide me with some knowledge...

 

[P4-630]

Thanks. Hopefully someone here can provide me with some knowledge...

Nowadays not many people here are taking the risk of flashing their cards, when they do it it's mostly to unlock shaders when possible...

 

[mpelley92]

GL!

Nowadays not many people here are taking the risk of flashing their cards, when they do it it's mostly to unlock shaders when possible...

Totally understandable. Most people just throw the card in and go. I like experimenting with settings and optimizing things, have it run the way I want it to run. I like the idea of being able to modify a BIOS, to me it's extremely fascinating. It's unfortunate that the program did not come with a user manual.

I remember back in the days of the GeForce 8xxx series cards when they were released, they had a "power profile" that you could set up to change how the card performs with different scenarios. I'm surprised there's no way to set up power profiles anymore. Then again, we did have Rivatuner, which was an amazing application for optimizing our video cards.

 

[sneekypeet]

I thought when running dual monitors, the card won't idle as usual. Try disconnecting one monitor and see if temperatures return to expected levels.

 

[P4-630]

I thought when running dual monitors, the card won't idle as usual. Try disconnecting one monitor and see if temperatures return to expected levels.

Just with Maxwell or "older" cards then?
Ok I don't have a Maxwell GPU but my card is running at a low 215/202.5Mhz idle with 2 monitors.

 

[Mussels]

since this was an issue prior to the flash, i'm going to assume its a dusty heatsink (compressed air time!) bad thermal paste (gently scrape the thermal paste off with sandpaper, then jesus christ i'm kidding just replace the paste)

Maybe a pic of your setup with an explanation of your case airflow could help? maybe you're just dumping lots of heat into the GPU from another source.

I thought when running dual monitors, the card won't idle as usual. Try disconnecting one monitor and see if temperatures return to expected levels.

on my 970 its something like 15W power use for 2 monitors - its nowhere near as bad as the older cards. a 980ti will use the same (or even better) tech than a 970, so its going to be very low as well.

 

[sneekypeet]

Just with Maxwell or "older" cards then?
Ok I don't have a Maxwell GPU but my card is running at a low 215/202.5Mhz idle with 2 monitors.

Was my experience with past cards. Thought it was worth a shot.

 

[mpelley92]

I thought when running dual monitors, the card won't idle as usual. Try disconnecting one monitor and see if temperatures return to expected levels.

I thought so as well. With a stock BIOS and a fresh Windows install, my card does the same thing with two monitors attached to it. Let me just disconnect this second monitor...... Huh... It's down to 135/202.5! So, two monitors is definitely the culprit. How do we go about fixing that....

since this was an issue prior to the flash, i'm going to assume its a dusty heatsink (compressed air time!) bad thermal paste (gently scrape the thermal paste off with sandpaper, then jesus christ i'm kidding just replace the paste)

Maybe a pic of your setup with an explanation of your case airflow could help? maybe you're just dumping lots of heat into the GPU from another source.



on my 970 its something like 15W power use for 2 monitors - its nowhere near as bad as the older cards. a 980ti will use the same (or even better) tech than a 970, so its going to be very low as well.

When I take a good look the GPU, there doesn't seem to be any dust. The case is really clean. There's a front dust filter as well. Today I'll have a closer look when I take it apart. Definitely won't be using sandpaper!

I tried taking some pictures, but they don't really do justice (plus I cannot stop shaking my damn hands).

Here's a fancy paint diagram:

 

[sneekypeet]

I thought so as well. With a stock BIOS and a fresh Windows install, my card does the same thing with two monitors attached to it. Let me just disconnect this second monitor...... Huh... It's down to 135/202.5! So, two monitors is definitely the culprit. How do we go about fixing that....

Maybe someone else who has run dual monitors can help out, but as far as I am aware, it has always been an issue and is why I brought it up in the first place. I would see if Mussels or P4-360 can work with you. Maybe it is a simple setting in NVCP, I do not know.

 

[P4-630]

I thought so as well. With a stock BIOS and a fresh Windows install, my card does the same thing with two monitors attached to it. Let me just disconnect this second monitor...... Huh... It's down to 135/202.5! So, two monitors is definitely the culprit. How do we go about fixing that....

When I just got my card I connected my 2 monitors right away and fired it up, clocks were 215/202.5MHz while on the desktop,
I did have some random clock spikes in the beginning for a while though but with later drivers this "hiccup" was gone.
I never changed any settings in the Nvidia control panel.
I have a GTX1070 though.

 

[mpelley92]

When I just got my card I connected my 2 monitors right away and fired it up, clocks were 215/202.5MHz while on the desktop,
I did have some random clock spikes in the beginning for a while though but with later drivers this "hickup" was gone.
I never changed any settings in the Nvidia control panel.
I have a GTX1070 though.

I did the same when I first got my card, but it didn't idle at those low speeds. I'm going to check out the BIOS on your card and see if there is any noticeable difference. You would think on a high end card like the GTX 980 Ti, that they would have those things figured out. I sent MSI a message as well, maybe it's something they overlooked in the latest drivers.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like it's impossible to access GTX 10xx BIOS using that program.

 

[eidairaman1]

I did the same when I first got my card, but it didn't idle at those low speeds. I'm going to check out the BIOS on your card and see if there is any noticeable difference. You would think on a high end card like the GTX 980 Ti, that they would have those things figured out. I sent MSI a message as well, maybe it's something they overlooked in the latest drivers.

Do you use the gpu drivers from MSI or do you go to www.nvidia.com to get them? While you're at it grab the latest motherboard chipset drivers from Intel and look for a newer motherboard bios too.

 

[mpelley92]

Do you use the gpu drivers from MSI or do you go to www.nvidia.com to get them? While you're at it grab the latest motherboard chipset drivers from Intel and look for a newer motherboard bios too.

I'm using the latest ones on the NVidia website as of now. Are you suggesting to try the drivers from the MSI website? I have the latest Gigabyte BIOS for my board, as well as chipset.

 

[eidairaman1]

I'm using the latest ones on the NVidia website as of now. Are you suggesting to try the drivers from the MSI website? I have the latest Gigabyte BIOS for my board, as well as chipset.

I'd say use the driver @P4-630 is using.

If problems continue Contact Nvidia.

 

[P4-630]

I'd say use the driver @P4-630 is using.

Still using 376.33 at the moment, works fine for me.

 

[mpelley92]

Still using 376.33 at the moment, works fine for me.

I'm using 378.66. I just used DDU to cleanly uninstall those and tried the version you are on. Same thing.

You ever notice how newer drivers are really only "Game Ready" drivers and don't seem to actually update anything?

 

[eidairaman1]

I'm using 378.66. I just used DDU to cleanly uninstall those and tried the version you are on. Same thing.

You ever notice how newer drivers are really only "Game Ready" drivers and don't seem to actually update anything?

The name states the obvious, I stick to whql drivers myself.

 

[mpelley92]

The name states the obvious, I stick to whql drivers myself.

All of the Game Ready drivers are WHQL.

 

[mpelley92]

I took apart the GPU, existing thermal paste was a mess. Did my best cleaning around the base of the chip, it was a job to get all of the little bits of stuck on thermal paste. Had to use a toothpick and some isopropyl alcohol. After I put it back together, I ended up getting the same results as before I changed the thermal paste.



Before and after:

 

[Mussels]

new paste job looks quite good