GTX260 not lowering clocks in idle

[fleshconsumed]

Like the topic says I've got a problem: my brand new spanking EVGA 260 GTX SC 55nm does not lower clocks in idle mode. In theory GTX260 is supposed to lower clocks down to 300GPU/600Shader/100Memory in idle, however mine is always running at full speed.

I tried going into rivatuner and manually setting 2D speeds, but the controls are grayed out for Performance 2D and Idle 2D modes. The only one I can change is 3D mode, and that's kind of useless in my situations.

My PC specs:
Abit IP35Pro/8GB Ram
Vista 64bit Ultimate
nVidia drivers 181.22
PCIE slot #1: EVGA GTX260 SC 55nm with two 24" monitors connected
PCIE slot #2: XFX 8500GT with one 24" monitor connected, but turned off via windows settings 99% of the time



Does anyone has any suggestions on how to fix this?

 

[alcoholbob]

Happens to me all the time after I do any gaming it NEVER throttles down again.

Also, some "background" apps will kick it into 3d mode, I believe Steam is one.

 

[toyota]

yes this happens with the 181.22 drivers after gaming. get the new 185.06 drivers as they supposedly fix this not to mention the better performance in several games.

 

[fleshconsumed]

OK, did some googling. Apparently it can be caused by some applications ranging from firefox plugins to itunes, and it is also caused by having dual screens. I just tested clocks right after boot up and the card still clocked at 3D speeds, I disabled all monitors but one and it worked, it shifted into 2D mode down to 300MHz.

Joy. nVidia cannot get the drivers straight. I specifically chose GTX260 over 4870 because of lower idle power consumption and thus lower heat.

toyota
Where did you get 185.06? Did you mean 182.06 or 185.20 beta? Because I cannot find any references to 185.06 on guru3d.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
OK, did some googling. Apparently it can be caused by some applications ranging from firefox plugins to itunes, and it is also caused by having dual screens. I just tested clocks right after boot up and the card still clocked at 3D speeds, I disabled all monitors but one and it worked, it shifted into 2D mode down to 300MHz.

Joy. nVidia cannot get the drivers straight. I specifically chose GTX260 over 4870 because of lower idle power consumption and thus lower heat.

toyota
Where did you get 185.06? Did you mean 182.06 or 185.20 beta? Because I cannot find any references to 185.06 on guru3d.

yeah I meant 182.06 and they are right there on the Nvidia site.

 

[MBrown]

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
OK, did some googling. Apparently it can be caused by some applications ranging from firefox plugins to itunes, and it is also caused by having dual screens. I just tested clocks right after boot up and the card still clocked at 3D speeds, I disabled all monitors but one and it worked, it shifted into 2D mode down to 300MHz.

Joy. nVidia cannot get the drivers straight. I specifically chose GTX260 over 4870 because of lower idle power consumption and thus lower heat.

toyota
Where did you get 185.06? Did you mean 182.06 or 185.20 beta? Because I cannot find any references to 185.06 on guru3d.

yeah I meant 182.06 and they are right there on the Nvidia site.

Doesn't fix that problem for me.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Originally posted by: MBrown

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
OK, did some googling. Apparently it can be caused by some applications ranging from firefox plugins to itunes, and it is also caused by having dual screens. I just tested clocks right after boot up and the card still clocked at 3D speeds, I disabled all monitors but one and it worked, it shifted into 2D mode down to 300MHz.

Joy. nVidia cannot get the drivers straight. I specifically chose GTX260 over 4870 because of lower idle power consumption and thus lower heat.

toyota
Where did you get 185.06? Did you mean 182.06 or 185.20 beta? Because I cannot find any references to 185.06 on guru3d.

yeah I meant 182.06 and they are right there on the Nvidia site.

Doesn't fix that problem for me.

Yep, installed them not 5 minutes ago, do not solve the problem.

Funny enough, if I enable one monitor connected to GTX260 and one monitor connected to 8500GT, instead of two monitors on GTX260, the GTX260 downclocks just fine. Unfortunately in such configuration fps in any game I play are cut in half, so that's not a solution either.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed

Originally posted by: MBrown

Originally posted by: toyota

Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
OK, did some googling. Apparently it can be caused by some applications ranging from firefox plugins to itunes, and it is also caused by having dual screens. I just tested clocks right after boot up and the card still clocked at 3D speeds, I disabled all monitors but one and it worked, it shifted into 2D mode down to 300MHz.

Joy. nVidia cannot get the drivers straight. I specifically chose GTX260 over 4870 because of lower idle power consumption and thus lower heat.

toyota
Where did you get 185.06? Did you mean 182.06 or 185.20 beta? Because I cannot find any references to 185.06 on guru3d.

yeah I meant 182.06 and they are right there on the Nvidia site.

Doesn't fix that problem for me.

Yep, installed them not 5 minutes ago, do not solve the problem.

Funny enough, if I enable one monitor connected to GTX260 and one monitor connected to 8500GT, instead of two monitors on GTX260, the GTX260 downclocks just fine. Unfortunately in such configuration fps in any game I play are cut in half, so that's not a solution either.

I just installed the 182.06 drivers and I now downclock just fine after a 3d app. your issue must have something to do with your monitor set up then.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Yeah, dual monitors won't let GTX260 downclock.

I tried the following setup again
GTX260 Monitor 1 Enabled
GTX260 Monitor 2 Disabled
8500GT Monitor 3 Enabled

And it seems to work fine. I tried this very same setup some time ago and it would cut my FPS in games in half, however now it seems to work fine. As a workaround that's fine, but I really wish nVidia would fix their drivers.


Also I noticed Remote Desktop will kick videocard into 3D mode as well. Sucks since I like to maintain remote desktop connection to one of other computers.

 

[alcoholbob]

Video playback for me kicks the 3D mode on even with CoreAVC codec which is a CPU software decoder. Quiet annoying. The only thing that seems to not throttle it to full gear is Vista Ultimate video wallpaper which only kicks it up to low power 3d.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Well crap, the latest configuration still fucks up my fps in certain games. There is a 4 year old game where my fps drop to teens on certain maps with lots of action involved, all because of the second monitor on 8500. I'll keep fiddling with the options, but this is all very frustrating.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Man, I just can't win here.

I've discovered that I can create custom profiles in RivaTuner, and create shortcuts to them on desktop. So I created two shortcuts to two profiles, 2D profile with card permanently downclocked to 2D speeds and 3D profile. My intention was to activate 3D profile before playing games and switch back to 2D profile afterwards.

The problem is that simply downclocking card doesn't make much difference in temperature because the card still supplies 3D voltage to the chip. In true 2D mode I idle at 55 degrees celsius, in 3D mode I idle at around 64 degrees celsius. Downclocking card to 2D speeds without card switching to 2D mode and voltages only brings reduction of 2 degrees at most, so I still idle at 61-62 degrees.


I just can't win here. Stupid nvidia, fix you drivers dammit.