Question GPU always running at full on games?

[Beach50]

I recently bought a MSI Gaming X GTX 1660ti and noticed on games it would run at max core and memory clocks, even when not needed. This happens on any game such as GTA 5 and CSGO. Lowering settings also does nothing and the CPU is not bottle-necking. Opening applications also seems to max it out for a couple of seconds before returning to idle.

 

[Metal Messiah.]

What are your full PC specs ? List the make and model number of both the Motherboard, as well as Power supply unit/PSU. While gaming it is normal for the core/mem clock speeds to boost, but this shouldn't be happening while opening apps though.

Note the GPU TEMP as well, when this happens. Does the GPU run at max core/mem clock speed, even during IDLE mode, when no apps/programs/games are running ?

 

[Beach50]

Specs are:
MSI B350M Gaming pro (Matx)
Ryzen 5 1500x (OC - 3.7Ghz)(AIO - Runs at 30• under load)
MSI GAMING X GTX 1660ti
EVGA 650w GQ (Gold, Semi-Modular)
240GB Kingston SSD
1TB HDD 7200RPM
2TB HDD 7200RPM
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 2666MHz

When idle the card does not run at full clock, only if an application is opened it will spike for 2 seconds then reduce, but running games it will stay peeked at max clock. (30• idle) (50• load)

 

[Wendigo]

Specs are:
MSI B350M Gaming pro (Matx)
Ryzen 5 1500x (OC - 3.7Ghz)(AIO - Runs at 30• under load)
MSI GAMING X GTX 1660ti
EVGA 650w GQ (Gold, Semi-Modular)
240GB Kingston SSD
1TB HDD 7200RPM
2TB HDD 7200RPM
Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 2666MHz

When idle the card does not run at full clock, only if an application is opened it will spike for 2 seconds then reduce, but running games it will stay peeked at max clock. (30• idle) (50• load)

It looks quite normal. Unless you cap the FPS or have some sort of bottleneck the GPU will push out as much FPS as it can.

 

[TechyInAZ]

Spiking like that is perfectly normal. A GPU is designed to adjust core clocks dozens and dozens of times per second if needed, so there's nothing to worry about.