GPU Clock Speed Fluctuating While Gaming

[camason86]

Is it normal for GPU clock speed to fluctuate while gaming?

I'm running a GTX 980 SC which has a boost clock of 1366 MHz. It'll hit 1366 but then drop down to anything from 1000-1200 and eventually go back up to 1366. It's intermittent and just seems to jump around for no apparent reason.

I keep the temps between 55-65 degrees, sometimes low 70s under heavy load.

There are times that the clock speed dips when I'd expect it to, like during a loading screen in a game. But it happens during regular gameplay when the full clock speeds have already been reached.

 

[bystander]

This is likely normal. Nvidia has a Power Management setting, that allows their GPU's to conserve power by reducing the clock speeds when full speed isn't needed. You can set it to Maximum performance so it does not do this. You may also find that there is another power settings, that you can set with OC tools, that can effect how high the clocks boost based on how much power is being consumed.