GTX 970 ACX2.0 Clock issues!

[AaronW95]

CPU: AMD FX8320 OC'D TO 4.0GHZ- HYPER 103 COOLER
GPU: EVGA GTX 970 ACX2.0 SC EDITION
MOBO: GIGABYTE 78LMT-USB3 REV 5.0
RAM: 8GB HYPERX
CASE: ZALMAN Z11 PLUS
PSU: ZALMAN PSZ-660XT 660W

Basically, I play a game (any game) and my clocks speeds will hit 3505Mhz (GPU) then around 20 minutes in they'll drop to 3004Mhz. It won't let me overclock it either. But if I reboot my computer, it'll go back up to 3505Mhz. If I stay on the desktop(after a reboot) it'll remain at 3505Mhz but when I play a game for around 20mins it will instantly drop to 3004Mhz. It's as if it's locked, not too sure what I can do, really struggling as to what this is...

 

[AaronW95]

Yeah, I know your pain with reinstalling everything. I mean... Try changing your global settings in nvidia control panel, change the power management section to maximum performance and also change windows power settings as well. Attach some images using MSI afterburner with GPU usage, clock speeds and FPS. If its anything like mine if you restart your computer and go on a game it should be clocking at 3500 until around 5-10 minutes in the game then it'll drop. Get back to me, we can try more steps if these don't work. Also list your specs, it'd help a lot.

 

[Johnnie Butters]

Well ill say 70c is very hot, I have two 970s and when the top one was at 71c, it was bottlenecking like crazy. Unplayable with games. You should try to keep the card below 60c.

 

[AaronW95]

Well ill say 70c is very hot, I have two 970s and when the top one was at 71c, it was bottlenecking like crazy. Unplayable with games. You should try to keep the card below 60c.

That's not right at all, this card can handle up to 90c. My card is hitting 70-71 as if it were common. Check your VRM's, CPU temp and make sure you have a sufficient cooler for your CPU. 970's should not be throttling at 71c.

 

[Vincent04]

Yeah, I know your pain with reinstalling everything. I mean... Try changing your global settings in nvidia control panel, change the power management section to maximum performance and also change windows power settings as well. Attach some images using MSI afterburner with GPU usage, clock speeds and FPS. If its anything like mine if you restart your computer and go on a game it should be clocking at 3500 until around 5-10 minutes in the game then it'll drop. Get back to me, we can try more steps if these don't work. Also list your specs, it'd help a lot.

It's not like yours. Because your problem is just reoccuring, mine is, somewhat, constant (e.g. you reset your system, clock goes back to normal and downclocks after sometime of gaming, whereas mine is downclocked before and after gaming when this whole thing started.) The only workaround I have this time is to rollback drivers back and forth. 347.52<347.25>347.52. After which, my card would stay on its normal/factory default memory clock, and can do a bit of overclocking, settings for a good 1-2hours of gametime or idle, then it goes back down to 3005mhz and stays there, until I repeat my workaround, and overclocking is out the window, at this point, as well.

Hence, I've come to the conclusion that it really is a software problem, because otherwise, it wouldn't go back to its factory settings, wouldn't you agree?

As for my rig specs, the items listed on my signature are up-to-date.

Any other suggestion?

 

[AaronW95]

Try to install Windows on another HDD and maybe install only one game on it. Then check your clock speeds. This rules out installing every game one by one, this of course if you have a spare HDD or even external HDD or even memory stick? Anything just to see if Windows is the problem.

 

[Johnnie Butters]

Well ill say 70c is very hot, I have two 970s and when the top one was at 71c, it was bottlenecking like crazy. Unplayable with games. You should try to keep the card below 60c.

That's not right at all, this card can handle up to 90c. My card is hitting 70-71 as if it were common. Check your VRM's, CPU temp and make sure you have a sufficient cooler for your CPU. 970's should not be throttling at 71c.

Just because the card can handle that temp doesn't mean it should be at that temp. You don't always drive a Ferrari at 200 MPH every time you drive it, You'll end up destroying the car. Things like parts need to be managed and under go maintenance. Same thing applies with Computer Parts. My CPU never touches above 50c and my GPUs never touch above 58c on full load. I was testing different fan curves and noticed the top GPU was above 70c and it was causing bottlenecking and stuttering. It's too hot dude. Your going to kill the GPU at that temp. You need to adjust your fan curve.

 

[AaronW95]

70c is around about right. The fans don't kick in until 60c or over. All is I'm saying is that it shouldn't be not throttling at 70c and then throttling at 1 degrees over that's strange behaviour.

 

[17seconds]

Nvidia cards don't "throttle", unless they hit ~95c. Nvidia makes use of Turbo Boost, with a temperature target of ~80c. Below that temp you will see higher Turbo Boost clocks, above that temp your card will run at stock speeds.

 

[Khurram Tariq]

Works perfectly, Windows was the problem. Thank you everyone for your help. Much appreciated.

If you don't mind, or to anyone who'll be able to read this message, can you tell me exactly how is it that windows was the problem? And how did you go about resolving the issue? Please, I'm extremely frustrated, I've been in contact with MSI Techs for over a week now, and still no solution. I do have the same issue. My MSI 970 4g gaming downclocks its memory to 3005mhz. Please, elaborate on how you're able to make it work "perfectly" again. And to all others who'll be able to read this, please lend a hand.

P.S.
I intentionally didn't start a new thread, since we have the same issue, however, the answers provided in this thread aren't much of a help. Please lend a helping hand. I'm a gaming enthusiast, but, somehow, a novice when it comes to troubleshooting.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Khurram Tariq]

You are right bro i have the same problem with gigabyte gtx 970 g1 gaming throttling of memory fromm 3506mhz to 3000mhz in win7 whereas in win8.1 it always runs on 3506mhz

 

[wessamex]

man calm down it's a msi afterburner known bug. have nothing to do with anything .

 

[AaronW95]

This has already been solved. It was Windows that was causing the issue. I re-installed and it worked perfectly.

 

[convertedconsolegamer_92]

I have the same issue with my 960 4GB. Im on Win 10 and the issue is a conflict with MSI Afterburner and GPU Z. Everything shows as normal in Afterburner but when you open GPUZ the men clock drops to 3005MHz. Fixing it is as simple as not using GPUZ. It's obviously an issue of conflicting programs. Ran 3 tests in Unigine Heaven with my 3888 mem overclock and 3 tests with the 3005MHz clock. The difference is 5fps on AVG, but the killer is the horrible frametimes when running the tests using 3005 mem clock.