GTX 970 Suck at Idle Speeds - High TDP

[jeremybro]

So seemingly overnight my GPU has just started acted erratic and I can't figure out what the issue is.

My clock speed is stuck at 135 mhz even when in game which is resulting in very low FPS in all games
Looking at GPU-Z my power consumption shows 258% TDP when I am doing nothing with the GPU. I'm not expert but that seems really abnormal so I have my GPU disabled right now to avoid causing further issues.

• 
  I have tried updating BIOS
  Restarted computer
  Running virus scans on 5-6 different tools, all clean
  Used DDU uninstall drivers in safe mode several times
  I used Nvflash
  Tried numerous Nvidia drivers of different versions
  Tried the firmware update stickied here in this forum
  My power plan in both Nvidia and windows is not in a low power state and is properly set
  I have link power state management off
  Tried the "save BIOS" trick in GPU-Z
  Took out GPU and put it back in, its clean
  Temperatures are normal

There has been zero warnings or issues with my GPU leading up to this point. I can crank up the fans and here them get louder but that clock speed doesn't budge under any stress. I have no other PC to test it in. Not sure if there's anything to do to fix this outside of buying a new card, but just thought I'd ask to see if anyone has had such an issue.

I feel like the issue happened the same day I upgraded to the latest nvidia drivers but I'd imagine DDU would have gotten rid of that if that were the case...plus it seems like they're fine for everyone else.

 

[Ramlethal]

Is that card brand new? its your first time using the card?
I kinda suspect that its just faulty...

 

[jeremybro]

No I've had the card for a couple of years and it's well taken care of. Regularly dusted and applied new thermal paste. Temps have been totally normal and there's been no warning signs of a failing GPU.

I'm afraid it being faulty might be the case, but it just seems odd how it happened. First part of the day I was playing normally, upgraded the drivers and downloaded a few games and it just stopped. Bummer.

 

[Ramlethal]

No I've had the card for a couple of years and it's well taken care of. Regularly dusted and applied new thermal paste. Temps have been totally normal and there's been no warning signs of a failing GPU.

I'm afraid it being faulty might be the case, but it just seems odd how it happened. First part of the day I was playing normally, upgraded the drivers and downloaded a few games and it just stopped. Bummer.

uhm... have you tried downgrading the Drivers if the problem persists?
I mean, i read that you DDU but maybe you installed the same version of the drivers causing the problem...

 

[jeremybro]

Yes I used DDU to install the newest driver and I tried it with older versions so I suppose it can't be that.

 

[Ramlethal]

Yes I used DDU to install the newest driver and I tried it with older versions so I suppose it can't be that.

I would then, grab a tester and check if the PSU its delivering the correct voltage to your GPU. If it does, i dont really know where else to go... im getting kinda out of ideas...
If it does, your PSU its the problem (or maybe the connector) But its a huge problem in therms of risking your PC components in case this is the problem.

 

[jeremybro]

Yeah I guess it's the GPU. I put in an old GTX 660 and although the performance is poop due to it being an old card, it isn't having the issues the 970 did. Clock speeds are going up and power consumption isn't through the roof.