[SOLVED] Increasing GPU fan speed paradoxically lowers GPU clock speed, any thoughts?

grebgonebad

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I just finished building my boyfriend's new PC for him (specs below) and I'm going through the obligatory process of OC'ing and seeing how far I can push it. Haven't touched the CPU yet as I'm missing a cable that allows me to manually control the AIO pump and fans (in the post as we speak), but in the meantime I'm having a crack at the GPU. However I've immediately hit a curios snag wherein as I increase the fan speed it seems to lower the GPU clock?? I've not even touched the clocks yet, I was just fiddling with the fan to find a balance between performance and volume when I happened to notice the clocks.

E.g:

- Fan speed @25% = 1101mhz
- Fan speed @50% = 1063mhz
- Fan speed @75% = 1025mhz
- Fan speed @100% = 886mhz

As you can see this is quite unusual and I wondered if anyone has had a similar experience? These results are repeatable and predictable even after reboot. As it's a new build it's a fresh install of Windows (10) and the most up to date drivers are installed. Any advice would be most appreciated! I'm not going to bother increasing clocks until I figure out what's going on with this first.

Specs:

AMD Ryzen 5 3600
Corsair H100i
Asus ROG Strix B550-F
16gb Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO @ 2133mhz
EVGA GTX 970 SC 4gb
500gb Samsung 970 EVO Plus M.2 NVME (Boot)
4tb Seagate Iron Wolf (Data)
Corsair TX850 PSU

Notes: I'm aware that the PSU is overkill, it's what he had installed in his old system so we just carried it over. I'm also aware that the GPU is VERY outdated now, however so was the rest of his system before he wanted to upgrade (3rd gen i7) and given the current state of the GPU market I convinced him to hold off on a GPU for now until things stabilize later this year (hopefully, ha ha). Those are the only 2 components carried over from his old system, everything else is brand new off the shelf.
 
Solution
The increased fan speed using more power was my first thought too, but as you said it's a 970, it shouldn't affect it that much. The only other thing I've thought about is maybe it's card specific, in which case I've another 970 of the same make and model that I might throw in and see if the results are the same. If not then I guess I've got my answer.

I can confirm that changing any of the values (core, mem or volt) doesn't affect things in any way, the result is the same as base.

Download and run Heaven Benchmark to comparison check for improvements on your GTX 970 when overclocked, it is a free utility.

The GPU fan does consume power and can effect performance, many people run the fan at a maximum of 90 to 95% when...

Eximo

Titan
Ambassador
Hopefully you give memory overclocking a go. 2133 is very low for Ryzen. If you are still in the return window, I highly suggest picking up at least a 3200Mhz kit. This sets the speed of the infinity fabric inside the CPU at which the I/O die and CPU dies talk to each other.

GTX970 is about entry level 1080p now. Roughly around a GTX1650. Still, a lot better than you can get without spending several hundred dollars in the current market.

I would say that increasing the fan speed takes more power and that could negatively impact a GPU, but not likely with a GTX970. Could be something programmed into the vBIOS.

An algorithm that lowers GPU clock as temperature and fan speed increase, that might be an effort to configure for silence. Reduce clocks, reduce temperatures, fan should rev down. But you are holding the fan high.

If you change any of the other values, does it keep doing it?
 

grebgonebad

Distinguished
Hopefully you give memory overclocking a go. 2133 is very low for Ryzen. If you are still in the return window, I highly suggest picking up at least a 3200Mhz kit. This sets the speed of the infinity fabric inside the CPU at which the I/O die and CPU dies talk to each other.

GTX970 is about entry level 1080p now. Roughly around a GTX1650. Still, a lot better than you can get without spending several hundred dollars in the current market.

I would say that increasing the fan speed takes more power and that could negatively impact a GPU, but not likely with a GTX970. Could be something programmed into the vBIOS.

An algorithm that lowers GPU clock as temperature and fan speed increase, that might be an effort to configure for silence. Reduce clocks, reduce temperatures, fan should rev down. But you are holding the fan high.

If you change any of the other values, does it keep doing it?

The kit is a 3200mhz kit but I've yet to go into the BIOS and adjust the values. Like I said in my original post I'm not bothering with any CPU/Mem OCing until I get the cable through for the AIO that I need. Ha ha.

Yeah like I said I know the 970 is pretty weak considering what the 3000 series are capable of, but given the prices right now it's obviously not worth it unless you've got cash to burn, which my boyfriend doesn't.

The increased fan speed using more power was my first thought too, but as you said it's a 970, it shouldn't affect it that much. The only other thing I've thought about is maybe it's card specific, in which case I've another 970 of the same make and model that I might throw in and see if the results are the same. If not then I guess I've got my answer.

I can confirm that changing any of the values (core, mem or volt) doesn't affect things in any way, the result is the same as base.
 
The increased fan speed using more power was my first thought too, but as you said it's a 970, it shouldn't affect it that much. The only other thing I've thought about is maybe it's card specific, in which case I've another 970 of the same make and model that I might throw in and see if the results are the same. If not then I guess I've got my answer.

I can confirm that changing any of the values (core, mem or volt) doesn't affect things in any way, the result is the same as base.

Download and run Heaven Benchmark to comparison check for improvements on your GTX 970 when overclocked, it is a free utility.

The GPU fan does consume power and can effect performance, many people run the fan at a maximum of 90 to 95% when overclocking for that reason. Also, if you overclock too much performance will drop, this happens when the silicon is pushed too far.

You can download it from here:
Heaven benchmark | UNIGINE Benchmarks
 
Solution