Question Nvidia Control Panel randomly changes the performance level ?

[MrPRAINGLE]

Recently I experienced GPU temperature hiccups. I noticed that this was linked to power consumption hiccups, and in the PowerMizer section of the Nvidia control panel, I see the performance level changing (change in graphics and memory clock). Changing the Preferred mode to "Prefer Maximum Performance" fixes the issue but causes the GPU to draw 80 to 90 watts on idle.

I am running Pop!_OS 22.04.

uname -a

returns

Linux pop-os 6.6.10-76060610-generic #202401051437~1709764300~22.04~379e7a9 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Thu M x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Here are my system specs:

MBD: Asus PRIME B550-PLUS AC-HES
CPU: Ryzen 5600X
CPU Cooler: Arctic Freezer 34 eSports Duo
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti Gaming OC
RAM: F4-4000C18D-32GVK (Ripjaws 2x16GB 4000CL18-22-22-42@1.40V)
SSD: Sabrent 1TB Gen 4.0
PC Case: Antec NX300 (I removed the front panel for airflow and I mounted two NF-A12x25 as intake)
PSU: Seasonic PRIME GX-650

Could this be linked to my drivers ?

 

[NanoSuit3]

It COULD be linked to your drivers cuz certain GPUs will do that. My 4070 Ti Super does it too but I don't have any concerns with it as long as I don't keep getting BSODs. Not to mention it's also power & settings. Even though your 650 Watt is holding that system well enough; I have a benchmark that tells me that a 700 Watt would be a better choice & if your Power Settings are also set to High Performance and NVCP is set to Preferred Max; it'll draw that much to keep it at the same high frequencies too. I use Ultimate Performance if you don't have that; enter it in Command Prompt with this:
powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

 

[MrPRAINGLE]

It COULD be linked to your drivers cuz certain GPUs will do that. My 4070 Ti Super does it too but I don't have any concerns with it as long as I don't keep getting BSODs. Not to mention it's also power & settings. Even though your 650 Watt is holding that system well enough; I have a benchmark that tells me that a 700 Watt would be a better choice & if your Power Settings are also set to High Performance and NVCP is set to Preferred Max; it'll draw that much to keep it at the same high frequencies too. I use Ultimate Performance if you don't have that; enter it in Command Prompt with this:
powercfg -duplicatescheme e9a42b02-d5df-448d-aa00-03f14749eb61

I am on Linux so the command doesn't work... I guess I would have to push the wattage a bit more.
I don't plan to upgrade my PSU though, could you explain to me how I would have to considering that I have a ~300W TDP GPU and a CPU that I could upgrade to a ~150W one ? I mean, that would only be 450 watts when loading both at max, that's without undervolting, and I still would be at ~70% PSU utilization, so any power spikes, as huge as they might be, would still be under control...