[SOLVED] Why am I getting high GPU idle temps all of a sudden ?

[Cyclo Locke]

Hello,

I've had this ASUS GeForce® GTX 1060 STRIX OC, 6GB GDDR5, 192-bit GPU since the summer of 2017, and my idle temps were always somewhere around 30 degrees Celsius (28-29 in the winter and 32-33 in the summer).
But today, while I was troubleshooting some other stuff, I've noticed that my GPU was at 50 degrees when idle. Which didn't make any sense. I usually get that high temps only during video games.

I have no idea for how long this has been happening, since I don't regularly check temps and stuff.

Everything else seem to be at normal temps. My CPU is at around 34 degrees while idle, so it shouldn't be a dust related problem, I guess. My SSD seems to be at a pretty high temp (50), although I'm not so sure what was it's usual temp.

Anyways, I've turned on all the fans on the GPU and they do work normally, I'd say. I've managed to make the temp drop back to 30 degrees, but as soon as I turn the fans off, the temp starts to slowly increase without any apparent reason.

I never needed to manually turn on the GPU fans to make it stay at 30 degrees in idle before. They would only start automatically after the GPU reached 54 degrees.

Does anyone have any idea about what could be the cause? I'm really worried. Thanks.

EDIT: It just reached 52 degrees now.
EDIT2: And...54 now.

EDIT3: Alright. So I think I figured out why the temp is increasing so much. I think it's because the GPU stays at 20% load in idle. Now the question is: Why does it stay at 20% load when it's doing nothing? I'm at a loss.

Here's a SS: https://ibb.co/ZXYY4nm

EDIT4: Okay...? I think I've just fixed it? I opened up Nvidia inspector and toyed around a bit and the GPU 'powers', Clocks decreased drastically. Very Weird.


SOLVED IT: It was because the "Power Management Mode" was set to "maximum performance" in Nvidia control panel, which made the GPU stay at full clocks all the time, even when idle, causing it to heat up.

SS: https://ibb.co/6DN2x3X

 

[AlexTheFern]

task manager>click gpu> and see which apps are using the most gpu stuffs

 

[ChrisAB]

Use something like MSI afterburner to change the way your fans act to cool the card.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Depending on your setup or what you're doing, it can keep the GPU from idling. One instance I've found in my setup is if I have two monitors on and ULMB is on one of them, the GPU never returns to idle clocks. But if I turn ULMB off it's fine.

 

[Karadjgne]

Clean it. Dust filters on the intakes take out most of the dust, but the finer particulates still get through and build up after a while. You'll get a superfine layer of dust, which gets hit with moisture in the air after any shutdowns, which then acts like a paste. Rinse and repeat over months of use and it's like adding layers of paint until the heatsink just doesn't work as it should and temps gradually start to rise.

It'll mean pulling the gpu, using tiny screwdriver to remove the shroud then giving the heatsink a really good cleaning. The shroud is designed to help channel the fans airflow, so doesn't do you any favors when trying to clean the heatsink under it other than where the fan blades are open area.

I generally recommend a good full clean of pc heatsinks 1x a year, with a decent canned air blowout every few months.

 

[Cyclo Locke]

It was because the Power Usage was set to performance in Nvidia control panel.