why is my 980ti

Solution


Oh, right I see what you mean, my bad, the original post was quite unclear to me! 😀
Never put prefer maximum performance, this wears out your GPU by putting it at maximum load constantly.
On idle it should use only a few hundred MHz at a time, I thought you meant you...


Do you mean load or clock?
Because if you clock a GPU at x clock and x memory it will always run at that setting.
It doesn't mean it will use all of it however.
You're essentially downclocking your GPU by doing what you're doing.
You can check GPU useage and load using GPU-Z which you can download here: https://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/
 
I mean on MSI afterburner, if im sitting on my desktop it runs at a solid 1100 mhz Core Clock with temps up to 41. I was informed last night to put Power Management to Prefer Maximum Performance by Nvidia last night when I had a "This Game Stopped Working" error. And realized that this is what is causing it to run at 1100 mhz at idle. When Im on load its around 1306 mhz which im fine with because Im using the GPU but at desktop it shouldnt run 1100 mhz imo
 


Oh, right I see what you mean, my bad, the original post was quite unclear to me! 😀
Never put prefer maximum performance, this wears out your GPU by putting it at maximum load constantly.
On idle it should use only a few hundred MHz at a time, I thought you meant you heavily downclocked it to 150mhz earlier and got really concerned! xD
Good to know you sorted it out yourself :)

 
Solution
Prefer Maximum Performance is a game specific setting. It has no effect whatsoever on idle speeds. Something else was causing the issue, possibly the data file itself that contains your preferences was screwy somehow. That assumption is just based on the fact that you said its ok now. Likely, restarting the computer had more effect than anything.
 
Do you happen to have a 144Hz monitor? I'm trying to recreate the issue and can't, so I'd consider it a one-off, or some 3D accelerated program was running. Some seemingly benign programs like mouse, keyboard, or headphone software can cause issues because they're 3D accelerated. Some of them have settings to disable that and use a friendlier GUI.

An example is a setting in Logitech's Gaming Software, "enable enhanced graphics". Having this checked would prompt nvidia's control panel to ask you to close the program before switching on/off SLI.

If you care to, you could investigate those types of scenarios. Anyway, I only set the Prefer Max Performance per game, if I think it'll benefit.

Sounds like you're all sorted anyway. 😉
 
Well I searched everything that was currently running, I didnt have anything on the bottom right of my screen except realtek audio, bitdefender, steam, geforce experience, intel rapid storage technology, rivatunerstatistics, msi after burner, and of course this windows icon that tells me to update to windows 10

i exited out of geforce experience and checked that shadowplay wasnt running
 
If any issues crop up, I'd do a clean install of the nvidia driver. They really do mean it too when they suggest disabling your anti-virus and / or spyware protection software. I usually don't bother with it but once in awhile there's a driver release that hits a snag. It's rare but it could cause it to not unpackage itself properly, and seem to install ok but miss one or more critical files.

Keep everything up to date. From the mouse, keyboard, audio, everything. Make sure MSI's afterburner is up to date, and don't have any redundant programs running simultaneously. An example there would be MSI Afterburner monitoring your computer's voltages while another does the same. Those sensors don't appreciate the extra nagging for information.

Sorry about the Win10 reminder. I took the plunge and nvidia drivers were a bit hit or miss there, some user data might have been lost due to my own carelessness brought on by frustration, and Windows updates are a bit weird (like not getting them) but its been a nearly identical user experience from Win 7 to Win 8.1 to now 10.
 
Right now im just trying to figure out if i want to keep this mouse that has ring and pinky rest, or the logitech g502...i cant help but get annoyed that my pinky keeps rubbing the mouse pad but i like the feel of the g502, the other one the maxion 7000 i think its called doesnt feel very nice but i do like the pinky rest. lol sorry change of subject.