GPu temp spike while steam & helpers active.

[Evil.Norman]

Started noticing my EVGA 970 leveling around 60c temp and a 30% power consumption while I'm on desktop at idle. No background gpu intensive programs running just "siv64" & "Rog gpu-z" to monitor temps. steam client is idle in system tray only and no running games. I close steam client power and temps go down, reboot to desktop steam starts up temp and power consumption climbs again. gpu-z says gpu idle but that can't be right? any advice is welcome.

[Sapph]

Do you have 3 monitors possibly?
Or 2 monitors with different resolutions?

[Evil.Norman]

Thanks for the response, no I do not just one, 1920 x 1080p Samsung. I've got 4 steamhelpers and steam itself running. as soon as I close steam the temps on the gpu drop. 60c is not all that high really but I reach temps like this durning gaming.

[rotNdude]

I'm running a EVGA GTX970 on Windows 10. The video card is running 41c at idle on the desktop with Steam and 6 Steam Client WebHelper instances. I am using the standard gpu-z to read this temperature. Try running the standard gpu-z.

[Evil.Norman]

Been running that on top. gpu-z shows gpu temp 61c, power comsumption 28.7%, gpu load 1% video eng Load, interface, memory load all at 0%.

[Haywire]

Originally posted by sarojz:

Started noticing my EVGA 970 leveling around 60c temp and a 30% power consumption while I'm on desktop at idle. No background gpu intensive programs running just "siv64" & "Rog gpu-z" to monitor temps. steam client is idle in system tray only and no running games. I close steam client power and temps go down, reboot to desktop steam starts up temp and power consumption climbs again. gpu-z says gpu idle but that can't be right? any advice is welcome.

Glad i'm not the only. I noticed it after the latest client update.

My 1060 sits around 44c idle but now as soon as I sign into steam the temperature goes to 60c with 27 - 30% power consumption.

Originally posted by Sapph:

Do you have 3 monitors possibly?
Or 2 monitors with different resolutions?

I also use only 1 monitor.

Its not really a problem, would just like to understand why it's happening.

[Evil.Norman]

yah I made some screenshots of process explorer and nvidiainspector showing before steam and with steam. Any help would be appreciated

[Buck]

This is perfectly normal. your GPU is still in use even when you aren't running games or videos. Steam and other applications do use the GPU, it's normal and nothing to worry about.

[Sapph]

Have you checked the power saving option in the NVidia Control Panel yet? If it's set to Maximum Performance, it will always run at full clockspeeds and thus at higher temperature.

[FluffyPinkDecoyBunny]

Originally posted by Buck:

This is perfectly normal. your GPU is still in use even when you aren't running games or videos. Steam and other applications do use the GPU, it's normal and nothing to worry about.

It's not normal. Even when running a video (youtube, bluray or something similar) you shouldn't have that much of a power draw from your GPU nor temps that high.

I'm not on Win 10 for my gaming rig, still Windows 7. I currently don't use the new UI for Steam and on my 3 monitors, with Steam running (in the background or while it's open on one of my monitors), my GPU doesn't spike in temps or power draw.

I've had similar issues as the OP describes from other programs in the past, such as: Razer Synapse and GoG Galaxy. These programs, while simply idle in the background or in use would force my GPU to run at 3D clock speeds - thus drawing more power and creating more heat.

I know GoG Galaxy has resolved the issue. I'm not sure about Razer Synapse - the software is crummy to begin with and I don't use their software nor peripherals anymore.

Steam needs to find what is causing the issue and correct it.

[Haywire]

Originally posted by Buck:

This is perfectly normal. your GPU is still in use even when you aren't running games or videos. Steam and other applications do use the GPU, it's normal and nothing to worry about.

Certainly not normal. You seem to have misunderstood the OP and myself, we are talking about power draw and temperature not GPU usage.

Originally posted by Sapph:

Have you checked the power saving option in the NVidia Control Panel yet? If it's set to Maximum Performance, it will always run at full clockspeeds and thus at higher temperature.

I have global set to optimal and do the settings for games individually so I know it isn't that - though even if it was set to Maximum Performance it should make zero difference to my power draw and temperature since the gpu is barely registering any load.


Bunny knows

Originally posted by FluffyPinkDecoyBunny:

Steam needs to find what is causing the issue and correct it.

I think you hit the nail on the head, thanks

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

I have a 1080p/100hz screen and I've noticed this happens in windows 7 with my 1080 Ti (power usage and heat jumps up with steam open), but only if I've manually set my monitor in display settings to 100hz mode. But if I set my monitor down to 60hz mode again, it goes back to normal low clocks and low temps and low power usage even with steam open. If you've set your "Main Monitor" to anything other than 60hz refresh, try putting it down to see if that's the issue.

If that doesn't solve it then try creating a custom windows shortcut to your steam's EXE file and revert it back to the old chat and UI system with some command-line commands.

For example, mine in the shortcut looks like this:
C:\Games\Steam\Steam.exe -nochatui -nofriendsui

[Evil.Norman]

ARTY1080 - hmm, maybe I'm on the 390.01 nad so far haven't had any issues.

"Saph" I did check the power profile and the nvidia control panel. looks good. I think I'm gonna check the PCI-Ex Link State Power Mgmt: if it's L0 it's on L1 off. will report back.

[Evil.Norman]

well link state power mgmt was off, flipped it on but no change. I't has to be steam and the helper apps but why would an idle app use nearly 30% gpu power while essentially doing very little render if at all? noticed this right after last update. Any ideas?

[Evil.Norman]

OK so if anyone is still reading this I resolved my issue. I went into settings-->interface--unticked enable GPU accellerated rendering in web views & Enable Hardware video encoding if supported. Resttarted steam and noticed GPU useage down to under 9%, GPU temp dropped to 36C. Hope that helps someone.

[Haywire]

Originally posted by sarojz:

OK so if anyone is still reading this I resolved my issue. I went into settings-->interface--unticked enable GPU accellerated rendering in web views & Enable Hardware video encoding if supported. Resttarted steam and noticed GPU useage down to under 9%, GPU temp dropped to 36C. Hope that helps someone.

Geek for the ages indeed Now I can turn off my custom fan curve whilst idle again.
Thank you for some how figuring out the fix buddy