GPU memory clock won't go down at idle [SOLVED]

[Sweet C]

Last month I upgraded from an EVGA GTX 660 SC to a Zotac GTX 970. I use MSI Afterburner to monitor my temperatures and whatnot. Lately I've noticed that sometimes after gaming my idle graphs are stuck at high. Usually when I'm done playing I leave my PC idle for temperatures to settle down, but it's been stuck at high. It feels pretty random. When I played Metro 2033 for a few minutes, everything seemed fine afterwards. Just by launching Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed, my idle temps get stuck at high. Today, I tested Ziggurat. Playing it for the first time and then exiting the game gave me no issues. But the second time around my issue came back. This problem only occurs after gaming, and it's kind of random at that. If I don't play anything and just browse the web, my idle graphs are normal. The only way to get back my normal idle temperature is to restart the damn computer.

I've googled for an answer for hours and I can only find users who share this issue that own a higher refresh rate monitor. I've tried doing a clean install of the latest nvidia drivers, uninstalling Geforce Experience, reinstalling afterburner, running virus and malware scans, and even reattaching and dusting my video card. Nothing seemed to work, and I'm getting very frustrated.

Here is my issue: http://imgur.com/a/SADPJ

Here is the graph after initial PC boot: http://imgur.com/a/VmvrY

i7 3770 @ 3.4 GHz

12 GB RAM

460W PSU

Windows 7 Home Premium

Dell 1920X1080 monitor at 60 Hz

Solution: Dell Display Manager was the culprit! I had to exit the program to get back to 2D clocks. I then unintalled it.

[just.kamk /idle]

Uninstall GF experience & afterburner (and any other GPU related software).

Play your game, end your game. If it still occurs:

Install process explorer
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/processexplorer.aspx
> find the process that uses your GPU.

[Sweet C]

I've already uninstalled Geforce Experience. I haven't tried playing the game without Afterburner. I might do that next.

[just.kamk /idle]

Well, start with step 3 then :P

[Bad 💀 Motha]

It is an app u have running in the background most likely.

See what I said here as a reference:

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/458604254424012441/

[Sweet C]

Originally posted by kamk:

Well, start with step 3 then :P

How would I read the graph from process explorer? At first glance, it looks like something more CPU related.

[just.kamk /idle]

Originally posted by zombiebot:

Originally posted by kamk:

Well, start with step 3 then :P

How would I read the graph from process explorer? At first glance, it looks like something more CPU related.

Stay in the main window, that looks like a task manager (which it basically is).
Look at top columns, there's "GPU" - if it isn't there, right click there, and ... select columns.

Example:
http://i.imgur.com/qWsFTFL.png

[Sweet C]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

It is an app u have running in the background most likely.

See what I said here as a reference:

http://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/11/458604254424012441/

Were you implying that Logitech Gaming Software was conflicting with Afterburner? I hope that was true on my end. I don't have that software installed anymore.

[Sweet C]

Originally posted by kamk:

Originally posted by zombiebot:

How would I read the graph from process explorer? At first glance, it looks like something more CPU related.

Stay in the main window, that looks like a task manager (which it basically is).
Look at top columns, there's "GPU" - if it isn't there, right click there, and ... select columns.

Example:
http://i.imgur.com/qWsFTFL.png

Thanks. It's odd that I don't get any numbers in the GPU column. It's all blank.

[just.kamk /idle]

Originally posted by zombiebot:

Thanks. It's odd that I don't get any numbers in the GPU column. It's all blank.

Start PE as administrator.
Sort the column (click on it).
And you obv. need "decent" load there.

[Beardface31]

Boot in safe mode, uninstall your drivers, reboot and reinstall again. Check your motherboard for any updates too.

If you are using Geforce Experience, disable shadow play and set the power mode to adaptive.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Why safe mode? U can't uninstall anything from Safe Mode.
Just uninstall them normally; there are zero hoops to go through.
Power Mode should only be on Adaptive for Apps; otherwise put on Prefer Max Performance.

First use MSCONFIG and un-tick all your Startup Apps and click OK and reboot; if the issue goes away, u know it was a background app doing it.

[Sweet C]

Originally posted by Beardface:

Boot in safe mode, uninstall your drivers, reboot and reinstall again. Check your motherboard for any updates too.

If you are using Geforce Experience, disable shadow play and set the power mode to adaptive.

I did that like three times already in the past two days.

[Beardface31]

Originally posted by zombiebot:

Originally posted by Beardface:

Boot in safe mode, uninstall your drivers, reboot and reinstall again. Check your motherboard for any updates too.

If you are using Geforce Experience, disable shadow play and set the power mode to adaptive.

I did that like three times already in the past two days.

Sometimes issues like is are cause from them not being installed correctly. Thought it would be worth mentioning.

[Sweet C]

Originally posted by Beardface:

Originally posted by zombiebot:

I did that like three times already in the past two days.

Sometimes issues like is are cause from them not being installed correctly. Thought it would be worth mentioning.

Sorry if the comment sounded a bit harsh. This issue just has me in a bad mood.

[just.kamk /idle]

Just finally check what's actually hanging there -_-