Hi Forum!
 
I have done a lot of research about this.  I understand that using SLI and having either a nvidia surround set up or a 144hz monitor will make the idle clocks very high.  I also know that it has been this way for awhile with older SLI cards too.  I currently idle at 1012mhz on my cards which puts temps in the 55-60c range just sitting there doing nothing.  
 
My question is really WHY it's like this and hopefully if there will ever be a driver update to have normal idle clocks?  Before my current build I was running the same nvidia surround on one card (670ftw and later a 780ti) and it down clocked normally at idle.  So how does it make sense when I double the gpu power by having SLI, with the same monitor set up, both cards idle at 1012mhz vs the 100-200mhz it did with one card?  
 
Thanks for the help.
 
 
 
 

Try this...
 
#1 Download NVIDIA Inspector and run it.
#2 Right click on the button that says "Show overclocking" and select "Multi Display Power Saver"
#3 Under the Target GPUs section check mark both GPUs.
#4 Check mark run multi display power saver at startup.
#5 Check mark activate full 3d by gpu usage and adjust the threshold to 30%.
#6 Close NVIDIA Inspector. 
#7 Reboot PC.
#8 Check to see if clocks are running at lower speeds. 

Will this be something I'd constantly need to toggle on and off depending on what I am doing or will it still boost normally with these settings?

freundy
Will this be something I'd constantly need to toggle on and off depending on what I am doing or will it still boost normally with these settings?

It will still boost normally with the settings. You won't have to keep toggling it on & off as it will do it automatically for you. 

Oh nice.  I'll give this a shot and see if it works.  Do you think there will ever be an actual driver update to address this waste of power or will we always be forced to use 3rd party software to do it? 

freundy
Do you think there will ever be an actual driver update to address this waste of power or will we always be forced to use 3rd party software to do it? 

Probably not, it's been like this for a very long time now. You will need to use 3rd party software.
 
 
This is in the NVIDIA driver release notes:
 
GPU Runs at a High Performance Level (full clock speeds) in Multi-display Modes:
This is a hardware limitation with desktop and older notebook GPUs, and not a software
bug. When multiple displays are connected and active, the GPU will always operate with
full clock speeds in order to efficiently drive multiple displays–even when no 3D
programs are running.

Thanks this is working and also boosts like normal.  Yeah, it's pretty bizzare that a single card doesn't have this issue, only SLI.  At least in my experience.  OH well thanks for the help!

Sajin

freundy
Do you think there will ever be an actual driver update to address this waste of power or will we always be forced to use 3rd party software to do it? 

Probably not, it's been like this for a very long time now. You will need to use 3rd party software.
 
 
This is in the NVIDIA driver release notes:
 
GPU Runs at a High Performance Level (full clock speeds) in Multi-display Modes:
This is a hardware limitation with desktop and older notebook GPUs, and not a software
bug. When multiple displays are connected and active, the GPU will always operate with
full clock speeds in order to efficiently drive multiple displays–even when no 3D
programs are running.

You just cleared up something that's been bugging me for 2 years. Thanks!

freundy
Thanks this is working and also boosts like normal.  Yeah, it's pretty bizzare that a single card doesn't have this issue, only SLI.  At least in my experience.  OH well thanks for the help!

JerkMan

Sajin

freundy
Do you think there will ever be an actual driver update to address this waste of power or will we always be forced to use 3rd party software to do it? 

Probably not, it's been like this for a very long time now. You will need to use 3rd party software.
 
 
This is in the NVIDIA driver release notes:
 
GPU Runs at a High Performance Level (full clock speeds) in Multi-display Modes:
This is a hardware limitation with desktop and older notebook GPUs, and not a software
bug. When multiple displays are connected and active, the GPU will always operate with
full clock speeds in order to efficiently drive multiple displays–even when no 3D
programs are running.

You just cleared up something that's been bugging me for 2 years. Thanks!

No problem. 

Great tutorial, thanks! However i can't switch from single 1440p to triple, instantly after windows boot, when cards switch to eco mode screens go black like it's not enough graphic power to feed them. Should i play with treshhold value?
 
Asus Rog Swift 144Hz, g-sync, 1440p.
 
PS settings NVInsp i switch to single screen and set 60Hz and turn of g-sync.