Over the past decade, graphic cards have become a crucial part of modern computing, powering everything from video games to AI. One important factor in the GPU’s performance is its clock speed, which determines how fast it can process the data.
However, you may sometimes notice that your GPU clock speed is inconsistent and fluctuates during use. Is that normal? Should you be worried? What to do? Do not worry. When we see some questions constantly popping up on forums, we write an article about it, and this one is no different.
Here is the short answer:
In most cases, GPU clock speed fluctuation is completely normal as they adjust the frequency to the task at hand.
By reading only this, there is no way you can make the right decision. There is so much more to know about this, so if you want to know as much as possible and make the best decision, you will want to keep reading.
Why is my GPU clock speed fluctuating?
Ok, let’s start from the beginning. The GPU clock refers to the frequency at which the GPU operates. It is measured in megahertz (MHz) or gigahertz (GHz) and represents the number of clock cycles that the GPU can execute per second.
The GPU clock speed defines how fast the GPU can process data and perform calculations related to graphics rendering, video decoding, and other tasks like gaming. A higher clock speed means that the GPU can perform more operations per second, resulting in better performance.
Generally, if your GPU clock speed fluctuates, don’t worry. It is normal. It is working as intended, as modern cards are engineered to underclock/overclock based on temperature and load. For instance, as temperatures rise, so does the clock speed (until thermal throttling). If the load is low, the speed drops down as it isn’t needed which generates lower temps.
Read this article for more info.
4 factors influencing your GPU clock speed
From what I have been able to tell, there are four major factors that impact your GPU clock speed and they are:
Power consumption
Obviously, the clock speed is directly related to its power consumption. For instance, if your GPU is performing a high-intensive task, such as playing high-resolution games, the clock speed will increase. Contrary, if your GPU is not consuming lots of power, the clock will decrease.
To find out more about this, check Using 6 Pin for 8 Pin GPU – Fact Or Fiction? (Tested)
Temperature
If it gets too hot, GPU will mostly throttle down the clock speed to prevent damage from overheating. This can happen even if the GPU is being utilized heavily, so it’s essential to monitor the temperature and ensure proper cooling.
Read more in Normal Laptop Temperature While Gaming (20+ Laptops Tested).
Driver optimization
Graphics drivers are frequently updated to improve performance, and sometimes these updates can impact the clock speed. For instance, a new driver may adjust the clock speed based on the specific workload, resulting in fluctuations.
Background tasks
If there are other apps running that are utilizing the GPU, the clock speed may fluctuate as the GPU switches between tasks.
For instance, I know a guy who has an old laptop that goes into a low-power mode when not under load. When at 100% usage, his GPU clock is at 800MHz. While playing some light games, his clock is at 300MHz, and while idle, his clock is at 50Mhz.
CPU/RAM bottleneck
This happens when the GPU isn’t receiving fresh information from the CPU quickly enough to perform at full capacity. In other words, something is working too slowly somewhere before the data reaches the GPU. This could be due to a slow CPU or insufficient RAM.
All in all, your GPU clock speed fluctuates because it wants to be power efficient.
GPU clock speed drops while gaming
When you’re playing a game, your GPU works hard to render all those sick graphics and animations. And just like how you get tired after doing a lot of physical activity, your GPU gets tired too.
So, to prevent your graphics card from overheating and frying itself, it automatically lowers its clock speed (also called thermal throttling). This helps to reduce the amount of heat it generates, which is important because too much heat can damage the components inside the card.
Now, some high-end graphics cards have better cooling systems that can keep the temperature down even when they’re working hard. So, in those cases, you might not see as much of a drop in clock speed. But for most of us, regular folks with mid-range GPUs, clock speed drops are just a fact of life.
However, if you have an older GPU, that may not be the case. For instance, RX 580 would increase its frequencies even if it is on 50% usage.
Note that some games are also locked at 60 FPS out of the box, which means your card will only use as much power as necessary to meet 60 FPS, which may be a fairly low speed with some boosting.
I would recommend turning off Vsync in the game or disabling the FPS limit. You’ll notice your load increase significantly, which is useless as it produces more heat, but you’ll better understand what’s going on. Your GPU is now attempting to produce as many frames per second as possible, even though the maximum refresh rate of your monitor limits you.
Consider the following scenario. Imagine the scenario in which the GPU can reach 100 FPS while you are locking your FPS to 60. Logically, that means that the GPU usage will get lower since it’s not using its full potential.
What happens when the GPU is not using its full power? It decreases its frequency.
Here are some other tips for avoiding the GPU clock drop: set Ambient Occlusion to low, turn off the Anisotropic filter and other special renderings.
From experience, this problem is far more common on laptops. Why? Well, because they are laptops. Most of them don’t have a sufficient cooling system as desktops which often causes thermal throttling.
How do I fix unstable GPU clock speed?
As we know, almost all modern GPUs automate their performance according to the work they need to do at the moment. That means clock speed fluctuations between light and intensive tasks. However, if your clock speed is fluctuating (spikes) drastically even when not doing any intensive task, you need to check this out.
There are a couple of solutions here. Some for when thermal throttling is the main cause and others for when thermal throttling is out of the question.
But before we begin, I would like to explain how to check whether or not it is throttling in the first place.
First, you will have to do general research and find out what is the TJmax temperature of your GPU. Second, download MSI Afterburner to monitor your GPU temp. Finally, run a benchmark or play some game, at least until it starts stuttering.
Check if that is happening anywhere near TJmax temperature. If it does, it is probably thermal throttling.
Fix 1)
Let’s start when thermal throttling is the cause. If throttling is the cause, you must first check your airflow.
Here are some questions to ask yourself:
Do you have at least one intake and one exhaust fan?
Are the fans open enough to provide sufficient airflow in and out of the case?
When was the last time you vacuumed your PC?
Is your case stuffed in the corner of the room?
If that is not the case, try undervolting your GPU or replacing the GPU paste.
Fix 2)
If bottlenecking is causing this, you need to check a few things.
If the CPU usage is exceptionally high when the GPU usage lowers, this indicates that the CPU is too slow for the GPU at that point (please note that this could also be related to thermal throttling on the CPU, so check your CPU temperature). There are two ways of fixing this: overclock your CPU (if possible) or buy a faster one.
If your CPU is not at high usage, check your RAM. Simply google the particular game and see how much RAM you need. Also, make sure that your RAM is correctly installed in dual channels. For instance, you have two RAM sticks right next to each other. That could be a problem. Besides that, check if the system recognizes your RAM.
Finally, if CPU and RAM are not the issues, check your SSD/HDD. Are your boot times longer than usual? Keep in mind that if your drive is not able to deliver data to the CPU fast enough, it will cause your whole system to bottleneck.
Fix 3)
The last one is actually very simple: set your minimum clock speed around 100 MHz below the base clock.
Here are the video instructions:
Overall, you should only worry about fluctuations in GPU clock speed if they’re causing noticeable performance issues or if they’re happening outside of normal operating conditions. If you’re not experiencing any issues with your graphics card’s performance and your clock speed is fluctuating within normal ranges, then there’s usually no need to worry.