I've noticed that my 1080ti graphics card is surprisingly hitting 85°C while idling. However, when I'm gaming, the temperature drops to around 50-60°C. How is this even possible? I would think it should be cooling down at idle. Does anyone have insights on why this is happening? I also see that the GPU usage is around 1%, barely using 1GB of its 11GB of memory.
3 Answers
Have you checked if your fans are working properly? They might not kick in unless the card gets loaded in games. That could be a possible reason for the high idle temps if they’re not functioning right.
Since the 1080ti is an older model, it's worth considering that it might need some maintenance. Replacing the thermal paste or pads could help lower the idle temps, but it doesn't explain why it's much cooler during gaming. Still, worth looking into.
True, but I don’t think that’s the issue since the temperature drops when gaming. I figured higher usage would mean higher temps.
You might want to disable the zero RPM mode in your settings if it's not already off. Sometimes that can cause the fans to not spin when the card is idling, leading to higher temps.
I checked that already, and the fans are working as they should.
Yep, I’ve checked that too, and they’re working all the time.