My GTX480 is supposed to be running at 700MHZ gpu clock. When I load up a game sometimes I'll notice the game is running on really low frames to the point of not being able to play.
 
I open EVGA Precision X and see that the GPU clock is at 25mhz. It can't be a dust issue, because I clean my computer on a regular basis (compressed air). I'm confused as to what could be causing this problem.  This has happened multiple times already within a 2 week span and when I restart the PC the GPU Clock goes back to it's 700MHZ default.
 
PC Specs:
E6550 2.33ghz
Gigabyte N650SLI-DS4
OCZ 750W 
3GB DDR2 RAM
 
 
Anyone have any idea's whats causing this?
 
Thanks.

I had similar problems with my 480`s using Precision X. I don`t think it plays nice with 4xx series cards for some reason at times. I use MSI Afterburner, and havn`t had to many problems with it.
Also; What are your temps. like? If your card is running hot it will sometimes cause it to downclock, but you would also see artifacts and crashes normally with this issue.
Are you getting adequate power to the card: Do you have both 8 and 6 pin connectors connected to the card?
It could be a driver issue as well. You might try reinstalling/ or use a different driver series.
 
These are some simple things you could try first.
 

ransan309


I had similar problems with my 480`s using Precision X. I don`t think it plays nice with 4xx series cards for some reason at times. I use MSI Afterburner, and havn`t had to many problems with it.
Also; What are your temps. like? If your card is running hot it will sometimes cause it to downclock, but you would also see artifacts and crashes normally with this issue.
Are you getting adequate power to the card: Do you have both 8 and 6 pin connectors connected to the card?
It could be a driver issue as well. You might try reinstalling/ or use a different driver series.

These are some simple things you could try first.

 
My card is usually running around 45-50c idle and when in games it gets to around 60c. Sometimes its a bit lower.
Both pin connectors are firmly connected to the card. I cleaned my PC a short while after making this forum post.
 
So far no problems with down clocking since the clean up. I am using the latest Nvidia driver's available. I will monitor the status of the card for a few more hours.
 
Just for the future, what driver would you suggest I use instead of the latest one if I go towards that option if the down clocking happens again?
 
Thanks for replying.

I use the 301.42 drivers. They seem to be the most stable for me. I have not used the new Betas. Although; I have heard some say they are very good.
One thing I noticed with this driver, is that my benchmarks( Heaven, Vantage) aren`t nearly as good as they once were with earlier series. This may be atributed to degredation of my components though not sure. I have had my 480`s for over 2 years now, but they still putter along nicely. I am convinced! That liquid cooling them shortly after purchase, has greatly improved their lifespan.
Game performance has been much smoother with very good GPU and memory useage typical.

I deleted precision X that seems to be the cause of my problems. I haven't suffered any more down clocks since then.
 
I actually have a friend who has pair of GTX580's and he was also using Precision X. It was down clocking his second card to 50MHZ as well. As soon as he got rid of Prec X and downloaded MSI Afterburner, everything went back to normal.
 
Thanks for the help. Appreciate it.

Your cpu is bottlenecking your video card so bad lol

If your brain wasn't bottle necked you would of read my post and realized my problem was solved.

No need to be such an asshat about it.

It's not me being an asshat. It's you being so ignorant that you didn't even bother to read my post about me finding out what the problem was and solving it. You read my first post, saw my system specs and just hit reply message to tell me my cpu is bottlenecking while most likely having a smirk on your face while you were doing it. Who's the ass hat here?
 
Anyways, I didn't come to this forum to get into arguments. Next time please read all the posts so you know what is going on and that way you don't have to come off sounding like an ass yourself. Thanks.