Is this normal? Gpu usage while idle

[slayerx]

I'm new to tinkering with GPUs and this is my first time using Afterburner. I've tried many searches, but don't know exactly how to phrase it, and have come up empty handed. So can someone tell me if the below images look normal for my PC being idle? If not, what could be the cause? Thanks!

 

[Helltech]

The fan speed doesn't look normal.

I think you were talking about the downclocking though? When a graphics cards is not in use in a 3D program it downclocks itself to save energy. You had to have triggered somethign to make the clocks go back to 3D mode.

 

[slayerx]

LOL wow that was fast. Actually the fan is fine, and I understand about downclocking. I actually triggered it to idle back up, but what I was talking about was the constant fluctuating in the GPU usage. First one was while I was tinkering with Afterburner, the other was while completely idle.

 

[Helltech]

Ive never seen a fan do that in Afterburner, but if you know whats going on then its fine.

Anywho, about your question, what am I missing? You said you were tinking with the clocks right? Looks like you might have clocked something higher then the card wanted to go there for a second and it pushed itself back down. You were messing with it, you have to expect feedback on the monitor. That would cause flucuation like that. Idle it should stay still, like it is.

What GPU?

 

[dokk2]

Looks fine from here, you got to expect some sort of response activity when you do something, actually anything,, with your system as the primary output is to the console/display, "don't go looking for trouble, with windoze it will find you soon enough"...

 

[slayerx]

I figured the 2nd pic was probably normal, but look at the first. after I let everything settle, the GPU usage was spiking up and down, as high as about 50%. The 2nd pic is actually a fresh boot, with nothing running except Afterburner. I guess if nothing is jumping out at you guys, I must be fine

Oh, and its a Gigabyte GTX 460, 768mb

 

[Helltech]

Well the spike down was from the card downclocking itself (or so I assumed) and I figured the spike up was from when you said "I actually triggered it to idle back up". Which if that was the case would be normal.

 

[slayerx]

I'm talking about the gpu usage %, not the clocks. But ya talking about what you were looking at you are correct. Like I said I'm new to this, so when o see my gpu at50% usage with nothing going on, it somewhat alarmed me. And the little 2-3% spikes don't look so bad, but it doesn't always do it after a fresh boot, sometimes later on, but once it starts of doesn't stop and that little bit causes the temps to rise 2-4 degrees

 

[Helltech]

Oh the usage is fine. =] Thats normal.

 

[slayerx]

Best answer selected by slayerx.

 

[slayerx]

Awesome, thanks guys. Couldn't find that anywhere

 

[skuppej]

Lol these noobs. The title is placed above the graph. That is not a graph of spikes in fan speed, it's GPU Usage %.