Second Life causes my Graphics Drivers/Internet Browser to act strangely.

[Azure Dash]

I've been having this issue for about a year or two now, I'm not entirely sure how I've had that much patience for it, but I finally figured out it was Second Life causing this issue.

So, whenever I install Second Life and run it, everything runs totally fine, SL and my computer runs totally fine, however, whenever I'm not running Second Life at all and I try browsing the internet my graphics card's temperature is guaranteed to run at around 40 degrees.

Right now, with Second Life uninstalled and not running, typing out this thread my GPU is running on at 28 degrees. However, if I reinstall Second Life, boot it up and play around for a bit, closing down the program too the problem I'm having is likely to repeat itself.

The only way I've found to fix the problem is by reinstalling my drivers or installing updated drivers but if I start up Second Life again, the issue is bound to repeat.

I've tried using different SL viewers, from the official LL viewer, Firestorm, Singularity just to name a few, but it doesn't seem to be fixing the issue. I've also tried using different internet browsers with hardware acceleration turned off but it's not working either.

If it helps, the graphics card that i'm using is a MSI GTX560ti Twin Frozr.

I'm thinking that the issue may be tied to Nvidia drivers and possibly the SL code, since it happens on different viewers, but I honestly couldn't tell you myself, it's a really weird issue.

I've decided that the only way to fix it is simply not to run Second Life, but as you can imagine, that's not really fixing the issue, that's more of preventing and hiding it away. 

I've been wanting to jump back onto SL after taking a break anyways.

 

I would appreciate any help with this.

 

[Dora Gustafson]

Really what is the problem? 40°C is no problem for any GPU
Right now mine is 42°C and and only my browser is up
28°C would be when turned off or in stand by I guess

So what is the problem?

:smileysurprised::smileyvery-happy:

 

[Marigold Devin]

Welcome to Second Life Forums, Azure.

The Second Life code gets tweaked on a weekly basis - I speak in layman's terms here - and some weeks you might find your computer runs it better than at other times, but for sure it will be the thing that will put the most strain on your computer. 

Rather than be obsessed about the temperature of your computer - which, as Dora says, doesn't sound like a problem - your issues could be more linked to how your computer is processing everything you are asking of it. For example, my own computer, which is getting on a bit now, and which has had bits and pieces replaced, still has a relatively low amount of memory (it started with only 1Gb, now has added, but is still only 3Gb), and arguably would struggle to run Second Life, but it has been fine for me.

Older/less capable computers may run Second Life adequately, until/unless too many other programs are also running in other windows, ie youtube, or "on demand" types of TV services. 

If you add your full system specs to this thread, you will get more specific responses and advice on what you can alter/update/tweak to get the best performance generally, but especially with Second Life.

[Qie Niangao]

It does seem very strange, though.

Still, yeah, 40C is not so hot that I'd have any qualms about continuing to run SL. Not even close, in fact. So... I'm not sure why you've concluded that you'll need to leave it uninstalled until you figure this out.

In general, the 500 series does generate more heat than later series, and (quite a bit) less than a 400 series card with similar performance. Admittedly, that doesn't explain why your temps should vary as a function of which programs were run since the driver was installed. I mean, I can make up a story for something that continues to affect temperature until a reboot, but the description here suggests that even rebooting doesn't restore the earlier, lower temps. (Is that correct?)

Also, you say you've been having this issue for a year or two; presumably that's through several upgrades of nVidia's drivers. None of those upgrades made any difference, correct?

As long as we're clarifying the issue, I'd also wonder: does the problem occur after running SL and rebooting but not starting any browser or anything else, running only whatever program you're using to monitor GPU temp?

And are you also comparing the fan speeds between the 28C and 40C conditions? (I'm vaguely thinking that somehow something is contaminating settings for auto speed control of fans -- and not necessarily only for the GPU fan.)

[Azure Dash]

That's correct, I've tried updating my drivers various times and the issue stops, until I boot up SL again.

It also happens when SL isn't running, rebooting the PC also doesn't work either. if I update my drivers and don't start up SL the problem doesn't occur unless if I start up SL again, my tempertures stick to around 28-36 at best.

When I reboot my PC and don't run anything at all, the tempertures are normal, my temps act the same when playing games, it's only when I boot up a browser after using SL the tempertures go wonky.

It's almost like as if booting up Second Life causes my GPU to put on more strain on itself when I'm not even running it and just browsing the net.

It's hard to explain because of how bizarre the issue is, sorry. @.@

[Madelaine McMasters]

Hi Azure,

It's been ages since I've noodled with Windows, but I think there must be a tool for observing the running task list and seeing what's using CPU/GPU resources. It's possible that launching SL loads some process that doesn't unload when you quit (don't ask me why!). If you can find that process and determine that SL loads it (check before and after launching SL), you could manually kill it until you find out why it's not unloading when you quit.

Good luck!

[Dora Gustafson]

Still I don't see the problem
The allowed Max temperature for nvidia GPUs are around 105°C
It is not realistic to say having 40°C is a problem

:smileysurprised::smileyvery-happy:

[Cincia Singh]

My EVGA GTX 560Ti runs at 38C while I'm typing this ... if I start SL it runs closer to 65C ... not a problem. It used to run a bit hotter (70-85C) because the NVidia default fan control doesn't really ramp up the fan speed until about 70C. I use "EVGA Precison X" software to monitor temp and scale my card's fan to ramp up sooner and keep my card cooler. You might try "MSI Afterburner" to ramp up the fans on your card if you'd like to run it cooler.

[Qie Niangao]

---

Azure Dash wrote:

That's correct, I've tried updating my drivers various times and the issue stops, until I boot up SL again.

It also happens when SL isn't running, rebooting the PC also doesn't work either. if I update my drivers and don't start up SL the problem doesn't occur unless if I start up SL again, my tempertures stick to around 28-36 at best.

When I reboot my PC and don't run anything at all, the tempertures are normal, my temps act the same when playing games, it's only when I boot up a browser after using SL the tempertures go wonky.

It's almost like as if booting up Second Life causes my GPU to put on more strain on itself when I'm not even running it and just browsing the net.

It's hard to explain because of how bizarre the issue is, sorry. @.@

---

Okay, I think I understand, but have no idea why it's happening. Two observations, for whatever they're worth:

I'm reading you to say that, without SL ever being installed, your temps will range from 28 to 36 degrees, and that the problematic condition is when it goes to 40. There's really no difference between 36 and 40C, so I'm supposing that 36 is the "heavy workload" temperature before SL, and 40C is the "nothing but a browser" temperature after SL. (I must say, though, if 36C is as hot as you can get your GPU to run, pre-SL, you must have some impressive case cooling!)

Secondly, what you're seeing is a difference in how hot your machine runs while just the browser is running, between the conditions where SL has never run since a driver installation, on the one hand, and on the other, any time after SL has run since driver installation (even across boots). Now, I'm going to assume you've been scrupulously scientific about this and you always run the same browser with the same windows pointed to the same sites when making these comparisons. (Incidentally, you have tried different browsers, right? I mean, it's weird for any browser to behave this way, but it would be hugely informative if it only happened in, say, Firefox.)

The point is, apparently something about the browser configuration changes when SL is run the first time, and whatever that change is, re-installing the graphics drivers will revert it. And the effect of that change is to alter the GPU temperature when the browser is running.

I realize that's exactly what you've been saying all along. I was just hoping that restating it that way might remind folks of something useful -- where "folks" refers to people who actually know something useful, in stark contrast to me.

Finally, here's how to grab your system information. Seeing all that detail in that format sometimes jogs memories.

[ObviousAltIsObvious]

it's not just you and it's not just SL. contact MSI.

https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=160911.0

[Whirly Fizzle]

I think your problem may be caused by this:

MAINT-1841 Use NVAPI to force NVIDIA GPU power management mode to prefer max performance

http://hg.secondlife.com/viewer-release/commits/6a2054a7cf5b83220f6f0342af51b3d0d0ae25cd

 

After installing and running an SL viewer, this applies a setting to the nvidia control panel (NVCP) to set "power management mode" to prefer maximum performance...this setting locks the core clocks at max. The issue is that changes to the NVCP do not take effect till a system restart is done..this is somehow bugging out the driver or the control panel to think SL is running soon as computer restarts and the settings take effect.

To fix: Open the NVCP after a restart. ->  Manage 3d settings > Program Settings > Power management Mode > and select Adaptive.

Does this help?