Why Is My GTX 960 Under performing? Please Help

Morgan RoadMan

Commendable
Jun 18, 2016
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0
1,520
I recently noticed my pc was underperforming but it wasn't too bad but after playing overwatch recently it has become very clear it's massivly underperforming.

My Specs:
Windows 7 (64 bit)
Intel Core i5-4460 @ 3.20GHz x4
Nvidia GeForce GTX960 (2GB)
8GB RAM

I have updated my drivers, checked for malware and have 400GB of free disk space. My PC doesn't get to over 60 degrees Celsius. Overwatch gets 35-25 FPS on the lowest possible setting and my whole computer has been running a lot slower than normal. I did a Benchmark on Heaven 4.0 and scored 320 with minimum FPS of 8.4 and an average of 12.7 (this was on extreme). During the benchmark i checked MSI afterburner and my GPU usage was very erratic, jumping up and down (%30-%90)

I don't know what could be wrong. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 

XistenZ

Distinguished
Jan 19, 2014
174
1
18,765
First, check your drivers. Not only for the GPU but the motherboards chipset as well. During a GPU-bench the usage should be near 100% pretty constantly, if you still experience this jumpy behaviour after drivers, I'd RMA the graphics card.
 

Morgan RoadMan

Commendable
Jun 18, 2016
3
0
1,520


Thank you for replying but I have definitely updated my GPU drivers but im not sure how to loacate and update my chipset. I forgot to mention my CPU usage was constantly at 100% across all 4 CPU's no matter what I was doing. Is this normal, or could it be slowing sown my PC?
 

XistenZ

Distinguished
Jan 19, 2014
174
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18,765
The chipset drivers can be found on the manufacturers website, or on the driver-CD that came with the board.

If the CPU is at 100% at all times, that's not a good thing at all. Check your poweroptions and see if minimum CPU usage is set at 100%, it should be 5% as default I think. I'm unsure what the CPU is supposed to be working on if it's forced to always be at 100% though...