High Benchmark scores, but low in-game FPS. i7-770K + Gtx 1080 (Galax)

devolve

Prominent
May 4, 2017
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Hi All,

I'm starting to tear my hair out over this issue.

Chronologically, after a clean install of Windows 10 (Creators Build, but issue occurred in Anniversary as well) I find that I can get great FPS in games for a few days, then suddenly it Tanks.

For Examply, Star Trek Online plays at 60fps (Vsync) with no issues. Three days later, it drops to 5fps. Even Vsync off it won't budge. The menu screen runs at around 45-60, but as soon as I'm in-game *poof* it's down to 5.

In game, I notice that my GPU usage drops to almost nothing, and the clock doesn't go over the baseliine (Around 200Mhz).

As an experiemnt, I grabbed a game off steam and 200FPS and it made my GPU cook. (I was running on extreme with DSR on 2x (1920x1080 normal).

I installed Batman: Arkham Knight, and 60fps, but when I moved my mouse, it dropped to around 30 (Didn't used to do this either). So after some reasearch I thought it might be something to do with my mouse or it's polling rate (1000). Turned it down, re-installed drivers...no change.

I've DDU'd my GPU drivers, and always have the latest installed (Not using GeForce Experience).

Ive trawled through these forums looking for possible solutions: I've turned off dvr, ended literally every task I can, uninstalled any software I'm not using. Made sure power management is set to full power and nothing changes....until I reinstall windows...then it's back to normal for a few days (I can't keep doing that forever though).

I've run every Virus and Malware check I can (Avira installed and Malwarebytes turning up zip)

My PC has overkill specs for 1080 gaming and I just don't know what further I can do.

Below is my specs list.

CPU Intel Core i7-7700K
CPU Cooler NZXT Kraken X61
Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Gaming K5 ATX LGA1151
Memory Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory
Storage Samsung 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card GALAX GeForce GTX 1080 8GB EX OC
Case Thermaltake The Tower 900 ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply Corsair 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Operating System Microsoft Windows 10 Pro

Firestrike 1080 Results - http://www.3dmark.com/fs/12530646
17438 Fire Strike4/05/17 10:08:58 AM
Intel Core i7-7700K
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080

One thing to note, at idle, my CPU is sitting at around 30% usage, but I can't find a single culprit. It starts after the 3 days and goes from 2% Idle to 20-30% idle.

If you need any more information please don't hesitate to ask.
 
Solution
OK, So I spent a couple of hours testing with alternate hardware this morning. Switch out the RAM one module at a time and all modules produced the same low fps result.

Switch out the GPU for a 980 and got the same FPS results in games. It's starts at 100fps in the menu, then drops to 5fps in the actual game.

I'm pretty sure this is some sort of update in the background that's causing the issue.

Sigh...I've wiped and installed again. All my hardware is working fine. CPU idle is 0% on clean install with drivers provided by manufacturer. Nothing else installed at this time.

I've turned off all background updates, and made sure that Windows is not set to update driver either.

I'm going to create a backup of the install to flash back...

mahanddeem

Distinguished
Apr 30, 2007
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You wrote a big newspaper. What's your problem now?
One thing I noticed, Your Firestike physics score is in the low side (129xx).
You should get around 14500

There is no overkill for 1080p gaming (I'd say your PC is average/high end for 1080p). Even 1080Ti can choke on 1080p if you go crazy in antialiasing and/or want 144fps/165fps in recent games.

Your CPU idle load is high.
Check CPU temp (coretemp) while gaming.

You're sure your rams are ok? 2400MHz is somehow limiting the 7700K, XMP? enabled in BIOS?
What's your PSU?

 

devolve

Prominent
May 4, 2017
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520
I'm thinking the CPU results are lower due the constant usage...something in the background, but I can't pinpoint any one program. Just a lot of 1%. I had XMP on, but turned it off as part of t/shooting.

Should have mentioned, I've run a few memtests overnight with no issues.

The CPU never hits 100% in game either.

I'll turn it back on and run another test.
 

devolve

Prominent
May 4, 2017
3
0
520
OK, So I spent a couple of hours testing with alternate hardware this morning. Switch out the RAM one module at a time and all modules produced the same low fps result.

Switch out the GPU for a 980 and got the same FPS results in games. It's starts at 100fps in the menu, then drops to 5fps in the actual game.

I'm pretty sure this is some sort of update in the background that's causing the issue.

Sigh...I've wiped and installed again. All my hardware is working fine. CPU idle is 0% on clean install with drivers provided by manufacturer. Nothing else installed at this time.

I've turned off all background updates, and made sure that Windows is not set to update driver either.

I'm going to create a backup of the install to flash back too for testing if it occurs again. If I'm right, the system should work fine on restore as whatever software caused the issue would be removed.
 
Solution