CPU Randonly Jumps to 100% in Games, Display Driver Stop Responding

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JoebaltBlue

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Jul 2, 2015
9
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4,510
I feel like I've run every test possible to try and diagnose this issue, but I can't find the source of my problem. A few days ago, in games the screen would randomly go black (or one solid color) and then come back. Windows would tell me the display driver stopped responding and recovered from an issue. I spent a long time trying to fix this from a GPU perspective by changing around a lot of power settings, underclocking, using all kinds of drivers, etc but to no avail.

Then I noticed that my CPU jumps to 100% very briefly when this occurs. It doesn't seem to be an overheating issue, as the CPU stays below 60 C the whole time.

I've reinstalled windows 7, dusted the computer, and ran a Memtest but they haven't fixed anything. Without a game running, the computer runs fine, but the whole thing either briefly freezes for a few seconds in game or completely crashes requiring a restart.

This happens in the majority of games I play (Final fantasy XIV, Rocket League, Dark Souls 3, etc).

I have had these parts since 2015, and it's surprising that they now are giving me issues:

i5 4690k
GTX 980Ti
Topower Nano Series 800W
8GB RAM
ASRock z97

Any help would be appreciated, thank you.
 
Solution
J
Try shutting down, removing the video card then hookup the monitor to the motherboard to use the iGPU and see if that's stable.

That may indicate a graphics card problem.

It also sounds like a possible unstable POWER issue, but your PSU doesn't seem to bad on quick Google.

If you can borrow a video card that consumes about the same or power power that would be the best test.

I'm about 95% sure it's a graphics card issue though.

You can also try to DOWNCLOCK both the GPU and VRAM to see if that helps. Maybe try 90% of max. If it still fails it could be the video card still, but if it stops having issues it is the video card.
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jeffreydanielbyers

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Oct 2, 2017
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Try shutting down, removing the video card then hookup the monitor to the motherboard to use the iGPU and see if that's stable.

That may indicate a graphics card problem.

It also sounds like a possible unstable POWER issue, but your PSU doesn't seem to bad on quick Google.

If you can borrow a video card that consumes about the same or power power that would be the best test.

I'm about 95% sure it's a graphics card issue though.

You can also try to DOWNCLOCK both the GPU and VRAM to see if that helps. Maybe try 90% of max. If it still fails it could be the video card still, but if it stops having issues it is the video card.
 
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Solution
J

JoebaltBlue

Reputable
Jul 2, 2015
9
0
4,510


I forgot I had an old dusty R9 290 in my closet. I popped it in and things appear to be stable. Games certainly don't run as well but that's to be expected. Luckily my 980Ti is still under warranty, so hopefully NVIDIA can get it back to me quickly. Come to think of it, FFXIV would crash in Directx11 mode earlier this year, but I didn't think much of it. Maybe the GPU issues were beginning back then but didn't really manifest until recently?

Either way, thank you for narrowing it down very quickly. NVIDIA support told me it was a CPU issue, but I wasn't too thrilled about buying another.
 
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