Jumpy gaming and graphics card problems (2 questions in one)

[slayerface]

Hello!

Firstly i've been having this problem where whenver i play a game everything is super stuttery. It's odd because my ram is at 30% when gaming and cpu around 60. The FPS in game is smooth whenever not stuttering so i was thinking it could be a hard drive problem or something? But i don't really know, hense posting this.

The second thing is that i baught a new graphics card a couple weeks ago (Asus GTX 560 Direct CU II OC) and when it was in my computer everything was works fine however if i play a game for longer than 30 mins or so the computer will just shut itself down. Now i checked the power that the card needs and it says it recomends a 550w PSU and i have 850w so i'm not sure what this could be either.

Any help with either of these would be much appreciated... Thanks!

p.s sorry for any grammar failure in the post. I just woke up and am very very tired

 

[robustus64]

Sounds like your cpu fans not running and after 10 . 20 mins it heats up and crashes..
Check the fans running and not clogged w dust.

 

[Onus]

This could be a problem of something overheating. For the computer to "just shut itself down," however, suggests a problem with the PSU. What brand and model is it?

Edit: An overheating CPU will also shut down to save itself. What CPU cooler do you have? Is it securely attached? Does it increase speed dramatically right up to the point the PC shuts off?

 

[slayerface]

It's an old cheap one i picked up off ebay so thats probably it... It does however work fine with my gts 440 that im running now though... and nothing shuts down now so i don't see how putting in a better gcard would cause the cpu to overheat?

Also could the stuttering be related to any of this?

 

[Murissokah]

Actually, by using a faster GPU that won't be bottlenecked by the graphical load, your CPU load will increase. Also, your power draw will obviously rise considerably from a GTS440 to a GTX 560.

 

[slayerface]

So i need a new PSU and a better CPU cooler? (mine is just a *beep* stock cooler)

 

[Onus]

If it's a cheap PSU, it's probably overrated junk with a liar-label on it, and can't power your GTX560. I'm not sure that would cause stuttering though. That could be many different things. Are these online games? Network lag can cause stuttering. Does it stutter with the GT440?
The first thing to do, whether it affects the stuttering or not, is replace the PSU. Overstressing a cheap PSU typically causes it to go out of spec, passing potentially dangerous voltages to attached components. A quality modern PSU has full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) and some level of 80+ certification for efficiency. Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, XFX, and Enermax/LEPA are among the better brands. You should not need more than 500W. After that, see if there is still a stuttering problem.

Edit: If your system is overclocked, you'll probably want a better cooler, but if it isn't, the stock cooler should be sufficient (although it may get loud). You can download something like HWMonitor or CoreTemp to check your CPU temperature. That would be a good idea before deciding to get another cooler.

 

[slayerface]

Know if the novatech powerstations are any good? I've only heard good things about them but as far as PSU's go i have no clue...

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/nov-psg600.html

Also i only recently did a cmos reset so any cpu overclocking should be totally gone. So i'm assuming that the PSU dieing/not keeping up with the GPU was sending wrong voltages or whatever to the CPU and thats probably why it was overheating?

 

[Onus]

I see that PSU has an 80+ logo on it. While 80+ tests at an unrealistically low temperature, they run the PSU at 100% of its label for a long enough time that a cheap one would probably croak; I think that model can be trusted, especially since you won't be pulling anywhere near its max load.

 

[slayerface]

Sorry just noticed i never answered a question! The stuttering seems to occur in harder to run games. Off the top of my head the two games that have been doing it are skyrim and SWTOR but older games such as counter strike source is fine. I'm thinking it could be the hard drive as its atleast a 3-5 year old drive and was never a good one anyway. Not sure what the chances of that are though as im not super good with the more technical stuff like that

 

[Onus]

Well, since it needs to be replaced anyway, start with the new PSU. While I'd expect more outright crashes and BSODs, I suppose it is possible that out-of-spec voltages somewhere might cause erratic performance that would instead manifest as stuttering. I'm not sure I'd risk too many more experiments designed to provoke crashes until the PSU is replaced.

 

[Rockdpm]

I'm just going to state a theory not saying this is true. But make sure you have the right driver. Because i once had a GTX 550 ti (Gave it to a friend and he fixed it) but it was always shutting my computer off and i had plenty of power to use it. I tryed it on a TX 750 watt and it still did it. So before i gave it away i decided it was a driver issue. Since he uses Linux he would be using different drivers and he got it working one night and the issue he discovered was the drivers. he spent hours working with the drivers to get them to finally work

 

[slayerface]

I got the drivers straight from nvidias site so that shouldn't problem? Also the computer was getting extremely hot before it shutdown so it must've been an overheat somewhere due to the PSU.

After some ingame testing i've noticed that the stuttering is when rendering a new area or looking somewhere i haven't looked before so it seems to be a slow loading or data transfer somewhere

 

[Onus]

^As he says, bad drivers could easily account for the stuttering; and could cause BSODs or crash-to-desktop, but I don't see how they'd cause shutdowns. To minimize further risk to your system, replace the PSU before checking your drivers.

 

[slayerface]

Haha turned out i had the 560 drivers still installed! Well that fixed the stuttering when running the 450!

As soon as i have the dollah i will get that 600w novatech PSU and then leave an update on here!

 

[Onus]

Ok, the lesser card will hopefully be safe on that PSU for a while.