GTX 560 Ti High usage spikes | Faulty?

[Guest]

Hi Tom's Hardware community!

My Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
4GB Kingston HyperX RAM
1TB Samsung HDD
ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCUII 1GB (not TOP!)
Corsair CX600 PSU (600W)

Yes I know these specs aren't top notch.

I seem to be encountering a problem with my computer during games (hence the reason I've posted it here, I suspect it is the card). I think I've had this issue for a while I believe, yet I never noticed it before about a month ago.

The problem

Okay. Once I first boot the computer and open a game, it's the usual speed, no lag at all. After a few hours, the computer the FPS just drop to about a third or fourth. The lag doesn't always occur after a few hours; it can be about 6, 10 or it may not even happen for that day of use. To be honest, I only really just noticed that the usage was high today when I checked ASUS GPU Monitor. The usage (when playing Minecraft) is about 15-30% on average before the lag, but after it hits 98-99% with really low FPS. Other games are also affected.

Action taken

I've already done many things to try to remedy the problem but all seem to have been unsuccessful. Because at first I wasn't sure what it was (and I'm still not sure), I did a few things to nail down the possibilities. I've:
■Reseated the CPU (twice)
■Reseated the RAM
■Reseated the GPU (twice)
■Checked cables for everything
■Cleaned out the whole system
Everything I've done seems to have done nothing.

What next?

I've just installed the Beta drivers from Nvidia, and I'm going to try them out as soon as possible. For now, I'm just wondering if there is anything else I could try or whether it seems one of my components is faulty. Bare in mind that I've had the CPU for a while and it has been overclocked to 3.2GHz in the past (could this possibly cause this problem?).

Thanks in advance.

 

[maxh22]

Hi Tom's Hardware community!

My Specs:
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
4GB Kingston HyperX RAM
1TB Samsung HDD
ASUS GTX 560 Ti DirectCUII 1GB (not TOP!)
Corsair CX600 PSU (600W)

Yes I know these specs aren't top notch.

I seem to be encountering a problem with my computer during games (hence the reason I've posted it here, I suspect it is the card). I think I've had this issue for a while I believe, yet I never noticed it before about a month ago.

The problem

Okay. Once I first boot the computer and open a game, it's the usual speed, no lag at all. After a few hours, the computer the FPS just drop to about a third or fourth. The lag doesn't always occur after a few hours; it can be about 6, 10 or it may not even happen for that day of use. To be honest, I only really just noticed that the usage was high today when I checked ASUS GPU Monitor. The usage (when playing Minecraft) is about 15-30% on average before the lag, but after it hits 98-99% with really low FPS. Other games are also affected.

Action taken

I've already done many things to try to remedy the problem but all seem to have been unsuccessful. Because at first I wasn't sure what it was (and I'm still not sure), I did a few things to nail down the possibilities. I've:
■Reseated the CPU (twice)
■Reseated the RAM
■Reseated the GPU (twice)
■Checked cables for everything
■Cleaned out the whole system
Everything I've done seems to have done nothing.

What next?

I've just installed the Beta drivers from Nvidia, and I'm going to try them out as soon as possible. For now, I'm just wondering if there is anything else I could try or whether it seems one of my components is faulty. Bare in mind that I've had the CPU for a while and it has been overclocked to 3.2GHz in the past (could this possibly cause this problem?).

Thanks in advance.

Your cpu is most likely bottle necking the games you play because it isn't fast enough.

 

[Guest]

Your cpu is most likely bottle necking the games you play because it isn't fast enough.

Never had problems before with gaming, only recently. It should cope fine, it's still a good CPU. It's possible that the GPU is taking all the load because the CPU is faulty? I am yet not sure if it is the GPU.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

If it was CPU bottlenecking, the GPU usage would be doing the opposite (the CPU would be hitting 100% while the GPU sat idle). Yes, his CPU is bottlenecking it, but not seriously.

Run Furmark for 20-30 minutes and let us know what your temperatures are and if you artifact at all. Right after that, run Prime95 for an hourish to check out your CPU just to make sure.

 

[Guest]

If it was CPU bottlenecking, the GPU usage would be doing the opposite (the CPU would be hitting 100% while the GPU sat idle). Yes, his CPU is bottlenecking it, but not seriously.

Run Furmark for 20-30 minutes and let us know what your temperatures are and if you artifact at all. Right after that, run Prime95 for an hourish to check out your CPU just to make sure.

Thanks. I'll give that stuff a try.

 

[Guest]

Okay. Ran FurMark v1.10.1 for an hour.

GPU Min. temp: 38c
GPU Max. temp: 65c
GPU temp at finish: 64c

FPS: min:20, max:26, avg:23

Motherboard peak temp: 38c
CPU peak temp: 26c
Core peaks:
Core #0: 34c
Core #1: 39c
Core #2: 30c
Core #3: 34c
Auxiliary peak temp: 28c
Hard Drive peak temp: 27c

Didn't notice any weird behaviour or lag. GPU usage was 99%. Meanwhile CPU usage was 27% (according to Windows).

Going to run Prime95 now for an hour or so.

 

[Guest]

Okay. Ran Prime95 for 1 hour and 18 minutes. No errors or warnings within this timeframe.

Torture Test.

Worker #1: 39 tests.
Worker #2,#3,#4: 40 tests.

Peak temps

Motherboard: 35c
CPU:35.5c
Core:
Core #0: 44c
Core #1: 45c
Core #2: 41c
Core #3: 42c
Auxiliary: 27.5c
Hard Drive: 26c

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Your PSU may be bad and overheating. Once it gets hot it stops being able to produce good, constant power. Do you happen to have a spare?

 

[Guest]

Your PSU may be bad and overheating. Once it gets hot it stops being able to produce good, constant power. Do you happen to have a spare?

My PSU is pretty new, I had it since December 2011. It's a Corsair CX600 (as mentioned above). Sadly I do not have another PSU with enough power to run all my system components. I am covered by a 3 year warranty with my PSU so if I do suspect it's this which is causing the problem, I can return it. I have a feeling it's not this though. Do you think a PSU that is not giving out a stable flow of power would force the card to utilize 99% usage in games? Or would this be because another system part is not receiving enough power flow? I am yet very stumped by my hardware issue as I've never encountered it before. I don't think the PSU is overheating, yet I cannot monitor it, so I don't know

Also I have not encountered any lag since updating to the NVIDIA Beta drivers, maybe it's just luck.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

My PSU is pretty new, I had it since December 2011. It's a Corsair CX600 (as mentioned above). Sadly I do not have another PSU with enough power to run all my system components. I am covered by a 3 year warranty with my PSU so if I do suspect it's this which is causing the problem, I can return it. I have a feeling it's not this though. Do you think a PSU that is not giving out a stable flow of power would force the card to utilize 99% usage in games? Or would this be because another system part is not receiving enough power flow? I am yet very stumped by my hardware issue as I've never encountered it before. I don't think the PSU is overheating, yet I cannot monitor it, so I don't know

Also I have not encountered any lag since updating to the NVIDIA Beta drivers, maybe it's just luck.

Well don't change the drivers and if that happens again let us know and we can go from there. I am guessing if your running stable now and the tests came back good it was the drivers causing some sort of problem with either a piece of software or hardware.

 

[Guest]

Well don't change the drivers and if that happens again let us know and we can go from there. I am guessing if your running stable now and the tests came back good it was the drivers causing some sort of problem with either a piece of software or hardware.

I suppose anything is possible. I'm doing my best to eliminate any other possible problems. I think the Beta drivers may have nailed it, yet it may not be solved. I'll see how it goes over the next few days. I'll report back as soon as problems arise.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

Good deal and good luck!

 

[Guest]

Good deal and good luck!

So far so good, the GeForce 304.79 Beta drivers seem to be doing the trick. Since installing them I haven't had one problem so far. I've done a google to see if the 301.42 had a bad impact on some GPUs and I found a few topics which almost confirms that it could have been the drivers. Obviously I can't leave it at this as I may be incorrect. I'll leave it another week or so if you don't mind.

 

[gidgiddonihah]

It's OK with me, and if you have any problems just let me know.

 

[Guest]

It's OK with me, and if you have any problems just let me know.

I've left it quite a while longer than I said. Everything seems to be OK. I thank you for your advice but I believe I fixed it myself (if it is fixed ). I don't think I need to leave it any longer.

 

[slithersly]

I have the same problem. I got my 560ti in December and the problem started in May. Today I was playing DoW2 The Last Stand perfectly fine. After that, I played a bit of Guild Wars and was getting ~30 fps. The only fix for this is to reset my comp; even if I leave it alone for hours, the problem will still be there unless I restart. This problem doesn't happen often. I went for weeks without an incident. I'll give the beta drivers a go.

Stats (All bought in January 2009):
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
4GB CORSAIR XMS2
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue 650W

 

[Guest]

I have the same problem. I got my 560ti in December and the problem started in May. Today I was playing DoW2 The Last Stand perfectly fine. After that, I played a bit of Guild Wars and was getting ~30 fps. The only fix for this is to reset my comp; even if I leave it alone for hours, the problem will still be there unless I restart. This problem doesn't happen often. I went for weeks without an incident. I'll give the beta drivers a go.

Stats (All bought in January 2009):
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
4GB CORSAIR XMS2
GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P
Antec NeoPower 650 Blue 650W

Yeah it's worth giving it a try. Let me know how it goes. I've had no issues since using the beta drivers (except when overclocking once and not applying enough volts).