Something is throttling my GPU?!

[frenchbread]

I have an Asus ENGTX550 TI DC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 550 Ti (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121435). Lately I have noticed poor performance when playing Starcraft II.

My GPU is supposed to be running at 910MHz and my Memory should be at 4104MHz or 2052MHz depending on how you view it. However, both Asus GPU Tweak and GPU Shark show my frequencies at 405 GPU and 324 memory. GPU shark lists different performance states, P0, P8, and P12. P0 is where my card should be but it only goes up to P8 during games.

I realize that modern cards thorttle back when not under use, like at the desktop my GPU is usually at 50.5MHz. However when playing Starcraft II on Ultra, I would think that should push the GPU to run at its full frequencies. Another indication of throtteling is that I used to get Max temps in games of 68C, now the highest temp I've recorded is 40C.

I did have my card overclocked, but when I noticed it, I clicked defalut to reset the card to factory settings and the problem still persists.

Please help, I'm quite frustrated! Short of completely uninstalling/reinstalling the drivers is there anything I can do?

 

[JJ1217]

Uninstalling and reinstalling drivers is very easy-- and should of been the first thing you did.

 

[frenchbread]

I guess I was thinking that obviously something changed, and if I uninstall and reinstall the drivers what is to stop this from happening again?

Also, is it better to get the drivers that came from Asus, or should I get them from Nvidia? Any advantages to going with one over the other?

 

[JJ1217]

You should go to Nvidia's site for the drivers. The ones that come on the Asus disk are outdated, by far.

Look, computer components sometimes make a mistake, and sometimes they screw up. Before thinking about what is stopping it from happening again, try it out. It might be fixed, it might not.