PC performance loss after NVIDIA driver update

[Bacono10]

General decrease in PC performance

So yesterday I updated my NVIDIA drivers from GeForce Experience

(driver version 355.60)

and ever since that my PC's performance has dropped considerably.

Things are generally slower, but it is most most noticeable in games.

before the driver update I would get solid 60+ FPS in Battlefield 4 at Ultra settings, but now the average is 30-40 FPS on medium settings. Same situation for all my other games.

I have tried uninstalling the driver and reinstalling it, and installing an older driver to no avail.

any suggestions are appreciated

PC SPECS:
Strix GTX 970

AMD FX-8350

8GB RAM

600 WATT PSU



Nothing has been overclocked.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Don't ever use GeForce experience to update drivers. Don't ever use windows update to update drivers. Update drivers manually. At least graphics drivers anyhow. Use the following method to do a clean install of the graphics adapter drivers.


http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/clean-graphics-driver-install-windows.html

 

[Bacono10]

Thank you for your reply but I followed the instructions exactly and it did not help the problem. I'm still getting horrible performance.

I would be happy to test any other ideas you have.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is the model number of your power supply?

 

[Bacono10]

It's the Corsair Builder Series CX 600 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's a tier 4 unit. If it has any age on it at all, like more than 6 months to a year, it's probably to blame.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html


Feel free to read through the discussion as well. A large majority of it relates to the CX series units.

 

[Bacono10]

Thank you.

I built this PC about 3 months ago and performance has been amazing up until a couple days ago.

Could the power supply really cause such a huge and sudden problem? If so, is there a way I could test it and see if it is the problem?

I would prefer not to just go and drop $100 on a new unit before making sure it's the cause

 

[Darkbreeze]

I understand fully.

This won't fully tell us the whole story, but it's a place to start.

Download HWinfo: http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

Install it and run "sensors only" with a game running.

Take (usually 3) screenshots of all the sensors in the HWinfo window. You'll need to take one screenshot and then scroll down to get other sensors, and again to get the last ones.


Post the screenshots of the sensors windows here using the following method:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2580030/detailed-instructions-posting-images-tom-hardware.html


Make sure the GPU is under full load using a game or preferably a stress test like Furmark, when you take the screenshots. Try to crop the screenshots down so that only the HWinfo data is shown. We don't need to see your desktop as well.

 

[Bacono10]

I also noticed that there was practically no difference in frame rate when switching from low settings to ultra settings in most games, which is weird, it's like something is purposefully limiting my FPS.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Did you take that screenshot WHILE you were running a game or Furmark? Because I don't see how that's possible. Your GPU load is only 11% plus your CPU is system throttled back to 1400mhz which means it was not under a demanding load as well.

Perfect on the screenshots though. We'll call that one "idle" or close enough to it. Now do the same thing again with Furmark running.

http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/

CPU and GPU loads should both be at 100%.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Wait. Your GPU core and VRM temps are fairly high for a card that's only under 11% load. Those temps look more like full load temps. What is your motherboard model, CPU cooler model, case model and how many case fans are installed? What orientation are the case fans in, meaning, which ones are blowing out and which are drawing air in and where are they?

What is your ambient temperature in the room?

Is your PSU top or bottom mounted and which side do you have the fan facing?

 

[Bacono10]

To answer your first question, yes it was while I was in game in Battlefield 4 (the most GPU intensive game I have) at full ultra settings in multiplayer @20 FPS (it would usually be 60 FPS) . I don't know why my GPU load would only be 11%.

To answer your second question,

Motherboard: MSI 970 Gaming AM3+ AMD 970 6 x SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD

MOBO cooler: Cooler Master: Hyper 212 EVO

Case: Corsair obsidian 450d

Case fans: 5 (2 intake in the front, 2 intake on the top and 1 exhaust in the back)

My PSU is bottom mounted, with the fan facing upwards.

The ambient room temperature is about 75F

 

[Darkbreeze]

I think you may have a failing GPU card. Can you run Furmark and take those screenshots again. Sometimes games don't give the right results, as in this case. If we see similar results or out of spec temps, we'll know something more.

 

[Bacono10]

Will do

 

[Bacono10]

 

[Darkbreeze]

Ok, that's what we wanted to see. GPU core usage goes to 98% but temps stay at 68°C. That's good. But the GPU VRM temps are somewhat high and could be a problem if they get, or got, much higher. I'd double check your case fan profiles as well as making sure nothing is in the path of airflow from the front to the GPU card so the cool intake air can get back there. At least, nothing that can be moved anyhow.

The biggest problem I'm seeing is that your CPU cores are not ramping up where they should be. Not even one core.

Download Prime95 v26.6 and run Small FFT. Take screenshots right away after starting the stress test and then go up to the file menu on Prime and exit. Just closing the window out won't close the application, so be sure to close it via the file menu in the upper left hand corner. I want to see if the CPU cores go to and stay at the speed they should be.

Also, check your power profile configuration in control panel and make sure it's set to performance.

 

[Bacono10]

Power profile is on performance.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Nah. I wanted the HWinfo screenshot, like you did with Furmark running, WHILE Prime was running on small FFT so the CPU would be driven to full load and I can see if it's still showing throttle like behavior. The GPU card seemed fine under stress but the CPU did not load up in Furmark as it normally would.

 

[Bacono10]

My bad.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's definitely your problem. Look at the CPU usage. It should be at, at least 4Ghz on all cores, not 1.4Ghz under full load. That's definitely where the problem is. We need to figure out why.

Have you messed around overclocking in the bios or using anything like AMD overdrive, at any point in the past?

I'd reset the bios to default settings and see if anything changes.

 

[Darkbreeze]

What is your bios version?

 

[Bacono10]

I've never tried overclocking, I'll try resetting the bios and see if that changes anything.

 

[Bacono10]

Version 2.8

 

[Bacono10]

In-game performance has not changed, but here is an updated screenshot while prime95 is running

 

[Darkbreeze]

2.8 can't be right. Released BIOS versions for that board include :

22, 22.1, 22.2 and 22.3


Double check the bios version, not to be confused with the SMBIOS version, and if necessary, upgrade the bios to the latest version located here:

http://us.msi.com/support/mb/970-GAMING.html#support_download