CPU/Mobo Major fps drops in games. Possibly CPU related

ashrr

Adept
Hey guys,

I recently got a GTX 970 and I'm getting these weird FPS issues in games where it just drops down drastically and stays there until I quit the game and restart, most noticeably in Overwatch and The Witcher 3.

The rest of my rig is an i5 2500, 8 gigs of RAM, Intel DH67BL motherboard. The games start off performing really well, but about 10 minutes in, my performance plummets. At first I suspected my hard disk was the culprit since I was running them off a very, very old 5200 RPM drive, but even after transferring them to a brand new SSD, the issues persist.

One thing to note, is that the fps drops rarely occur when I lock my framerate to 60 (or 70 in the case of Overwatch) using Vsync or a limit setting. It still happens sometimes, but not as often as when I try to run uncapped. For instance, Overwatch starts off at nearly 150 fps on Ultra but half way during the match, it instantly drops to the 50s. I've recorded a video of the problem here.


It's a little hard to notice, but if you pay attention to the OSD on the top left, you can see it plummet drastically around the 25 second mark. My CPU temperature goes to 89C just before that so maybe it's a case of overheating. As soon as the fps drops, both my GPU usage along with CPU usage and temperature start to drop as well.

However, what baffles me is that towards the end of the video, FPS goes back up to around 120 instantly when I'm in the game ending score screens. It's only during actual game play that the performance is poor.

If the video isn't clear enough, here's an image.

J9kcJpP.jpg


Is this because of CPU overheating? How can I fix it?

Edit: Someone suggested a stress test - Ran AIDA64 with CPU and GPU for about 30 minutes. Screenshots just after stopping here - http://imgur.com/a/wcIHi
 
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You checked for latest BIOS/firmware/driver updates? Could very well be NVidia driver issue too...[DOUBLEPOST=1465383355][/DOUBLEPOST]But the temps do seem very high too and yeah could be throttling CPU and/or GPU - time to check your cabinet for clear space (fans spinning OK etc) ?
 
You checked for latest BIOS/firmware/driver updates? Could very well be NVidia driver issue too...[DOUBLEPOST=1465383355][/DOUBLEPOST]But the temps do seem very high too and yeah could be throttling CPU and/or GPU - time to check your cabinet for clear space (fans spinning OK etc) ?

Drivers are up to date afaik. Automatically updated.

My cabinet has a transparent side window and from here, the fans seem to be spinning correctly. It's a month old, so nearly no dust and I've got some basic cable management going too.
 
If those temp readings are correct, I believe numbers like 70-80 plus degrees is dangerous for your CPU/GPU, but let's see what others chime in.
 
try this; play a game until the issue appears then alt+tab back to the desktop.
let the cpu+gpu cool down a bit (30-60 seconds should be enough) then go back into the game and see if the fps is still low.
this should at least help figure out if heat is the culprit here.

Also, are you seeing any screen artifacts when the fps drops?
 
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Remove your CPU heatsink, clean the CPU, put fresh thermal paste and reseat it back. This is clearly a case of CPU overheating and throttling. Is the fan spinning properly? If not replace the fan as well.
 
Those temps are way too high for stock...Buy a cheap after market cooler...keep cpu temps under 70 for optimal life and performance. Gpu doesn't seem to be a culprit as no artifacts were reported by you.
 
try this; play a game until the issue appears then alt+tab back to the desktop.
let the cpu+gpu cool down a bit (30-60 seconds should be enough) then go back into the game and see if the fps is still low.
this should at least help figure out if heat is the culprit here.

Also, are you seeing any screen artifacts when the fps drops?

I usually restart the game and it fixes it. This takes about 30 to 60 seconds I guess. No artifacts at all.


Remove your CPU heatsink, clean the CPU, put fresh thermal paste and reseat it back. This is clearly a case of CPU overheating and throttling. Is the fan spinning properly? If not replace the fan as well.

Any way to tell if the fans are spinning properly? And how hard is it to remove the heat sink and reapply thermal paste? I've never done it before.


Those temps are way too high for stock...Buy a cheap after market cooler...keep cpu temps under 70 for optimal life and performance. Gpu doesn't seem to be a culprit as no artifacts were reported by you.

I was considering this. Looking at the Coolermaster Hyper 212x. I just want to know if it'll fit my motherboard (Intel DH67BL) since it has only 2 RAM slots used up by Corsair Vengeance sticks. Cabinet is a Deepcool Tesseract SW
 
I remember my i5 was touching 90c temp suddenly and it turned out that a wire was blocking the cpu fan from spinning properly.

Open the cabinet and run the pc. See if the fan is spinning. If not, buy another cooler and get it installed. Its very easy to install cooler and thermal paste. If you're uneasy, get it done outside. shouldn't cost you 100 bucks for installation.
 
Any way to tell if the fans are spinning properly? And how hard is it to remove the heat sink and reapply thermal paste? I've never done it before.

If it is spinning, it should be fine. If it isn't its time for a new cooler.

As for hyper 212x - the cooler has a design flaw with the clips that hold the fan to the heat sink. The are incredibly fragile. I have one that is sitting idle cos of this issue.
 
If it is spinning, it should be fine. If it isn't its time for a new cooler.

As for hyper 212x - the cooler has a design flaw with the clips that hold the fan to the heat sink. The are incredibly fragile. I have one that is sitting idle cos of this issue.

I see them spinning right now. Not sure what to do then.
 
I see them spinning right now. Not sure what to do then.
Then just reinstall the cooler and reapply fresh thermal paste after removing the existing gunk. Also clean the insides of the case and make sure that it has intake and exhaust fans.
 
Got the CPU cleaned and fresh thermal paste applied. I also have two fans in my cabinet - one in the front intake and one at the back for exhaust.

Overall the temperatures dropped by about 10 C on average, but still went up to 86 C at one point. Since then I've done the following -

Tried older Nvidia drivers, tried an older BIOS, tried enabling / disabling SpeedStep and Turbo Boost, reinstalled Windows. No luck.
 
Some updates - Went out and bought a Coolermaster Hyper 212x and now my temps don't cross 60C in games. However, I've noticed that when the fps drops occur, my CPU frequency seems to drop to 1500mhz temporarily when it runs at 3.3k mhz normally.

Happens most noticeably in Overwatch and Dota 2. Then if I alt tab to the desktop for about 10 seconds and go back to the game, it goes back to normal. PSU is a Seasonic s12ii 620W.
 
Install RivaTuner or any other GPU/CPU load measuring device and run it. For some reason your CPU is throttling it should not be. Some power saving may be on.
 
All power saving features like SpeedStep, C-states etc are off in the BIOS. Windows Power Mode also set to High Performance.

I ran a stress test with AIDA64. Here are the results - http://imgur.com/a/agLDW

In a span of 10 minutes, the CPU clocks dropped to the 1500s around 4 times, but the CPU throttling % remains at 0. Dust can also be ruled out since it's a brand new CPU cooler and a cabinet that's only around a month old. Everything was cleaned recently. I'm at my wits' end.

The strange thing is that in the older album I posted in the OP with the stock cooler and BIOS defaults, my temperatures were really high, but the CPU frequency didn't drop as much.
 
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