Unstable FPS with GTX 770

Hi.

I have a gaming pc (i7-4790, 16gb ram, gtx 770 4gb, asus z97-a).

I always had an unstable fps, games that would run at 90 fps (like gw2 on ultra), suddenly run at 25-30... and it's random.. today they run well, tomorrow they might not run past 30 fps and i have no idea what causing it.

The only thing i found out that a restart can fix the problem BUT it can also make it worse. Sometimes a restart caused the fps drop and sometimes it fixed it (tried many times).

PC is not overheating, i have a water cooling and a few fans so that is also not the problem..

I'm at a loss here and would like some help .. thanks!

My suggestion would be to download GPUz and check your PCIe Bus Speed while the game is in window mode up on your screen.

If you see your not running @ 16x 3.0 (assuming your in the top slot) then either... Try the 2nd PCIE slot on your board or adjust the Link State Power Management in Power Options, under PCI Express.

Other options would be to set your BIOS manually to force 3.0. Try your card in the 2nd PCIE slot or Even a BIOS update could help.

Your HDD might be dying, test it with http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskMark/index-e.html

A virus could cause the same issues.

Do a full virus/malware/spyware scan with a good cleaner best to google top ones and find the best one for you. Also use Windows defender through windows update (update windows as well) thing works so much better then it used to. They've made leaps with it. After that you should update your motherboards bios , then all of the drivers for your hardware. Fresh installs of the drivers only, you want no remnants of the old ones. Wouldn't hurt to maybe go to device manager and delete any redundant ones laying around if there are any as sometimes more then a single driver set can cause issues. Though the option for clean install should be present in the Executable for the installation.

Then download a program to monitor your systems usage info I use cam but I know there are far better and less demanding ones out there that will give you information on your system from temps to per core usage and even heat of each individual core, or if your drive is having issues and dying (program above to test drive). Cam is just a visually pleasing and easy to use, instead of a bunch of confusing numbers in grey boxes though again I'm sure there are better ones.

Should De-fragment your drives and do a cleaning with the tools in start menu\accessory\Tools.

Not everyone knows to do this but closing everything else but the game often works. Though I can't see that being too much of an issue with your system unless you have tones of stuff running in the background taking up your CPU usage. If that's the case and a bunch of stuff starts up on start up, just search msconfig go to the tab startup and turn things that aren't 100% necessary to windows and the game to not start up when you turn the comp on. You'd be surprised at how many auto updates start doing their thing at times when they really shouldn't be running or even on for that matter.

I honestly can't see the card being in a pcie 2.0 slot causing issues, beyond a couple frames as that's all it generally loses 1-2fps. So that's not the problem.

After all that which actually shouldn't take more then 30 minutes, you should be good. If not a fresh windows install seems to all ways do the trick when it comes to odd, unsolvable pc problems. Though again you'd have to go through all the driver updates and windows updates, but in the end it might be the final fix if the combination I wrote above doesn't fix the issue.

Also wouldn't hurt to check out your Nvidia control panel. Textures should only ever be on Quality, as higher quality is apparently not meant for games. And maybe switching it from it's base mode of duel monitor setup, to a single screen, though I honestly don't see the later helping but if it does well I'll be damned.

I know I literally just labelled off basic computer maintenance, and upkeep as the fix for this but you'd be surprised at how many people don't even think of simply updating basic things, or even know to do basic maintenance without being told step by step to do so.

Hell I have a friend who I've been pc gaming with for a long time, and he never seems to learn ever. I can fix it and clean his laptop show him how to keep it that way and within a month it's gone to shit again. He all ways runs out of space even though he has a back up drive for his whole comp that is useless filled with stuff not worthy enough to back up. But because I said backup he won't use it because it might have something important... How people use computers like that I got no clue drives me nuts watching him use it, and I'm only god damn computer rookie when it comes down to it. I can imagine a computer wizard's frustration if even I get frustrated with people like that.

This screams pre-built PC, dont ask us, ask the company you bought it from.

@GTR12: Considering most tech support people literally follow a step by step check list and have zero real knowledge on the subject I'd recommend not doing that (Dells informative India support is just dandy for an English speaking Canadian who isn't accustomed to Indian accents, or their broken english). Waste of time outside of getting them to send a new one or fix the old one after shipping it to them. He's more then capable of doing everything they are going to tell him to by himself. Which in total is about everything I've listed above.

It's not a pre-build pc... i build it on my own

Ok i did some stuff:

1) it is running 16x 3.0

2) i did the HDD test, it's all good (using CrystalDiskMark)

3) my pc is super clean, i have almost no programs on it as it is purely for gaming

Gonna run a virus scans next and disable some minor programs using msconfig on startup and see how it goes...

thanks

@hobiron: If you take anything out of my post as 100% something that should be done it's the bios and driver updates. Simplest thing you can do to improve your pc's gaming or general performance.

@hobiron:

You checked when you were having FPS issues? Or not when you were not having issues?

You also looked at the real speed? The @ # and not the number before it.

Really, if you tried another slot on your board and you BIOS is up to date. Then there is something wrong with your card. If you can try it in another PC, do that.

This is what happens when you are idle.

This is what happens when your PCIE slot is broke or not working right.

^ I think the best course is to let him work through the list of stuff I posted first. Then if non of that works it could be his card.

Never thought to ask this but what's the case like? Is it super dusty in side? Is it in a well ventilated space? Did you put the fans on in a way that allows for proper air flow and pressure? To me the dips in frames sound more like throttling clocks due to high card temperatures then anything else (If non of the previous things work).

You'll need something like Cam the program I suggested up top to test this under load wouldn't hurt to do a before data collection and record a bit of the data over a few hours, then do a data collection after you do the fixes and updates see if it changes.

The next time it happens, you should run Task Manager and see what processes were currently running at the time of the slowdowns. For all we know, it could just be antivirus software doing a delayed scan.

It happens all the time in my case whenever I turn off the PC at night and turn it on the following morning. I have my antivirus software normally do scans at night. Of course, it's not going to happen if I power down the PC at night. So, it does the scan the next time I power up the PC.

@Truth_Hurts_U said:

This is what happens when you are idle.

This is what happens when your PCIE slot is broke or not working right.

GPU-Z can test which speed it is running at. Don't need to go in game.

@horgen:

That render test is a basic test. He is having problems with games. If he looks what his speed is in a game, (when the drop happens) he can rule out PCIE throttling.

There is too many of unstable this and unstable that this last couple of weeks/days. Think it a driver issue. Look at NVidia forum for the 347.88 driver.

It would be strange if it jumps up and down while in a game.

TC: Temperature? Is the GPU getting really hot? Does it happen during more graphically demanding loads, or just generally and randomly while gaming?

Why would you get a 4790 and watercooling then? the stock Intel fan is fine if you cant overclock.

@GTR12: Im using a i7 3770k base clocks with water cooling a simple Corsair H60. It's quieter then most CPU coolers and takes up minimal room for when I want to get in and work on stuff, so was a much better option for me in this case. It also does a much better job then the stock cooler that barely keeps the thing at except able temperatures under heavy load.

I'm running a Gtx 770 4gb from Gigabyte with the Windforce cooler(Three fan setup) so I didn't want two Air based coolers screwing up air flow and creating increases in overall system temps. Hell I don't think I've ever seen my CPU even under load go above 60c, so I have no complaints, and seems to be doing what I intended it to do, take cold air in and having the hot air rise to My giant fan in the top and have that CPU heated air leave the case as fast as I could do on a normal mans budget.