Sudden Performance Drop

Hi there, first time posting on the forums, I have a question in regards to an issue I strarted having since 2 days ago. With my GPU (core: 550 shader: 1100 memory: 880) and CPU overclocked (160MHz) with the modded beta drivers (259.22) I was experiencing 30 FPS on SC2. Then all of a sudden my FPS average dropped to around 15-20. Through the EVGA Precision tool it states that the GPU is running at the clocked speeds I inputed, I'm just experiencing a dramatic drop in performance in all video games. I was wondering if people can help with some troubleshooting suggestions. I've already tried system restore to a date previous to when I witnessed the drop. Last thing I want to do is revert to factory and start over again since downloading all the steam games on a slow connection will take forever! Anyway your help would be great! Thanks.

 

did your screen go black then return to whatever you were doing? because that means your driver failed : thus too high of a gpu oc.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, and no I don't see a video reset. Using the overlay provided by EVGA's Precision OC tool it shows consistancy in the clocks I set (it doesn't drop down as if the driver failed). This performance decrease is from the start of any game I play. I've restarted several times to make sure it wasn't because of the drivers failing. Oh and my temp never exceeds 75 degrees celsius

 

Do you experience this in other games as well or only SC2?

If SC2 is your only problematic game then my hunch is its not your video card. Since SC2 is CPU hungry and if you have SpeedStep enabled, at points during your gameplay the BIOS may think that you do not need to have your CPU overclocked (Multiplier only, SpeedStep does not alter Core Frequency) and either make the multiplier default or lower it even further. Try to keep playing SC2 through the lag and eventually the BIOS will realize that you need more juice and keep the multiplier up a notch and you'll see your FPS go back to where it was.

 

Other programs running?

 

Still using the same screen size (ie 1366x768) as when getting 30fps?

As already stated screen 'hangs' or does something noticeable when it has failed due to OCing, however I have also seen it just drop it's fps by approx. half without a visual warning on a high OC'd rate when failed. (On M11xR1)

Memory clock of 880 is quite high. Have you tried something a little more moderate and thus noted a small decrease from your original 30fps, but still above your noted 15-20fps.

 

whether you saw it or not, I agree that you have "probably" had a driver reset. Shut down the puter, then start it up again, then start the game again and see if you don't get the same fps you had before the 'event'.

seer

 

@Thane - completely remove the installed driver. Driver remover and ccleaner as well. Then install a different version driver, 258.96. Then play the game and see what it does. You may also want to log your cpu utilization and memory utilization while playing. (not just video either, system mem and cpu). When fps drops, there are many things to consider...

1. Is it online or offline? If online, is the system throttling? Network bandwidth?
2. Active processes during gameplay? Virus protection? Firewall?
3. Viruses? Spyware/Trojans/Worms?
4. Config changes in the last week? Windows updates? Game updates?
5. Consider all drivers ? Maybe something is impacting gameplay besides graphics driver.

Best wishes, StevenX