Solved Help with low FPS and stuttering GTX560 please

C

Caesar93

Member
Hi, I've recently bought a new graphics card (GTX560 SE), after my old 260 died. It worked absolutely perfectly for a week or two, but over the last few days it's really had a lot of trouble playing games, even so far as to make games pretty unplayable today.

The problem:
Games suffer fairly bad FPS.. Some examples:
TF2 runs at an okay average FPS of low 30s, but particle effects such as the pyro's flamethrower and the teleporter's spinning lowers it to around 10 or 11 fps. I also run TF2 at low settings, to try to boost the FPS up more.
FFXIV runs at an FPS of below 10. Very unplayable.
Shogun 2 runs below 10.

All of these games have worked fine since I had the card, except for the last few days. I'd also like to note that while I know the 560 is not a high-end card, I have not seen the significant upgrade in power from my 260, which I was expecting to see. (TF2 never ran past a steady 40 fps, even when the card was working fine).

My specs:
4GB DDR2 RAM
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ 3.2 Ghz
24" monitor (I run a 1920x1080 resolution)

More info:
When running games and the FPS is terrible, GFX usage is 99% (temp hovers around 40C). I've seen people suggest that the problem I have could be my PSU but if usage is 99%, how could that be? I apologise for not being able to show you what PSU I have, but my computer is an Alienware, and the PSU is contained within a metal box so I cannot see what model it is. It is a powerful one though, as they upgraded the default one when I ordered it to an even better one for compensation when they messed up my order. It is also 4 years old, if that matters.

The 560 I am using now (with the problem), is actually a replacement for another one the site I bought it off sent me. The old 560 had a similar problem, and I presumed it was an intermittent fault with the card, and the company sent me out another once they tested it and decided it was faulty. But now that it has happened again, I don't know what to think!

I have the latest drivers installed.

I've run FurMark's benchmark, and when the card is running well it does an average of 18fps, but when it isn't, the fps average is 3.

If you need anymore information at all, please ask! I really want to fix this.
 

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Try running 3dvantage. Yes its nearly like fufrmark, but it tests everything in a system.

Once you get a base line, under clock the card and see if your score changes. Then underclock the cpu..

I'm wondering if you are bottlenecking with the cpu.

Edit

I just ran furmark on my i7 @4.0Ghz and gtx260-216 and got 18~19 fps @1600x900
My 560ti is down right now, but hopefully be back running tommorrow.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
I just restarted my computer and it *fixed* it. The problem will definitely recur either later today or the next time I use my PC. I'm just telling you incase that makes a difference, that restarting fixes it temporarily. I ran 3dvantage before I restarted, and got a steady FPS of 2-3. I didn't finish it because it was running so choppily.
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
I'd do a wipe again, sometimes uninstalling doesnt get everything.

I think, i had issues switching too.

What is your power supply anyway?
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
Wow, I feel dumb but I can't find the download button on that link you posted. All of the "Download Now" buttons are ads. Am I missing something?

I don't actually know what my PSU is... I bought the PC from Alienware and the PSU is encased in a metal box which I've never unscrewed.. If it's vital information, I'll try to remove it so I can find out what it is. I know it's a good one though, as they gave me one of the best ones available at the time as a customer service "gift" for screwing up our order. I didn't have any problems with the gtx260 whatsoever, and the 560 sometimes can't even run games at the 260's quality of level.

Just found this:
"Attention - Guru3D Driver Sweeper has been discontinued as such you will not find any download links here any longer."
 

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System One

Don't worry youre not dumb, I forgot they muched up the page.

Phyxion.net - Driver Sweeper

Is the last version I used.

Ohh, you have an Alienware, okay.. If you ran a 260, the 560 will run too. I was just curious.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
The card requires a minimum 450W PSU.

In addition, did you plug both connectors into the card?
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Vista Home Premium 64 bit SP2
    Manufacturer/Model
    Cyberpower
    CPU
    Intel Quad CPU Q6700 2.67 GHZ
    Motherboard
    NVIDIA 780i
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    MSI GTX 560 TI Twin Frozr
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster SB Audigy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VG2436
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080p
    Hard Drives
    Samsung HD 105SI WDC WD20
    Case
    Apevia XJupiter
    Cooling
    air
    Mouse
    Logitech MX 600
    Keyboard
    Logitech MX 3200
    Internet Speed
    30 Mbps
Yeah, it's an Alienware. Great computer but looking back on it, it definitely was overpriced! Plus, apparently they won't offer me support anymore since my PC is from before the Dell takeover....

Well, I've downloaded and ran Driver Fusion (Driver Sweeper is apparently unavailable or discontinued but the link you provided has a notice to download Driver Fusion instead) and re-installed my drivers. Here's hoping it solved it. I won't know until a few days, as it's not a constant problem. I'll report back though if something happens (or indeed, if nothing happens!).

Again, I apologise for not being able to cite my PSU but it definitely is at least 700W. It was one of the best ones they offered at the time, I just can't remember exactly what it is :). Yep, I plugged both connectors into the card.

I'm still curious as to why it would say GFX usage is at 99% when I'm in a game though. Do either of you know why that might be, or what it means? Is there a fault with the actual card, or could it still be a problem with the computer? I'm still within my 30 days of being able to return it for free if there is a fault with it, but as I've already done that a few weeks ago with a different 560, I'm a bit wary of ringing them up again about the same problem!

Cheers for the help guys.
 

My Computer

System One

If you are gaming, why wouldn't it be 99%? Most gpu monitors won't hit 100%.

Run furmark, you really should be getting more than me with a 260-216. My 560ti machines still buggered or idea bench that.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
I mean, shouldn't GPU usage only be around 60% or so max, when playing those games? Hitting 99% usage in TF2 on bad graphical settings seems very strange to me, or is that normal?

What temperatures are very bad for my card to hit? Maybe overheating is the problem?

I'll run the 15 minute benchmark in furmark and post the results.
 

My Computer

System One

Well I took it and here are my results:
niojoasda.jpg


They are okay results, but I'm with you on this, I do think I should be getting higher. What could be causing it to be fairly low?? Maybe you'll understand some of those stats and things and see that something is terribly wrong! :D
Also, this isn't even when the card is mucking around.. When the card screws up, FPS with everything is around 2.

Edit:
I just test ran Left 4 Dead 2, and GPU usage hovered between 40-50%. I just don't understand why it'd shoot up to 99% when the problem happens :(
 

My Computer

System One

oh crap, My monitor won't do 1080.

I wish my 560ti was up, but I need a new psu cable.

Your temps are great, 67C if pretty low. Very bad is 107C, usual is 85~90C.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
The max temperature for your GPU memory is 99 degrees C.

I'm not sure what you expect from your card. It's not up there with the big boys when it comes to graphics performance. The following is for similar cards-
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 SE - Compare
 

My Computer

System One

  • Operating System
    Vista Home Premium 64 bit SP2
    Manufacturer/Model
    Cyberpower
    CPU
    Intel Quad CPU Q6700 2.67 GHZ
    Motherboard
    NVIDIA 780i
    Memory
    4 GB
    Graphics card(s)
    MSI GTX 560 TI Twin Frozr
    Sound Card
    Sound Blaster SB Audigy
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Viewsonic VG2436
    Screen Resolution
    1920x1080p
    Hard Drives
    Samsung HD 105SI WDC WD20
    Case
    Apevia XJupiter
    Cooling
    air
    Mouse
    Logitech MX 600
    Keyboard
    Logitech MX 3200
    Internet Speed
    30 Mbps
I did not write this topic to complain about average FPS. My main concern is that at seemingly random times, my FPS will drop dramatically to around 2-3 FPS, no matter what I do. That's the problem I wanted to fix, as I'm sure you can imagine it's a very frustrating thing to happen.
The average FPS and benchmarking we got sidetracked talking about is something else, and not a major problem to me. However, I know the 560 SE is not a high-end card, but I do expect it to perform fairly significantly better than my old 260. I haven't seen a performance boost at all, and in some cases it runs games a lot worse than my old 260.
 

My Computer

System One

Well I kept Task Manager open while playing, to see my CPU usage and performance and this is just a screen of what it's like:
Untitled23.jpg


I don't know, is that good or bad? Patonb, you talked about underclocking the CPU to see if that would help, how would I go about doing that? I'm really getting terrible FPS. Playing TF2 this morning and my FPS is average 20, all on medium-low settings. I just don't understand why. With my GTX 260 I'd get around 30 FPS, with settings on at least medium. :(

Here's another screenshot of the "Resource Monitor" (no idea if this helps):
Resources.jpg


I don't really understand what much of that means, but maybe someone does!
 

My Computer

System One

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
Well I read that, and downloaded GPU-Z, so now I guess I'll just sit on it for a while. I'll try to install my GPU into my brother's PC, and see if there is a similar performance in his computer. Anyway, thank you for your help and time so far, and I'll reply later if anything of interest comes up. :)
 

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System One

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