FPS drops/ Skyrim crashing

[MKiller]

Hello all I am new here and am desperately looking for help, I have the following computer specs

Asus ge-force gtx 660
asrock z97 extreme4 motherboard
32 gb ram
intel i7-4770k
Windows 7

I have not done any overclocking and I have all the latest drivers.

My problem is when I start games such as counter-strike source GO, the game will run for a bit then eventually go into a sound loop and the picture will freeze. I can control alt delete and minimize the game, then go back into the game and it will work again. This will repeat several times throughout the game. I also noticed that my FPS would drop from 250 to 50 sometimes when this occurs.

In skyrim the game will run fine for a few minutes and then the picture will freeze, I once again can ctrl+ alt + delete and go back into the game and it will resume working. Sometimes in skyrim the image will distort but once I go back into the game it returns to normal.

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Have you just installed the 344.11 WHQL graphics drivers? If so, then revert back to the previous drivers. The new drivers are known to cause a lot of problems on non-900 series GPUs.

 

[MKiller]

I just built this computer 3 days ago, I am running the Geforce 344.11 Driver , Which one should I switch to?

 

[MKiller]

I have just tried to downgrade my video card driver to the older version and still have the same problems

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Uninstall the video drivers using Driver Fusion and then install 340.52 WHQL.

 

[MKiller]

I just did this, and still same problem any other suggestions?

 

[Mouldread]

Hey,

have you monitored your CPU and GPU temperatures?

To me it sounds more like something is overheating and starts to throttle itself down, as soon as you Alt+Tab out of the game (or Ctrl+Alt+Del) the load of the CPU and GPU drop significantly and naturally the temps would drop too; this will lead to increasing the speeds back to normal so the game would work ok until the temps get high again.

Download and install HW Info http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php and run it with a tick on "Sensors only". Play the said game until you get that freeze/FPS drop and then minimize the game and take a screenshot of the HW Info readings window. If you can post the screenshot would be informative.

 

[MKiller]

Mouldread thank you for your reply,

I have done this just now , but previously I had checked the temperatures of the video card and CPU and both were running in normal temperature ranges. I tracked the logs and have a screen shot. Once in a while I get an error code saying that the video card drivers have failed but they recovered now, it is very rare that I get this though ( as shown in screenshot). Also the temperature of the video card was about 60 degrees when my game crashed.

I have done the video card stability test, and my card fails always within a few minutes... the tech support at nvidia told me that it should be lasting an hour. Is my video card dying?


http://postimg.org/image/oltaef0wv/full/

 

[Mouldread]

Hey,

from the screenshot I can only see the CPU temps which look good. No GPU temps can be seen but you said they were around 60 which is very good indeed.

You said you put the computer together a few days ago - but was it a new build from scratch or was it upgrade of an older PC? I'm only asking becsaue maybe you had some old GPU drivers left over. You could get rid of them using some driver sweeper like this one here: http://www.guru3d.com/content-page/guru3d-driver-sweeper.html You can use it to remove your GPU drivers and then download and install the latest ones from nVidia's website.

The other thing I can think of is your PSU. Does it provide enough power?

 

[MKiller]

Yes sorry thats why I typed out the GPU temperatures, it is a new build and there was no drivers installed. I tried to downgrade the drivers on the GPU and I have the latest drivers on everything else and BIOS as well.

My PSU has 650 W, it is also new.

The video card stability test failing is my concern, do you think this can be caused only by a bad GPU? Is there any other factors that can affect this in order to fail this test. http://freestone-group.com/video-card-stability-test.htm This is is what im talking about.

Thanks for your help

 

[Mouldread]

Hm..

if your whole system is new and if you are sure the GPU is getting enough power then I guess you could try it in another PC if you can. If that's not an option then you should probably contact the store you bought it from or the manufacturer and see what they offer in terms of RMA.

Maybe someone else would come up with more ideas.

 

[MKiller]

I appreciate your help a lot, I was on the phone with Nvidia support and they told me that the video card was probably the problem and to try it out in another computer, I dont have another computer though that is the problem. I will contact ASUS and see what they can do, and provide an update. I have built three computers and never had a problem this hard to isolate... I also swapped in new RAM, tested out both hard drives and they both were fine. The only possible problems are now the video card or the CPU...

 

[Mouldread]

You can easily test if the CPU is culpable by running the games with the integrated HD 4600 GPU. Games will run horribly and look horrible but it's only for the test's sake. If everything runs fine with the integrated GPU I guess it will be another indicator that the GTX 660 is failing.

 

[MKiller]

Is there any way of running this with the integrated GPU while not removing the actual physical gtx card?

 

[Mouldread]

I am not 100% sure to be honest but I guess you could disable the GTX 660 from the BIOS. Or it could be as simple as plugging in your monitor into the integrated GPU instead of the 660.

Maybe someone with personal experience could answer this.