[SOLVED] FPS randomly drops to 0 for a split second after pc has been running for a while.

Sep 8, 2020
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After playing games for roughly 2 hours I notice frequent frames drops where the screen will freeze for a split second. I noticed that 100% of the GPU's ram is being used but I'm not sure what causes the lag spikes. Before gaming I need to restart my pc to ensure that it will run well and after 2 games of Valorant I need to restart the pc again. Changing the graphics quality doesn't make a difference. I locked the FPS to 90. Valorant is installed on my SSD. Any help will be greatly appreciated!! I would also like to know if constantly restarting my PC is causing any damage. Temps stay consistent with GPU around 60 and CPU at 45 Celsius. Drivers are up to date. I also noticed that while idle nearly 5gb or ram is being used, is this normal?

Spec:
i7 9700k OC to 4.4ghz
16gb corsair vengeance 3200mhz
Gtx 960 2gb
Asus Z390-e
2tb hard drive
500gb SSD
 
Last edited:
Solution
"I'm not sure what causes the lag spikes."
"I noticed that 100% of the GPU's ram is being used..."
Hmm... :unsure:

"I need to restart my pc to ensure that it will run well..."
Restarting PC clears memory cache data, and it fills up again over time, but not infinitely so.

"After 2 games of Valorant I need to restart the pc again."
So that's how long it takes for that lil' 2GB Vram buffer to get all used up. Looks to me like you hit a hard Vram limit with this game.

"I would also like to know if constantly restarting my PC is causing any damage."
To my knowledge, it doesn't.

"I also noticed that while idle nearly 5gb or ram is being used, is this normal?"
The system is never truly idle. There's always something running in the...

Phaaze88

Titan
Ambassador
"I'm not sure what causes the lag spikes."
"I noticed that 100% of the GPU's ram is being used..."
Hmm... :unsure:

"I need to restart my pc to ensure that it will run well..."
Restarting PC clears memory cache data, and it fills up again over time, but not infinitely so.

"After 2 games of Valorant I need to restart the pc again."
So that's how long it takes for that lil' 2GB Vram buffer to get all used up. Looks to me like you hit a hard Vram limit with this game.

"I would also like to know if constantly restarting my PC is causing any damage."
To my knowledge, it doesn't.

"I also noticed that while idle nearly 5gb or ram is being used, is this normal?"
The system is never truly idle. There's always something running in the background, whether it be the OS, or some 3rd party apps you have installed.


i7 9700k OC to 4.4ghz
Mind telling me how this is an overclock, when the 9700K has a stock all thread turbo of 4.6ghz?
https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/intel/core_i7/i7-9700k#Frequencies
 
Solution