Question Galax RTX 3070 Performance Issues After Nvidia GR Driver Update

[brenttauro]

Specs:
Mobo: MSI MAG X570 TOMAHAWK WIFI ATX MOTHERBOARD (BIOS ver. 1.F0, 12-Oct-23)
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper X Series 16GB (2x8GB) 3600MHz DDR4 Memory [upgraded to] Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB (2 x 32GB) DDR4 DRAM 3600MHz C18 Memory Kit
Storage: Samsung 970 EVO Plus 500GB M.2 PCIe NVMe Internal SSD (Boot Drive) + Seagate BarraCuda ST1000DM010 1TB HDD (Data Drive)
Cooling: Noctua NH-U12S Chromax Pure Black CPU Cooler
Case: Cooler Master Masterbox K501L RGB (ATX) Mid Tower Black Cabinet With Tempered Side Panel
PSU: Antec Earthwatts Gold Pro Series EA750G Pro 750W
Monitors: 2x BenQ 27 inch QHD Designer Monitor PD2700Q
GPU: GALAX GeForce RTX 3070 SG (1-Click OC) 8GB GDDR6 Graphic Card
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Desktop Processor (8 Cores/16 Threads/3.8GHz)

Windows 10 Home (64-bit)

I was playing Valorant with my friends when I saw a notification for a new GameReady Driver (551.86). I installed it and continued gaming. I also stream on YouTube so I'll link one of my streams for a reference of the GPUs performance.

I then proceeded to shut down my PC and upgrade my RAM (mentioned above). After clearing CMOS and booting up again, I logged in to Windows. And that's when Windows became extremely slow. I'm talking sluggish mouse movement, Start menu taking 5-10 seconds to load, any UAC window for launching Admin stuff taking 5-10 secs to load. My whole computer was extremely slow.

I restarted into Safe Mode, DDU'ed the driver and booted back into Normal Windows. Everything ran smoothly again. Then Windows automatically installed an older Nvidia driver. Still ran smoothly. However when I launched Valorant, it ran at 25-30 fps. That was no good. I installed the latest Nvidia Driver again. Same problem. Extremely slow Windows performance. 10-15 fps on Valorant and Heaven Benchmark.

I stumbled upon this troubleshooting video that JayzTwoCents put out a while ago wherein he talks about disabling Windows automatically installing drivers so that it's a truly clean install. So I redid the entire DDU process again - this time checking the option to prevent Windows from doing that - installed the latest driver and... same problem.

So then I thought maybe it's just a bug in the latest driver and Nvidia would release a hotfix for this driver eventually. In the meantime, I would roll back to an earlier driver. (All driver installations henceforth are done after DDU in Safe Mode.)

I went through 4 or 5 different versions. Starting from one just before the latest driver (551.76), dating back to the version that I first had when I played Cyberpunk 2077 in December 2020 (546.33). All of them caused the same issue - smooth performance before the driver, sluggish performance after.

I tried using 1 stick of RAM and clearing CMOS. Same issue. I tried my old stick of RAM. Same issue. I replaced the CMOS battery. I reseated the GPU and RAM. Same issue. Tried the Studio Driver. No differenece. Same issue.

I eventually took my PC to my local vendor from who I had originally bought the parts (Prime ABGB, Mumbai). They swapped my drives for one of their SSD boot drives and it ran smoothly. Installed the latest Nvidia GR driver and was able to recreate the same problem. Slow performance. Then they swapped the 3070 for a 2080 Super from their test bench. And it worked smoothly. With latest Nvidia Driver, it hit 250+ fps on Heaven.

Unfortunately, they do not undertake GPU repairs and it's out of warranty so I can't get a replacement either. I am aware that I'll have to shell out some serious cash and pick up a new one. But given that I have nothing to lose, I'd like to try and repair this one. Also, given the fact that it runs smoothly without a driver, I'm wondering if there is a plausible solution?

Again, I'm at my wit's end. So any help would be greatly appreciated. Note: I am typing this thread out on that same machine and it's currently running super stuttery. Attaching a video of current Valorant gameplay shot on my OnePlus for reference:

View: https://youtu.be/EJBztSxhK50

 

[Eximo]

New driver, sure. Have you updated any of your other drivers?

Motherboard BIOS, Motherboard/chipset drivers. You mentioned a BIOS reset, you may want to double check on Resizeable Bar and PCIe speeds set to Auto.

And of course, there are also vBIOS updates to look into.

 

[TripleMayo]

I've got the same issue as you with the same card and problematic driver. So far, nothing has worked for me. I've been at this issue for months, very frustrating as my PC is pretty much unusable, and I can't afford a new card.

 

[brenttauro]

I have re-installed drivers for the chipset, wifi, Bluetooth, audio, lan. I even rolled back to an older driver after disabling my internet and DDUing the current driver in safe mode.

Thank you for the Re-BAR tip. I had to update the GPU firmware to enable it, which was available on GALAX's website. However it hasn't solved my issue.

Also flashed a new vBIOS using nvflash but that didn't make a difference.

When I use the older driver, I noticed my power draw and clocks were all low and locked at ±37W and 420 MHz respectively, even under load. So I can use Windows smoothly now. But Valorant runs at 30fps. Unusable.

I believe there's a hardware issue. I'm going to try and get it repaired by a local GPU repair shop.

 

[thestryker]

Seems like between your troubleshooting and the shop you've covered all bases. Them swapping to a different card with similar power consumption rules out your platform. I'd say your assessment that it's the video card is spot on.

The reason it works without a driver is that the card will never use full power as the display engine is the only thing being used.

 

[brenttauro]

Seems like between your troubleshooting and the shop you've covered all bases. Them swapping to a different card with similar power consumption rules out your platform. I'd say your assessment that it's the video card is spot on.

The reason it works without a driver is that the card will never use full power as the display engine is the only thing being used.

Absolutely! Since last posting here, I have submitted the card to an indpendent repair shop here in Mumbai, India. I am expecting a response from them today. I will collect the card soon, reconnect it and report back. The shop also posts educational videos on their YouTube channel about GPU repairs, for which I have given consent to use my card as well. So best case scenario, not only will the card work, but I'll also embed the video of the actual repair here for anyone who wants to take a look. Fingers crossed. 🤞

 

[brenttauro]

Card came back from the repair shop. Still didn't work on my machine.

I figured out the problem:

In the BIOS, set PCIe Lane to Gen 3, not Gen 4 or Auto.​

This is something I had done when I first built the system 3 years ago. I booted into Windows and it looked really fuzzy. I remember I changed this setting back then.

In 3 years, I never had a need to reset BIOS/CMOS. Until now, when I had to install the RAM. So it completely slipped my mind that I had that setting.

To confirm, I am running the latest Nvidia Game Ready Driver (552.12).

Thank you all for your help in this matter. Hope this helps someone who's facing this issue as well.