[SOLVED] GPU Not Working at Full Capacity Post Windows 10 Upgrade

Jan 27, 2020
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Hello all,

I have recently updated to Windows 10 Pro from Windows 8.1 ( I held off from updating for as long as I could because 10 was buggy as heck for me back then.) I was forced into a Windows 10 upgrade because the current versions of Adobe products (Photoshop, Premiere, etc.) require Windows 10. Anywho, upon upgrading to Windows 10 and correcting many weird Kernel-Power errors after that installation, my GPU does not seem to be working at full capacity.

I know this because I tested it on the Adobe products themselves and the games that I play (Overwatch primarily). I used to average around 70 FPS in Overwatch but I end up dipping into 30 FPS territory whenever the action starts to pick up. Other games that I play (Resident Evil 2) are essentially unplayable. The GPU would work perfectly fine on 8.1 and upgrading to 10 seems to have allocated GPU resources...elsewhere? I'm not even sure.

I don't know if anyone has experienced something like this or knows of any solution. All drivers have been updated and Windows 10 is up to date with its current patch. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

Update Full System Spec:

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790k
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97X-SLI
RAM: 16 GB of RAM
PSU: EVGA 850 G2 Supernova
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti
 
Last edited:
Solution
Hey all,

So we figured out what the problem was. The power supply was not giving enough power across the system because the power mode was set to balanced due to constant kernel power event ID 41 issues we were having before. We went to balanced to avoid that problem but it looks like it was throttling the power of the GPU and other devices across the board.

Switching it back to high performance has fixed the problem although there was one more additional kernel power issue after that with a freeze and reboot. That problem will get taken care of another day....but for now the games and graphical applications work just fine. Thank you guys for your efforts.

oldcracc

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Apr 10, 2019
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If you have integrated graphics in your CPU, it might be detecting and using the integrated graphics instead of your gpu? Other than that I have no clue of what it might be caused by, you can try re-seating your card, but your best bet probably is just a fresh windows 10 install.

You could also check if windows allocates huge amounts of power for stupid applications, and then kill those in task manager.
 
Trust me when I say this. Updating from Windows 7 to 10 or 8 to 10 is just a bunch of issues. Now that you updated to 10 do a clean install of Windows 10 using a Windows 10 flash drive created by Windows Media Creation Tool. If you have issues after that it will be easier to troubleshoot.
 
Jan 27, 2020
8
1
25
full system spec? include make and model of the psu
try a fresh windows 10 install?

I did a fresh Windows 10 install multiple times now to no effect :/ Infact, the first install gave me an Event ID 41 problem non-stop. That issue has been resolved for now after a few more installs. I have also included full system specs on the updated post!
 
Jan 27, 2020
8
1
25
If you have integrated graphics in your CPU, it might be detecting and using the integrated graphics instead of your gpu? Other than that I have no clue of what it might be caused by, you can try re-seating your card, but your best bet probably is just a fresh windows 10 install.

You could also check if windows allocates huge amounts of power for stupid applications, and then kill those in task manager.

I've already done a fresh windows 10 install multiple times unfortunately :/ The CPU does have integrated graphics which makes me think its being used for some odd reason. How would I check to see where those graphics get allocated to and how would I re-route it?
 
Jan 27, 2020
8
1
25
Trust me when I say this. Updating from Windows 7 to 10 or 8 to 10 is just a bunch of issues. Now that you updated to 10 do a clean install of Windows 10 using a Windows 10 flash drive created by Windows Media Creation Tool. If you have issues after that it will be easier to troubleshoot.

I know what you mean. This is why I reverted back to 8.1 the first time. Windows 10 install was done just the way you said and then nothing changed unfortunately. 10 is a mess and I wish I could just go back to 8.1...I could do another install one more time and then come back to troubleshoot?
 

oldcracc

Reputable
Apr 10, 2019
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I've already done a fresh windows 10 install multiple times unfortunately :/ The CPU does have integrated graphics which makes me think its being used for some odd reason. How would I check to see where those graphics get allocated to and how would I re-route it?
Well you can see in task manager how much power a certain task is using i.e if an unimportant application is using like 50% of usage you can kill it and you should see performance.

Also, in Overwatch settings, you can check if its using integrated graphics or your card in graphics settings, OW shows in the top left what it uses.
 
Jan 27, 2020
8
1
25
Well you can see in task manager how much power a certain task is using i.e if an unimportant application is using like 50% of usage you can kill it and you should see performance.

Also, in Overwatch settings, you can check if its using integrated graphics or your card in graphics settings, OW shows in the top left what it uses.

It shows that it's using the GPU as a graphics source. There were no applications in the background that were causing any kind of performance issues either. I did install and update the onboard graphics drivers but unfortunately that didn't do anything.
 
Jan 27, 2020
8
1
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You have a K suffix processor capable of overclocking.
Check to see if you have lost your overclock.
If you have not overclocked try to do so.
If not, you are leaving some 30% cpu performance on the table.

I never had to overclock before on 8.1 in order to play the game or run any graphical applications correctly. I'd rather not do it not when I didn't need to do it before.
 
Jan 27, 2020
8
1
25
Hey all,

So we figured out what the problem was. The power supply was not giving enough power across the system because the power mode was set to balanced due to constant kernel power event ID 41 issues we were having before. We went to balanced to avoid that problem but it looks like it was throttling the power of the GPU and other devices across the board.

Switching it back to high performance has fixed the problem although there was one more additional kernel power issue after that with a freeze and reboot. That problem will get taken care of another day....but for now the games and graphical applications work just fine. Thank you guys for your efforts.
 
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