GPU stuttering problems.

[RubberBanditt]

Hello all, I recently upgraded my GPU from a AMD Radeon 6670 to my current Sapphire 7870 OC edition, the 6670 ran games like minecraft and SWTOR just fine, on tweaked settings, however ever since I installed my new GPU the 7870, all hasn't been pretty. I first began playing games like skyrim, where I would have micro-stutters, I tried many different fixes, with no success. So then I tried my older games, that worked fine on my 6670, and set my 7870 to the same exact settings, on my previous 6670 to test it, and the 7870 actually performed WORSE, I would have constant fps drop, and stuttering, in some other games like bioshock I had constant crashing. I'm not great with GPU's or computers for that matter, this is all fairly new to me, so my guess is it's an issue with the 7870. I currently only have a 450 watt PSU, so I believe it could be a power issue, perhaps? Any help would be appreciated, thank's guys.
The rest of my specs:

AMD FX-6300 6 Core Bulldozer CPU OVERCLOCKED to 3.7GHz
Sapphire 7870 OC edition.
8GB DDR3 Memory
Corsair VS 450 watts
Running on a 1920x1080 monitor.

 

[Teejers]

My bet would be the small power supply. Could be choking the HD7870 of power. Probably not enough voltage on the 12V rail. If you have a larger PSU lying around or could borrow one just to test. Alternatively, you could clear out the AMD drivers and reinstall the latest and greatest to see if it has been a driver issue all along. Another probable cause is that the 7870 hardware is defective. See if you can test it on a friend's computer and replicate the problem results.

 

[RubberBanditt]

My bet would be the small power supply. Could be choking the HD7870 of power. Probably not enough voltage on the 12V rail. If you have a larger PSU lying around or could borrow one just to test. Alternatively, you could clear out the AMD drivers and reinstall the latest and greatest to see if it has been a driver issue all along. Another probable cause is that the 7870 hardware is defective. See if you can test it on a friend's computer and replicate the problem results.

I'm afraid I don't have another PSU to try, I wan't to be sure the PSU is the problem, before I spend another 70+ pound, on a new one.

 

[smeezekitty]

Does the GPU clocks increase in 3d mode?

 

[RubberBanditt]

Does the GPU clocks increase in 3d mode?

Not sure what you mean, I'm a total noob to all of this.

 

[smeezekitty]

http://postimg.org/image/zek0bv2fn/

Use a tool like MSI afterburner to make sure the core and memory clocks increase as they should and hold stable while running a 3d application like a game or benchmark.