Gpu working at idle when gaming

[Nikos K]

So I have a gigabyte r9 280 and when I am gaming it is working at idle (950 MHz) instead of 1072 MHz which is the frequency in which it is supposed to work in graphics-demanding programs and this causes low fps and stuttering in my games (and no it's not because the gpu is weak, because I could play equally demanding games with many more fps a while ago when I didn't have this problem). I have tried overclocking it with different software, including the AMD Radeon settings, but the frequencies won't change. Thanks in advance

 

[Roland Of Gilead]

Look at turning off any hardware accelerated apps like Chrome/Flash or other browsers while playing. This is a common enough thing.

 

[Nikos K]

I disable any running program when I play, except for those needed by the system

 

[SkyNetRising]

Check temperatures of your gpu during gaming session.
950Mhz is not idle, it is base clock.
Boost clock 1072Mhz gets activated, if gpu utilization requires it and there are no other limitations in effect (like thermal limit, power limit).

 

[Nikos K]

50°C, and the max load it reaches during gaming is like 37%, I don't get it

 

[SkyNetRising]

Can you show screenshot from MSI afterburner hardware monitoring window, when gaming?
(graphs important: FPS, cpu utilization/temp, gpu utilization/temp, video memory usage, ram usage, pagefile usage)

Spoiler

Hardware monitoring window looks like this:

 

[Nikos K]

Can you show screenshot from MSI afterburner hardware monitoring window, when gaming?
(graphs important: FPS, cpu utilization/temp, gpu utilization/temp, video memory usage, ram usage, pagefile usage)

Spoiler

Hardware monitoring window looks like this:

Been busy since yesterday, that's why I didn't reply earlier. So here is a screenshot of all the gpu-related stats in the hardware monitor, while I was playing far cry 5 (1080p/low-medium)

 

[SkyNetRising]

There are 2 GPUs. You should disable integrated GPU in BIOS.
I didn't see FPS graph and cpu usage/temp graphs in that screenshot.

 

[Nikos K]

There are 2 GPUs. You should disable integrated GPU in BIOS.
I didn't see FPS graph and cpu usage/temp graphs in that screenshot.

My bad, I completely forgot that you asked for specific graphs when I was taking the screenshot for some reason. Here you are (I don't know how to get an fps graph though?)

 

[SkyNetRising]

CPU overheating - obvious.
Reinstall cpu cooler or replace with a better one.

And disable integrated GPU in BIOS. It still shows up.

 

[Nikos K]

Look, I've been concerned before about me cpu overheating, but I think that this temperature is false. I mean, my cpu is water-cooled and I only recently reinstalled it to replace the thermal paste. Also as long as it is not being used, why should I disable the integrated gpu?

 

[SkyNetRising]

I don't think cpu temperature is false there. This also explains your pc gaming performance issues. Your cpu cooler is either installed wrong or pump has died.

And there's no point in having integrated gpu enabled, if you don't use it. It increases power consumption and reserves portion of system memory.

 

[Nikos K]

Thanks for the help, will look to get a new cooler asap, but going back to my initial question, did you think of anything that could cause my gpu to work in lower freqs than normal? Because that's the real problem.

 

[SkyNetRising]

950Mhz for gigabyte r9 280 is normal. You get boost clocks only, when there are no limiting factors involved.

BTW - in one of your screenshots GPU clock is 1095 Mhz.

 

[Nikos K]

Oh yeah you're right, completely missed that. Anyway, can you explain what could cause the freqs of my gpu not to change when I overclock it?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Anyway, can you explain what could cause the freqs of my gpu not to change when I overclock it?

You can see performance cap reasons with GPU-z (sensors section).