Gradual but persistant frame rate slowdown

[iiSilverHawkii]

I am experiencing gradual but persistant frame rate slowdown the longer I play specific games. The games usually start at about 60fps and drop down to about 30fps in about 10 minutes of gameplay. Nothing in the game changes graphically to cause these slow downs and it often becomes more pronounced after dying and restarting. I have tried different nvidia drivers, checked all my temps including the CPU and GPU. I also made sure Windows, Directx, etc. was up-to-date and also scanned my system for infections. Reinstalling the games in question also had no effect. Please help..

System:
Windows 7 64-bit
GTX 560

Games:
Gigantic Army
Nuclear Throne

I am hoping that there is a similarity between these two games that perhaps leads to the answer...

 

[bball2509]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

 

[iiSilverHawkii]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

 

[bball2509]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

 

[iiSilverHawkii]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

Turning vsync off had no effect.
CPU usage is extremely minimal BEFORE launching game... Usage at about 55% total during entire play period.
GPU levels during play are almost flatlined with no change during slow-downs.
CPU and GPU usage does NOT increase during slow-downs.
All cores are being utilized and setting priority to high seems to have no effect..

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[bball2509]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

Turning vsync off had no effect.
CPU usage is extremely minimal BEFORE launching game... Usage at about 55% total during entire play period.
GPU levels during play are almost flatlined with no change during slow-downs.
CPU and GPU usage does NOT increase during slow-downs.
All cores are being utilized and setting priority to high seems to have no effect..

Thanks for your help so far.

Ok, my next guess is that you might not have enought VRAM or RAM. So as the game goes on, more things are being loaded onto your RAM and VRAM and causing it to lose performance. Maybe this is the case. What is the model of your GPU and what RAM do you have?

 

[iiSilverHawkii]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

Turning vsync off had no effect.
CPU usage is extremely minimal BEFORE launching game... Usage at about 55% total during entire play period.
GPU levels during play are almost flatlined with no change during slow-downs.
CPU and GPU usage does NOT increase during slow-downs.
All cores are being utilized and setting priority to high seems to have no effect..

Thanks for your help so far.

Ok, my next guess is that you might not have enought VRAM or RAM. So as the game goes on, more things are being loaded onto your RAM and VRAM and causing it to lose performance. Maybe this is the case. What is the model of your GPU and what RAM do you have?

System RAM is 8GB
Graphics Card is a GTX 560 with a total of 4095MB with 2048MB GDDR5 dedicated and 2047MB shared system memory. Its way more than any of these simple 2D games need that i am having problems with. More intense 3D fps games like Borderlands 2 and Dead Space 3 run just fine with all settings maxed out. So its even more frustrating..

****UPDATE!!!! One of the games maxed out the CPU during the slowdown. Both cores were maxing out at 96-98%!!! But another game that has the same type of slowdown was only pushing both cores to about 60% so I think that rules out CPU load in general..

 

[bball2509]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

Turning vsync off had no effect.
CPU usage is extremely minimal BEFORE launching game... Usage at about 55% total during entire play period.
GPU levels during play are almost flatlined with no change during slow-downs.
CPU and GPU usage does NOT increase during slow-downs.
All cores are being utilized and setting priority to high seems to have no effect..

Thanks for your help so far.

Ok, my next guess is that you might not have enought VRAM or RAM. So as the game goes on, more things are being loaded onto your RAM and VRAM and causing it to lose performance. Maybe this is the case. What is the model of your GPU and what RAM do you have?

System RAM is 8GB
Graphics Card is a GTX 560 with a total of 4095MB with 2048MB GDDR5 dedicated and 2047MB shared system memory. Its way more than any of these simple 2D games need that i am having problems with. More intense 3D fps games like Borderlands 2 and Dead Space 3 run just fine with all settings maxed out. So its even more frustrating..

****UPDATE!!!! One of the games maxed out the CPU during the slowdown. Both cores were maxing out at 96-98%!!! But another game that has the same type of slowdown was only pushing both cores to about 60% so I think that rules out CPU load in general..

Wow Ok this is very confusing. Maybe it is just the game and drivers that are the issue and there may or may not be a solution. Was it always like this? Or is it recent?

 

[iiSilverHawkii]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

Turning vsync off had no effect.
CPU usage is extremely minimal BEFORE launching game... Usage at about 55% total during entire play period.
GPU levels during play are almost flatlined with no change during slow-downs.
CPU and GPU usage does NOT increase during slow-downs.
All cores are being utilized and setting priority to high seems to have no effect..

Thanks for your help so far.

Ok, my next guess is that you might not have enought VRAM or RAM. So as the game goes on, more things are being loaded onto your RAM and VRAM and causing it to lose performance. Maybe this is the case. What is the model of your GPU and what RAM do you have?

System RAM is 8GB
Graphics Card is a GTX 560 with a total of 4095MB with 2048MB GDDR5 dedicated and 2047MB shared system memory. Its way more than any of these simple 2D games need that i am having problems with. More intense 3D fps games like Borderlands 2 and Dead Space 3 run just fine with all settings maxed out. So its even more frustrating..

****UPDATE!!!! One of the games maxed out the CPU during the slowdown. Both cores were maxing out at 96-98%!!! But another game that has the same type of slowdown was only pushing both cores to about 60% so I think that rules out CPU load in general..

Wow Ok this is very confusing. Maybe it is just the game and drivers that are the issue and there may or may not be a solution. Was it always like this? Or is it recent?

Happens with random games and i dont think its recent..

 

[bball2509]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

Turning vsync off had no effect.
CPU usage is extremely minimal BEFORE launching game... Usage at about 55% total during entire play period.
GPU levels during play are almost flatlined with no change during slow-downs.
CPU and GPU usage does NOT increase during slow-downs.
All cores are being utilized and setting priority to high seems to have no effect..

Thanks for your help so far.

Ok, my next guess is that you might not have enought VRAM or RAM. So as the game goes on, more things are being loaded onto your RAM and VRAM and causing it to lose performance. Maybe this is the case. What is the model of your GPU and what RAM do you have?

System RAM is 8GB
Graphics Card is a GTX 560 with a total of 4095MB with 2048MB GDDR5 dedicated and 2047MB shared system memory. Its way more than any of these simple 2D games need that i am having problems with. More intense 3D fps games like Borderlands 2 and Dead Space 3 run just fine with all settings maxed out. So its even more frustrating..

****UPDATE!!!! One of the games maxed out the CPU during the slowdown. Both cores were maxing out at 96-98%!!! But another game that has the same type of slowdown was only pushing both cores to about 60% so I think that rules out CPU load in general..

Wow Ok this is very confusing. Maybe it is just the game and drivers that are the issue and there may or may not be a solution. Was it always like this? Or is it recent?

Happens with random games and i dont think its recent..

Ok so I am just guessing that it is a problem with the game and/or drivers. Because it happens on these steam indy games, I think it is just poor driver support. Sorry mate. Have fun.

 

[iiSilverHawkii]

My first prediction was that the temps were too much. Make sure they are under 80C for both CPU and GPU. What is your CPU btw? That might lead to a solution.

They are both in the 55-65C range during the frame rate slowdowns.
CPU is a Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 (Conroe)

Ok first, turn off VSYNC and see if you get the same problem. If it is not fixed, then let us do some more investigating. What is your CPU and GPU usage during those times? You can use MSI afterburner to get the GPU ratings. Are there any underlying tasks running and causing stress? Allot all cores to your game and set your game priority to High from Task Manager. If you still get problems, then I would guess that it is a game/driver problem that may or may not be fixed.

Turning vsync off had no effect.
CPU usage is extremely minimal BEFORE launching game... Usage at about 55% total during entire play period.
GPU levels during play are almost flatlined with no change during slow-downs.
CPU and GPU usage does NOT increase during slow-downs.
All cores are being utilized and setting priority to high seems to have no effect..

Thanks for your help so far.

Ok, my next guess is that you might not have enought VRAM or RAM. So as the game goes on, more things are being loaded onto your RAM and VRAM and causing it to lose performance. Maybe this is the case. What is the model of your GPU and what RAM do you have?

System RAM is 8GB
Graphics Card is a GTX 560 with a total of 4095MB with 2048MB GDDR5 dedicated and 2047MB shared system memory. Its way more than any of these simple 2D games need that i am having problems with. More intense 3D fps games like Borderlands 2 and Dead Space 3 run just fine with all settings maxed out. So its even more frustrating..

****UPDATE!!!! One of the games maxed out the CPU during the slowdown. Both cores were maxing out at 96-98%!!! But another game that has the same type of slowdown was only pushing both cores to about 60% so I think that rules out CPU load in general..

Wow Ok this is very confusing. Maybe it is just the game and drivers that are the issue and there may or may not be a solution. Was it always like this? Or is it recent?

Happens with random games and i dont think its recent..

Ok so I am just guessing that it is a problem with the game and/or drivers. Because it happens on these steam indy games, I think it is just poor driver support. Sorry mate. Have fun.

The funny thing is, i appear to be the only one having these problems according to the forums for the specific games. Nobody else has reported similar problems... makes me think its my system. Idk...

 

[bball2509]

Do you have any other problems with any other games or system performance? If you do, then I suggest trying a few other things. If it is just those two retro indy games, then just try turning down settings and hope for the best. I really don't think there is much to do if it is just those two games acting up. Sorry.