Question GTX 950 - issue with cards or time to upgrade

[duckczn]

I have a home built machine that was mainly built by my son-in-law. It's been a bit of a powerhouse....probably more than I need, but I've loved working with it. Over the past few months I've been noticing issues with my video, particularly when nVidia has issued updates for the cards. When we first built the machine I as able to use the two cards with the SLI. Now I have to disable the SLI every time there is an upgrade.

The primary software I run are Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite - primarily Lightroom and Photoshop, web browsers, and Civilization VI. I don't run Adobe/Civ VI at the same time, but the others do get mixed and matched.

When running Civ, I get about 40-50 turns into the game and the graphics start to drag and stutter. Even scrolling the map is slow and tedious. I don't know how to figure out if one, or both, of the cards have turned bad or are just over matched to what I am doing, or if it's time to look to upgrade the cards. Any insights would be appreciated.

Here are details about my rig (running Windows 10):

Video: (2) EVGA GeForce GTX 950 02G-P4-2958-KR 2GB FTW GAMING, Silent Cooling Gaming Graphics Card
Motherboard: MSI Z170A GAMING M7 LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel
Processor: Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I76700K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 530
Memory: (4) G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C15D-16GVRB
C: Drive: OCZ VTX460-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Flash Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake NiC C5 (CLP0608) 120mm Untouchable CPU Cooler
Power: SILVERSTONE Strider Gold S Series ST85F-GS 850W ATX 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Main monitor: QNIX UHD3216R REAL 4K 32" 3840X2160 AMD FreeSync IPS Technology LED PIP PBP HDMI Displayport 32 inch running at 3840 x 2160 / 29 Hz / 8-bit
Second monitor: Samsung 27" SyncMaster running at 1920 x 1080 / 60 Hz / 8-bit

 

[Eximo]

Take out a card. Try them one at a time and see if the problem continues. That would narrow down a graphics card issue.

Otherwise, try updating all of your drivers. Audio is a common culprit (HDMI and DP carry audio, so sometimes there are incompatibilities with older drivers) But the motherboard drivers might need to be updated to be fully compatible with the latest Nvidia drivers. They don't test in a vacuum, they use real systems and don't rely on older buggy software when they do.

If none of that works a single GTX1050Ti would comfortably replace your pair of GTX950. Your system can handle a lot more than that though. Anything up to a GTX2080Ti would drop right in, but something like a GTX1660 would be a moderate choice that will last a while.

 

[duckczn]

Take out a card. Try them one at a time and see if the problem continues. That would narrow down a graphics card issue.

Otherwise, try updating all of your drivers. Audio is a common culprit (HDMI and DP carry audio, so sometimes there are incompatibilities with older drivers) But the motherboard drivers might need to be updated to be fully compatible with the latest Nvidia drivers. They don't test in a vacuum, they use real systems and don't rely on older buggy software when they do.

If none of that works a single GTX1050Ti would comfortably replace your pair of GTX950. Your system can handle a lot more than that though. Anything up to a GTX2080Ti would drop right in, but something like a GTX1660 would be a moderate choice that will last a while.

Thanks for the input and guidance, Eximo. Makes sense to try the cards one at a time. I had a "duh" moment as I read your comment! Looks like my drivers are all up to date.

I'll give it a whirl!