GTX 980 Low GPU Load + FPS Issues

[LaMaestro]

Hello.

So I have bought Zotac GTX 980 to upgrade my GTX 680.

I've uninstalled my 680 drivers before installing 980, did a reboot, switched to maximum power plan in both Control Panel and Nvidia CP, turned global V-Sync from Determined by the 3D app to No and yet I'm still getting low FPS in games such as Fallout 4, Dying Light, Farcry 4 or Arkham Knight. By low I mean around 40-50 and as low as 20 in Dying Light. I mean come on, this card cost me £370 I expect it to perform BETTER than my old one, what is this?

I've downloaded a few monitoring apps for my GPU and CPU and from what I can tell my GPU usage always fluctuates but stays at around 50% whilst my CPU runs at 80-95 Celsius. I've read that CPU can cause throttling if overheated so my question is will installing a proper CPU cooler instead of a stock one help me in any way or is there another solution to make my damn 980 work as it's supposed to?

P.s. 3DMark results were terrible as well because of the idiotic GPU usage; running the initial 3DMark demo causes my entire rig to reboot without any warnings at the exact same moment.

My specs:

8GB DDR3 RAM
120GB Samsung EVO SSD
2TB WD
i7 2600 (non-K, sadly)
ASRock Extreme6 Mobo
Zotac GTX 980
750W PSU

Pls help 😀

 

[rujoesmith]

98c is the throttle temperature for that processor so its definitely possible that could be the issue. Also, I poked around google a bit and those temps are way above average for that processor. Something is definitely amiss. The stock cooler should be just fine, my guess is that it was either improperly applied or has come loose somehow. Id start by re-applying thermal grease and re-seating the heatsink.

 

[4745454b]

Correct. Get the CPU below 60C.

Any chance you have the fan unplugged? Or you knocked the heatsink loose while changing the card? Definitely look at the CPU and get it cooler.

 

[LaMaestro]

Will definitely check out the sink in the morning because I might have bumped into something with that massive card 😛

I'll update asap.

 

[LaMaestro]

Right, so the CPU fan is a bit loose, probably because of how old it is and the licking mechanism is simple plastic pins that don't even work properly. I think it's definitely time to get a new CPU cooler.

 

[4745454b]

If the pins aren't in right you have to fix that problem before trying to worry about anything else. CPU throttling can cause all kinds of problems.