Question Possible GPU issue, not sure?

[BygPhattyPlus]

I play FFXIV, and ever since about June or July, I have been having random fps hitches in the game. They are usually about 2-5 fps drops with the occasional 10 fps drop. They are VERY random, happening at any time or not happening at all. Yesterday, I had a few while doing the FF14 Island Sanctuary and had one in the new dungeon, but when I did the trial right after, no fps drops at all. It does happen a lot in pvp, though. I decided to try Star Trek Online today and was having the random drops in that game as well.

The odd thing is that I tried a couple of offline games and had no drops (Dredge, a driving game called Retrowave and an offline hunt in Monster Hunter Rise). My Task Manager tells me my gpu temps are usually between 39c-44c when watching videos or Twitch and usually 70c-76c when on FFXIV (thought recently the temps has been around 64c-71c on FFXIV) with gpu and cpu usage usually around 50%-60% while gaming.

So my question is: could it be my gpu or could my internet be causing it?

Computer is 6+ years old
Windows 10
Intel i7-7700
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 3gb

I am VERY much a newb at working on tech issues so I really have no clue how to fix this or even if I CAN fix it. I would LIKE to see it fixed as I don't have the money for a new computer.

(UPDATE: I tried Monster Hunter Rise again tonight and now it's doing it. The fps drops to 59 before going to 61 and then to 60 which I don't notice unless I am looking at the fps meter and did one fps drop big enough to notice (it was I think a 7fps drop before going back to 60).

 

[Joseph_138]

For a card that old, if it's never been repasted, it's a good idea to give that a try. Thermal paste loses it's ability to conduct heat, when it gets old and crusty.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

I don't like doing that stuff because I suffer form anxiety and shake a lot when trying delicate things. Also, temps have been in the normal ranges for me to think it's not overheating, at least with the gpu.

 

[SkyNetRising]

So my question is: could it be my gpu or could my internet be causing it?

Can you run userbenchmark test and show link to results page?

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

How do I do that?

 

[SkyNetRising]

How do I do that?

1. Search google for userbenchmark test, find link https://www.userbenchmark.com/
2. Open userbenchmark web page,
3. Download test,
4. Run it,
5. Get results link,
6. Post link here.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

I tried to download it, but my antivirus flagged it as malware and removed it. I googled and many sites are saying that UserBenchmark is not safe or reliable.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I tried to download it, but my antivirus flagged it as malware and removed it. I googled and many sites are saying that UserBenchmark is not safe or reliable.

What antivirus are you using?
False positive detection. It's fine.

Userbenchmark is not reliable for performance testing.
But it can show problems with cpu overheating and improper ram configuration.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

I use Kaspersky. Okay, I'll try again.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

Okay, here it is:

MSI B250M BAZOOKA (MS-7A70) Performance Results - UserBenchmark

 

[SkyNetRising]

1. You have high background cpu utilization.

2. There's something wrong with your graphics card.
Did you have game running during benchmark or something?
If not, then you possibly have some cryptominer malware infection.

3. Your system doesn't have SSD.
You should really get one.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

What is high background cpu utilization? And no, i didn't have a game running at the time, I did have a website and discord up at the time of the test, though. And I haven't downloaded anything suspect. And my antivirus hasn't said anything about a miner or malware. Should I do another test?

 

[SkyNetRising]

Should I do another test?

Reboot your pc,
wait some 5min (you can check cpu utilization in Task Manager),
do not launch any software, website or discord and
rerun the test.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

Right after I posted, i went ahead and close discord and chrome and then ran the test again.

MSI B250M BAZOOKA (MS-7A70) Performance Results - UserBenchmark

 

[SkyNetRising]

Right after I posted, i went ahead and close discord and chrome and then ran the test again.

Looks fine now.
Some of that software you closed, was hogging graphics card performance.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

So, could chrome and/or discord be causing my stuttering? Is my gpu dying or just showing age? Sorry if I'm being annoying.

 

[SkyNetRising]

So, could chrome and/or discord be causing my stuttering?

Yes. Looks like that's the case.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

Is there a way to have discord lessen it's impact? I use it when I play FFXIV with my fc.

 

[stonecarver]

Do you need the overlay active for how your using Discord.​

​

Disable Discord Overlay​

Discord Overlay is the source of many problems , disabling it can resolve the issue. This has been proved to be helpful by many users.

Step 1: Launch Discord, go to User Settings, and choose Overlay.

Step 2: Turn off the option of Enable in-game overlay.

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

I always had discord's overlay disabled because it got in the way of gameplay. But while looking through the settings, it seems discord had hardware acceleration turned on, so i turned it off and did another test with both chrome and discord up:

MSI B250M BAZOOKA (MS-7A70) Performance Results - UserBenchmark

and then I did one with just discord open

MSI B250M BAZOOKA (MS-7A70) Performance Results - UserBenchmark

I'll check it all out later tonight and see what happens. But my gpu is still performing lower. Does this mean my gpu is dying or just old?

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

So I did a stream tonight with Dead Space 3 (at 30 fps because the game goes nuts at 60fps) and had no issues and gpu stayed at 65c-66c, then after, I played some FFXIV and gpu was at 63c-70c. Also, while I am still getting an occasional 1-2 fps drop, I didn't get the bigger ones at all! I think the major stutter is fixed, and I only notice the minor ones if I'm paying attention to the fps.

I am still looking to get some money to get a whole new computer, though. Wish me luck!

 

[BygPhattyPlus]

Sorry to bother and sorry for bad formatting and spelling, currently on mobile. A new issue has popped up and I wanted to ask about it.

So twice now, while watching a twitch stream on one monitor and browsing chrome on my main screen, my main monitor will go just suddenly go black for a few seconds before coming back. I don't think it's losing signal because the if it did, the screen would say HDMI like it does when i turn it on before turning the computer on. The other screen stays on and works fine and I still hear sound.

Is this another sign of a dying GPU or could there be an issue with the psu? I know I have to get a new psu with a new GPU but I wanted to know of I should keep off the computer til I get replacements or is it safe to use without fear of other components getting damaged?

 

[kira-faye]

Prioritize the new PSU, as it could give up on you and leave you needing to build from scratch literally any time now.