Possible GPU issue or Power supply issue?

[Lawrence Lim]

Hi all!

Up till yesterday I've managed over 100+ fps on Overwatch @ 1920x1080. But today the fps is mostly hovering around 30 fps and even dips to 11 fps at one time. None of my other friends are having this framerate issue so I don't think its a problem with my game. Nor the drivers as I've installed several versions and even reformatted my PC suspecting a virus. The framerate drop is sometimes noticeable in Windows too, but not all the time. The display totally shuts off sometimes while the PC is in use too.

I have run tests such as the Furmark stress test in Kombustor but I'm not sure what signs to look out for? From what I see the FPS is stable @ 52 fps, 720p in this benchmark, and power is >90% TDP, with GPU usage being 99%. Also tried the Plasma benchmark in Kombustor and the results lie within normal gtx 960 performance (10614 points).

Swapping to onboard graphics only mode by removing my GPU physically seems to run stably (compared to the GPU's initial spike of 100+ fps but dropping to 30 fps while in game) but not well (as expected).

May I know if this is an indication of power supply issue or GPU issue and whether its possible that my GPU only displays issues while in game causing fps to drop? It has never dropped like this before. I have no idea of identifying the issue and would love any help if possible! Thanks so much!

My specs:
MSI H170 Gaming M3
Core i5-6500
G skill rip jaw V 2400mhz (4gb x 2)
Zotac GTX 960 2GB
Seasonic S12G 450W Gold 80+

 

[trayfist87]

Probably, because I've read another post were the guy had the same issue and replacing the PSU worked. Although it could be something else.

 

[fedefury]

do you have any other games to see if it really is a psu problem?? if other games stop working properly its most probably an issue with your gpu (thats why when swapping your gpu out for the onboard graphics works better). Can you check wether your temps are very high? If so, your gpu cooling may not be doing its job well or even your pc airflow. I don't believe its a psu issue at all as I understand that you did not change anything to your build. The psu would be the explanation if you added a component of sorts and it would then stop working properly.
Also, I did some power consumption calculating and found out that your system only takes in total around 350 watts in total, thats enough headroom for many more upgrades. I did this calculation using "Outervision Power Supply Calculator". Its really handy and you can try yourself. this concludes that it does not have to do with your psu most likely.
Hope to hear from you soon!

 

[Lawrence Lim]

Hey y'all, after a long trip to 2 service centres, I found out it was my motherboard's issue, causing the CPU to bottleneck at 0.8 ghz, its an MSI one, and pretty new so I didn't suspect that component at all. Sadly it has lowered my confidence in MSI products and I have since changed my motherboard to a Gigabyte one hoping for better luck. (Reason being an 8 weeks RMA time simply was not to my liking at all.)

 

[fedefury]

ah ok, good luck in the future!