Question Possible GPU issue: Stuttering and black screens with almost every game

[Peeble]

I recently tried to play Overwatch and MH: World, only to be met with annoying microstuttering and sometimes black screens where GPU stops sending video to monitors, forcing me to restart. Overwatch has never been a problem. I used to be able to run this game smoothly with no issues at all but now it seems every game aside from League of Legends is unplayable. League runs stable 60+ all the time with no issues.

The stutters are constant and happen at a regular interval of about 1 second, and the stutter itself is roughly half a second in length. It essentially makes it feel like I'm playing the game with 15fps. With overwatch, after leaving it open for about 30s in the training mode, the GPU just dies and I have to restart. With MH: World, even in the menu, there is the constant stuttering. Rainbow 6 also has this in the menu and in game. What confuses me is why this happens when my computer has the recommended specs and more for all of the games that this happens in, so its not as if im pushing my PC too hard, and as I said I used to be able to run Overwatch and Rainbow Six before, although R6S did have some temporary stuttering issues. I feel like all these issues point to a GPU issue but I'm not certain what it could be other than maybe I broke it somehow.

Also, when benchmarking with UserBenchmark the GPU dies immediately and I have to restart PC, and when using PassMark Performance Test, it dies in the GPU Compute test under 3D mark.

Using Latencymon, it first said I had issues processing real-time audio, so i reinstalled realtek drivers. Then it said it was fine, then I tried again now and its back to saying I have problems, with a high count of hard pagefaults (pictured below).

Specification:

MOBO - MSI X370 GAMING PRO CARBON
CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 1600X
GPU - Radeon RX 480 8GB (I know its a bit old now but still surpasses recommended specs for the games I mentioned above)
RAM - Corsair CMK16GX4M2B3000C15 Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3000 MHz
PSU - Corsair CX750M
STORAGE - WD Blue 2TB 5400RPM + SSD 512GB (idk specific one)

Pictures / Clips:
Picture of GPU-Z sensor tab right before GPU died

Latencymon results

Clip demonstrating the stutter in action and then the black screen NOTE: This type of stuttering is the same across all the games I have issues with. (It actually hasn't crashed here before, this happened for the first time whilst I was recording, so I may have to go check League again to see if it still works or if the problem has spread)

Attempted solutions:

• Updating GPU and Realtek audio drivers using DDU. Also used Driver Booster to updated all drivers (I don't know if its good but I gave it a try)
• Increasing GPU Power Limit % to 50 in WattMan settings.
• Disabling AMD's Chill Mode in Radeon settings.
• Reseating both GPU and RAM modules, and verified the RAM is properly seated to utilise Dual Channel.
• Updating BIOS
• Enabling XMP, oveclocking RAM from 2133Hz to 3000Hz.
• Only thing I haven't done yet is fresh windows install, but this is a last resort for me in case nobody can help because its a huge bother. Then if this doesn't work I'll likely have to replace the GPU.

Conclusion:
I know this all probably points to GPU issue however before replacing it I'd like to ask you gentlemen and/or ladies for some insight on the issue, just in case it can be avoided.

 

[rgd1101]

cpu/gpu temp during the game?

 

[Peeble]

cpu/gpu temp during the game?

GPU temps and other info just before the GPU died is in the linked imgur picture, which is 74C , as for CPU temp its around 65C according to HWMonitor just before the crash.

Also, LoL also now stutters heavily whenever I move my cursor, so that's unplayable too now.

 

[Peeble]

UPDATE: Since the last post I tried a different GPU (AMD Radeon HD 6970) and there was no issues running any game (within its technical constraints), the stuttering was gone. I obviously don't intend to use this as my main GPU so afterwards I put my RX back in, but at the very least I have now concluded that it is almost certainly a GPU issue and not a PSU / overheating issue.

So, to bring us back to the present, I then cleaned my RX480 by removing dust, reseated it carefully and pushed in the power cables firmly inside. Installed drivers fresh using DDU, and now I do not have issues running league anymore.

However I have made some new discoveries:

• I can run Overwatch without a stutter now, provided I'm on 60Hz in settings. As soon as I pick 144 or more than 60 the stutters happen. I don't know if this is relevant but, I run one monitor on 144Hz and a second on 60Hz (office monitor for watching videos). I'm not sure if this has any impact on how games run, but it's something. I still consider this an issue as there shouldn't be any stutters so would appreciate any help on that.
• I can also run MH: World without stutters provided I use specific settings. Now, initially I thought that my GPU began to give out when using more than 4.06GB VRAM out of its 8GB, but then i realised I can go above that limit provided that I disable / set to low these three settings: Ambient Occlusion; Volume Rendering; and Screen Space Reflections.

So, my questions based on these discoveries are:

• Is it normal for GPUs to start throttling when more than half of their VRAM is in use or is that not the cause of the stutters at all?
• Does my GPU's failure to handle those specific settings indicate an issue with it, or is it normal for those to be problematic? Is it perhaps game specific?

Overall I'm still worried the stutter will re-appear or happen in other games I haven't tried, so I'm trying to find out if its specific settings that are just harsh on GPUs that I should disable in the future, or if it's an issue with my GPU and if I should look to replace it or repair it in the future.

 

[Peeble]

Turns out all the games I could previously run super smoothly, even MK11, just stutter and lag and underperform super heavily, have to go all the way to low on MK11 to even play it. Anyone have any ideas or am I just doomed? Can only play League smoothly when running as Administrator.