R9 280x getting low FPS and low GPU usage? [4790k, no bottleneck]

[curioususer123]

Hi there!

I have an R9 280x at stock clocks, with a 4790k processor. I've recently tried playing Skyrim again and I'm getting frame drops in some areas to 50 fps - and this is completely unmodded Skyrim at max settings. I ran MSI Afterburner and noticed how my GPU usage is hovering around 40-50%.

I have plenty of RAM and I'm pretty sure there are no bottlenecks. I've tried removing drivers in safe mode and installing the latest, and also downgrading to drivers that previously worked. I had a weaker CPU before and always managed 60 fps in Skyrim prior to this but I also remember my GPU usage would always be 100% as my fan would ramp up much more than it does now. In benchmarks however my GPU usage does hit 100%.

I've checked my PSU voltages in the bios and also GPU clocks and they both seem fine.

Any suggestions?

 

[curioususer123]

I've just tested lowering the settings. I still get drops surprisingly!

Instead my GPU usage will now be 30-40% but the frame drops will still be there in demanding areas.

 

[Mubeen Akhtar]

Maybe some settings or files in the game itself are messed up. You tried playing any other game? How much is you Hard disk? Make sure there is sufficient space left on it.

 

[curioususer123]

Maybe some settings or files in the game itself are messed up. You tried playing any other game? How much is you Hard disk? Make sure there is sufficient space left on it.

Thanks for the response! I have it installed on an SSD with plenty of space remaining.

I did try Tomb Raider's benchmark and it gave 60 fps max, 1.3 fps minimum (weird?) with an average of 53 fps. I didn't see any part where it felt as though it dropped to 1 fps, though in actual gameplay the fps drops the same to 45 fps in some demanding areas with GPU usage still being low. The average for a 280x should be near 60 fps I think.

In non demanding games it's fine.

 

[Mubeen Akhtar]

First grab yourself some AV software and run a full system scan.
Make sure drivers are up to date (As you said they are so we assume it's not the issue)
Power supplies lose output over time. Could be a PSU issue. If you can arrange an extra for testing then try doing that.
If PSU turns out to be fine then it is Ram issue & I am pretty sure,

OR
maybe you have a windows 7 pre-activated thing with remove wat or something. Might be ram though.

Last thing: If any of the above doesn't work. Just do a fresh install of wondows. (format it)
One of my friend had similar problem and it got solved only after he formatted his pc. Hope I helped.

 

[curioususer123]

First grab yourself some AV software and run a full system scan.
Make sure drivers are up to date (As you said they are so we assume it's not the issue)
Power supplies lose output over time. Could be a PSU issue. If you can arrange an extra for testing then try doing that.
If PSU turns out to be fine then it is Ram issue & I am pretty sure,

OR
maybe you have a windows 7 pre-activated thing with remove wat or something. Might be ram though.

Last thing: If any of the above doesn't work. Just do a fresh install of wondows. (format it)
One of my friend had similar problem and it got solved only after he formatted his pc. Hope I helped.

It's definitely not a virus or a RAM/PSU issue.

I think you're right with formatting Windows, I think I'll try installing Windows on another partition to see if it makes a difference but I was hoping there was another way to fix it.

 

[Mubeen Akhtar]

Personally, I would do a fresh install, but it depends on how many things you have installed already. This is why I don't enable windows updates. Worse updating program I've seen.
Only alternative to reformat I see here is system restore. And turn those annoying updates off in case if you had them turned on.

 

[curioususer123]

I think so. There seems to be others who have had this problem too, I think it's software related.

 

[curioususer123]

Okay.

I've reinstalled to Windows 8.1 and to Windows 7 - installed AMD's latest recommended drivers twice and still I get the same result.

I run Tomb Raider's benchmark and I get a really low minimum FPS http://i.imgur.com/9J9QCLj.jpg , which always indicates something is wrong. I used to run this benchmark and get a minimum FPS high in the 50s. I ran a Windows update yesterday and everything started working normally for a while. I already tried reseating my GPU and plugging the GPU power cable into a different slot on the power supply.

When I play the game my FPS sits at 40-50, but my GPU usage is at 40%.

I've tried removing the drivers in safe mode and installing the 13.11 drivers too that previously worked, but the same thing happens.

Any ideas? :c

 

[curioususer123]

I figured out the problem - the clock speed was dropping randomly. I returned it to stock settings and it worked fine. I'm not sure why that is. Also VSync doesn't work perfectly.