R9 290x Running 100% or 0% load

[captainshifty]

My brother recently gave me an r9 290x that has replaced my prior gtx 680. My games run great fps wise but the card is giving off a substantial amount of heat. I brought my overclock from 4.7 down to its stock of 4 and my cpu is still overhating (running hotter than id like) The problem i think that is causing this is that the gpu is either running at 0% load or 100% load. Watching the MSI and CAM monitors both confirm this it runs 100% for one second then 0% and on and on.

What i was wondering is if this is perhaps a driver issue being caused from old driver files from the nvidia card or if i have to go into my BIOS.

Im running a Kraken on the cpu so I shouldnt be having heat issues at stock when im just gaming and not even stress testing.

Im running an AMD FX-8370 with a kraken x61 as cooling and the GPU card is and ASUS ROG 290x

Any help would be appreciated

 

[lightxbulb]

Can you install MSI afterburner and check your GPU temps? I used to get 100%-0% usage spikes on my r9 290x when it was getting to ~90C. Just check your VGA temps in the sensors window. If they are too high try and customize the fan usage. Also you could tell us your PSU, Case(cooling?), MB(I used to have issues with certain mainboard chips and r9 290x - though an PCI overclock fixed it).

 

[captainshifty]

Can you install MSI afterburner and check your GPU temps? I used to get 100%-0% usage spikes on my r9 290x when it was getting to ~90C. Just check your VGA temps in the sensors window. If they are too high try and customize the fan usage. Also you could tell us your PSU, Case(cooling?), MB(I used to have issues with certain mainboard chips and r9 290x - though an PCI overclock fixed it).

http://imgur.com/du7FOgH - A picture of the load line spiking over a minute of running EVE Online similar result from other games

Motherboard - M5A99FX Pro R2.0
PSU - Corsair RM850 Watt
Case - H440 4-140mm Noctua Fans, Kraken x61 psuhing out top

 

[lightxbulb]

VRM temps? Is your VGA on uber mode?
Try the heaven benchmark - post the screen with the score and stuff + highest CPU, GPU and VRM temps.
Since you're getting decent fps(I hope you're not getting fps spikes?) I think it's alright when it comes to the VGA)mine is a reference one and if I run it without good air cooling it can easily reach 90C and start throttling).
Your issue is with your CPU "overheating" right (btw what are your CPU temps under load)? Did this start after you put your r9 290x? What were your temps before putting in the r9 290x?
The r9 290x runs relatively hot compared to other VGAs to be honest(even if it doesn't do 0%-100%) so it will probably get a little hotter in your case, but do you get such usage spikes when the pc is idling too, or only when you're doing something?
You can always customize your VGA fan usage through MSI if you're unhappy with the temps.

 

[captainshifty]

Im not so much worried about the temperature of the card itself just the amount of heat its throwing off into the tower causing my fans to run turbo loud when im not even playing graphic intense games. I tried a clean install of windows to make sure its not driver related. I tested in counterstrike offline and noticed that the fps were spiking and i was dropping frames (at least a few every ten seconds) The card should work as it was working fine for my brother which leads me to believe that perhaps the issue is with my motherboard and the card bottle necking. My motherboard is pretty high up there spec wise so I have no idea what to do next to stop the frame dropping.

 

[Bossyfins]

Have you tried running an AntiVirus like Avast and an AntiMalware like MalwareBytes.

 

[captainshifty]

Yes i'm running on a fresh install of windows so I doubt i have much issue there. I was thinking though and maybe this is my problem if anyone could verify but I am running one cable from my power supply to the card that splits into two 6+2 connectors. Could the issue be that the cable may only be able to deliver 125 watts per say and i should be using to two separate cables from the psu to deliver 125 + 125 watts or will one cable deliver all the required juice?

 

[lightxbulb]

Try this: get MSI afterburner and check your VRM temps then post them, then do a custom fan graph in MSI, and try to keep your vga below 80C. You shouldn't be getting spikes in CS at all - my bro has a reference r9 290x with an older CPU that yours, and it runs hotter than yours but he has 0 issues in CS:GO. He used to have issues because of his mobo though - what fixed it was he made a custom fan graph in MSI to make the r9 stay cool enough not to throttle itself, and I also had to overclock the PCI on his mobo cause it seemed the r9 didn't like the 100mhz, so I upped it to 130 and everything was fine after that. SO check if it's your VRM temps going too high, if it's not then try to overclock the PCI - it may help.

 

[captainshifty]

I will attempt overclocking the PCI my temps have not gotten over 80 degrees

 

[lightxbulb]

What about your VRM temps?

 

[captainshifty]

They were good. I could not find what was causing the issue so I gave up and just threw my 680 back in. Unfortunate but c'est la vie.