[SOLVED] why did my fps go from 60+ to 2?

[neatofritobandito]

i was playing valheim and had to minimize my game. When i maximized it again my fps dropped from 60 to literally 1 to 3 fps. "Slideshow" is an understatement.
I restarted the game, same problem. i restarted my pc, same problem. I tried other games and Supreme commander runs fine somehow. halo pc, csgo and apex legends both running at 1 - 3 fps from the moment i launch the games.

I then updated my gpu drivers to the current 21.2.2 drivers for amd and it didn't fix the problem.

weird part: i ran furmark SEVERAL times (1080p no AA) and my gpu did fine with 90 fps average. max temp was 88c but thats supposedly normal for older AMD cards. I Ran cpu burner and it also did fine with zero lag in background aps with the stress test running at 100% cpu usage and normal temps....

I can't figure out what would cause Some video games to run like absolute garbage but still be fine during stress tests and in certain games. if it was a hardware issue surely it would happen all the time right??

Please Help! im not a novice when it comes to troubleshooting, but this has me stumped.

i have an r9 290x and an fx 8350.

 

[sizzling]

What’s the full system spec?

 

[neatofritobandito]

What’s the full system spec?

asus sabertooth 990fx r2.0
amd r9 290x factory settings no crossfire
amd fx 8350 factory settings
16 GB DDR3 Corsair RAM
WD Black 1 TB HDD
samsung 850 evo 119 GB SATA III
corsair 80+ gold 750 modular psu

 

[sizzling]

asus sabertooth 990fx r2.0
amd r9 290x factory settings no crossfire
amd fx 8350 factory settings
16 GB DDR3 Corsair RAM
WD Black 1 TB HDD
samsung 850 evo 119 GB SATA III
corsair 80+ gold 750 modular psu

Ok no obvious issues there. When the FPS drops does the cpu or gpu speed (GHz) drop at the same time while staying at 100% usage?

 

[neatofritobandito]

Ok no obvious issues there. When the FPS drops does the cpu or gpu speed (GHz) drop at the same time while staying at 100% usage?

according to msi afterburner the gpu core clock jumps from 301 to 850 during the fps drops. Voltage goes up slightly as well. it doesn't tell me the cpu clock though,

 

[sizzling]

according to msi afterburner the gpu core clock jumps from 301 to 850 during the fps drops. Voltage goes up slightly as well. it doesn't tell me the cpu clock though,

You should be able to add the cpu to the list of things you are monitoring in MSIAfterburner.

 

[neatofritobandito]

You should be able to add the cpu to the list of things you are monitoring in MSIAfterburner.

OK i figured it out, the cpu clock speed goes up to 4.04 GHz when its at 100% utilization. but while im experiencing the fps drops the CPU utilization is about 40% on msi afterburner.

 

[--SID--]

What's the temperature of cpu and gpu while fps drops?

 

[neatofritobandito]

What's the temperature of cpu and gpu while fps drops?

cpu is approx 50c gpu is 73c

 

[sizzling]

OK i figured it out, the cpu clock speed goes up to 4.04 GHz when its at 100% utilization. but while im experiencing the fps drops the CPU utilization is about 40% on msi afterburner.

Ok that rules out another idea I had

 

[neatofritobandito]

Ok that rules out another idea I had

yeah this is really strange. i tried doom eternal on vulkan to see if it had something to do with openGL and i got 400 fps in the UI (which is 3d) but the moment i launch the campaign it goes back down to 1 fps. I still can't explain why both the gpu and cpu are seemingly fine in stress tests and benchmark software but are incapable of running Much less demanding games.

 

[neatofritobandito]

Ok that rules out another idea I had

update: I made a little bit of progress. i ran unigine heaven benchmark and MS directX 11 gave me the same fps problem but openGL was fine. ill try reinstalling ms directx and post another update after.

 

[neatofritobandito]

update: I made a little bit of progress. i ran unigine heaven benchmark and MS directX 11 gave me the same fps problem but openGL was fine. ill try reinstalling ms directx and post another update after.

apparently you can't just Update MS directX... so I guess im stuck playing games made for openGL API lol... weird. you'd think if it was a hardware issue it wouldn't matter what API im using.

 

[neatofritobandito]

final update: launched valheim again and the fps was normal but i was getting a horrible stutter every 2 seconds. i checked my frametimes and its jumping from 2ms to 2500 ms and the FPS graph is going from 2 fps to 85 every other tick. so im pretty sure my gpu is dying. thanks for the help though i appreciate it.

 

[sizzling]

Try completely removing the gpu driver with DDU and then reinstalling the latest driver. https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

 

[neatofritobandito]

Try completely removing the gpu driver with DDU and then reinstalling the latest driver. https://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html

Wow. this worked!!! Thank you! i almost gave up! Such a weird bug.. especially since it happened from Minimizing a game lol Thanks again