EVGA GTX980 SUPERCLOCKED periodic frame drops

Hi everyone,

Just a few days ago I upgraded to the above mentioned graphics card and its amazing. I made sure to do a clean new driver install after running AMD's R9 290x series prior. All the benchmarks, stress test etc came out really well and I was like sweet, back to streaming my games on twitch.

But then it started.

Playing Grid Autosport on High settings for the first time on the first race the frame rate dopped to 6 about 3 minutes into a race and every 30 sec to a minute thereafter. The in game bench-test puts its minimum at 87fps

But hey I'm not clueless. I lowered the settings in game and for the stream but alas it still happens and to top it off it continues to occur when not streaming. However it's not just this game. Even my favourite Star Trek Online during space battles during its most intense moments have a dramatic frame drop on 'medium' settings, the only game thus far it has not suffered any performance loss is believe it or not Watch Dogs in ultra settings, unbelievable..

Ok so there is the dilemma and you probably wondering my specs so;

AMD FX 8350 Black Edition 8 core 64x Unlocked non oc

32GB G.Skill RipJaws 1866mhz Ram non oc

ASROCK Fatality A990FX Killer

EVGA GTX980 SUPERCLOCKED

Avermedia Live Gamer HD

AOC G2460P 144hz LED LCD (G-sync compatible/ready and working)

2x SSD 64GB & 120GB

1TB HDD

2TB SSDHD

ThermalTake Bigwater 3.0

ThermalTake PGS R Case

Thermaltake ToughPower 850w

Rapter Stealth Mechanical keyboard

ThermalTake Esports Black Mouse

Creative SoundBlaster Tactic Fury 3D Headset
2
Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64x with everything up to date.

OBS current and updated

XSPLIT Broadcaster licensed current version

The only thing I can think of is the ASROCK mobo is Pcie x16 2.0 and not 3.0, but until they release a new revision there is not a lot I can do to change that. But even if it was, I was experiencing this problem with the old R9 which is what prompted the GPU upgrade in the first place.
The AVERMEDIA Gamer Live HD is not in use since I don't have any DP to HDMI conversion and if it did I'm thinking will I loose the G-Sync/144hz (?).. My net speed in Australia is Fibre 100/50 which is plenty for streaming.

Running resource monitors while doing all of this shows no signs of stressing the cpu, ram, hdd etc, all temps are well within reason including the graphics card which does have the fans spinning but still keeping it cool in the 50c's .

So is there anyone that may have some suggestions as to what may be a solution, pls no intel over amd nonsense unless it is something that will directly impact performance. Because prior to the new gpu it was amd cpu amd gpu etc, same problem.

Ok thats enough for now, I look forward to comments.

Cheers.

Its a cpu bottleneck most likely

Try and test diffrent games, and install msi afterburner and monitor your gpu load during gaming. 

The FX8350 will bottleneck a GTX980 especialy on 1080p. But the drops shouldnt be that terrible low. So there might something else going on aswell

8350 should be able to handle those games perfectly fine. He's not running SCII or ARMA3 which would cause the CPU to completely crater performance. Even with an 8350 bottlenecking a 980 it should still be running those games well over 60.

If your R9 did the same thing then I'd start by moving your GPU to a different PCIe port. Your port may have just gone bad and is affecting performance.

If your R9 ran fine then it's likely a defective card.

Edit: Grid Autosport was the First GRID game and I can run that on high with my 8320 and a GTX 570 right around 60fps most cases. These aren't GPU taxing games or even CPU taxing anymore, also since he said there isn't any load on either the CPU or GPU I'd say that there's a fault in the PCIe port he's using or in the mobo itself.

Pcie 2.0 vs 3.0 shouldn't be an issue either, unless nVidia is pulling shenanigans.

 

Ps.: What resolution are you running at? The 900 series has issues going over 1080p resolutions because of low amounts of gddr5 and a small bandwith. Put some spaces in between the parts so it's easier to read pls.

Star craft 2 is a cpu bound game, the reason why he gets allot of fps drops there, is because he gets cpu bottlenecked. BUt he should also been suffering from this, with his previous 290x.

So it might be that there is something wrong with his card, i know that EVGA had some problems with their ACX cooling units.

Hey thanks for the responses.

Based off what I have seen so far.

The R9 had the same problems with the frame dropping while streaming which prompted the GPU upgrade.

I'm going to pull the avermedia card out since its not in use and move the gpu to another slot near it due to its size..

My resolution atm is 1920x1080 60hz using display port 1

And sorry about the spacing of my specs, when I typed it in, I used the bullet points but something went wrong it seems.

And the 980 can really bottleneck the 8350? I got that cpu to aid in streaming after using a AMD Phenom II x6 64x Black Edition was feeling the pressure. I didn't think it would have a problem to be honest.

Thanks.

yes a FX8350 bottlenecks a GTX980 in cpu bound games on 1080p, like MMO´s, or cpu + gpu bound gaming scenario´s, like heavy multiplayer.

Thats insane!

So that indicates to me that no AMD FX CPU can be used with the GTX series without taking a serious cut from bottlenecking. Is this some Nvidia/Intel shenanigans?

well its not realy intel / Nvidia shenanigans honnestly.

FX8 core cpu´s are simply starting to show their age. Intel haswell cpu´s have simply much better ipc and much faster core´s. Like i said in cpu bound games especialy on 1080p, you realy gonne notice that diffrence. If you are an MMO player, like star craft, lol, and all that kind of stuf, its realy better to have an intel cpu.

Highend gpu´s like GTX780 (Ti) GTX970/980 AMD R9-290 (x) will simply perform better on an intel cpu, in allot of games at 1080p, especialy mmo´s rpg´s

But offcourse dont forget that the FX8350 is allready a 3 year old chip.

I think your case is the bottleneck there :D

Love when people thrown in what case in threads like this, you even went the extra mile and mentioned the keyboard and mouse! 

There may be issues at 1080p, but an FX 8350 can handle the 980 just fine.

http://www.tweaktown.com/tweakipedia/56/amd-fx-8350-powering-gtx-780-sli-vs-gtx-980-sli-at-4k/index.html

I don't believe you're having an actual CPU bottleneck, BUT you are having an issue with your cpu.  It's most likely your VRM's.  That motherboard is notorious for that happening.  When the VRMs get too hot they reduce power to the cpu and throttle until the temps drop, then it speeds back up, then drops when gets too hot again.

 

Try fixing a fan to blow air across the vrms and let me know if that helps.

 

 

^ That, more likely than not is your vrm's might be overheating and thus causing the CPU to throttle clockspeed and cause your framedrops.

There is definitely something funky going on, i get better fps than that with a 295x2 and i'm not "bottlenecked"
that term gets thrown around way too much nowadays, it would be better to try and help the OP instead of just saying "AMD is old and slow, i7's are much better"


That's what it sounds like from an outside view tbh.


 Grid: Autosport shouldn't have any issues and even ST:O should be fine at 1080p.
 

4K benchmarks are GPU bound, so the cpu doesnt realy matter that much anymore.

1080p is heavaly cpu bound, especialy MMO´s like wow, lol, starcraft and such.

Since Startrek is also an mmo-ish game, i wouldn´t be surpriced that the cpu is the bottleneck.

Here's that derpa derp moment again.


OP isn't playing SCII.......because yeah, fps drops to 6 in Grid is definitely a CPU bottleneck, no other explanation is possible here. 

Pack it up and go spend a silly amount of money throwing away a perfectly good CPU/Mobo because your CPU isn't as fast in a game you don't play as the competition..... 


Better have a good read before this comment gets deleted too i guess :/

 

Use http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/display-driver-uninstaller-download.html . Once it's cleaned your system then install nvidia drivers again. You might have old remnants of older drivers still lurking that will cause performance issues.

The PCIE x16 2.0 lane provides more than enough bandwidth. I run my 980 in a 2.0 slot and every benchmark is identical to that of when its in the 3.0 slot. (its in the 2.0 slot purely for aesthetics) 

Run proper stress tests - OCCT, AIDA64, prime95 etc and monitor your cpu load temps - as it seems to be a throttling issue - all likelihood that your cooler isnt install properly.

Your cpu will be a bottleneck of sorts - synthetic benchmarks and some cpu bound games etc.

+1 for the above link - DDUninstaller - essential if you've gone from one team to the other. Also close every non-essential background app when you test your games again.

You know I actually started doing that yesterday, doing price comparisons and triple checking compatibilities for new mobo and cpu. I wouldn't throw the current board/cpu away, I would just build yet another pc out of all the parts. 

Ok looking over everything, before I decide to go buy some new hardware, I'm going to clean and reseat the Thermaltake Bigwater 3.0 over the cpu, I've got some fans I can put in to blow over the VRM's to keep them cool. I'm taking out the Avermedia card and reseating the 980 it into a different slot as well.

Run the DDuninstaller and install the new Nvidia driver that were released yesterday then stress test them making sure un-required programs are not running in the background and monitor all the load temps etc.

I'll post results as I go.

Cheers for the info everyone.

Let us know how you get on mate :)