GPU porked?

[CardboardSword]

I have been having performance issues over the last couple weeks that have gotten much more pronounced as time goes on. At random points during gameplay (BF3 for example), my FPS will go from a rock solid 60 down to 40-45, then recover back to say 50-55, then dip again and so on until eventually the game crashes (likely unrelated, that damn game is hilariously buggy) or I quit from the frustration of my game becoming unplayable.

I installed and ran a round of Kombustor and found that the core clock was throttling itself back substantially (by about half) even at stock clocks. So obviously the card is unstable for some reason or another. The card itself is obviously the primary suspect, but I fear for my PSU as well as my set up is in the fashion of a major no no (CPU fan blowing into it. I know, I know, but my temps are good and so is air flow, not to mention the hassle that getting the appropriate bracket is.).

I'm looking to borrow a friend's 580 to test my PSU with, and he's going to run my card through it's paces on his machine so I'll have that straightened away in a few days, so I guess I just want second opinions as well as everyone's thoughts on EVGA's customer support. I've heard it's stellar, but my registration was technically too late to qualify for the lifetime warranty as the purchase date and the date I actually got the card were quite a ways apart (Christmas present). Do you think I'd be able to convince customer support to give me the full warranty as it was basically impossible for me to register in time? My 1 year limited warranty expired a couple months back naturally, so it's really my only option. Any input is much appreciated.

 

[87dtna]

What exactly are the GPU temps under load? Make sure the GPU isn't throttling back because of temps first, if it is turn up the fan. If it isn't, uninstall and reinstall the latest drivers.

There's no harm is trying to get your warranty.

 

[CardboardSword]

Temps were one of the first things I checked, and they never exceeded 75 so I figure I'm alright on that front. I'll roll back to whatever the last official release was then and hopefully that solves it. Although I'm fairly certain the problem arose before I updated, I have been known to have a poor sense of time for such things.

 

[87dtna]

OK, well just a thought then perhaps turn up the voltage on the card a little bit. I use MSI afterburner.

It really does sound like driver issues though. I would sweep and reinstall.

 

[CardboardSword]

I'm sort of concerned voltage was the problem. Its clocks before I reverted to stock were as they are in my sig, at 1.025V. I too use Afterburner (<3) and I've used a fan profile the whole time with the exception of a short period where it disappeared and was on auto-fan. Temps were higher there during that period but it couldn't have been hitting even 90 so I don't think that would cause any meaningful harm.

Rolling back to 295.10 hasn't alleviated the issue and I did a clean install. I'm downloading driver sweeper now just to be sure. Increasing the voltage while at stock clocks did nothing to improve it either unfortunately. Hopefully the clean sweep does the trick.

EDIT: Results were no better after the driver sweep. Any more suggestions before I start to grovel to EVGA?

 

[87dtna]

Did you test the card on your friends PC and his 580 in yours?

 

[CardboardSword]

It's still a work in progress. He's a little.... flaky haha. I'd really like to get it done soon because it gives much clearer results about where the problem lies, but I have to work around him so whatever, I'll wait. Should be doing it tomorrow if all goes well.

On an interesting note, since rolling back the drivers I SEEM to be getting the hit less frequently. I played BF for a couple hours last night with hardly a hitch until the end (this may have been because I was playing CO-OP though, MP seems to be much more demanding and it's what I always play, so it's far from a proper test). I still lost frames here and there, but it behaved quite well for the most part, and certainly better than before. Granted, it's been inconsistent with when it misbehaves so this isn't conclusive, but it is encouraging.

 

[CardboardSword]

After putting the card into my friend's computer, it was far worse than it was in mine. Constant crashing under load, the works. Time to start shopping I guess. Thanks for your help.