GPU Low fps, high load, low temps

Hello,

I'm having issues with my gpu. Videogames suddenly have super low fps compared to what it used to be like a few weeks ago. There's terrilble fps even at the lowest settings: ~20fps.
Only thing that changed on my system are windows updates. It's version 1903 now.
Normally I'd get good fps and the temp would rise but not exceed 70C.
When videogames run the GPU temp stays around 35C as if it's idle but GPU load is 100%. CPU is around 50% during videogames.

Power saving in bios and windows are disabled.
System is not being overclocked.
No parked cores.
Drivers and windows are the latest update
Virus/malware free

Specs:
Z97P-D3
i7 4790k @ 4.00GHz
16gb ram @ 666.5 MHz
GTX 560 SE
650W PSU

Thanks in advance,
Seren

Which nVidia drivers are you using?

These are the latest I see at nVidia: Drivers | GeForce

The most obvious thing that gives poor graphics performance is if the PC has switched over to the Microsoft Basic drivers.

bobkn said:

Which nVidia drivers are you using?

These are the latest I see at nVidia: Drivers | GeForce

The most obvious thing that gives poor graphics performance is if the PC has switched over to the Microsoft Basic drivers.

That's the one I have installed.
I noticed the core clock is stuck at 405mhz whether under load or not when it should get up to 750mhz

That Graphics Card must be about 7 years old. It may have been damaged by sustained high temperatures which shorten the life of the GPU and maybe other components, and of course the fan(s).
It may have clocked down due to that damage.

You have had good use out of it, that is a long time for a graphics card.

You could check the heatsink and fan, but probably not worth the bother considering it's age.

Sounds like a dying GPU unfortunately. Try putting the card under a synthetic load (like a GPU benchmark run) and see what happens. If it stays at a fixed, low frequency then it's likely time for a new card.

You can try flash VBIOS.
Video BIOS Collection

With windows upgrades Microsoft plans to force GPU manufacturers to hand in all controls to Windows app settings rather than having their own control panels . while AMD is going through the process smoothly Nvidia is known to suffer massively . With1903 update , it is known that sometimes on uninstalling your older working Nvidia driver you cant re-install it back but have to install the DCH version of it which is the new standard and ships without the control panel bit , but yet there had been reports that for GPUs that didn't receive a DCH update Windows allow those drivers to install in a legacy mode that renders the control panel to be vanilla (i.e there but ineffective) .

I can notice that your GPU is not having any DCH update since its almost a decade old and on its way to be EOL if not there already , so i suggest you either try to change Power Management Mode to Prefer Maximum Performance in global 3D settings in Nvidia control panel and see if performance improve any where hopefully the control panel is still not rendered vanilla , that or do a windows downgrade to 1809 (fresh installation of 1809 and delay upgrade to 1903 as much as possible) .

You can also wait few more days till the release of 1909 as to maybe Microsoft fixed its deal with Nvidia some .

Helmut said:

That Graphics Card must be about 7 years old. It may have been damaged by sustained high temperatures which shorten the life of the GPU and maybe other components, and of course the fan(s).
It may have clocked down due to that damage.

You have had good use out of it, that is a long time for a graphics card.

You could check the heatsink and fan, but probably not worth the bother considering it's age.

Pejole2165 said:

Go into the Nvidia control panel, manage 3d settings, check that power is set to Optimal.
If you are using a utility to measure the clock while in Windows, the reported clock will always be the lowest the card is set for.
If you use MSI Afterburner, you can set an OSD to show in game to monitor fps, temps, core clock, memory clock, power usage etc.
If MSI's OSD shows the clock staying at default even when under load (and you have checked all settings are correct) then it looks like a new GPU is needed.
It is possible the card could be failing due to heat over time, but you can check that with MSI Afterburner by setting a small overclock and seeing what happens.
But before experimenting, I would check power settings in Windows, make sure the Nvidia driver is in use (Device manager, display adaptor) and that the driver settings are correct. Also check that your monitors refresh rate is correct and that V-Sync is off (or at least set to Fast).

MasterZade said:

Sounds like a dying GPU unfortunately. Try putting the card under a synthetic load (like a GPU benchmark run) and see what happens. If it stays at a fixed, low frequency then it's likely time for a new card.

It seems the clock rate is back to normal after I rebooted the pc. It hasn't gone bad (yet) I will keep an eye on it.
I fogot to mention that powersaving is also disabled in the nvidia control panel

Thanks so far