Possible graphics card issues

[andymac26]

[FONT=Segoe UI]I've got a pair of GTX 580's which are both well under a year old and I've started seeing a real decrease in playability in games, games like Dirt 2 used to be perfect with full settings, as you'd expect, but now it stutters every now and again and every few races completely freezes.[/FONT]
[FONT=Segoe UI]this happens in most games but dirt is where it happens the most. I have a temp monitor running in the background and the cards never seem to get above 55 degrees, a fairly aggressive fan curve keeps them down. [/FONT]

[FONT=Segoe UI]I've tried re-seating the cards, removing all graphics drivers and reinstalling games but nothing seems to work[/FONT]
[FONT=Segoe UI]I even tried old AOE III to see whether happened on non-demanding games which showed the game slowing right down at certain points then speeding up to account for it.[/FONT]
[FONT=Segoe UI]Both cards are running at 880Mhz GPU, 4200Mhz Memory with the latest Nvidia drivers.[/FONT]

[FONT=Segoe UI]any idea's about what the best thing do do from here would be?[/FONT]

[FONT=Segoe UI]cheers [/FONT]

 

[Dawn1113]

Hi, andymac26

How many hard drives are installed on your rig? On which drives are the games installed and how much space is left on that drive? What applications have you running in the background while you play? Also, what Nvidia drivers are you using now?

I'm almost certain you have already tried the things I am about to suggest, but I'll go ahead and run them by you, anyway. First thing I'd do is check for malware. If the scans are clear, then I would clean my hard drives of junk files and defrag them.

I would recommend that you post your full system specs as that might help the more tech savvy members arrive at a diagnosis.

Anyways, good luck and I do hope the issue you describe is resolved ASAP. Two 580s should make for a hefty, kickass graphics setup.

 

[Zoltan Head]

Two 580s should make for a hefty, kickass graphics setup.

Too right! I agree with the above, unlikely to be the cards if they're fairly new and running cool - more likely background stuff conflicting, like Dawn mentioned.

 

[EXCellR8]

could be the power supply but I would think the symptoms to be different in that case. I too do not believe the cards are to blame and that your issue is rooted elsewhere. could be malware, or an update, or fragmentation as mentioned previously--and a number of other things. I would check for any problems with directx files too as these can also cause problems with running games.

 

[andymac26]

its got a 60gb ssd, 1tb cav black, 2tb cav green and 2 externals attached, its never been a problem in the past though so I doubt that would be the problem, although the ssd does only have about 6gb free space, any chance that could be messing with it? the games are actually on the cav black drive which is less than half full.
nothing much running in background, just steam, precision x, real temp, nod32 and the usual stuff, grforce 301.42
and I do a weekly antivirus scan. and defrag every now and again
I got the power supply at the same time as the cards so thats fairly new aswell

system specs are:
MoBo: asus p8z68-v
CPU: i5-2500k
Storage: 60gb vertex 3, 1tb caviar black, 2tb caviar green
Ram: 8gb corsair xms3-1600
PSU: Seasonic x-series 1050w
Graphics: 2x evga gtx 580 sc

 

[Rage_3K_Moiz]

Some things to try:

1)Re-seat your RAM, and make sure the voltage is set to the correct level (I believe it should be 1.65V; check your memory manual for confirmation) and that the proper XMP profile is enabled in the BIOS. Run a memtest to make sure the RAM is healthy.

2)Disable Intel SpeedStep in the BIOS and see if if improves performance.

3)Re-seat your graphics cards and the SLI bridge.

4)Disconnect any extra peripherals such as gamepads and USB drives.

5)Un-install any monitoring applications like SpeedFan etc. and see if that has any effect.