Non-uniform results observed.
Non-uniform results observed.
I purchased a gaming PC two years ago and opted for the XFX RX 480 with a reference cooler, as it was the only option available. It kept my graphics card performance solid during Battlefield 1 Beta on high settings without dropping below 100 frames per second. The following year I began working and used the system mainly for that purpose, playing a few indie titles during downtime. Recently, I returned to PC gaming and noticed significant issues: the visuals stuttered constantly, with frame rates fluctuating wildly—from 80 to 95 FPS in seconds, sometimes dropping to just 46 or 62. This created noticeable stutters, especially in games like The Evil Within 2, Shadow of War, Metro 2033, Fortnite, and Far Cry 2. The GPU consistently ran at full capacity, then abruptly dropped to random percentages before jumping back up. I also observed high GPU usage followed by sudden drops, sometimes causing brief stutters even when watching videos. While the performance isn’t completely unusable, it’s far from smooth. I’m unsure if this is due to a bottleneck or another problem, but upgrading might help. My current specs are: CPU – Intel Core i5 4460 @ 3.2 GHz, Motherboard – ASUS H81M-K, GPU – XFX RX 480 black edition with reference cooler, RAM – 8GB DDR3, Power Supply – Corsair VS Series VS650, Operating System – Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit SP1.
If it's in the reference cooler, I'd make sure it isn't overheating. I've seen on my reference 480 it often slows the card before the fan really starts increasing speed. The Radeon settings seem quite basic there.