Performance drops consistently across all games following a crash.
Performance drops consistently across all games following a crash.
I'm not an overclocking specialist, I only tried it at around 80MHz. Did you increase the voltage as well? From what I understand, boosting the clock alone is generally safer than raising both clock and voltage then cranking the frequency further. Could the issue be related to the GPU itself or a power supply failure? Try testing the card in another machine.
Run the game with the task manager active. Look for applications using excessive CPU or RAM. It might stem from a minor memory leak in an infected program or something more serious like malware. I recall having a virus that reduced my gaming performance significantly—once McAfee was installed and a full scan completed, it cleared up the issue.
Remove the overclock easily. Check the game for crashes or low FPS without it. If everything works, the overclock is likely bad. Skip this part of your message. Consider installing Windows on another drive and testing games from scratch. If issues continue, the graphics card or power supply might be damaged after overclocking.
Determine the operating frequency once the crash occurs. After testing, I noticed the card consistently ran at 405MHz and only increased after a system reboot. I adjusted the voltage to improve stability but avoided exceeding safe limits. Most Nvidia 900 series cards cap their voltage at conservative levels in the BIOS, even with tools like MSI Afterburner. For higher flexibility, you’d need an advanced overclocking solution, typically offering voltage ranges from 1.2 to 1.25.
Your main issue is the crash, not the reduced frame rate afterward. When your game stops, likely drivers fail too, causing errors that often happen at lower clock speeds. Restarting resolves it, so the real cause lies in the crash itself. Focus troubleshooting on the crash events, not the aftermath. Steps I’d suggest: Disable all graphics drivers via DDU and test with older versions to check for Nvidia issues. Start in "Selective Boot" with only GFX services enabled to eliminate conflicts. After the crash, open Event Viewer right away and review logs. Use a different PSU from a friend to test hardware stability. Verify GPU functionality on another machine. As a final check, install Windows fresh on a spare drive just in case. Keep track of any recent changes—new software or driver updates could be the culprit.
Same issue but I can run longer sometimes. GTX 960 with 2gb boost, i3-6300, 8gb RAM. Probably due to a weak PSU—I didn’t know about that when I bought it. Now I’m saving for the Seasonic S12II 620w, which costs $40 more.