# Why does my FPS drop suddenly until I alt-tab out?



## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

Hi,

when I play games like diablo 3, there are random times when my FPS just reduces in half. It clears up until I alt tab out, and return to the game. Anyone know why this happens?

Specs are GTX 670 and i5-3570K @ 4300MHZ

Thanks


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## sneekypeet (Sep 21, 2012)

card may be throttling or going into power saving mode. Run GPU-z to log the information from the sensors next time you play and see if there is anything odd there. Look for spikes in temperature or some other anomaly at the time the card looses FPS.


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## Solaris17 (Sep 21, 2012)

sneekypeet said:


> card may be throttling or going into power saving mode. Run GPU-z to log the information from the sensors next time you play and see if there is anything odd there. Look for spikes in temperature or some other anomaly at the time the card looses FPS.



thats what im thinking too overheat and then drop to 2D clocks my 260 does it when i push past 95C damn card.


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## Ghost (Sep 21, 2012)

VSync?


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Sep 21, 2012)

Happens to me in Diablo3 as well. Whenever that happens, I just alt tab out and back again.. FPS goes nermal


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## Aquinus (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> Hi,
> 
> when I play games like diablo 3, there are random times when my FPS just reduces in half. It clears up until I alt tab out, and return to the game. Anyone know why this happens?
> 
> ...





Bjorn_Of_Iceland said:


> Happens to me in Diablo3 as well. Whenever that happens, I just alt tab out and back again.. FPS goes nermal



Could it be a driver bug? What versions of nVidia's driver are both of you running because I find it interesting that both of you have the same problem and the common link between your two rigs are a GeForce 600-series cards.


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## AsRock (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> Hi,
> 
> when I play games like diablo 3, there are random times when my FPS just reduces in half. It clears up until I alt tab out, and return to the game. Anyone know why this happens?
> 
> ...



I have had a issue going in to a new area and it was laggy as hell so went back to the last area and it went and was ok when i returned to the area it was lagging on..  Only happened once though was kinda odd although it was with D3.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

Aquinus said:


> Could it be a driver bug? What versions of nVidia's driver are both of you running because I find it interesting that both of you have the same problem and the common link between your two rigs are a GeForce 600-series cards.




I do have the most recent driver (from last week). 

Also, my temperature is fine, it never goes above 64C under load.

Also, drop in FPS happens at such a random sequence; especially when I'm moving to a new area


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

Ghost said:


> VSync?



vsync is on, but it wasnt acting like this last week.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

AsRock said:


> I have had a issue going in to a new area and it was laggy as hell so went back to the last area and it went and was ok when i returned to the area it was lagging on..  Only happened once though was kinda odd although it was with D3.



it happens with other games too, not just d3


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## de.das.dude (Sep 21, 2012)

seems like a heat issue as skeekypeet stated.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

de.das.dude said:


> seems like a heat issue as skeekypeet stated.



What are some of the ways to reduce the GPU heat? I mean, I'm not even overclocking....

But I can try and remove some cables out of the way, as I remember my cables are literally all over the place and it's a huge mess. I need a better air flow inside the case.


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## Ghost (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> vsync is on, but it wasnt acting like this last week.



Enable Triple Buffering, Adaptive VSync and Frame Limiter.


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 21, 2012)

Memory leak.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Memory leak.



Thanks for your reply.

I'm a noob here, can you explain what you mean by "Memory Leak"?


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> Thanks for your reply.
> 
> I'm a noob here, can you explain what you mean by "Memory Leak"?



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak

When you can fix an FPS drop with an Alt-Tab that normally means you have a Memory leak. Skyrim and Fallout are known for this.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memory_leak
> 
> When you can fix an FPS drop with an Alt-Tab that normally means you have a Memory leak. Skyrim and Fallout are known for this.



So how do I go about fixing this?


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## Protagonist (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> So how do I go about fixing this?



A probable driver update will fix it or a game patch/update for the particular game in your case diablo 3 or any other game with the issue


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

st.bone said:


> A probable driver update will fix it or a game patch/update for the particular game in your case diablo 3 or any other game with the issue



Driver is up to date as mentioned before, and it's happening to other games too, not all, but select games.


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## Protagonist (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> Driver is up to date as mentioned before, and it's happening to other games too, not all, but select games.



I meant a future driver update BETA or WHQL, this applies for future game patches/updates, and NOTE I'm saying its all just a probability


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> So how do I go about fixing this?



Did you try rolling back to an older driver?


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## de.das.dude (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> What are some of the ways to reduce the GPU heat? I mean, I'm not even overclocking....
> 
> But I can try and remove some cables out of the way, as I remember my cables are literally all over the place and it's a huge mess. I need a better air flow inside the case.



physically, get a fan blowing air into the gpu. like one on the side panel. or cleanning the gpu heatsink..

else enable Vsync.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> Did you try rolling back to an older driver?



I have a CD with older version that came with the GPU but that's about it. But I suspect that it'll decrease my computer performance...

Why do you say that just out of curiousity?


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## D007 (Sep 21, 2012)

In Nvidia control panel, set Power setting to maximum performance, not adaptive.
Might help alleviate these kinds of issues.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

de.das.dude said:


> physically, get a fan blowing air into the gpu. like one on the side panel. or cleanning the gpu heatsink..
> 
> else enable Vsync.



I already have 4 case fans, one of them directly facing at the GPU, spewing out the air out of the case.

Vsync is enabled for all games, still causing issues.

I JUST got the GPU, so no point in claening it


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

D007 said:


> In Nvidia control panel, set Power setting to maximum performance, not adaptive.
> Might help alleviate these kinds of issues.



That actually sounds reasonable. I NEVER touched anything in the nvidia control panel, but as mentioned earlier, it could be that the performance is being undercut due to surge in temperature or whatever.. :S


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## D007 (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> That actually sounds reasonable. I NEVER touched anything in the nvidia control panel, but as mentioned earlier, it could be that the performance is being undercut due to surge in temperature or whatever.. :S



It defaults to adaptive and has already been known to cause problems. It fixed some issues for me as well. Good luck, fingers crossed...lol..


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> I have a CD with older version that came with the GPU but that's about it. But I suspect that it'll decrease my computer performance...
> 
> Why do you say that just out of curiousity?



Because it wasnt happening with the older driver thats why. The new driver seems to be causing the issue, be it a memory leak or over heating or whatever. Roll back the driver and problem solved.


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## D007 (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> vsync is on, but it wasnt acting like this last week.



Well then, that's an important bit.. You installed a new driver within that time?



TheMailMan78 said:


> Did you try rolling back to an older driver?



Well.. Did you?
Usually people like it when you respond to them and they are trying to help you. Please let us know you are actually trying what we say.



D007 said:


> In Nvidia control panel, set Power setting to maximum performance, not adaptive.
> Might help alleviate these kinds of issues.



Did you try this as well if the last step did not fix your problem?
please let us know..


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

D007 said:


> Well then, that's an important bit.. You installed a new driver within that time?



Yes, as soon as I put my new GPU in, I installed the new driver.

Do you think it has to do with the case air flow? Right now, my cable management is so bad that it's blocking some spaces lol.

*EDIT: Never tried with older driver, I'll get back to this thread in a bit when I get home


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## D007 (Sep 21, 2012)

swchoi89 said:


> Yes, as soon as I put my new GPU in, I installed the new driver.
> 
> Do you think it has to do with the case air flow? Right now, my cable management is so bad that it's blocking some spaces lol.
> 
> *EDIT: Never tried with older driver, I'll get back to this thread in a bit when I get home



No, I don't think it's heat at all.. My two cents. I doubt your even overclocking..
I'd need you to test temps to be sure though..

Ahh I see now.. You downloaded the new driver right?
Did you try the one that came with the disc?
If so, when you tried it, did the game run well at that point?

Yea, when you get home I'd try the adaptive power setting and set it to max performance in nvidia control panel.. Me thinks there is your problem..

Trying the old driver couldn't hurt either, it does happen..

About your case air flow. You sound like you have a lot of fans.. Is your ambient temp cold in your house or is it hot/warm?

You live in Canada, in almost October, so I know it's not hot.. Don't worry about heat yet too much
but check when you can.


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 21, 2012)

Try the driver that came with the disk.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 21, 2012)

D007 said:


> No, I don't think it's heat at all.. My two cents. I doubt your even overclocking..
> I'd need you to test temps to be sure though..
> 
> Ahh I see now.. You downloaded the new driver right?
> ...



You know what, your method works!!! I changed the power management option and now it works flawlessly. Under 100% usage, I have ~63C on my GPU!!

Thank you so much for your help! But I'll come back to this topic if I stupidly do something wrong T_T


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## Frag_Maniac (Sep 21, 2012)

Memory leaks are a fairly common problem in some games. How much RAM are you running and do you reboot to help free up RAM before playing? Also what size page file do you use and is the drive defragged? 

I actually disable all fetching except for boot fetching to help keep more free RAM available. Some have argued the need to do that, but in my findings W7's fetching is a RAM hog. 

We did a test on my friend's rig and after disabling all but boot fetching, the lag he was getting in Crysis cleared up. I was also shocked at how little difference there is in launching apps with it disabled, esp considering how much RAM is sucks up.

Note that there is also a very good defragging tool that's Windows certified which defrags sys files on reboot, including the page file. It's called Perfect Disk.

I suspect the Black Mesa mod, or certain uploads of it being reported corrupt archives, are causing similar problems, and yes, as MailMan said, I have had the same issues with Skyrim. I've been able to clear up such problems with Black Mesa via a reboot and defrag. 

Upon defragging, Black Mesa files were the ones most fragmented. Aside from memory leaks, some games are horrible at fragmenting files written to the file page. I suspect those with memory leaks typcally have that problem too.

Lots of people rave about HL having a very liberal save writing feature, being able to quick save wherever and whenever you want. Yeah well it also has a quirky audio stutter when loading saves, indicating maybe it's trying to store them too quickly and fragmented. Google for Black Mesa videos and you'll see what I mean, audio stutter when loading saves is common. 

It's kinda a bitch that one should have to use a minimum of 8GB RAM largely to account for poor coding, but what can you do? I built my X58 based rig with 6GB, and often times I wish I'd waited for 1155 and gone with 8GB.

Game engines can vary so much in what they do well and what they do horribly. I think a lot of devs get so caught up in what they want their engines to do that they don't take enough time to do proper performance testing along the way, and when they do, it's often on a best case scenario system than most can't afford.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 21, 2012)

Check the power properties of the system in windows control panel. PCs really dont need power saving functions like laptops or net tops or tablets do


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## swchoi89 (Sep 22, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> Memory leaks are a fairly common problem in some games. How much RAM are you running and do you reboot to help free up RAM before playing? Also what size page file do you use and is the drive defragged?
> 
> I actually disable all fetching except for boot fetching to help keep more free RAM available. Some have argued the need to do that, but in my findings W7's fetching is a RAM hog.
> 
> ...



Hmm.. I just built this computer 2 weeks ago, so I suspect nothing's wrong. I fixed the issue by setting the power management to maximum.

I have 8GB of RAM.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 22, 2012)

so are you still having issues?


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## swchoi89 (Sep 22, 2012)

eidairaman1 said:


> so are you still having issues?



Oh no, it's working just fine now ! thanks to you guys for help!

So do I need to close this thread or something


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 22, 2012)

glad the issue is solved. I think this should be a Pinned as a solution


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## Frag_Maniac (Sep 22, 2012)

Yeah I'm going to try that with my old GTS 250 too, even though it is't the new turbo boost type, there's still such an option in the NCP. Looking to replace it with a 660 Ti soon though.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 22, 2012)

i honestly feel any desktop should try the Max Power setting for gaming, throttling is a neat idea but if it does it automatically there is a problem, forcing it to run at a spec freq and voltage is better.


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## Frag_Maniac (Sep 23, 2012)

Personally I'd rather they just stick to boosting and throw throttling out the friggin window entirely. CPUs and GPUs already are dynamic anyway. They idle when no heavy calculations are being performed and ramp up nicely as needed. 

There's far more need for boosting than throttling. If there are problems encountered where the GPU is trying to work too hard, then you need to consider a more powerful GPU or lowering settings. The manufacturer shouldn't try and make those adjustments for you.

I'm all for progress, but I'm picturing the fatties on floating chase lounges in WALL-E here. We don't need out tech gear doing EVERYTHING for us.


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Sep 24, 2012)

Hmm.. better check on those power profiles later.. didn't know that as well


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 24, 2012)

That i agree upon. I recall with my laptop id manually adjust the clock faster before i started a game so id get max perf and after the game ended id manually adjust it back. Npw when i booted the machine i would have a preset of lower than factory when on battery. 

I still have that laptop today- stock gpu clock 350 memory 300. Max overclock at 459 gpu 416 ram. Cpu ran at 3.4 ghz in wall. Throttled back on battery. Dell Inspiron Xps Gen 1.



Frag Maniac said:


> Personally I'd rather they just stick to boosting and throw throttling out the friggin window entirely. CPUs and GPUs already are dynamic anyway. They idle when no heavy calculations are being performed and ramp up nicely as needed.
> 
> There's far more need for boosting than throttling. If there are problems encountered where the GPU is trying to work too hard, then you need to consider a more powerful GPU or lowering settings. The manufacturer shouldn't try and make those adjustments for you.
> 
> I'm all for progress, but I'm picturing the fatties on floating chase lounges in WALL-E here. We don't need out tech gear doing EVERYTHING for us.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 24, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> Personally I'd rather they just stick to boosting and throw throttling out the friggin window entirely. CPUs and GPUs already are dynamic anyway. They idle when no heavy calculations are being performed and ramp up nicely as needed.
> 
> There's far more need for boosting than throttling. If there are problems encountered where the GPU is trying to work too hard, then you need to consider a more powerful GPU or lowering settings. The manufacturer shouldn't try and make those adjustments for you.
> 
> I'm all for progress, but I'm picturing the fatties on floating chase lounges in WALL-E here. We don't need out tech gear doing EVERYTHING for us.



I second that.


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## TheMailMan78 (Sep 24, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> Yeah I'm going to try that with my old GTS 250 too, even though it is't the new turbo boost type, there's still such an option in the NCP. Looking to replace it with a 660 Ti soon though.



I think this is a new 600 series feature. This is the first I have heard of this issue. What he said is normally a symptom of a memory leak. But its good/bad to hear its a new feature in the 600 series. Good it throttles when needed. Bad that is seems to cause an issue.


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## eidairaman1 (Sep 24, 2012)

Windows power saving features are a 1 size fits all meaning they dont compensate for all configurations.

Issues are still present with Intel and amd power functions in bios too. For a split second a cpu may throttle back and decrease voltage even though the cpu is well within operating temps and there is a piece of software such as a game that needs all cylinders. Same can happen to todays video cards with power save functions.


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## Frag_Maniac (Sep 24, 2012)

TheMailMan78 said:


> I think this is a new 600 series feature.



Well I thought so too, but yet my NCP's Power Management is set to Adaptive by default, and let's me change it to "Maximum Performance", so I'm not getting why if it only applies to the 600s that would be the case.

PWM BIOS have been part of video cards for some time regarding fan speeds ramping and dropping, don't know why they couldn't incorporate it into the actual GPU speed since they already ramp up and drop according to needed use.

Maybe the 600s just make more elaborate use of it, but it seems like you could incorporate such a thing in drivers across a range of models.


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## swchoi89 (Sep 26, 2012)

Frag Maniac said:


> Well I thought so too, but yet my NCP's Power Management is set to Adaptive by default, and let's me change it to "Maximum Performance", so I'm not getting why if it only applies to the 600s that would be the case.
> 
> PWM BIOS have been part of video cards for some time regarding fan speeds ramping and dropping, don't know why they couldn't incorporate it into the actual GPU speed since they already ramp up and drop according to needed use.
> 
> Maybe the 600s just make more elaborate use of it, but it seems like you could incorporate such a thing in drivers across a range of models.



Hmm... maybe it's happening to me because I have like 3 games loaded at the same time (my RAM of 8GB is at 80% lol). My GPU Temp reaches well above 61C to 64C.

I don't know about the other guy posted in this thread who's had the same situation


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