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GTX1070: Weird Throttling, Sudden Drop In FPS

ronferri

ronferri

ronferri

Associate
Joined
31 Oct 2017
Posts
81
Hello,

I will try to make this as short as possible so I won't lose your kind attention.

Here is a recording of the insane GPU throttling I am experiencing in game:

Specs & Settings:

I have an MSI GT62vr laptop: CPU i7-6700HQ, GPU Nvidia 1070, 16GB RAM.

Vsync is turned off in Nvidia control panel and in all games setting.
In all scenarios, Sports mode is activated in MSI Dragon center which brings the GPU and CPU to their max native clocks without any Overclocking. In Nvidia control panel, power mode is set globally to maximum.

Problem:

My system has been running perfectly for 10 months up until last week where it can no longer achieve the regular high fps in the same games I used to play.
In Ryse son of Rome on ultra, I used to get steady 80-100fps, now it cannot go above 70fps max, while constantly dipping to 25-35fps.
In Crysis 3 on very high, used to get 70-80fps, now 35-65fps.
In Battlefield 3 on max settings, used to get above 150fps, but now down to 70-110fps.
The degree of jitter or throttling of FPS is high in all these games. The FPS ranges significantly while gaming. I tested for overheating and it is not a temperature problem.

Investigation: (6 is the most interesting)

1. Drivers: I updated to the latest nvidia 388 driver using DDU clean install. Problem not solved. I reverted to the factory stock nvidia drivers using DDU. Problem still not solved. I did not "remove the present and nonpresent monitors" (under options of DDU) which is recommended to do, so I will try that again soon although I doubt it.

2. Temperature: I monitored the GPU and CPU using MSI Afterburner and their temps range between 64C and 80C at maximum during Gameplay. Correct me if I am wrong, these are not considered as high temps which might cause voltage throttling.

3. Utilization: This bothers me as MSI Afterburner shows that neither the GPU nor the CPU are being fully utilized up to 100% in any of the games at max settings. They go up to 70%. The CPU is always more relaxed at 40%-60%. I saw recordings on youtube of identical systems playing same games with GPU always on 99% and much higher FPS than my current performance. My GPU does get clocked to around 1700Mhz during gaming while on Sports mode. It can reach a max of 1919Mhz native. Never OC'ed anything.

4. Malware and Cryptomining: Some theories on the web state that malware can cause what i am experiencing so i am running a deep system scan while typing this.

5. Benchmarks: This is the tricky part. All synthetic benchmarks such as Unigine Heaven, Valley, and PC Mark 7 resulted in competitive scores which are comparable to similar systems. My Low FPS and throttling problem is more evident in games.

6. Lowering Settings: I lowered graphics to lowest settings in all the above games and I still got the low fps problem. This is very perplexing. Ryse Son of War wouldn't go above 64fps again even on lowest settings same as on ultra settings! It went over 100fps before this problem started. Same for other games. Lowering settings does not change FPS. What does this tell you?

I also have a logfile from GPU-Z during my gaming session from the video. It contains many "perfcap reason 16". I dont know what that means.

I am out of options, and appreciate your guidance on how to restore my original FPS power.

Thank you
 
Regarding the malware someone a while back thought their R9 290 was going kaput,until we told them to scan for a cryptocurrency virus and they had one and removing it made their graphics card work properly again.

Also,being a laptop,the cooling system can get clogged up with dust and the thermal pads or compound used can sometimes need re-applying after a while,although your laptop is quite new,and the performance drop seems sudden!
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
Regarding the malware someone a while back thought their R9 290 was going kaput,until we told them to scan for a cryptocurrency virus and they had one and removing it made their graphics card work properly again.

Also,being a laptop,the cooling system can get clogged up with dust and the thermal pads or compound used can sometimes need re-applying after a while,although your laptop is quite new,and the performance drop seems sudden!
Click to expand...

True. The temps however are not high as you can see in the video to warrant disassembly and dust cleaning.

Can you please tell me how was the cryptocurrency malware removed in the previous case? I tried many antimalware and AV apps, even online ones, and no cryptomining threat is detected. Either too well hidden or non-existent.
 
Last week/two weeks was the Windows 10 Fall update. It comes in at different times for users. Can you check your Windows version to see if it's 1709. If so, may need to add that to things to investigate as it could coincide with the beginning of these issues.
 
Here are the results of HWinfo during load:

During high load, HWinfo shows CPU throttling during gaming (Core 0 and Core 1 at the bottom of the sensor screenshot). CPU Core temps go above 85C too. Does this explain the wild fluctuation in FPS in my previously uploaded gaming video? I am interested in your ideas for solutions: Is a simple dust cleaning and repaste enough? Or shall I just return the laptop? Because it is only 10 months old and this is a deal breaking problem that can keep on happening.

Will a clean format fix this? Unlikely right?

cr4AqVl.jpg
 
The trouble with gaming laptops (even the newest ones) is heat dissipation/cooling sucks and the concentrated heat, over time leads to warping and movement of heat sinks, inevitably causing problems as you’ve experienced. Think Xbox 360 and the RROD. The CPU throttling as you’ve observed will be the reason your FPS is tanking.

You will need to disassemble the laptop and repaste. If I was doing it I would use a liquid metal TIM on both the CPU and GPU, clean the fans, if any are seriously caked in dust it may be worth replacing them completely. Laptop fans aren’t the most efficient to begin with, and once covered in dust they’re next to useless.

If you have the option to return it that’s the best way to go. Unless you specifically need a laptop get yourself a desktop instead.
 
wfKFJ0O.jpg


Observations:
-Under limits, I had Power:1, voltage:0, temp:0, OV:0 (does that mean i have power limitation?)
-GPU Clock: stayed at ~1290Mhz whereas it does go up to 1900MHz in games as seen by MSI AB
-Voltage: ~0.7V whereas it does go up to 1.05V in Games as seen by MSI AB
-Temperature: 70C at the end, benchmark ended faster than I thought. Less than 5mins.
-FPS: min 113, avg 119

Given all the above, does that mean I only have CPU thermal throttling and nothing wrong with the GPU? Except for that power limit observation in furmark?
 
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Bluntwrapped said:
The trouble with gaming laptops (even the newest ones) is heat dissipation/cooling sucks and the concentrated heat, over time leads to warping and movement of heat sinks, inevitably causing problems as you’ve experienced. Think Xbox 360 and the RROD. The CPU throttling as you’ve observed will be the reason your FPS is tanking.

You will need to disassemble the laptop and repaste. If I was doing it I would use a liquid metal TIM on both the CPU and GPU, clean the fans, if any are seriously caked in dust it may be worth replacing them completely. Laptop fans aren’t the most efficient to begin with, and once covered in dust they’re next to useless.

If you have the option to return it that’s the best way to go. Unless you specifically need a laptop get yourself a desktop instead.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your feedback. So you think it is worth returning for good? As in refund it? CPU throttling is not worth fixing if it happens after 10months? This was supposed to be the best cooling design in the laptop market! I'm out of portable options.
 
80C is definetely too hot.

83C is the thermal limit of a 10 series GPU from nvidia.

you need to open up your laptop and give it a good clean inside. maybe even re-apply thermal paste to both gpu and cpu. also clean all the dust out and maybe try a laptop cooling pad.
 
ronferri said:
Thank you for your feedback. So you think it is worth returning for good? As in refund it? CPU throttling is not worth fixing if it happens after 10months? This was supposed to be the best cooling design in the laptop market! I'm out of portable options.
Click to expand...

It's a tough call. If you fix it yourself you'll probably void any warranty opening it up.

If doable as a repair rather than replacement under warranty that would do it.

I suppose it doesn't really matter how good the cooling design is, the restriction within such a confined space makes it impossible to dissipate the heat efficiently enough over a long period of time. Short gaming sessions no problem but hours at a time over months and months quickly becomes too much. I killed a dell gaming laptop I had a few years back playing WoW on it. By the time I got around to repasting both CPU and GPU it was really beyond repair.
 
Guys, from a technical perspective, something is not right. I understand that many of you are diagnosing this as thermal throttling which requires repasting the CPU\GPU and cleaning the fans, but here's what is actually happening: (nvidia GTX1070, i7 6700HQ)

When I bring the fans up to max RPM using Cooler Boost, the CPU cores do not go beyond 69C and the GPU is stable at 63C. However, the games are not running at their max possible framerate like they used to and the framerate keeps fluctuating severely in the lower range (30 to 70 fps on old games that should ideally run at stable 90-100fps).

How do you explain that? Yes, thermal throttling is happening at normal fan mode, but not at max fan mode, yet the drop in framerate is still there. Even if I send it to MSI for repasting I do not think the problem will be solved. Yes I tried a clean install of many nvidia drivers including the one which was working fine all year long but that did not fix the problem. I can't find a reasonable explanation. And no it is not a creator's update issue because i was gaming fine after the update. This started to happen only 1 week ago.
 
Use GPU-Z from TechPowerUp. Have a look at the Bus Interface value. Please tell us what it is, and also what it is when you run the render test (click the question mark) beside the B.I. value.
 
Thanks Danny, BUS Interface is PCIex16 v3.0

Here is the % BUS Load during render test, notice the GPU temp is @80C because fan is on auto and not full RPM. Also the BUS load is fluctuating between 19% and 35% back and forth, I would say average 27%. Thanks again. What does that tell us?

7cj.png


And this is the screenshot while running the game at ultra settings and suffering with low and fluctuating fps:

r6p.png
 
Last edited:
Sorry I mentioned it at the beginning in my previous post but maybe wasn't clear

PCIe x16 3.0 (under load)
PCIe x16 1.1 (when idle, power saving mode).

Those are my values.
 
ronferri said:
In all scenarios, Sports mode is activated in MSI Dragon center which brings the GPU and CPU to their max native clocks without any Overclocking. In Nvidia control panel, power mode is set globally to maximum.
Click to expand...

Try turning Sports mode off, set global power mode in Nvidia to Optimal Power, and then set Maximum Performance individually for the games.
 
I uninstalled MSI Dragon Center and did exactly what you said in Nvidia control panel but that did not change anything. Everything was working perfectly for the past 10 months with stable and high framerates as expected. All of a sudden I get low and severely fluctuating framerates.
 
Are you playing and charging at the same time. It could be the battery is on the way out and is getting hot as it's resisting the charge.
 
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