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Need help with my MSI GTX 660

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Joined
15 Sep 2014
Posts
5
Hey guys. New here but wanted to ask you guys for help because where ever else I go I seem to only hit a brick wall.

Had a 660 for about 9 months and it worked fine until a week ago where games seemed to become slow and performing poorly on higher powered games that it usually had no issue running at max. But the PC still turns on fine with no graphical issues on normal non-game aspects. On inspection I found some odd results coming through on MSI afterburner & GPU-Z.

TBfpOGrl.png.jpg


As you can see MSI afterburner is claiming that my graphics card is using 630% power. Which is clearly not possible.

pelgh54l.png.jpg


Here is the change when running Skyrim for a bit at max settings. GPU usage goes up to almost max.

dg9YCOCl.gif.jpg


In GPU-Z it claims to be using over 300% power. When I showed this to someone else they said that the core clock speed seems to be very low. It also doesn't seem to be going up as well.

9NQ3D6il.gif.jpg


After running Skyrim at max again. Once again the same issues.

Solutions I have tried and failed:

- Rolling back drivers & re-installing them.
- Changing my power settings to high power.
- Changing games to run at highest performance through the graphics card software.
- Resetting a lot.
- The usual virus and malware checking.

At the time I did not make any changes to my hardware and I don't believe I have made any dramatic software changes recently. I also want to reiterate that these games used to run FINE without any issue at all.

Thanks for any help you can give!

P.S Here's a basic image of my specs:
JUS1hnhl.png.jpg
I am also using a Corsair 430w PSU.

P.P.S I couldn't see an obvious "help" subsection jump out at me. I hope it's okay to post here!
 
Download a program called DRIVER SWEEPER... boot into safe mode... uninstall ALL AMD & NVIDIA DRIVERS and reboot... this will get rid of most the drivers on your system,

afterwards, head to your motherboards website and download the latest audio, chipset etc drivers and reinstall and head over to nvidia and download the latest drivers their as well

Should be fine then
 
Like Cinderz has said, use a driver cleaner (I always use Display Driver Uninstaller) run and clean out all drivers. Head over to nVidia and download the latest drivers (344.11) and install those.

Your clocks are locked at idle clocks and this is normally a sign of a driver fail.
 
Did as you both said. Booted up Display Driver Uninstaller after going through the recommended safemode and then uninstalled all Nvidia Drivers. Then installed the Chipset and Audio drivers (Sata needed like a floppy disk? And I wasn't sure what other drivers I should be installing. My motherboard drivers for reference: http://www.asus.com/uk/Motherboards/M5A97_LE_R20/HelpDesk_Download/ ). After that I installed the new Nvidia driver (344.11).

Went into MSI Afterburner and once again it was still displaying the same issues like the over 600% power. Went to test in Skyrim and the issues were still the same once again.

Decided to do the same again but this time uninstall both Nvidia and AMD drivers using Display Driver Uninstaller. Reinstalled the Chipset driver but not the audio one because that one still seemed to remain as there wasn't a hidden icon for it before. But once again the exact same issues with the speeds not seeming to be going up and still getting those huge power readings from afterburner and GPU-Z. Also went into the control panel for nvidia and turned it to maximum power settings but still no result there.

Is there any other advice you guys can give me?
 
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Normal version. But as you can see on the GPU-Z picture:

9NQ3D6il.gif.jpg


That is claiming that it is using over 300% power on the power consumption. So there is clearly some error that is making two graphic cards monitors say its using up crazy amounts of power.

Is it possible at all that windows could be causing this issue? I know its a long shot but could an OS be interfering with it at all? But as I mentioned previously I had done no sort of major installs or changes to my PC as this issue started occurring. So I somehow doubt it.
 
(clutching at straws here but) Might be that the bios has broken slightly and needs a fresh bios flashing onto it.

Do you have the TFIII 660?
 
TFIII 660? Sorry if i'm being dumb. Is that the type of card it is? This is the card i'm using:

51o7Fve3ZmL._SY450_.jpg


It might be the BIOS yeah. But flashing it is pretty risky, right?
 
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I pulled out my 660 and replaced it with my AMD 6670. Which ran games normally without issue. BUT if this was some sort of power issue then I am unsure because this card ran off the board without any external power from the PSU. Here's an album:

http://imgur.com/a/qE6av

I might be assuming it is the graphic cards problem now and not a software. But I'm still curious about those crazy power readings it was giving off...
 
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