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Random FPS Drop


Suggs515

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I posted about this problem once before and never was able to find out why it's happening, and now it's getting worse.

 

I'm playing along with the same mods and same settings as I always use, and everything runs smoothly, but then at random intervals my FPS goes from >30 to <20. The only way I've found to fix this problem is to shut my comp down, let it cool off for a bit, then boot it up again. Problem is, that only buys my so much more time before another random drop, and the time in between is getting shorter and shorter. I just turned my comp on for the first time today and only got about 10 minutes of playing time before my FPS bombed.

 

Please, I'm desperate for help. This makes Skyrim unplayable for me. :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey thanks for the replies. I was out of town and forgot to check this.

 

I'm using MSI Afterburner, and my graphics card pretty rapidly gets up to ~108 C. I know this is really high, but I have my fan running at 100% at all times. I'm in what you could call a low income situation at the moment, so getting a new one is completely out of the question. Am I f***ed? Is there any way to try to reduce the temp? My fan is clean, so It's not dust doing the damage I wouldn't think (I cleaned it recently).

 

My card is a Radeon HD 5700 Series with stock fan AFAIK, I bought it new about five years ago so it's been heavily used.

 

Again thanks for the help guys. I'm getting the feeling that this may be a lost battle until I can get a new card, but if you have any ideas I'll try 'em. :smile:

 

EDIT: I'm just assuming it's the graphics card overheating, because I did notice the temp before, but if it's something else I should check or watch in combination to the GPU let me know. I'm not very knowledgeable about hardware so your expertise is appreciated.

Edited by Suggs515
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When you cleaned it how did you clean it?

 

From a quick search on the card you want to keep it under 90C.

 

I just checked the fan for dust and took out what I could. Is there any advice you can give on how to clean it best? The fan is fairly difficult to reach, as the card is attached near the bottom of my rig and it's on the bottom side so you have about 2 inches to work with. I'm probably missing lots of dirt dust/now that I'm thinking about it. :/

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Well, today I decided my card was unusable in this condition, so it was worth messing it up to try and clean it better, and I think I'm going to be glad I did.

 

I've never taken apart a GPU before, but it was surprisingly easy. Got everything unscrewed and separated and dusted off the card. The heat sink was very dirty (easily 50% obstructed with heavy dust). The thermal paste is more like chalk at this point, and after googling around and finding that it's pretty easy to replace, I've decided to do that (found a gift card to Best Buy in my wallet, woohoo). I'm about to head to Best Buy for the thermal paste, and also pick up some cotton swabs and iso alcohol. Hopefully I'll be able to put everything back together with no hitches. Wish me luck!

 

Thanks for your help guys (especially Chevy).

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