Is my Video Card dying?

[WhipperSnapper]

Card: eVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 560

I've been using this card for several years and haven't had any problems with it. Yesterday I started to see a few screen glitches / slow performance, so I rebooted. Then I updated the driver which hadn't been updated for a while.

Now it seems like it's rending graphics slowly all of the sudden and its very noticeable in Planetside 2, which is now completely unplayable. Could the driver update have caused this (I'm pretty sure I have the right driver) or is it possible that some pipes / RAM on the card have died?

I guess if I had to replace it, this one seems like a decent option:

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137058

 

[ZGR]

How many years has it been since you dusted it?

Check out eVGA Precision Monitor app and monitor the core/shader and memory clockspeeds while the game is in a window.

See what kind of temperatures you are hitting and clockspeeds. You should also be able to control the fan speed. But first I'd open the case up, unseat the GPU, dust it, seat it back, and see it how it goes.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

You know, I've never pulled it out and cleaned it. It's 4.5 years old now and had fairly heavy use.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Here's what I posted on a Reddit forum:

Is my video card dying / damaged?

• Computer Type: Desktop, custom build
• GPU: Geforce GTX 560, 2 GB RAM, eVGA brand (all I really know about it as I didn't build the rig, no overclock as far as I know)
• CPU: Intel Core i5 3570k, overclocked to 4.2 Ghz/core
• RAM: 2 x 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM running at 1600 Mhz.
• Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V LX
• PSU: 550W Antec Basiq
• Operating System: Windows 8.1 Pro 64 bit
• GPU Drivers: Recently updated to NVidia 382.53

I've been using this Geforce GTX 560 card for several years and haven't had any problems with it. It's handled all of the games I want to play just fine. Two days ago I saw a few screen glitches, like a couple little boxes suddenly showing up and flickering on the screen. I pretty sure I rebooted. Then I tried to play Planetside 2 and the graphics wouldn't render properly - it's like I saw sheets moving when I looked around.

So I thought I might try updating the driver since it had been over a year. (In retrospect, this was probably a troubleshooting mistake.) When I load Planetside 2 now, I don't get those sheets, but the FPS is very low after putting it on the lowest settings. It's almost like the video card lost its processing power or some of its pipes and is now a very weak card. I did remove the card and tried to clean some dust off with a lens wipe. It didn't seem to be too bad. That seems to have had no effect.

Also, it seems like it takes two or three times as long to load Windows (8.1 pro, 64 bit) whereas before it was almost instantaneous. <EDIT> I timed it - it now takes 100 seconds to get to where I can start using Windows from a cold start whereas before it was about 30 or 40 seconds. I was able to load up and play Fallout New Vegas but for some reason instead of the full screen setting I have large black bands on the top and bottom like it's in movie theater mode, but I haven't run that game for over a year, so it's hard to draw any conclusions.

I'm tempted to conclude that the video card has issues since I did see a few flickering boxes and a graphical issue in Planetside 2 is what led to the driver update. However, I'm not convinced that it's the video card and not the driver or game settings and I'm pretty sure that I installed the correct driver.

So what do you guys think? Does it sound like a dying video card? Power Supply issue manifesting itself as a video card problem? Drivers issue? Or what? What would explain the increased time to load Windows? (Main (boot/C drive is a 128 GB Kingston HyperX SSD)

I can handle having to replace the video card if it's dead. I'm fine with that, but the uncertainty is killing me and I'd hate to shell out $100 for a new video card (that's not at a hot/Slickdeal price) only to find out that something else is wrong (like a problem with the motherboard or PSU). A bad video card actually seems like a good problem to have relative to the other alternatives. I guess if I had to replace it in an emergency, this one seems like a decent option for my needs:

MSI GeForce GTX 1050, 2 GB RAM, 128 bit for $89 or $94 shipped after rebate with Rocket League (a $5 value to me).

<EDIT> I ran the DDU program and did the clean install, but nothing has changed. It still takes 100 seconds to boot up and the FPS is still very low in Planetside 2.

<EDIT> I haven't played Skyrim for over two years, but Skyrim runs horribly now, too. It also takes a very long time to load up.

 

[mikeymikec]

Start > Run > eventvwr

Custom Logs > Administrative events

Any interesting errors there?

For the increased boot time, I'd also look for 'service control manager' errors at the time of booting as well as ntfs/disk/name of ahci driver.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I ran Heaven Benchmark and it seemed like my system could barely run it on High quality with everything else turned off, and even though the CPU was hardly being used (video card bottle neck?) my system was slow when minimized. I took some screenshots as it was running and the data for two of the shots is:

FPS 2
GeForce GTX 560
Graphics 50 MHz
Memory 135 MHz
Processor 101 MHz
Temperature 28 deg C

Shouldn't the Graphics, Memory, and Processor all be at much higher speeds? According to CPU-Z fir 3D applications it should be core 865 MHz, Shaders 1730 MHz, and Memory 2004 MHz.

All of the other functions of my computer seem to be OK so far other than the unusually long boot time, so I'm kind of leaning toward the Graphics Card as being the problem. It's either that or there's some weird driver setting or some such slowing it down.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

--------------------- Status: Resolved ? -----------------------

I brought my computer over to a friend's house. He's basically an expert on computer hardware and troubleshooting. We reinstalled drivers cleanly and tested with his GTX 760 and it ran it just fine. We benchmarked the GTX 760 and it gave something like 50 FPS on the basic Heaven Benchtest (whereas my GTX 560 gives about 2 FPS). We swapped cards in and out a few times and uninstalled/reinstalled drivers one or two times and concluded that my GTX 560 is the problem. Apparently it's also responsible for the slower boot time - he thinks Windows is getting some sort of error having a problem when the drivers try to access the video card. The rig booted up quickly, like normal, with the GTX 760 and also just via the built-in video on the motherboard (which, amazingly, I didn't know was an option). Looks like I'm in the market for a new video card now.

 

[Pwndenburg]

Have you replaced that card yet? I'm guessing no as the post was this morning.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Here's what I just purchased:

MSI dual fan GTX 1050

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137057

$93 after rebate shipped with free Rocket League (a $5 value to me) making the effective price $88, assuming that I get the rebate back. I've done a significant amount of research and the cheapest 1050 TI is $130 after rebate, a $37 difference or 40%. I've been gaming on the 560 for some time and it played all the games I wanted to play (Planetside 2, Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, the new Unreal Tournament 4) on my 24" 1080p monitor, so I figure that the normal 1050 should get the job done for me for at least two years. If need more video card at that point I could attempt to sell the 1050 on Craigslist and get a newer more powerful card once the Etherium mining craze has long passed.

I also contemplated getting this Gigabyte card for $7 more since I think it has a slightly better HSF, but the idea here was to keep this as cheap as possible allowing me to justify passing on getting a 1050 TI. https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125919

Between those two cards, which one do you think has the better cooling solution? Does that MSI card have a crappy HSF set up relative to that Gigabyte?