Low GPU Usage in all games

[n0x1ous]

An interesting issue has popped up recently on my AMD rig (see sig).

Yesterday I fired up Metro LL for the first time (been in the backlog for a while) and after about 15 seconds of being in the actual game, GPU usage plummets to 20% on both cards. CPU usage also falls. The game is then a slideshow running at about 15FPS. Thought that was weird....I was on the latest CAT 14.3. I exit out of that and try Crysis 3. Same thing. Fine for about 15 seconds with high gpu usage on both cards and good frames and then it tanks completely just like in MetroLL. Try BF4 single player- same thing. Note that during all this the core and memory clocks stay at their proper 3d clocks

I had been using 14.3 since release without issue......so I figure lets roll back to 13.12 WHQL. used the AMD complete uninstall utility and then loaded up 13.12. Same thing as before.

Things I have tried: +20% powertune, returned cards to stock clocks. ULPS is disabled via registry

other details: Everything else works perfect except in game. No artifacts....everything at the desktop works fine.

Really not sure what is going on......this just popped up out of nowhere.......thoughts?

 

[blackened23]

Malicious programs perhaps? Have you checked/cleaned your system recently? AMD drivers? Not sure. Could be either or neither. I remember there was one driver release with 7970s (this was a long time ago) where if any flash type deal was running in the background or even fullscreen windowed, my GPU usage would plummet to near zero in a windowed game. That's the only time I had ever had a similar problem and it popped up out of nowhere - my fix was merely using system restore because I couldn't really get to the bottom of it. But it sounds like you're running your games exclusive here with nothing going on in the background. So it doesn't sound like a background program or sys tray program mucking things up. Double check your startup programs with msconfig (if you're on win7) and background programs to make sure you don't have anything awry going on there.

What I would do is go to the oldest system restore checkpoint which you know worked, revert back, and see if that solves it. Usually that works when all else fails. And is certainly less hassle than re-installing everything.

 

[nicuwork]

Check your PSU ...it seems your components can't work at their full performance.
What GPU's and PSU you own ? If power supply is enough for all components...there is always a posibility for PSU to fail...even if it hasn't been used for too long (i had badluck with corsair 450W PSU ...failing after 1 year only)

 

[n0x1ous]

Power supply is Corsair AX 860w.

I have tested it with a Kilowatt meter and the most it pulls from the wall is 650 watts.

I assumed it must be some kind of throttling, but according to the OSD all gpu and cpu clocks are locked at what they should be

 

[SimsReaper]

Could this be a temp related throttling issue? And another possibility may be a motherboard fault. Malicious software may be the most likely answer though.
If its possible, can you swap in a hard drive, or try a new on with a fresh format and windows install. Just to test if it is hardware or software related

 

[n0x1ous]

Temps are good. GPU's in 60s and 70's and CPU never over 45.... I can run stress tests from AIDA and full load both GPU's and all CPU cores and everything is stable.

Also in the menu's of games everything is fine. GPU usage is good and my FPS is locked @ 120 (VG248QE) its only upon entering the level of the game itself that the problem manifests itself

Will run an AV scan tonight and see what I get.