Is my GPU dying?

[plucky ermine]

so, recently my computer started having weird stutters at random. sometimes if i alt tab or click something in an slightly weird way, the whole screen is gonna freeze for a second and then unfreeze like nothing happened. i initially ignored them, thought they were normal. but then i started noticing them in games, and it's way more intensive than when on the desktop. it's generally the same thing, i play for a bit, everything goes normal, and then there's this big stutter for like 2-3 whole seconds and the game resumes as normal. but if i keep playing for a while, like 2-3 hours the stutters start becoming more frequent, making it completely unplayable. also, sometimes the stutters only pause the frames themselves but other times it also pauses sounds. Now, i tried to search up what this could be, and i ended up downloading cinebench to test how both my GPU and CPU is doing. As you can see on the images, the CPU seems to be completely normal. searched up my score in google (ryzen 5 5500) and seems to be about right. even overperformed a bit. but the GPU, had a worse result (567 points). i read someone in reddit saying this could be caused by the power the gpu is pulling, and it certainly is pulling very little, only 40w when it can go up to 130w if im not mistaken (RX 6600)

in case it's needed these are my specs
RX 6600, ryzen 5 5500, 8x2 16gb ram 3200mhz, windows 10

[left dagger]

install MSI Afterburner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvuiIRipZE4
trust me, this'll help

https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards
https://www.guru3d.com/download/msi-afterburner-beta-download/

(official sites, dont download both)

[plucky ermine]

how will that help exactly?

i watched the video before btw, i don't think it has to do with my issue (?

in terms of 1% lows they're normal until the big ass stutter hits and then it goes to like 10fps or something

cause it's a literal dead stop, like i said

[plucky ermine]

hey, so, i disconnected and reconnected my power supply, and now i got a better score in cinebench, which aligns well with what 6600's are supposed to do. this makes me believe that (thankfully) it's not a hardware issue and it might be a software issue instead. both gpu and cpu are working correctly. my theory is that a windows update may have been one that caused this but still im not sure, any other recommendations, if anyone reads this? lmao

[terse mango]

You re-seated cables on your hardware to sort a software issue? Gotchya. That makes sense.

[unkempt coyote]

Also download hwinfo64, and monitor temps

Turn off any xmp / expo ram settings under bios

(You can always turn them back on, this is just a way to check for instability)

[left dagger]

It could be a RAM issue. Check RAM percentages.

[plucky ermine]

no i mean that that discarts it being a hardware issue

the cinebench score was something else, my main problem is still there lol

[plucky ermine]

ill try that out

[plucky ermine]

what do you mean by checking ram percentages, how much is being used at a time?

[left dagger]

Memory section in Task Manager, you can clean this with WinMemoryCleaner

RAM is just short term memory which is unimportant data

RAM is only used for web browsing, games or any other processes that you want to run.

[plucky ermine]

yeah yeah, i know what ram means lol, i just wanted to know exactly what you wanted me to check out, thanks

[left dagger]

if thats not the issue, lmk

[plucky ermine]

right now im using 40%, but i have a bunch of stuff opened like opera and discord which are at the very top

[left dagger]

oh and FYI, if your GPU is dying, it'll start artifacting

[plucky ermine]

if i close opera im at 20%

[plucky ermine]

oh, i didn't know that lol

[plucky ermine]

20% out of 16gb btw

[left dagger]

same goes for CPU but it'll just wont communicate with the motherboard and wont turn on

[plucky ermine]

aight, it's good to know what it actually means for a part to die lol

im gonna try the other stuff people suggested

[left dagger]

👍

imma go now, good luck though!

[plucky ermine]

aight, bye, thanks for the help!

[plucky ermine]

i've downloaded hwinfo, what do you want me to do in it?

[unkempt coyote]

Run it in the background in sensor mode while you do stuff playing on your pc

Just minimize it once it's running and recording.

It puts little stress on the pc, its just checking temps, power, amperage, etc ...

Play some games, browse the web, do whatever you normally do for a few hours.

Then open it back up from the bottom right corner, and take a look at what temperatures you are seeing on anything

Look at average and maximum

[plucky ermine]

ok, thanks, i'll do it

[plucky ermine]

ok so, i played a 2 hour or so session of rdr2 and i activated multiple graphs in adrenaline software to see what changes every time my game stutters. i took some screenshots, which are these

the stutters themselves are signaled by the "micro stutter" graph, so everytime my game stutters, that graph goes up

you can see the GPU usage and CPU usage going down along with the micro stutter

no change in temperatures or voltage

and this is how my sensors were looking when i stopped playing

@unkempt coyote

[terse mango]

You’re vram capped

Use less vram and it will sort out by the looks of your rdr2 stats

[plucky ermine]

you sure? i used to play rdr2 before with the same configuration and this wasn't a thing

also, the stutters happen outside games too

i'll try it out still tho

[plucky ermine]

way less tho, it's like one every 2 hours or so

[plucky ermine]

im gonna test other games and also test rdr again with lower graphical options

[plucky ermine]

same vram usage too, after 3 or 4 hours of gameplay i used to get lower fps, but nothing like the stuttering im experiencing now

[unkempt coyote]

Did you upgrade your monitor by any chance?

[plucky ermine]

no, it's the same i've had since i bought this pc

4 months ago

[unkempt coyote]

Running the game at 1080p?

[plucky ermine]

yup

i've changed my HDMI cable that's connected to my gpu

[unkempt coyote]

Game shouldn't be capping 8gb vram then

And a bad cable can absolutely cause these issues

[plucky ermine]

hmmm

ok

it's been like

2 weeks since i installed it

should i try with another hdmi cable then?

[plucky ermine]

really?

[unkempt coyote]

Yup

Why did you change cables?

[plucky ermine]

the old one broke cause i handled it in a stupid way and it bent lol

[unkempt coyote]

Hmmm ...

But yes a bad cable can cause all sorts of issues. It's rare, but does happenm

[plucky ermine]

im gonna try getting another cable then

[unkempt coyote]

You can also try a different port on the gpu you plug your monitor/'s in

[plucky ermine]

good idea

[terse mango]

Maximum virtual memory committed exceeds available . Maximum physical memory exceeds available. It’s a VRAM issue.

[unkempt coyote]

And also this ^

Im still guessing you made a change in your graphical settings that is upping the vram usage

[plucky ermine]

yeah, im sure the vram maybe causing lower fps but like i said, i used to play like this non issue before, the stutters are completely new thing i hadn't experienced before

[unkempt coyote]

Fairly certain rdr2 shows under graphical settings how much vram you are using.

[terse mango]

If he’s using rdr2 with DLSS he’s probably adding approx 2-2.5gb vram usage

[unkempt coyote]

Lower some settings to get it to around 6gb vram usage

[plucky ermine]

if im not mistaken it says 4.5-5gb of vram

[unkempt coyote]

Hmmm

[terse mango]

You’re using 809x of vram in your Adrenalin shots

[plucky ermine]

i have a amd graphics card

[plucky ermine]

yeah, idk what that's about

[unkempt coyote]

Dlss / fsr all one in the same

Are you watching steams in the background, have discord open? Running other apps?

[terse mango]

Well fsr uses 3-3.5 on my AMD at 1440p so if 1080p fsr, 2.5gb max probably still same

[plucky ermine]

5 gigs

but yeah, im using 8 in total

5gs of rdr + whatever is using the other 3

[plucky ermine]

so ill probably have to lower my graphics as well

[terse mango]

While you are playing your vram is maxxed

[unkempt coyote]

8088

[terse mango]

Doesn’t matter how much each app is using. You’re capped and need more

[unkempt coyote]

Something is sucking down your vram

[plucky ermine]

how do i check that

[unkempt coyote]

Try a different amd driver

[terse mango]

Are you using FSR?

[plucky ermine]

nah

[terse mango]

Or frame gen?

[plucky ermine]

neither

[plucky ermine]

what u mean?

[unkempt coyote]

Uninstall your current gpu driver. And install an older one.

[terse mango]

3gb sounds about right for fsr and frame gen tbh

But yeah try another driver

[plucky ermine]

dang

i have the newest ones

[unkempt coyote]

Newest doesn't mean best. Look at the issues with nvidia atm. I'm using a 4 month old driver atm because of all the issues.

Are you familiar with DDU?

[plucky ermine]

i know what it does but haven't used it at all

imma check that out

you think that's causing the vram problem?

bad drivers?

[unkempt coyote]

https://www.guru3d.com/download/display-driver-uninstaller-download/

It absolutely can

[plucky ermine]

im using around 2 gigs doin nothing rn

i have some apps opened tho

[terse mango]

Heh

[unkempt coyote]

Thats not normal

[terse mango]

Is mem leaks on vram a thing?

[unkempt coyote]

Yes

[terse mango]

Never experienced one. This is a goodie

[unkempt coyote]

Im guessing it's a driver at this point

[plucky ermine]

damn

[unkempt coyote]

Alright, im'a make this super easy to understand.

[terse mango]

Before he ddu

Any new software?

[plucky ermine]

i have all these dudes opened

[plucky ermine]

uhhh

i don't think so no

i downloaded project + lol

[terse mango]

Is it an ex mining card or have you mined on it?

[plucky ermine]

nah it isn't i got it prebuild

[unkempt coyote]

Step 1, download the prior amd gpu driver for your gpu.

Step 2, download DDU, and extract it to your desktop into its own folder.

Step 3, discinnect from the internet entirelly.

Step 4, boot into safe mode.

Step 5, run ddu. Keep all options at default. Select amd drivers after and clean and restart.

Step 6, when pc boots, install that amd driver you downloaded prior.

Step 7, after the gpu driver installs, hook back to the internet.

[plucky ermine]

in a local website, i trust it cause my brother has got computers from them before

[terse mango]

Awesome. Didn’t want das to waste his time if it’s probably a dead ram module as it’s 2gb

[plucky ermine]

yeah, makes sense you asked that

[plucky ermine]

ok, ill have all that in mind, but first i think i might as well try to see if the HDMI cable was the issue lol

maybe i'll do both, actually

if that fixes my vram issue, it's a plus

[unkempt coyote]

It could cause issues yes, extra vram usage is highly doubtful, but doesn't hurt to try. Drivers absolutely can cause these issues.

[plucky ermine]

i just closed everything but discord, im sitting at 1gb vram, is that normal?

[terse mango]

Hardware acceleration is a thing

[plucky ermine]

what u mean

[terse mango]

Video playback normally has it on by default for web browsers to use the GPU

[plucky ermine]

ohhh ok

you mean that's causing that amount of vram usage?

[terse mango]

Let me boot my pc quick and check

Amd normally uses more ram. Just loading up I will show my 7800xt

[plucky ermine]

aight

[terse mango]

This usage booting to desktop

Seems to be bouncing between 1500 and 1528

[unkempt coyote]

Also need to remember. Even though your gpu has 8gb of vram, it's more like 7.7, or 7.6 realistically too

On my laptop atm with a 4060, using 484mb

[terse mango]

Just like fake frames and fake msrp… however long long before… we started doing fake kb/mb/gb/pb size too

[plucky ermine]

lmao

[unkempt coyote]

With discord running and a YouTube video 635mb

[plucky ermine]

i was gonna try to switch to another hdmi port but my gpu only has 1 hdmi port and 3 display ports lol

[unkempt coyote]

Display port > hdmi

[plucky ermine]

im sure it is

but i ain't got any display port cables 😿

[unkempt coyote]

not sure why I was still typing on my phone when I had discord open on my laptop now

[terse mango]

It’s like going from VGA to DVI

[unkempt coyote]

but yes, wipe your gpu driver

[terse mango]

Only most people don’t notice because we’ve come a long way for that stuff

[plucky ermine]

ill do that

[unkempt coyote]

im'a take a hot second to gloat about that undervolt and oc

on a laptop gpu

[plucky ermine]

so, tomorrow i will ask my dad if he has any hdmi cables lying around, check if it helps, then do the DDU thingy

[unkempt coyote]

need to remember, hdmi cables ... lol, come in MAAAAANY different versions

[plucky ermine]

aren't they retro compatible or smth

[unkempt coyote]

it might not allow you to go up to 165hz, 144hz, etc

[plucky ermine]

i only have a 75hz monitor tho

[unkempt coyote]

oh, your fine

[plucky ermine]

when i get a better monitor i'll get a display port along with it

[unkempt coyote]

you should be capping your fps to 75hz though

[plucky ermine]

i have them capped lol

[unkempt coyote]

you said you were getting above 75

[terse mango]

Well a little higher to reduce tearing

Like 80/85

[plucky ermine]

that's when i uncap them when im testing how much fps i get

but most games i play them with vsync on ngl

i don't like the tearing

[unkempt coyote]

gotcha, but yeah you want it capped at like 75-85 ish .. depends on the display tbh

if you can keep a solid 75 no matter what, just turn on vsync, the input lag you wont notice on a game like rdr2

[plucky ermine]

mine has shit tons of tearing for some reason, some games i can play perfectly without vsync like fortnite, but others like rdr have way too much tearing lol

[plucky ermine]

yeah, i also have the anti lag thing from adrenaline software so it improves input delay a bit

[terse mango]

Partly the display, partly vram capping out

[unkempt coyote]

Turn on freesync, and vsync in your adrenaline software

and cap the fps to 5 below your monitors refresh rate

inside the game

AND ONLY INSIDE the game

[plucky ermine]

my monitor is cheap as heck it isn't even freesync compatible 💀

[unkempt coyote]

oh rip

[plucky ermine]

yeah ik

ill have money soon tho

things are coming 🔥

[terse mango]

Hopefully not an 8gb 5060 😝

[unkempt coyote]

you should enable vsync globally then, with a 6600 you should have no problems maintaining 60-75 fps

[plucky ermine]

that thing ain't even worth the money 💀

[unkempt coyote]

global vsync settings > in-game vsync settings

[plucky ermine]

maybe, like i said some games look good uncapped

[plucky ermine]

i didn't know there was a difference!

[unkempt coyote]

very much is

[terse mango]

I find with my 7800xt it’s the opposite. I’ve wondered if it’s my setup specific or latest AMD

[unkempt coyote]

this applies to freesync tech as well, but this will make for an interesting read

https://blurbusters.com/gsync/gsync101-input-lag-tests-and-settings/14/

[terse mango]

Might have to try global again with latest driver update

[unkempt coyote]

but firstly ... go do this

Step 1, download the prior amd gpu driver for your gpu.

Step 2, download DDU, and extract it to your desktop into its own folder.

Step 3, disconnect from the internet entirelly.

Step 4, boot into safe mode.

Step 5, run ddu. Keep all options at default. Select amd drivers after and clean and restart.

Step 6, when pc boots, install that amd driver you downloaded prior.

Step 7, after the gpu driver installs, hook back to the internet.

[plucky ermine]

thanks for posting it again lol, saved me from scrolling a bunch

aight guys, thank u so much, i will let you know if my problem is fixed or not

❤️

[unkempt coyote]

Yeah, its hit or miss in some games. Then you can get into even more shenanigans when you have low latency mode involved. Ultra, vs On ... Fullscreen gsync vs fullscreen + windowed

[plucky ermine]

tried changing the HDMI cable, unfortunely this did not fix it, thought about getting a display port cable instead cause i thought, maybe it's the port itself that's malfunctioning or something, but my monitor doesn't have any display ports lol. haven't done DDU, but im not sure if it's necessary, cause you suggested DDU to fix my vram issue but the usage i have actually seems to be normal for amd cards? what you guys think i should do? @unkempt coyote @terse mango

[unkempt coyote]

Absolutely ddu lol

[plucky ermine]

damn lol

i'll do it tomorrow

[unkempt coyote]

You can also buy a displayport to hdmi adapter. I'd recomend it, only because displayport generally runs better. But it depends on the setup. It is possible there is an issue with the port. But before you do any of that, DDU

[plucky ermine]

sure, thanks

[plucky ermine]

i've just finished doing DDU, im gonna test using my computer, play some game for some hours, see if it made any difference

[plucky ermine]

tested red dead 2 for 2 hours again, unfortunely it isn't fixed... @unkempt coyote

i guess my next option is getting the display port cable + the adaptor

https://www.amazon.com.mx/JSAUX-DisplayPort-Braided-Uni-Directional-Projector/dp/B0B2PN4LRW/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1WHOUCT6P5VOP&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Q9qJVvTNIpnnGlbbfi8qJJIQfaHghlUObmvh7Lm4knxqeKdVYWAVPNYttOUUKud_atBF-UGOxAQ8nEVyLp5DH7R59aIfI7DxDbIKgiWTxabTSJ8oS7YxXSKNAbQZTyg2HcD7jkUaGy_9E0n0tuTpw7UsmVYJSyEaKJ4ihqia5rmBGZaeAbwPSJ6cpTlfiCrcYw_h0EBG3UQduDAD5Di27bVdUzkD47KUU4Nx23DVe-WNs407zt6-ssixL8oXgXwBXB96SXiBz71RyQ-sytcke5Ld7KOdE3lydF6OauwgP2s.KbLsO0nhIvE8olgK9OGUkz53bt1oWwAiMB2Tc8jwnYc&dib_tag=se&keywords=display%2Bport%2Ba%2Bhdmi%2B4k%2B120hz&qid=1744854105&sprefix=display%2Bport%2Ba%2Bhdmi%2Caps%2C419&sr=8-5&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.de93fa6a-174c-4df7-be7c-5bc8e9c5a71b&th=1

you think this one could work

before buying it imma test some other game

theorically it could be an rdr issue but i doubt it

cause i have stutters while on my desktop too

[plucky ermine]

hey

i think it might actually be just an rdr2 issue lol

searched it up, some people are saying that "there's a vram leak" (don't know what that means) with rdna2+ cards in vulkan, they suggest testing without smart access memory on or switching to dx12

imma try doing that

also, yesterday i played resident evil 4 remake for 2 hours and noticed no stutters either

[grizzled oak]

Om my old like rely old pc the screen would randomly freeze and then the image started shrinking as the rim trend purple 🟣 intell my screen was only 2" by 2" and the rest was just a deep purple color and this was a 12" by 10" monster then it just went black in stopped terning on. is it similar to that @plucky ermine

[plucky ermine]

damn, nah, i had not heard of that error before

[plucky ermine]

also, i just tested directx12, it stutters like crazy, just like people said it would, but it uses WAAAY less vram, more aligned with what rdr reports it should use. around 5-6 gb of vram, while with vulkan it would use 7-8

[unkempt coyote]

Dx12, will either work fantastic, or it won't. There doesn't seem to be an inbetween.

Friend if mine is going through random dx12 crashes with ac shadows

[terse mango]

Vulkan is generally better tbh

Built for the modern day

[unkempt coyote]

Yeah, id go with Vulcan or dx11, the tried and true

[plucky ermine]

well, tried the "disable smart access memory" thing, and it did use 3gb less of vram with vulkan, but the game ran like trash anyways lol

[terse mango]

Yeah you need SAM enabled

Vulkan will always use more VRAM as it gives applications more free roam to allocate it as opposed to DX. This normally has a smoother performance and can be part of the API’s uplift over DX in same games

[plucky ermine]

i see

well, i really need to test more to finally decide if this is just an unfortunate rdr2 issue or if there's something else going on with my pc

[terse mango]

Try doom. That’s Vulkan iirc

[unkempt coyote]

If you have baldurs gate 3, fairly certain it runs all 3

[plucky ermine]

i'll do that

[plucky ermine]

hey, i think i FINALLY fixed my issue. and it was something... pretty goofy. it ended up being my SSD being full. i had like 40gb of free space and it seems that was causing the stuttering, i uninstalled a big game, cleared 100gb from my ssd, and now all the stutters both in desktop and in game are completely gone. i wish i thought about that sooner bro... but atleast it's done lol

how do i tag the publication as solved, btw?

nvm i figured it out