Framerates fine, then BAM! 20fps.

kevinmuff

Solid State Member
Messages
16
I have been trying to OC my two GTX 260's and i have run into a problem. I was playing world of warcraft, and everything was fine, getting a solid 60fps, and then all of a sudden it slows down and i got like 20fps. It would not go up afterwards.
The stock settings are:
Core clock 518
Shader clock 1018
Memory clock 1008
My OC'ed settings are:
Core clock 680
Shader clock 1417
Memory clock 1200

oh, and here is what evga precision had to say about it:
As you can see, i was playing, and then the game kinda paused, and afterwards went laggy. Here you can see that when it paused and went laggy, the core clock dropped from 680 down to 400, and the memory clock dropped down from 1200 to 297! Anyone know why?
ocfailed2.png


I only have a 525W PSU, and i am now assuming that my cards are just not getting enough power at my OC. Could i be correct?
 
What model PSU do you have? "A 525W PSU" is about as generic as you can get.

Check through the event log and look for nv error 14. That's what I get when my video cards are not receiving enough power.
 
Well, thats about as generic as the stupid brand gave me.
I bought from alienware, which is owned by dell now. And they put just random shitty parts in. So im assuming im not getting enough power, but ill look for that error. Where is this event log you speak of?
 
Well, thats about as generic as the stupid brand gave me.
I bought from alienware, which is owned by dell now. And they put just random shitty parts in. So im assuming im not getting enough power, but ill look for that error. Where is this event log you speak of?

Oh, lol alienware. It's probably the PSU in that case. Pop the case open and look for a manufacturer name and model number on the PSU label as well as +12V amperages if they are listed.

How to view and manage event logs in Event Viewer in Windows XP
 
i cant really find anything on the PSU for model number or +12V amperages.
Would i be able to pull that one out and put a new one in pretty easily?
 
i cant really find anything on the PSU for model number or +12V amperages.
Would i be able to pull that one out and put a new one in pretty easily?

Yes, it'd be very easy. Even if power isn't causing this issue, I'd swap it out. Alienware uses the crappiest parts they can find, so I wouldn't trust it. A bad PSU can take out every part of your system when it goes.

Here are a couple of PSUs I'd recommend. If they are out of budget, let me know and I could try to find something cheaper, though it will probably be of lower quality.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Builder Series CMPSU-600CX 600W ATX12V v2.3 Active PFC Power Supply
Newegg.com - OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7
Newegg.com - CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

The corsairs are probably a bit better quality, but the OCZ is modular, which helps a ton with cable management, especially if you don't have lots of random hardware.

EDIT: Can you still check your event log? All you need to do is type "event viewer" into the search window, then go to system and look for red icons, which mean error. I'd also try rolling back drivers. The newest ones have been giving me a bit of trouble.
 
you think i should get a 600w? if i were to buy id prolly get a 850w i figured. you know, a decent upgrade
 
you think i should get a 600w? if i were to buy id prolly get a 850w i figured. you know, a decent upgrade

Unless you ever plan on having more than two GPUs, I'd just save some money and go for the 600 watt. It'll still be a decent upgrade coming from whatever PSU Alienware had lying around.
 
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