Potentially Dying GPU?

Univen · December 22, 2021

So, brief overview of my problem here:

No upgrade has taken place today or yesterday night preceding this. The PC is running Windows 10, just updated to 21H2 today while trying desperately to grasp at straws. Recently clean installed this, and never used another OS on the drive.

Just yesterday/2 days ago, everything was working fine. Only today did this problem pop up. Games including Beat Saber, GTA V, Outer Wilds, Rocket League, and probably more have seen a significant performance hit for what seems to be no reason. In some cases this means just 20-40FPS, in extreme cases maxing out at <1FPS.

What I think I know:

Games that are having this issue are utilizing DirectX I believe. This thought came after playing Minecraft, as well as DOOM 2016 with Vulkan and having zero issues.

What I've Tried:

Repairing DirectX dll files - Not sure if I did this entirely correctly though.

DDU and reinstalling graphics drivers

Updating to Windows 10 21H2, as mentioned above
Reinstalling C++ Redistributables

This is all I can think to include right now with my slightly stressed and tired head. Thanks in advance for any help provided, I'm going to take a sleep.

I'm running:

GTX 1060 3GB

Ryzen r5 2600

500W PSU

Update: So, upon trying a few other options, I decided to try and perform a clean install of Windows 10. Now, however, I'm getting a slightly (very) concerning screen before entering the installation process:
Worth noting this does not persist into the actual installation screens themselves, they only occur here.

I tried reformatting my USB drive with the installation media and that didn't change anything either. I've considered trying to maybe reseat the GPU, but given there are no other issues I'm doubting this will fix anything.

Talking with a friend a bit, he's concerned my GPU is dying. I'm leaning hard into denial right now, any input would be appreciated.

Edited December 23, 2021 by Univen
New developments

Univen · December 23, 2021

Also forgot to mention, I updated the BIOS to the most recent version as well with seemingly no issues. Using HWinfo/GPU Z also doesn't show any issues, take from that what you will.

Univen · December 23, 2021

So, I've solved this issue. Pretty sure it was a weird Windows/DirectX thing. Fixed it just by going into windows (NOT using the installation USB) and reinstalling while keeping all my files. Made sure to download new files rather than use the local ones, though.

Worth noting, the red lines on the windows installation USB are apparently an MSI motherboard thing. Just figured that was worth mentioning to anybody who encounters the same issue, as a friend had seen it before as well.