Is my GPU dying?

[Heil_Jada]

I have a 980ti Amp Extreme! from Zotac, Got the card about 2 years ago and its been doing GREAT since I got it, Absolutely LOVE the card. Sadly though I think its days are numbered as whenever I play any game, Forza Horizon 5, BeamNG.Drive and Apex were 3 that I tested. In ALL 3 games after about 3-4 mins of light gaming my GPU jumps from 60-70% utilization to 99% causing my frames to go from a solid 60 FPS to around 40-45 FPS with frequent drops into the 30's. Ive reinstalled windows, Have up-to date drivers, And have reinstalled each game itself, I've re-pasted the GPU as I though that it could've been a thermal issue but alas that didn't solve my issue. Is my GPU dying? I hope not as I dont have a spare and I dont have the capital to just buy a new one (Not to mention the prices of GPUs atm)

[Akira Shimazu]

hardware detoriate and game is getting heavier each update.

[Heil_Jada]

48 minutes ago, Wolfycapt said:

hardware detoriate and game is getting heavier each update.

The worst part is that this happened suddenly. No major game updates, Nor any other major updates that wouldve caused this. it all happened out of the blue. But it is most likely my GPU dying is what youre saying right?

 

[YoungBlade]

That behavior sounds unusual. I've never heard of a GPU dying where it's fine when you first load into a game, then suddenly tanks in performance a few minutes later, but sorta keeps working.

 

Does this behavior happen in synthetic tests, too, like Heaven or Firestrike?

[DANK_AS_gay]

12 hours ago, Wolfycapt said:

hardware detoriate and game is getting heavier each update.

Didn't linus specifically disprove this exact statement? The game getting harder to run sure, but silicon does not deteriorate in any meaningful way.

[YoungBlade]

3 hours ago, DANK_AS_gay said:

Didn't linus specifically disprove this exact statement? The game getting harder to run sure, but silicon does not deteriorate in any meaningful way.

Silicon does degrade over time. What he's shown on multiple occasions is that, generally, it either works or it doesn't. A GPU doesn't get slower and weaker over time. It will have the same performance it always did for its whole life. Then one day it will start artifacting, or crashing, or get stuck in a low power state, or just straight up die.

 

Although typically, on graphics cards, something else like a fan or memory chip or part of the power delivery will fail first, as a fan is mechanical, and there are just more FETs and memory modules - so more potential things to fail, but the GPU silicon will eventually deteriorate.

 

Luke did a good Techquickie about this years ago:

 

[Heil_Jada]

9 hours ago, YoungBlade said:

That behavior sounds unusual. I've never heard of a GPU dying where it's fine when you first load into a game, then suddenly tanks in performance a few minutes later, but sorta keeps working.

 

Does this behavior happen in synthetic tests, too, like Heaven or Firestrike?

I havent tested in synthetic loads yet. Mostly because I havent re-installed any since re-installing windows but Ill try some and get back to you on that!

[Heil_Jada]

Thank you all for your help with this! I loaded up Heaven benchmark like YoungBlade said to get some synthetic loads tested and noticed my GPU was at 100c. Decided to take a look and I forgot to plug my fans back into the PCB when I re-pasted it. Everything is working fine and 100% now! Thank you all!