Is this GPU issue or driver issue?

[war4sure]

I had a 8GB reference AMD RX 480 GPU which functions true to it's promises for a 1080p60fps gameplay.It worked well,until last week after updating to Radeon Crimson driver version 17.3.1. All of a sudden while playing Armored Warfare the fps drops from 60fps all the way to 18-22fps. At first I thought it was just an issue with the game and so I played Euro Truck Simulator 2. To my horror, the game also runs around 20-ish fps and to make things worst, it can drop to single digit numbers during actual gameplay though the mind blowing part was when I was at the main menu or in a shop it easily hits 60fps. The same goes to GTA V,but at least the fps stays above 20. Miraculously anything powered by Source Engine still runs at 60fps.What's more confusing that if I'm patient enough,suddenly all this games will run at 60fps,though it might take an hour of gaming at least in GTA V and ETS2,and can drop back sometime later.Even the SteamVR test says I should upgrade my system even though the RX 480 is meant to be a budget VR-ready card and previous test before the driver update puts me in the VR-ready status. I had tried reinstalling the drivers and it still the same results. So what was the issue I'm having right now?The GPU itself,the driver,or both?

 

My System I'm running as the time I write this

Intel i7 6700

MSI Z170A Gaming M3

16GB DDR4 RAM@2400 MGhz

AMD RX 480 8GB Reference( from Sapphire)

Kingston SSDNow V300 240GB

WD Blue 1TB HDD

SeaGate 3TB HDD

Corsair VS650 PSU

[mikat]

can you show us a graph of the GPU usage? (I believe AMD Crimson has a GPU usage graph)

[war4sure]

I can try but it might take a while since once I'm in the game I focus more on gaming over anything else.

[mikat]

Just now, war4sure said:

I can try but it might take a while since once I'm in the game I focus more on gaming over anything else.

Just open the software before you start gaming and share a screenshot after gaming

[war4sure]

Okay.Here the graphs

Armored Warfare

Spoiler

http://imgur.com/a/7nP4K

ETS2

Spoiler

http://imgur.com/a/wmU68

I didn't test GTA V because ScriptHookV isn't updated yet(I didn't play online so I'm free to use it)

[war4sure]

Also while playing AW, I notice my GPU is kinda silent. I know a silent GPU is something everyone wanted but when you are using reference GPU, having that thing to produce noise equivalent to a jet engine at takeoff is actually desired since it's the only way to know whether your GPU is doing it's job or not.