Weird FPS spike when playing any game.

[Rivero]

As the title mentions, a few weeks ago my PC just starts spiking really bad when playing games. Could go from a solid 60 to a mere 5. It only appears to happen when playing games also and I've tried a range from old games to brand new ones and they all seem to crash sooner or later.

I'm assuming it's the card but why is it I'm able to play smoothly for a few minutes (5 to 10) before it starts stuttering?

Tried updating my driver but that doesn't do anything either, also set everything to minimum when playing and nothing as well.

[Sonomaa]

if you have dual screens, put the task manager up there and arrange by CPU, watch and see if anything specific is spiking during your random spikes or as its also called hitching.
make sure your browser is closed as well, flash is notorious for being a bitchfish and make sure your virus scanner isnt set to aggressively. if its still happening there is a chance that its your video card messing up

what video card and specs for your computer

[Rivero]

NIVIDIA GeForce 9500 GS.

Intel Core (2) Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33 Ghz 2.34 Ghz
4 GB RAM

using Windows 7 on 64 bits.

[xopher]

Check your GPU's radiator and fan. Sounds like it's clogged and it's overheating. Or it could just be dying, that's an old card.

[orinthia]

Almost sounds like something is overheating. Most modern vid cards and CPUs will downclock to some degree to try and prevent heat death. Check to see if the fans on your card and cpu are actually working or the heatsink are caked in dust, or in the case your vid card doesn't have a fan (some lesser models don't), take the panel off and get a normal stand up fan pointed at it and see if there's a change.

If change does occur, you'll either want a new vid card or get a 120mm case fan and tie it in place to push air on the card's heatsink. Don't know where you are, but it's been getting 100F+ in Texas this past month, so the weather could throw things out of the loop if the room the computer is in is not well cooled as well.

[Rivero]

Yeah, it's been super hot here as well. Can the heat/crashing cause permanent damage? I know my card is pretty old but the only game I couldn't manage to run on my pc was Witcher 2. Gonna open her up and see if i can clean out the fans. Would using like a normal fan directly pointed into the PC work as well? Kind of low on cash at the moment, not sure how much a 120mm fan costs.

[xopher]

Overheating won't cause permanent damage because it throttles itself when it gets too hot. Tha'ts why you're seeing the FPS drop

[Rivero]

Well I tried cleaning out the fan, it wasn't too caked with dust. I'm still getting FPS drops but now I'd say it's a lot smoother of a drop? Before it was really really bad, now maybe it's 10 FPS compared to the normal 60. The PC didn't feel too hot either when it dropped.

[orinthia]

Try out CPUID HWMonitor, HWiNFO, or any other program your motherboard's manufacturer might have to monitor cpu/gpu temps. Generally, for CPUs anything under 85C is still safe for the most part, at 85C or above is cause for concern and most hardware begins to throttle down to prevent heat death, and 100C+ is nearing failure point for most hardware (those are Celsius numbers). GPUs can get hotter and still be somewhat safe, especially nvidia ones, but it's still not good to see 100C. Those two programs I listed can keep track of max temps reached on cpu and both have free versions available (think hwinfo can track gpu as well if supported).