Hi, I've recently bought a new graphics card (GTX560 SE), after my old 260 died. It worked absolutely perfectly for a week or two, but over the last few days it's really had a lot of trouble playing games, even so far as to make games pretty unplayable today.

The problem:
Games suffer fairly bad FPS.. Some examples:
TF2 runs at an okay average FPS of low 30s, but particle effects such as the pyro's flamethrower and the teleporter's spinning lowers it to around 10 or 11 fps. I also run TF2 at low settings, to try to boost the FPS up more.
FFXIV runs at an FPS of below 10. Very unplayable.
Shogun 2 runs below 10.



All of these games have worked fine since I had the card, except for the last few days. I'd also like to note that while I know the 560 is not a high-end card, I have not seen the significant upgrade in power from my 260, which I was expecting to see. (TF2 never ran past a steady 40 fps, even when the card was working fine).

My specs:
4GB DDR2 RAM
AMD Athlon 64 X2 6400+ 3.2 Ghz
24" monitor (I run a 1920x1080 resolution)

More info:
When running games and the FPS is terrible, GFX usage is 99% (temp hovers around 40C). I've seen people suggest that the problem I have could be my PSU but if usage is 99%, how could that be? I apologise for not being able to show you what PSU I have, but my computer is an Alienware, and the PSU is contained within a metal box so I cannot see what model it is. It is a powerful one though, as they upgraded the default one when I ordered it to an even better one for compensation when they messed up my order. It is also 4 years old, if that matters.

The 560 I am using now (with the problem), is actually a replacement for another one the site I bought it off sent me. The old 560 had a similar problem, and I presumed it was an intermittent fault with the card, and the company sent me out another once they tested it and decided it was faulty. But now that it has happened again, I don't know what to think!

I have the latest drivers installed.

I've run FurMark's benchmark, and when the card is running well it does an average of 18fps, but when it isn't, the fps average is 3.

If you need anymore information at all, please ask! I really want to fix this.

Ok, I'll definitely do that. I don't really know how to underclock the card or the cpu, though

I just restarted my computer and it *fixed* it. The problem will definitely recur either later today or the next time I use my PC. I'm just telling you incase that makes a difference, that restarting fixes it temporarily. I ran 3dvantage before I restarted, and got a steady FPS of 2-3. I didn't finish it because it was running so choppily.

Yep, I uninstalled all of my old nvidia drivers and reinstalled them with the 560.

Wow, I feel dumb but I can't find the download button on that link you posted. All of the "Download Now" buttons are ads. Am I missing something?

I don't actually know what my PSU is... I bought the PC from Alienware and the PSU is encased in a metal box which I've never unscrewed.. If it's vital information, I'll try to remove it so I can find out what it is. I know it's a good one though, as they gave me one of the best ones available at the time as a customer service "gift" for screwing up our order. I didn't have any problems with the gtx260 whatsoever, and the 560 sometimes can't even run games at the 260's quality of level.

Just found this:
"Attention - Guru3D Driver Sweeper has been discontinued as such you will not find any download links here any longer."

The card requires a minimum 450W PSU.

In addition, did you plug both connectors into the card?