Hey everyone! I’ve been using a Razer X Chroma external gpu with a RTX 3060 for a long time and it’s been a bit of a struggle for a while with gpu utilization randomly dropping to 0% but I recently got it to work well with an LG montior that I’ve had but I recently got an Acer monitor that does 180hz and have been experiencing more drops than normal. I have tried just about everything under the sun that I can think of so I figured I would ask the people if they have experienced issues.
I use a Framework 1 TB SSD with an instance of Windows 11 which I keep all my big games on but really the only game I have been playing is Overwatch 2 with some friends. The frustrating part is with my old monitor I was able to run Ultra settings at 75 hz with no problems but now I can’t even get that to be consistent with low settings set at 60 hz with the new monitor.
The game can run good with the High preset at 180 fps but will randomly dip to 10-20 fps in game with GPU utilization dropping to 0-5% and then will go back up to around 60-80% and the game will run perfectly. Another curious thing is the GPU temp never exceeds 60 c and usually is around 50.
Here is a list of thing I have tried
Adjusting my power settings for maximum performance
Turning off the Xe graphics so it can only run on the 3060
Ran disk checks
Adjusted in game performace
Adjusted settings in NVIDIA control panel to only use the external GPU
Only displaying on the external monitor
Turned the PCI Express Link State Power Management settings to off
Making sure the gpu is properly ventilated and cleaned
Adjusted the minimum power state to 100%
Updating to the latest NVIDIA drivers (561.09)
Updated system BIOS to 3.08
Tried running with and without VSYNC and FreeSync on the monitor
Using MSI Afterburner to make sure the fans run high
Tried running windowed, borderless windowed, and fullscreen
Disable all background services
Using GeForce Experience vs having it removed
Having Razer Synapse installed vs having it removed
Forcing High Performance on Overwatch executable
Setting the Tdr and TdrDdiDelay values in the registry editor
Disabling Resizable BAR with Nvidia Profiler Inspector
Disable Windows Fast Startup
Adjusted Maximum and Minimum processor state to 100%
Set Processor performance boost mode to Aggressive
The only thing that I can possibly think that’s left to do is to buy a nicer TB4 cable but I already have a nice Belkin TB3 that fixed my first initial pitfalls with getting the GPU to recognize at all when I first got it. If I have missed something please inform me!
I don’t see any critical errors in the event viewer that pertains to the GPU or anything else out of the ordinary but I don’t know how I would check the PSU. It will run fine for about a minute and then drop frames for about 15-20 seconds and then repeat. Is there any specific logs that you would like me to provide?
I mean it could be anything I guess. You are down to more difficult troubleshooting steps now.
Testing GPU in another egpu rig or desktop
Testing egpu on another windows machine
Making a new windows install on another drive
Trying older windows version
Trying a different atx power supply in the core x
Ruling out some kind of issue with monitor
I noticed in the GeForce overlay that the power draw and voltage is around 170 watts and 1.1 volts when running as intended and 40-80 watts and 0.7 volts when the utilization drops so I’m sure there is some level of corellation.
The first thing that comes to mind is that this new monitor simply draws more than it can handle but I would rather not return it if possible.
Any ideas on how I can get a more consistent power reading or am I simply going to just have to get a new power supply/egpu enclosure to deal with it? The current psu is the stock one rated for 700 watts max.
I will say however this has been a common thing that has happened across 3 windows installations but some days it would never happen and other days it would be unplayable. I was able to get it to consistently work with my old monitor by turning off the laptop display but now even that has no effect with the new one.
After testing my old monitor as well, I found that it is drawing a lot less power with the gpu voltage sitting around 0.8 and gpu power being closer to around 60. Could undervolting possibly help?
Okay I figured out the issue and honestly feel a bit like an idiot for not thinking of it sooner but it was my CPU temps. With 60 fps I was hitting around 80-90 C and anything greater than that would push it to 99-100 C and begin throttling. My friend has some Noctua NT-H1 that I’m going to re apply and I have a IETS cooling pad on it’s way. To verify this was 100% the case of CPU temps, I temporarily undervolted my computer to get around 80 C and I was getting 120-140 fps with low settings and no drops!
I was using a Targus heating pad ever since I got the eGPU and thought it was doing a good job but clearly not enough. I’ve seen rave reviews for IETS’s products so I’m hoping this will unlock a lot more potential for my computer alongside new thermal paste.
Yes sir. I’ve also experienced random drops in Ableton and other software when its not connected to the GPU that I couldnt explain and now I’m beginning to realize thats also more than likely a temperature issue too