Degraded performance + low GPU utilization

Hardware:
Phenom II 965 BE
AsRock 890fx Deluxe 3
4gb DDR3 @1600mhz
HD 5850
XFX 650w PSU
W7 64bit


An E-buddy of mine built the rig last November, and things were working great. However sometime in December his game performance significantly deteriorated. What was once well over 200fps in CS:S, is now under 100. When BF:BC2 was playable, his average frames are now into the teens.

He was getting random bsods, and his memory failed memtest and prime95 (Reaper HPC)...so he got an RMA. New memory was the same issue...so he got newegg to allow an exchange for Kingston HyperX (verified by ASrock to work with board). I had originally thought that his poor gaming performance was due to ram errors...however, new memory was installed today and the same issues persist (low gaming performance). The memory was manually configured, to the proper voltages and timings.

Curious, I had him log GPU utilization (GPUz) while gaming...and according to him it doesn't break 45% in either CS:S or BF:BC2. It doesn't seem like a hardware failure, as the rest of the system seems to be working ok. He is saying Firefox is loading slower, but honestly there is no way to quantify that.
I've had him log baseline CPU usage...and its pretty much 1-2% at idle...so there shouldn't be any malware or viruses in the background hogging resources. Furthermore, the system will load 100% in prime 95, and its not overheating or anything...though it is at the limit during prime (63c). When he logged CPU usage during gaming, he reported 92% in BF:BC2...though unfortunately Core Temp doesn't seem to work all that well with AMD chips, so it only gave 1 reading. When I log CPU usage in BF:BC2, I get roughly 95% on one core, and roughly 30-60% on all the other cores (Intel).


Is it just a case of unreal expectations? Around the time the issues cropped up, he switched to a larger monitor (1080p). I told him that was the cause...more pixels to render. However he swears up and down that it was working correctly (i.e playable) for the first few days on the new monitor. So I guess my question is what kind of performance should he expect?
At 1920x1080, running BF:BC2 at all high, HBAO off, and 4x AA...what FPS would be realistic? My own guess puts the average at around 50fps. He is currently getting 15-20 while playing the campaign. Additionally he gets 94 average FPS in the CS:S stress test...and I know that is definitely low, even at max settings.


What really got me concerned was the GPU utilization. My 6970 sits at 98-100% activity while playing BF:BC2, his peaks at 40, and spends most of the time in the 30% range. This seems extremely odd to me, especially at high settings. Could a faulty card cause this issue?
Anyone know of recent software issues that can create these symptoms? He recently upgraded to the 10.12 Preview drivers using steam. I told him to remove them, run driver sweeper, then go back to 10.11 (they worked for him before). Unfortunately, he can't seem to get rid of the new control panel...even after running driver sweeper in safe mode.
As a last ditch effort, I might recommend a Windows reinstall.


Thanks for any help!

Sounds like a bad driver for the video card. Tell him to boot into safe mode and run driver sweeper. Then to manually go through the program files and verify there are no more driver related components installed. That should do the trick.

With the memory failure combined with the reduced performance of the graphics card, it might be that his board is starting to go bad. Probably not, but it is just a thought to keep in mind.
-Greg

I had him run some benchmarks to gauge overall system performance. Not looking good....

http://3dmark.com/3dmv/2881376

In vantage, he got 8632, which seems to be way off for that system (run at default, performance category).
GPU and CPU scores are too low. He's running the 11.1a beta drivers, hence them not being approved. He'll run the official 11.1 release when it becomes available. Otherwise, this tells me its either his PSU or motherboard, as those are the only two components that could impact both CPU and GPU scores. Since the PC is more or less stable...I'm going to assume the PSU is fine, so that leaves us with the motherboard.
I'm gonna have him get a multi-meter to check voltages anyways...to be thorough. But it looks like the ASrock board has taken a ****.

Anyone ever experience anything like this? In my own computing history, I've lost 2 MoBo's...both times they just up and died. Never had any performance degradation...which is why this is so confusing to me. What could cause this? Electronic parts usually just "die"...

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/510859
3dMark 11 score is way low. He's gonna reload windows, and try all this again. If its still garbage, going to start RMAing parts. He's gonna get an multi-meter tomorrow to test the PSU, if it checks out, the motherboard is going back for an RMA.
CPU and GPU scores are both low...makes me think its not either, but the MoBo. Hopefully this works.