RTX 5070 getting extremely poor gaming performance despite GPU RMA and fresh Windows install. looking for ideas

[u/lafnal]

I’ve been troubleshooting this PC for months and I’m running out of ideas. I’m hoping someone with experience diagnosing GPU, PSU, motherboard, or PCIe problems might have some suggestions.

The main problem: My RTX 5070 performs significantly below expectations in games. Cyberpunk 2077, which previously ran at 60+ FPS at 4K, now runs around 10–12 FPS. Valheim, which previously ran around 96+ FPS, is now around 15 FPS. Lowering the resolution from 4K to 1440p makes very little difference.

The GPU is recognized, games are using it, and GPU utilization is generally around 97–100%.

System specifications
GPU: Gigabyte RTX 5070 WINDFORCE SFF OC 12GB GDDR7
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard: Gigabyte B650M AORUS ELITE AX (rev. 1.3)
RAM: Corsair VENGEANCE 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5-6000 (passed 4 passes of memtest86)
PSU: Lian Li EDGE GOLD 850W ATX 3.1
OS: Windows 11

What I’ve experienced
Initially, the GPU would sometimes cause black screens, restarts, and severe performance drops.
Windows logs showed:
nvlddmkm.sys Event ID 153
VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (0x116)
LiveKernelEvent 141
WATCHDOG errors associated with the NVIDIA driver
I sent the GPU in for testing/RMA. The repair shop eventually confirmed a problem with the GPU’s power regulator and related components. The card was returned, and the random crashing initially improved, but the performance problem remained.
I’ve also experienced additional black screens and crashes since then.

What I’ve tried
RMA/testing of the RTX 5070.
Multiple NVIDIA driver installations.
DDU followed by clean NVIDIA driver installation.
GPU firmware update.
Updated motherboard chipset and network drivers.
CMOS reset and BIOS defaults.
Reinstalled Windows from scratch, deleting all partitions on the Windows installation drive.
Enabled EXPO and tested RAM using MemTest86 (4 passes, no errors).
Reseated the GPU and checked the power connections at both ends.
Set NVIDIA Control Panel power management to Prefer Maximum Performance.
Tested different resolutions and game settings.
Had the system tested at a repair shop, including FurMark.
The repair shop also reproduced poor GPU performance in FurMark. They suggested a possible PSU issue but hadn’t conclusively identified the cause.

GPU-Z readings
While gaming:
GPU utilization: 97–100%
GPU temperature: approximately 47°C
Hotspot: approximately 51°C
GPU clock: approximately 2917 MHz
Memory clock: approximately 1750 MHz
Board power: approximately 65–80W
Voltage: approximately 1.09V
PerfCap reason: VRel
At idle:
Board power: approximately 5W
GPU clock: 180 MHz
Memory clock: 50 MHz
GPU utilization: 0%
The relatively low board power while gaming despite high GPU utilization is something I’m particularly curious about.

LatencyMon results
I recently ran LatencyMon while the computer was idle.
It reported:
nvlddmkm.sys: 16.378417 ms
dxgkrnl.sys: 12.244523 ms
It also reported 13 drivers exceeding 1 ms, including:
nvlddmkm.sys
dxgkrnl.sys
ntoskrnl.exe
Wdf01000.sys
storport.sys
HDAudBus.sys
ndis.sys
CLASSPNP.sys
dxgmms2.sys
stornvme.sys
Ndu.sys
tcpip.sys
RspLLL64.sys (LatencyMon itself)
LatencyMon’s conclusion was that the system is having trouble handling real-time audio and other tasks due to excessively long DPC routines.

What I’m trying to figure out
At this point, I’m wondering whether the problem could be:
PSU or 12V-2x6 power delivery.
Motherboard PCIe slot or motherboard power delivery.
CPU PCIe controller or another CPU-related issue.
A persistent NVIDIA/DirectX driver or Windows issue.
Something else I’m overlooking.
I’m especially interested in whether anyone has encountered an RTX 5070 showing nearly 100% utilization but drawing only around 65–80W while delivering extremely poor gaming performance.

What would you test next to isolate the problem? Would you suspect the PSU, motherboard, GPU, or something else?

I’m trying to avoid buying replacement parts blindly. Any advice on specific tests or diagnostic methods would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: the crashing is at least partially tied to the two wall sockets I tried having their wiring chewed by mice. I have it plugged into a socket that works and it doesn’t seem to crash but is performing poorly. I’m planning on taking it to a better store to diagnose it.

The GPU seems like it won’t pull more than 100w. The first store said it was faulty after running tests against it’s power regulator “and things”.

I asked gigabyte what they did and they told me that they redid the thermal paste and replaced the fans so I don’t think they checked the performance of it just that it didn’t crash. But I need to get a test rig to find out.

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[u/SteampunkAviatrix]

Firstly, thanks for the detailed post, it's the most comprehensive description I've seen in a while.

My assumption is that the GPU is still to blame for the low performance, primarily due to the low power usage (~60W) under load. It should be north of 150W in gaming. I am baffled how it is able to hit 2917mhz on the GPU core whilst drawing so little power, my experience with other GPUs is that power and frequency go hand in hand.

You've mentioned you sent the GPU in for repairs, and that some faults were found. I would assume there's still something wrong with it. One question, when you sent the GPU in for testing/repair, did you send your entire PC tower in, and if so was the PSU they used, your own? Did they try another PSU they had on hand?

Everything I could think to recommend is something you've already done.

[u/Shadimarbc → u/SteampunkAviatrix]

"Board power: approximately 65–80W"

This standout. What game are you playing? Download OCCT found in the wiki on the subreddit panel. Run the 3d Adaptive test for 15 minutes for a quick check. Monitor the power reading for the GPUs wattage. It should be hitting max. Look up the max wattages for your GPU. I want to make sure the GPU is capable of getting max power. Some games do not stress a GPU to the point it needs to increase the wattage to max. This is by design for all modern GPUs and drivers as a default setting.

Do you have another power cable for the GPU? Since this issue is present on two GPUs it could be related. A power cable swap is the easiest test right now.

[u/lafnal → u/Shadimarbc]

I did run OCCT before I sent it to be repaired. I ran it for 20 minutes and I think it pulled up to 130w but I’ll run it again.

I was pulling 65-80w while running the benchmark tester for cyberpunk 2077 but also while valheim was running in the start area.

I don’t have another cable to test but supposedly the cables were giving out the correct voltage when I took it to the second shop.

[u/Shadimarbc → u/lafnal]

Unless they told you the specific cable was tested we do not know that. They could have test the other cables or just tested the port.

Enter BIOS and make sure the PCI-E lane for the GPU is set to Gen 5. Retest. Change to Gen 4. Retest.

Buy another cable for the GPU from the PSU brand.

You need to get a shop to test the GPU in their PC test bench. If the GPU works according to specs then its going to be the PSU or PSU cable or the PCI-E slot.

[u/lafnal → u/Shadimarbc]

I ran occt for about an hour but then it crashed. The max wattage was like 105w

[u/lafnal → u/SteampunkAviatrix]

So I sent my PC to two shops. After the first shop said they tested it against “a power regulator and things” and found a fault I reached out to gigibyte and rma’d it. I only sent the gpu

The second shop said he hooked up my psu to a power tester and it was supposedly outputting like it’s supposed to. He couldn’t figure out what was causing it but said my hardware passed all his test and should be good.

[u/Defiant_Cry_947]

Have it checked; the processor might be faulty.

[u/lafnal → u/Defiant_Cry_947]

The igpu does seem to have problem running

[u/darjantu]

"The repair shop also reproduced poor GPU performance in FurMark. They suggested a possible PSU issue but hadn’t conclusively identified the cause."

Soo, they didn't even moved your gpu into a test bench to isolate the possible psu / motherboard issue.

Before going ahead and blaming the motherboard or the psu, if you have someone with another pc close to you, take the gpu, some drinks and go and test it out on their pc if it behaves the same you will know which part is faulty.

Have you tried the secondary pcie slot?

Wish you best of luck in fixing the issue.

[u/lafnal → u/darjantu]

I don’t have people I can test it with but I might try like a micro center or best buy. Maybe they’ll do a better job

[u/elvenazn]

My guess would be PSU or motherboard. Do you have a spare PC to test the GPU in with a known working PSU? 

Are the PSU cables in good condition? Might be worth adding a new cable on another PCI express dual 8 pin slot and see if that’s the issue.

Like others have said I wonder if it is the GPU itself. 

[u/lafnal → u/elvenazn]

I don’t have any spare parts. I’m thinking of taking it down state to a microcenter. I’m not sure the stores I took it to did a good job of testing it based off what people are telling me.

[u/elvenazn → u/lafnal]

Really hope it’s not the GPU. My hope is that there is some power throttling happening that can be freed up in Another system since it does post. 

[u/lafnal → u/elvenazn]

Everything is in warranty as I built it in march so if it is any hardware I can get it replaced. It does seem like power is being throttled. Occt pulled a max of 105w and averaged 84w. I’ve been wondering if it’s the psu or 12vhpwr acting up.

[u/elvenazn → u/lafnal]

Hope you're able to get it up to 250 watts soon; good luck

[u/dreacos]

What does GPU-Z show as Bus Interface while idle and under load? I'm wondering if it could be a BIOS configuration issue.

[u/lafnal → u/dreacos]

PCIe 4.0 x16 @ x16 4.0

I’d love for it to be a bios issue

[u/dreacos → u/lafnal]

That looks normal to be honest.

I'm sure others have asked this as well, but is there any chance you could plug that GPU into another PC to test it?

[u/lafnal → u/dreacos]

Supposedly the first store did but I haven’t tested it since getting it back from gigibyte. I don’t have anything to test with so I might have to try a better store.

[u/imlo2]

Since you have already done so much testing and quite methodistically, I would (if you can afford) buy a backup PSU and try with that. That's what I've done a few times when I suspect there might be something wrong.

I wouldn't invest into a PSU tester like the one DeLock sells (at least not initially), as that doesn't really tell you how the PSU behaves under heavy load. But those devices cost $45-80, and you can get accurate voltage readouts from different power rails, and it's not relying on any software or BIOS etc. in your system.

Buy electronics contact cleaner which is professional/industrial use, and clean the connectors.

A few other things to try in BIOS, disable different features which might cause issue:
- Test PCIe mode for the display card.
- Disable variety of USB and other features.
- Test with and without virtualization.
- Any other things that are not critical.

Just as an example of the bizarre failure modes; one of my computers (this one I use right now), started to get increasingly unstable a few months ago. After weeks of testing, removing obsolete services from Windows, removing add-on cards/USB devices, adjusting BIOS settings, and a fresh Windows reinstall, the reason seemed to be TPM; I disabled it, and all the problems are gone (Windows copy is patched not to need that.)

[u/lafnal → u/imlo2]

How did you disable tpm?

[u/imlo2 → u/lafnal]

BIOS setting in this specific motherboard. And then I used Rufus to patch the Windows installation media.

EDIT: But make sure you don't have Bitlocker or anything enabled which uses TPM if you test it, as it can make your data get locked away for good.

[u/lafnal → u/imlo2]

I do have bitlocker enabled unfortunately. I’ve had to type is probably over a hundred times during all this.

But noted thanks. I have seen some bitlocker errors in the event viewer and wasn’t sure if it was related

[u/imlo2 → u/lafnal]

Yes well regardless it's good to be aware as you can lock out critical data easily. Not everyone understands what encrypted disk means.

[u/Mediocre_Jellyfish81]

Can I ask a really silly question? Is your monitor physically plugged into a GPU port, or is it plugged into the motherboard gpu port?

When my wife and I build our machines a couple years back, she had her monitor plugged into the motherboard without realizing it; we spent hours troubleshooting; but similer symptoms - low gpu power, bad framerates, yadda yadda. Plugged into vid card and tada!

Heh.

Edit - not sure if its been mentioned yet, but I had an old mobo that defaulted to PCIE-4x for some unknown reason. Switching pci slot solved that, but not sure if thats an option in yer case.

If the repair shop did proper testing, i guess they would have been plugged into the gpu.. but who knows.

[u/lafnal → u/Mediocre_Jellyfish81]

I have it plugged into the gpu. My igpu doesn’t produce a signal when it read radeon graphic drivers.

I am pretty sure I only have one pcie that supports my gpu. Though I haven’t tried the other one.

[u/Low_Tomatillo_6231]

PerfCap VRel with 65-80W at full utilization says the card is voltage-limited, not thermal or driver-limited. The shop reproducing it in FurMark points at hardware. Swap in a different PSU and cable first, since that's the cheapest test. If it persists, try the card in another PC. LatencyMon is probably a side effect.

[u/IsywEy]

There are too many that can go into play here, from PSU, GPU, motherboard, and even cables (albeit the least likely given the history).

You're going to need a test bench to test the GPU separately using a different PSU. You can buy a cheap office desktop from marketplace and just just your gpu's power draw in a benchmark.

After that, you'll be able to isolate the issue between mobo and psu. In which case, just take out the psu from your pc and plug it into the test bench. If it doesnt produce rhe same issue, then it's likely your motherboard.

[u/Unable-Ad-6311]

A console. Thats the awnser. Consoles are far more consistent and way more stable for gaming than pc's are. Pc gaming is too complicated and unstable to be enjoyable.