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GPU intermittent spikes to 77% when idle

Associate
Joined
6 Jul 2006
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1,507
Location
co durham
Hi All, my nephew is having problems with his computer at the minute and he said that this keeps happening:

I currently have a custom built PC running an AMD FX8350 8 core processor (about 4GHz), with 8 Gb ram, a 650Watt PSU and I currently run an NVidia GTX680.
Yesterday I received my new 680, (An Asus) since my old MSI 680 would intermittently make squeaking noises which I initially thought was the fan. After opening up MSI Afterburner, I noticed that when I was on the internet for example or writing a paper, the GPU & usage would randomly shoot up to 77-78% usage for about 2 seconds, squeak a bit and then return to between 0-3% usage. During this spike, the Core clock MHz, (and other things which were shown as having a clock speed - I can't remember them all) would also increase slightly, the Voltage to the GPU and the fan speed would also periodically increase as well.
I can't understand why this is happening, its not always constant either, It happens when I turn my PC on and it still happened for about an hour whilst I was on my game. It then stopped later and I have no idea why.
I have tried updating my drivers, changing fan settings on the ASUS GPU tweak and I'm all out of ideas. NVidia said it could be due to lack of space in my system but I doubt it since the MSI card was significantly smaller and that still happened.
I'd appreciate ANY help at all guys !!
Cliffs: GPU spikes to 77% and squeaks for around 3 seconds every 20-30 seconds and no idea why, updated drivers, set fan on auto, happens both in games and idle. Changed GPU to different brand and still occuring… help

Has anyone got any idea why this could be happening? Any help appreciated!
 
Soldato
Joined
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Plymouth
Initially, I think you should do a scan for malware as that's a similar pattern of behaviour to those that are infected by the bitcoin mining malware.
 
Associate
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Essex
You say your on the internet when this happens?

Could this simply not be your gfx card ramping up when opening a certain pages in your browser?

most modern browsers are hardware accelerated by default and will use the gfx card if a page has something embedded that can utilize it.

I think Firefox and Chrome both are and you have to turn it off to stop it using the gfx card.
 
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OP
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1,507
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co durham
hi guys, thanks for the replies guys; Im at Uni at the minute so I can't download it right now, but I will when I get home and let you know how it goes. Thanks!

Also enigma27, I didnt make myself clear, it happens no matter what I am doing, like I turned it on this morning and just left it on my desktop to see how it went and it still did it so I didnt actually have anything running apart from ASUS GPU Tweak
:)
 
Associate
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18 Feb 2009
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Midlands
Seconding what people have said here, sound's like a bitcoin miner.

I had one on my computer, noticed a strange process running, investigated it, was pointing to a file in C:\temporary\

Deleted it, issue resolved.
 
Caporegime
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24 Sep 2008
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38,322
Location
Essex innit!
iehighutil.exe

Is the most common bitcoin virus and it is quite a problem. It has been linked with Skype and also Java (iirc).

Not sure on how to remove it but I would use Malwarebytes.
 
Associate
OP
Joined
6 Jul 2006
Posts
1,507
Location
co durham
hi again everyone, I've ran malwarebytes and it found one threat, after deleting it and then rebooting it seemed to be fixed, didn't spike for a good 5 minutes or so but then it randomly started again so although I probably won't find anything again I decided to check to be on the safe side.. I'm also using Process explorer and according to that program there doesn't appear to be any spikes in the GPU but there is according to the software I got with the card.. My power supply isn't too weak for the card is it?
 
Caporegime
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Essex innit!
There is deffo something playing foul with your computer. I am no expert on getting rid of these troublesome virus's but Google is your best bet on seeing how others have deleted the same problems.
 
Soldato
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9 Mar 2009
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2,885
Location
-
-Reinstall your nvidia drivers as first port of call.
-disable winsat (tarded bloody thing)
-scan for bitcoin virus B.S

-buy eset smart security 3 year license ~£9 a year
 
Associate
OP
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6 Jul 2006
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1,507
Location
co durham
How do I disable winstat? I've also just realised, it only actually occurs when I am connected to the internet... after turning my PC on this morning and not connecting to the net, it went for a good 20 minutes without spiking, then about 2 minutes after connecting it started up again
 
Associate
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I would go for a clean install ... do the usual backups etc and Fdisk the lot and rebuild once rebuilt test for a while then image your clean build if you dont have one already that way any future rebuilds will be quicker.
 
Caporegime
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I had a Bitcoin Miner a few months ago, it didn't just spike up and down it pegged at 100% permanently (AMD GPU)

I found malicious software in various folders on C, in the GPU Drivers, the LAN Drivers and Networking accounts, by the time i was done manually pulling them all out i had destroyed the OS, it would not boot on the next reboot. i had no choice but to reinstall.

And that might be your best option
 
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OP
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co durham
i think ive fixed it now, since it was only occuring when connected to the internet, I used process explorer to see which program or file was using a lot of the network, it showed something as Pando Media Booster (I dont remember installing it) either way, since I've uninstalled that, then rebooted, it seems to be more stable now! (touch wood). Thanks for the help everyone, much appreciated!
 
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