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Test Subject
Original Poster
#1 Old 7th Feb 2021 at 9:22 PM Last edited by ClaireSav1989 : 7th Feb 2021 at 9:33 PM.

This user has the following games installed:

Sims 3, World Adventures, Ambitions, Late Night, Generations, Pets, Showtime, Supernatural, Seasons, University Life, Island Paradise, Into the Future
Default High CPU while playing.
Hi, I was hoping I could get some help.. I've looked online and read a tonne of blogs but i'm still stuck.

The last few days whilst in game my game has bugged and my 2 screens turn off for a few seconds then turn back on. This causes the game to react really slow after so I have to exit and restart my whole PC.
When my monitors come back on I notice on the Task Manager, which I usually have open all the time that the CPU for Sims 3 has spiked to 100% but within seconds it goes back to it's usual 15-20%. So I want to assume that's the problem?

The crashes aren't like in a pattern, I can be playing for 40 minutes or 4 hours before it happens.. Can anyone help with the issue? I have Nvidia graphics and it's recognised. I've set my fps etc.

Thanks!
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Test Subject
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#3 Old 7th Feb 2021 at 9:56 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Need a lot more information such as temperature, ram usage, etc...

From speculation, it might be an overheating issue and the blinking is the system throttling, most likely GPU throttling as CPU throttling won't have a screen effect. But the slow down afterward would indicate it is throttled. It is also possible some bad mods cause the game to spike CPU to 100%, leading to overheating.

Do you play with system monitors like Core Temp for CPU and GPU-Z for GPU?

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I'm not sure what that is, sorry i'm not very tech savvy so I might be a bit slow.. I have predator sense that I monitor the temperature etc? Says GPU usually between 78-83 degrees (c)
Test Subject
Original Poster
#5 Old 7th Feb 2021 at 10:18 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
That is actually awfully high, are you using a laptop?

Again, it might be something else, but I'm just speculating base on the information provided. The behavior you are describe seems to be GPU throttling.

If your GPU is "usually" 78-83*C, that is at CPU usage of average 12-20%, then if it spiked to 100% CPU for even a few seconds, that would easily jack your GPU above the 91*C threshhold, causing it to throttle. In comparison, my GPU temperature is average 70*C. Have you had the system for more than 4 years? You might need to redo the thermal paste.

So if you haven't, download "Core Temp," which monitors your CPU. Not only does it give you temperature, but tells you the frequency. If the CPU throttled, it will drop significantly such as in my case 3.4-3.6GHz down to 2.6Ghz. Typically you just lose the turbo boost if you are using Intel. If it gets hotter, it can even drop lower than that.

https://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

I had never actually had my GPU throttle, but I know the behavior and I know it is at 91*C for most Nvidia GPU. Monitor programs like GPU-Z will also give you the GPU Core Clock and Memory Clock frequency and after a throttle, it would also drop significantly, which is why the game ran so slow.

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/techpowerup-gpu-z/

So I suggest getting Core Temp or GPU-Z (unless your current program already give you the necessary information) and play your game. If this issue occurs again, look at the frequencies to see if they were significantly reduced. This will indicate a throttle. Also look at the temperature.


It's a desktop and i've only had it a couple months the predator sense I use does also show frequency. I've attached pictures
Screenshots
Test Subject
Original Poster
#7 Old 7th Feb 2021 at 10:35 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Are these during idling? Can you confirm what happens when the issue occurs during and after the blinking? If the frequency dropped?

If you are using a desktop, then Nvidia GPU is your main GPU, are you running in fullscreen mode when you play? That would actually explain why it is so hot. Typically a desktop GPU should be cooler than a laptop because of better ventilation, but playing in fullscreen pushes the GPU harder. You might want to look into additional GPU/system fanning. But again, I'm assuming you're in a country that is winter right now. If you are living in a tropical climate where it is warm and hot, this is probably normal.

If your system is new, have you updated the GPU driver? I recommend going to Nvidia webpage and download the latest driver. It is very possible it might just be a GPU glitch which the driver was disabled mid-way through your game and it ran a generic driver after, which caused the slow down. If the driver was disabled, it would cause TS3 to ram up to 100% temporary as the game is struggling in the switch from the Nvidia driver to a generic one. Theoretically I have never seen this in active gaming, but it happened on my system before during offload.


As I restarted my PC after the last time it didit, i'll have to wait for it to do it again to check.

I play windowed and not full screen.. As it happens I did just update the driver on Nvidia webpage some time last week?
Test Subject
Original Poster
#9 Old 7th Feb 2021 at 10:53 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Last week? And this issue just started happening the last few days?

Did it ever occur before the last GPU driver update? If your answer is no, go to your system hardware manager, click on the GPU and click on "roll back to previous driver."

The new driver could be glitchy. Yes, I had this problem before too.

My rule of thumb is, never update driver unless something is broken or not working. If it works, it works. I think I was using driver 346 and the update after that borked so many games, I had to roll back. Then I waited years later until I needed to update to fix a glitch which the newer update was stable. So I skipped many updates in between. Not all updates are stable, some are glitchy.

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If you're playing in windowed mode and it is running at 78-83*C, that might be normal for a desktop. If other simmers here can chime in, it would be helpful. I don't know your room temperature or what else you are doing in the background. If this is a desktop, then your Nvidia GPU is your only GPU, so if you're surfing the web or watching a movie, those will all add to the GPU usage and temperature. So it is probably normal. In a laptop running dual GPU, my Nvidia is devoted only to Sims 3, while using Intel HD for everything else.


The roll back driver is greyed out, is there a way around that? And nope there were no issues beforehand. I only updated because my graphics seemed a little.. off :/ otherwise I haven't updated since I got the PC.

Room temperature is england lol so usually fairly cold but I use 2 monitors so you can imagine i'm doing a few other things at the same time like scrolling the internet or watching a movie.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#11 Old 7th Feb 2021 at 11:15 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
Yes, but do you remember what version was your previous driver? Nvidia website allows you to download older drivers.

If you don't remember what driver it was, then you'll have to do trial and error, which is difficult because your issue is intermitten.

I can only tell you my Nvidia driver is 25.21.14.2531 from 4/19/2019 (Nvidia 425.31) and it is stable for my GPU.

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I recommend simply download the driver 1 previous to the latest and try it. If it works out then all good. If it gives the same problem, then download the next older driver down the line.

But let's sum up:
We assume the driver is the problem because it was the most recent change to your system and your glitch appears to be GPU related. We also confirmed this problem never occurred before the driver update. (Did you make any other updates recently? Either to your system or TS3? Added any major script mods?)

If this driver is the problem, then it is likely a driver failure, which causes the screen to blink out. The system then switched to a generic VGA driver and that caused the system slow down and also the 100% CPU jump in TS3 as it switches driver. (There is a way to confirm this btw. After the next blink out issue, see if you can enter Nvidia Control Panel. It should tell you the Nvidia driver is not running.)

This issue is a known issue that I have personally experienced for years, but never in active gaming, though theoretically it is possible.


I don't know which driver I have previously I just know it's around 2 months old. The one I downloaded recently was the end of January updated version. The webpage is only giving me the option to install the newest one however, not any previous ones.

I haven't done anything system wise or added new mods. Unless you count buying the sims 4 last week also, which i'm happy to delete if that could also be the problem.
Test Subject
Original Poster
#13 Old 7th Feb 2021 at 11:54 PM
Quote: Originally posted by nitromon
https://www.nvidia.com/Download/Find.aspx

Try this page. I just inputed my info and it lets me download all the way to 2018



nono, TS4 would have nothing to do with it.


Thank you that's letting me see previous drivers. I will do that tomorrow as it's quite late now. In the meantime thank you for you help! Fingers crossed it works.
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