9800GT, getting 6-7FPS in every game, even in lowest setting! Help!

Hey guys first time poster long time reader since I've encountered a very annoying problem .

I have a BFG 9800GT 512MB with the latest NVIDIA driver installed (without 3D and PhysX)

Essentially, whenever I play a game it works fine, for example I was playing Crysis 2 on 1680x1050 on High settings and I was getting 50fps. After 20 minutes my screen flickers and the framerate drops to single digits. I checked my temps for my GPU and they were around 55-59*C. I figured it was the game so I tried playing Day of Defeat Source on the LOWEST settings and I was getting 11-12fps. GPU temps were around 58*C. I have to restart my computer a few times in order to play games and get normal fps (50fps in Crysis 2, 60+ fps in Day of Defeat Source etc) Overall, when the screen flickers I get low FPS in every game. The screen doesn't just flicker in Crysis 2, but it flickers in DoDS as well when I play more than 15 minutes. I tried playing any game and they all run in single digit fps. Help

My overall setup:
AMD X4 635 stock
4GB RAM
BFG 9800GT 512MB stock
500GB HDD
Windows 7 64-Bit
Antec 600W PSU

 

Welcome

Try uninstalling the nVidia drivers and install an earlier version. Have you installed DirectX 9 yet?

The "flicker" sounds like the drivers hit a bug and W7 has dropped back to the default Windows drivers - they struggle with Solitaire

 

Why would anyone install DirectX 9 when Windows 7 comes with DirectX 11?

Reverting to an earlier build of the drivers won't make any difference, however, the user did an incomplete install of the driver. So I recommend the user do a full install of the driver to realize the performance gains it can deliver.

 

It's not a case of reverting to DX9, DX11 doesn't carry the full set of DX9 and many games just won't run successfully without adding DX9 for maximum compatibility.

The OP does NOT need to install PhysX or 3D - I didn't/never have and my 9800GT does all I expect it to on W7 64-bit. Just like ATI/AMD gfx card users do not need to install CCC.

 

I actually upgraded to beta drivers and played 45 minutes without any crash. Could the drivers be the problem?

 

Yes, quite easily