I'm not really sure if this is an issue that might be fixed eventually with drivers, or it's an issue that I should RMA the card for. 
 
Everything runs great... until it doesn't. This happens is pretty much every game, no matter how graphically demanding it is. I notice it most in Dota 2 and Overwatch. I'll be getting 130+ FPS and then it will drop suddenly. Overwatch SAYS I'm still getting 90 frames, but it looks like 10. I find it weird that the frames DO drop according to the FPS counter, but aren't even close to representing what I'm actually seeing. 
 
I also notice that sometimes when this happens (but not always), there are audio issues during the FPS drop.
 
And then a few seconds later, the game will be fine again. I usually get 1 or 2 of these every hour, and multiplayer games are basically unplayable for the couple seconds that it happens.
 
I've also had issues with web-based video freezing for a second occasionally. Youtube, netflix, etc. I remember googling this issue right when I first got my card and seeing something about how nvidia were aware of it and the new drivers would fix it, but it has never gone away for me. Not sure if it's related, but the video freezes happen way more often than the FPS drops so I don't think it's the same thing.

Sajin
How do your cpu/gpu temps look when the drops occur? How do your cpu/gpu clocks look when the drops occur? Maybe THIS is your issue.

The DVR thing should be in your stickied thread.

Hello Woogity and welcome to the Forums!
 
Try downloading a program called Display Driver Uninstaller, you can find it HERE. Before you run DDU, download the latest driver version from our website HERE and save the file on your computer.
 
Install and run DDU, it will ask to boot into safe mode. When you have booted into safe mode select the option "Clean and Restart (Highly Recommended)". This will clean the previous version of the drivers out of the system and registry and boot back into Windows. Locate the folder where you saved the drivers from our website, open the driver installer. Select "Custom Installation", you will see a check box to perform a clean installation, be sure to check that box then finish the install. That should potentially fix any driver issues if they are the cause.

I would RMA it. If it happens in enough games, and if it seems to gets worse as time goes on(heats up) it could be defective. I've had 0 issues with my Evga 1080 GTX F|E, it's surprised me on so many levels.

Sorry I didn't reply to any comments. I thought I had notifications on for replies for this thread.
 
 

Sajin
How do your cpu/gpu temps look when the drops occur? How do your cpu/gpu clocks look when the drops occur? Maybe  is your issue.

 
I should have mentioned that looking at absolutely every quantitative stat I can think of for CPU and GPU to try and find a common reason for these issues has turned up nothing. Temps are fine. Clock speeds are fine. Usage percentages are fine. Voltages are fine. Also, I checked the XBOX app DVR quite a while ago and for me it was never even turned on.
 

EVGATech_JosephL
Hello Woogity and welcome to the Forums!
 
Try downloading a program called Display Driver Uninstaller, you can find it . Before you run DDU, download the latest driver version from our website and save the file on your computer.
 
Install and run DDU, it will ask to boot into safe mode. When you have booted into safe mode select the option "Clean and Restart (Highly Recommended)". This will clean the previous version of the drivers out of the system and registry and boot back into Windows. Locate the folder where you saved the drivers from our website, open the driver installer. Select "Custom Installation", you will see a check box to perform a clean installation, be sure to check that box then finish the install. That should potentially fix any driver issues if they are the cause.

I used DDU twice already. First when I got the card, and once to try and fix these issues. Didn't help at all.
 
 

CoercionShaman
 
If you use GFE, be sure to also disable Share.  It has been reported as on by default by users after the last update.

I do use GFE, but I use it specifically BECAUSE of Shadowplay/Share. So... disabling it is not a solution. And something that is always running shouldn't cause intermittent and periodic FPS drops, especially not when the game things it is still running at almost 100FPS. But still, I did try disabling it to see if it would help, and it doesn't.

ksgnow2010
Have you set the power mode on your card to maximum performance using the GeForce tools?

If you mean in the NVIDIA control panel, yes, the "power management mode" setting is set to "prefer maximum performance".