Sounds like an issue with power states and the transition between 2D and 3D clocks, could also be Windows' DWM, like you suspect.
I get similar frame rate drops with OCCT 4.x on my systems, but not the errors. The newer versions of OCCT don't seem to maintain priority unless the window is in focus, which makes it impossible to use for extended tests unless you do nothing else with the system.
I still use OCCT 3.1.0 more, as it's artifact scanner seems to be just as good, if not better, at finding errors, but doesn't need to be in focus.
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | Graphics |
|---|
| 3930K (C2) @ 4.3GHz, HT on, 1.308v | GA-X79S-UP5 (F4v) | Radeon 7950, 1053/1650, 1.163v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... | Radeon 7950, 1080/1675, 1.081v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... |
| RAM | Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Hard Drive |
|---|
| 32GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3D/US @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2,... | Kingston V+100 96GB | 4x WD Scorpio Black 500GB RAID 10 | 3x Hitachi 7k1000.C 1TB RAID 0 |
| Cooling | OS | Keyboard | Power |
|---|
| Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 + 2x NF-P14 + PK-1 (TIM) | Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise | Flico Majestouch Tenkeyless (MX Brown) | Antec True Power New 750w |
| Case | Mouse | Audio |
|---|
| Fractal Design Define R4 + 6 Cougar CF-V14HB | CM Storm Spawn (firmware 61) | Realtek ALC898 |
| View all |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | Graphics |
|---|
| i7 970 3012B113 @ 4GHz, 1.264v, HT On | Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 rev 2.0 | Radeon 6870 1GB | Radeon 5750 @ 918/300 (cryptography coprocessor) |
| RAM | Hard Drive | Cooling | OS |
|---|
| 6x4GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3 @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2, 1.4v | 1TB Hitachi 7K1000.C, 2x250GB Seagate 7200.10s | Prolimatech Genesis | Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| Monitor | Monitor | Power | Case |
|---|
| ASUS 22" | Acer 22" | Enermax Modu82+ 625w | Antec P182 |
| View all |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|
| AMD FX-8150 @ 4.52GHz (210x21.5), 1.45v load | GA-970A-UD3 rev 1.0 (F8a BIOS) | Radeon 6950 @ 945/1425, 1.2v | 4x8GiB G.Skill Ares @ 1680, 9-10-9-28-T2, 1.5v |
| Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Cooling | OS |
|---|
| Samsung F3 1TB | 2x Samsung F3 500GB RAID 0 | Lapped TRUE + Panflo FBA12G12H1BX | Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 |
| Monitor | Power | Case |
|---|
| Dell S2740L (27", 1920x1080, 7ms, IPS) | Corsair TX650w | Cooler Master HAF 932 |
| View all |
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| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | Graphics |
|---|
| 3930K (C2) @ 4.3GHz, HT on, 1.308v | GA-X79S-UP5 (F4v) | Radeon 7950, 1053/1650, 1.163v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... | Radeon 7950, 1080/1675, 1.081v GPU, 1.65v mem, ... |
| RAM | Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Hard Drive |
|---|
| 32GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3D/US @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2,... | Kingston V+100 96GB | 4x WD Scorpio Black 500GB RAID 10 | 3x Hitachi 7k1000.C 1TB RAID 0 |
| Cooling | OS | Keyboard | Power |
|---|
| Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 + 2x NF-P14 + PK-1 (TIM) | Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Enterprise | Flico Majestouch Tenkeyless (MX Brown) | Antec True Power New 750w |
| Case | Mouse | Audio |
|---|
| Fractal Design Define R4 + 6 Cougar CF-V14HB | CM Storm Spawn (firmware 61) | Realtek ALC898 |
| View all |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | Graphics |
|---|
| i7 970 3012B113 @ 4GHz, 1.264v, HT On | Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 rev 2.0 | Radeon 6870 1GB | Radeon 5750 @ 918/300 (cryptography coprocessor) |
| RAM | Hard Drive | Cooling | OS |
|---|
| 6x4GiB Samsung MV-3V4G3 @ 1600, 8-8-8-24-T2, 1.4v | 1TB Hitachi 7K1000.C, 2x250GB Seagate 7200.10s | Prolimatech Genesis | Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 |
| Monitor | Monitor | Power | Case |
|---|
| ASUS 22" | Acer 22" | Enermax Modu82+ 625w | Antec P182 |
| View all |
| CPU | Motherboard | Graphics | RAM |
|---|
| AMD FX-8150 @ 4.52GHz (210x21.5), 1.45v load | GA-970A-UD3 rev 1.0 (F8a BIOS) | Radeon 6950 @ 945/1425, 1.2v | 4x8GiB G.Skill Ares @ 1680, 9-10-9-28-T2, 1.5v |
| Hard Drive | Hard Drive | Cooling | OS |
|---|
| Samsung F3 1TB | 2x Samsung F3 500GB RAID 0 | Lapped TRUE + Panflo FBA12G12H1BX | Windows 7 Professional x64 SP1 |
| Monitor | Power | Case |
|---|
| Dell S2740L (27", 1920x1080, 7ms, IPS) | Corsair TX650w | Cooler Master HAF 932 |
| View all |
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