[SOLVED] Sudden drop In performance on 2-year old build ?

[vinnamon_buns]

Specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X
PSU: Corsair RM750
Mobo: MSI B550 Mortar WiFi
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 XC3 Ultra Gaming
RAM: Crucial Ballistix 32 GB 3200 MHz DDR4
2 SSDs and 1 HDD
1440p 165Hz Monitor

As the title suggests, I have a build that hasn't been changed in the last 2 years. I used to run a bunch of (what I consider to be) graphically instensive games (FFXIV, Elden Ring, Monster Hunter World to name a few) and they all ran spectacularly at around 120 FPS (except Elden Ring, which sat at a comfortable 60). I've since taken a break from graphics intensive games and played a bunch of roguelikes and now I'm looking to replay the games I used to play, except for some reason now they all run significantly worse than they did before. Elden Ring no longer runs at a constant 60, Monster Hunter World only hits 120 FPS in the menus and loading screens, and dips to between 20-50 in-game. FFXIV dips down to around 45 FPS in non-crowded areas.

The thing is, I haven't changed a single setting in-game or hardware-wise. I'm pretty sure with my specs, the performance of these games should be way better, right? Here's a screencap of my usage during my Elden Ring test recently (left), GPU is suspiciously low and CPU seems to be normal? And then here's a screencap of me testing Monster Hunter (right) where the only spikes seem to coincide with me booting into the game and then loading into the hub area.

Here's an almost exhaustive list of troubleshoot fixes I've tried to do in order to fix this:

• Installed latest NVIDIA Drivers
• Did a clean install of NVIDIA Drivers
• Updated BIOS
• Attempted to update Chipset Drivers (failed, I actually can't seem to locate where these would be?)
• Undervolted CPU (and then undid the undervolt when it didn't work)
• Reset BIOS settings
• Reset CMOS
• Tried to plug DP cable into different DP on GPU
• Tried using a 1080p monitor (this helped with performance a bit, but I'd rather not go back to 1080p after gaming on 1440p for a couple years)
• Freed up space on OS drive (currently sits at around 50% capacity)
• Went to System -> Advanced System Settings -> Performance Options -> Set Virtual memor to 4096 MB (ala this video)
• Opened up my computer and gave it a good dusting

Nothing seems to have fixed whatever issue has sprung up unfortunately. I'm still unable to run games at the settings that I was previously able to run a couple years ago. Is there anything else I can do to try and fix this? I'm open to provide any more information that could help with troubleshooting.

 

[woot]

Did you check the power management settings in the nvidia control panel?

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Did a clean install of NVIDIA Drivers
Did you run DDU prior to reinstalling the latest GPU driver in an elevated command?

2 SSDs and 1 HDD
Can you break these down for us?

 

[vinnamon_buns]

Did you check the power management settings in the nvidia control panel?

Yes, it's currently at "Prefer maximum performance".

 

[vinnamon_buns]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

Did a clean install of NVIDIA Drivers
Did you run DDU prior to reinstalling the latest GPU driver in an elevated command?

2 SSDs and 1 HDD
Can you break these down for us?

With regards to DDU, I have not. I can give it a try and get back to you the results!

One SSD has my OS on it, as well as some straggling programs that defaulted to be installed on it as well. The second SSD has my other programs, steam and steam games on it. The HDD has all of my non-application files such as photos and documents.

 

[vinnamon_buns]

Update: ran DDU in Safe Mode and then installed the latest GPU driver, didn't seem to change anything unfortunately.

 

[thestryker]

It'd be worth installing MSI Afterburner to see what things look like performance wise when gaming. You can use the RTSS overlay or just check the performance graphs. It may also be worthwhile doing a 3DMark run to see if there's a performance disparity there as you might be able to figure out CPU or GPU being cause.

 

[vinnamon_buns]

It'd be worth installing MSI Afterburner to see what things look like performance wise when gaming. You can use the RTSS overlay or just check the performance graphs. It may also be worthwhile doing a 3DMark run to see if there's a performance disparity there as you might be able to figure out CPU or GPU being cause.

I'll try those things and report back with results. Thanks everyone for your replies!

 

[vinnamon_buns]

A quick update, here's after like 20 minutes attempting to play Elden Ring. I'm not sure if my GPU usage is the 99% or the 39%, the only GPU-related things I have turned on in Afterburner is GPU Usage and GPU Temperature. Here's also a list of the statistics I have enabled.

And then the rest of the "in OSD" statistics I have are the Core Usages and FPS. Is there anything I should be looking out for in terms of points of failure? Any patterns?

 

[thestryker]

If that GPU clock is what you're getting while in game that's a big problem as that's the idle clockspeed for the 3080.

What power level is MSI Afterburner showing?

If it's showing 100% then I'd suggest unplugging and reconnecting all of the power connectors on the card.

 

[vinnamon_buns]

If that GPU clock is what you're getting while in game that's a big problem as that's the idle clockspeed for the 3080.

What power level is MSI Afterburner showing?

If it's showing 100% then I'd suggest unplugging and reconnecting all of the power connectors on the card.

Where would I be seeing the Power Level in MSI Afterburner? Is that "Volt"? For reference, this is what MSI Afterburner looks like for me right now at idle.

EDIT: Another bit of info, if it helps. I seem to be clocking a way higher GPU speed when I'm just at the main menu.

 

[vinnamon_buns]

Where would I be seeing the Power Level in MSI Afterburner? Is that "Volt"? For reference, this is what MSI Afterburner looks like for me right now at idle.

EDIT: Another bit of info, if it helps. I seem to be clocking a way higher GPU speed when I'm just at the main menu.

Here's a snip of testing for what my Power and Voltage is at during gameplay.

 

[vinnamon_buns]

Final update: I poked around online and googled "reasons for 3080 low clocks at 210" and I found a solution of simply uninstalling MSI Afterburner. It fixed it, everything's running buttery smooth again. Weird.

Thank you all so much for your help!

 

[thestryker]

Where would I be seeing the Power Level in MSI Afterburner? Is that "Volt"? For reference, this is what MSI Afterburner looks like for me right now at idle.

EDIT: Another bit of info, if it helps. I seem to be clocking a way higher GPU speed when I'm just at the main menu.

You see in the picture where it says power limit? Yours was set to 29% this was the entirety of your problem.

 

[vinnamon_buns]

You see in the picture where it says power limit? Yours was set to 29% this was the entirety of your problem.

What a silly thing to overlook! I thought that was the power input at which my fans would kick in. Thanks for the help!

 

[thestryker]

What a silly thing to overlook! I thought that was the power input at which my fans would kick in. Thanks for the help!

Yeah I can understand the mistake, and I've never used that skin in over a decade of use so I double checked to make sure it was just bad design. I very much wish it didn't exist (or was just redesigned, but I think that ship has sailed) as while I know better it's extremely unintuitive. MSI Afterburner is good software to have installed, but definitely switch to one of the many other skins that correctly labels everything.

I use the Cyborg theme, but it's old and I don't think it has curve optimizer. The one labeled Windows 11 seems to have everything correctly labeled, and I'm sure some of the others probably do as well.