3DMark "Combined Score" 59% Lower Than Before

[wusnowflake]

Trying to figure out the problem but have a hunch I know what it is.

I have a computer that is about 4 years old. It has an i7 3770k (stock), gtx 980 & 16GB RAM.

My Firestrike score was 10,300-10,500 originally but now is closer to 9,000. I don't believe I changed anything. When I run it with Speccy open, I see the CPU hit about 72c.

My "combined scores" seem to be suffering.

I am thinking even though Speccy doesn't show the CPU getting super hot while testing, it may be. It is worth mentioning that the i7 and the heatsink are one unit because I stupidly rushed when I put the machine together and bought "thermal adhesive"... instead of "thermal paste".

I have been preparing for this day ever since but want input. Normally, my CPU idle temp is around 35-40c.

Results screenshot:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/230hgrnu93zeo5h/Screenshot%202016-03-18%2022.39.12.png?dl=0

 

[Mousemonkey]

Have you got a spare HDD?

 

[wusnowflake]

Have you got a spare HDD?

Yeah I have an SSD with Windows 8.1 but 3dmark is running off of a wd black drive. Also got an old raptor in there as well.

I'll try putting 3dmark on the SSD and running again.

 

[Mousemonkey]

I was going to suggest that you put a clean install of Windows on the spare HDD and then try running 3D Mark on that starting with an older video driver. That way you could see whether it was just Windows updates and or drivers issues.