Question After cleaning my PC I am getting frame drops in games I had no issues running before

[Faibra]

I don't know why, but for whatever reason after cleaning my PC I've been having frame drops in games I had no trouble running before. The funny thing is I actually started cleaning my PC because I noticed stuttering in a game I didn't used to see stuttering in, which was the King of Fighters XV. I wanted to do whatever I could to try and fix the issues so I decided to clean my PC, which had dust inside. I use primarily a compressed air cleaner to blow the dust out of the PC. I cleaned as thoroughly as I could. I even removed the GPU so that I could clean the fans directly, but that was as much as I did. I used isopropyl alcohol in q-tips to clean the top of the GPU. I didn't take the CPU cooler off my CPU and replace the thermal paste, or anything like that. I don't know if I potentially damaged my GPU. When I tried removing The GPU I only unscrewed the screws holding it in place and did not unscrew the bracket cover that was helping hold the GPU in place. So when I was trying to pull out the GPU, the side of the GPU that was being held by the bracket cover was pushing against the bracket cover when I was trying to pull the GPU out. Because I didn't know what was going on I tried not using my full strength, but I don't know if I still damaged it potentially or not. It's really frustrating because I am now facing frame drops in games that were running perfectly fine before. KOF XV will randomly drop to around 54 frames when doing supers and specials or even throws. I've also been experiencing bad frame drops in Samurai Shodown, where the game will drop to as low as 47-54 frames when performing certain moves. I tried uninstalling the drivers with DDU and reinstalling them. I took apart my PC again and reinserted the graphics card and even took out the RAM and reinserted the RAM and nothing changed. I also reinstalled Windows with a fresh install through a USB drive. What do you guys think I should do? I'll give more details to any questions that you guys give me about the situation.

 

[MJS WARLORD]

This might be a long shot but has the game recently updated from unreal engine 4 to 5 , the reason i ask is because i play SATISFACTORY and they recently updated it to engine 5 and even players with better set ups than me are saying its almost unplayable , my gtx 1080 used to run at 144 fps i have now capped to to 60 because i only get an average of 40 fps now.

When you used the can of air did you remember to keep it vertical to make sure no propellant squirted out , its easy done.

Now to check your card , take the side off your pc and power it up , did all fans kick in for a few seconds at boot up. Load up the game but dont play it , put all settings and effects to max and bring up task manager , at about 72 degrees the fans on the card will start to work , do they all work , if not then very carefully press the side of the card towards the motherboard , do they all work now.

 

[Faibra]

This might be a long shot but has the game recently updated from unreal engine 4 to 5 , the reason i ask is because i play SATISFACTORY and they recently updated it to engine 5 and even players with better set ups than me are saying its almost unplayable , my gtx 1080 used to run at 144 fps i have now capped to to 60 because i only get an average of 40 fps now.

When you used the can of air did you remember to keep it vertical to make sure no propellant squirted out , its easy done.

Now to check your card , take the side off your pc and power it up , did all fans kick in for a few seconds at boot up. Load up the game but dont play it , put all settings and effects to max and bring up task manager , at about 72 degrees the fans on the card will start to work , do they all work , if not then very carefully press the side of the card towards the motherboard , do they all work now.

The games that I mentioned did not upgrade to unreal engine 5. I will be truthful and say that I cleaned my PC on two separate occasions before this recent cleaning. In both instances I did not remove the GPU because I did not know how to remove it and I was afraid of breaking something so I turn the compressed air can on its side and shot at the fans directly. I heard that you have to keep the can upright so that it shoots no liquid. I shot the air against my skin to make sure I felt no liquid. It felt similar as when I was shooting it upright so I thought it was okay. I think I started having stuttering issues with my game after the second cleaning. I thought it was the game or something else at first, but I think it might had something to do with how I cleaned my PC potentially. I even waited at least half an hour just in case there's any moisture in the PC potentially. Also, do electric air dusters have any moisture like compressed air cleaners? They're not expensive, I found one for $50 on Amazon and that's only $30 more than buying for compressed air cleaners that only last a limited time.