Question Computer running poorly despite MOST tests coming back completely normal?

[Bentatek]

I am at my wit's end about this issue, I've been searching for solutions to this for weeks now with no luck... hence I am here! First time posting on any tech forum, hoping someone can help me with this. Let me know if I'm posting incorrectly or anything too.
Specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 5600G with Radeon Graphics
Motherboard: GIGABYTE B450M DS3H
Ram: G.SKILL F4 DDR4 3200 C16 2x8GB (XMP enabled recently)
SSD: WD Blue SN550 NVMe PCIe M.2 500GB
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060
PSU: Segotep 650W Gold (2 Years old-ish)
OS: Windows 11
BIOS version: 5.11.02.217
Monitor: AOC E2476VWM6 (1080p 60hz)
It is perhaps worth mentioning this computer was pre-built.

Quick backstory for context: I have had some troubles with this computer basically since 3 months into owning it (about 2 years ago) but most of the issues up until now have been relatively minor/ignorable, such as an occasional long stutter once near starting a game and nothing else. Only recently have things changed where I am actively annoyed and frustrated by what's happening. The issues themselves are not always consistent, but one thing is: testing for errors always passes with nothing being shown as wrong.

Now, for what's happening currently: My computer is dropping frames and being sluggish while loading, while doing activities that would normally make it not do those things. For instance, my computer should be able to handle League of Legends at max settings, 1080p 60fps flawlessly. Recently however, it will constantly stutter while mid-game, even if I turn the graphics settings down. That's just the easiest example, other examples like Yakuza 0 and Pizza Tower are more egregious but harder to summarize. They were running fine before, however.

Since this has been happening, I've tried to do my own troubleshooting, but I'm having no luck, because none of my testing is showing anything wrong. I've had Yakuza 0 running while watching task manager, major video/audio stuttering would occur but nothing would show in task manager, not maxing nor overheating. I've removed every possible background task like discord, but made no difference. I've ran my own UserBenchmark, but it's telling me that everything is running fine (or better!) you can see the results here: https://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/68382871 As you can imagine, this is quite frustrating!

The ONLY test so far that has come back with something concerning has been through LatencyMon, which I just found recently through browsing other threads. Yesterday I got a result that my GPU driver was having high ISR/DPC counts and causing delay, so I used Display Driver Uninstall to have a clean installation. It hasn't reached the numbers it was hitting since, but I'm still having the same issues. I don't fully understand the numbers, but this is the only lead I have thus far. In particular, these following drivers are having high counts:

https://imgur.com/a/BsVl6zQ

Note: Those two ISR counts are the ONLY ISR counts in the entire list, and while the NVIDIA GPU driver is there, the numbers aren't as high as yesterday.

I figure this must be related to/is the issue SOMEHOW, but I was unable to find a solution in all of my searching of other threads and websites. Hope someone here can help me out

 

[boju]

118gb free on ssd + what pagefile size eats into that, perhaps ssd performance isn't great. Ssds do require 15~20% free to perform well. Just a stab there, try limit pagefile size, initial to 1024mb and max 2048mb.

Check ssd health with CrystalDiskInfo and scan Malwarebytes.

 

[Bentatek]

118gb free on ssd + what pagefile size eats into that, perhaps ssd performance isn't great. Ssds do require 15~20% free to perform well. Just a stab there, try limit pagefile size, initial to 1024mb and max 2048mb.

Check ssd health with CrystalDiskInfo and scan Malwarebytes.

Alright, so I've adjusted the pagefile size, cleared my memory down to 122GB free, and checked with CrystalDiskInfo. According to CDI, my drive is healthy at 98%, all tests returned back good, temperature was normal, etc.

Changing the pagefile size didn't seem to change much unfortunately. Actually, as a result of that, I was playing Tekken 8 to test and ran into this error, which I've never seen happen before:

https://imgur.com/a/yey68Hc

So I think I should probably revert the pagefile size so that doesn't happen again. I didn't scan with Malwarebytes, but I have done so in the past with no viruses found. The only thing I've downloaded recently (aside from these new testing programs) was the most recent chipset driver using AMD Adrenaline program, so I don't think a virus is to blame. Maybe it has something to do with the Audio Bus Driver having a really high ISR count? It's a really confusing issue considering every other test comes back fine

 

[Bentatek]

I forgot to mention some important behaviors in my original post that may help diagnose the issue:

Recently, the main issue in some games is that it will start running sluggishly off and on, and I can visually see that it's struggling, but it will still display that the game is running at 60fps when it clearly isn't. Notably, this happens in games that aren't very intensive, such as Pizza Tower (when streaming to discord, for some reason), but it can happen in other games like Monster Hunter World as well. I haven't been able to find an explanation online at all for something like this, but it is interesting that it happens regardless of graphical intensity.

Another behavior that USED to happen was that games would run terribly, and actually display numbers like 45 fps, but if I put the game into the background (say, behind a discord window), then it would run FLAWLESSLY. This started happening near early January and stopped happening around late march. I had taken it to a shop around then, they couldn't find anything wrong, but it stopped happening when I brought it back so 🤷‍♂️ dunno if that's related to the current issue but it might be good to know. I also couldn't find any info on that issue online.

Since my last comment, I've also dusted out the interior of my computer with compressed air, reseated the RAM and GPU, and did a malwarebytes scan for the heck of it (nothing found). Doesn't seem to have affected anything, sadly.

Really hoping someone can help me out because I cannot really afford to replace parts in my pc right now, especially not when everything is reporting that it's healthy. Thanks in advance!

 

[boju]

Sorry for the late reply. I should have said something about that power supply first off, didn't want to suggest spending money but that thing needs to go. Sometimes can get away with cheaply made power supplies if there's no performance parts used, even then it's sketchy. Poorly made power supplies can seriously damage and cause all sorts of gremlins.

See second last reply, especially the last paragraph.

[SOLVED] - Is it a good PSU?

My friend built a PC with these parts: CPU: Intel i5 8400 GPU: AsRock RX 590 8GB Phantom Motherboard: Gigabyte B360 DS3H RAM: 2x8 GB ADATA 2400 Power Supply: GameMax 650W 80 Plus Bronze SSD: 120 GB Gigabyte Case: AeroCool Rift Are they good parts?

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Bentatek]

Sorry for the late reply. I should have said something about that power supply first off, didn't want to suggest spending money but that thing needs to go. Sometimes can get away with cheaply made power supplies if there's no performance parts used, even then it's sketchy. Poorly made power supplies can seriously damage and cause all sorts of gremlins.

See second last reply, especially the last paragraph.

[SOLVED] - Is it a good PSU?

My friend built a PC with these parts: CPU: Intel i5 8400 GPU: AsRock RX 590 8GB Phantom Motherboard: Gigabyte B360 DS3H RAM: 2x8 GB ADATA 2400 Power Supply: GameMax 650W 80 Plus Bronze SSD: 120 GB Gigabyte Case: AeroCool Rift Are they good parts?

forums.tomshardware.com

No worries! I had been wondering about the power supply since some of the issues in the past have felt like "surges"... I'll see if I can somehow borrow one from a friend and test if that's the issue before investing. Had no idea segotep was not a good brand lol new to the world of gaming pcs. Thanks!

 

[boju]

No problem and good luck, keep us posted.

Steer clear of power supplies with 3 years or less warranty. Warranty is usually a good indicator of quality, aim for something that has 7yrs or more.

Darkbreeze mentioned some good ones.

If you can buy from Newegg;

https://www.newegg.com/corsair-rm650-650-w/p/N82E16817139324

 

[Bentatek]

Alright, so I've gotten my hands on a borrowed power supply, this one is a Corsair RM850 and is only slightly used, less than two years old roughly.

Unfortunately, I'm having the exact same problems as before so I don't think the PSU is the issue. (glad i didn't have to spend $100 to find that out lol)

I'm trying my best to somehow capture what's happening on my screen but also not having a ton of success in that regard. Closest I've gotten is this video:

(idk why the resolution is so bad for it, will try fixing for next time trying to capture.) If you watch at the beginning and advance frame by frame, it's smooth at first, but after hitting the metal box, every 3 frames or so is the same frame, sometimes less sometimes more. Here's another video of the same level to compare. (happens around 45 second mark)

My friends have suggested that it could also be my monitor (I think it's unlikely) so I'll try another one when I get the chance, but just wanted to post this to keep updated. Will keep trying to capture footage as well.

 

[Ralston18]

You mentioned Task Manager.

My suggestion is that you also take a look at Resource Monitor and Process Explorer (Microsoft, free).

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Objective simply being to discover what system resources are being used, to what extent, and what is using any given resource when the computer is running poorly.

Check Task Scheduler as well. Some action or event may be triggering other apps - possibly apps that are not favorable to performance or your overall "computing health" in general.

= = = =

Also:

Power down, unplug, open the case.

Clean out dust and debris.

Verify by sight and feel that all connectors, cards, RAM, jumpers, and case connections are fully and firmly in place.

Use a bright flashlight to inspect for signs of damage. Anything, anywhere....

 

[Bentatek]

Alright will do. I've downloaded Process Explorer, Resource Monitor makes sense but I'm a little overwhelmed by all the info Process Explorer showing me, what should I be looking out for?

Task scheduler isn't showing anything out of the ordinary as far as I can tell, all the events and triggers make sense. (Hopefully I'm using that right, never used that before!)

Also, I did dust the internals already, and I rewired mostly everything when installing the new PSU (minus the CPU unit itself), so in that regard it should be ok. Didn't see any physical damage on the internals. If necessary I can try reseating the CPU as well.

 

[Intowninteriors]

If your computer is running poorly despite most diagnostic tests returning normal results, the issue could be more complex than it seems. While standard tests often check for obvious hardware failures or critical errors, they might not catch subtler problems like software conflicts, background processes hogging resources, or outdated drivers. Performance issues can also stem from malware, excessive startup programs, or even a failing hard drive that hasn't completely broken down but is beginning to degrade. It's essential to consider these possibilities, check for resource-hogging processes, ensure all drivers and software are updated, and run a thorough malware scan to pinpoint the underlying cause. Sometimes, a more in-depth analysis, including checking system logs or stress testing components, is needed to identify and resolve the problem.