CPU Usage 100% In All Games

[thegamingproject52]

Little bit of background first: A few months ago I accidentally hit a button on my computer case that said 'reset' which made me unable to use any USB devices for some reason so I did a system recovery from an iso and thought everything was back to normal. Everything seemed normal until I launched a game which before I could play at 144fps on ultra which now could no longer run consistantly at 60. Checking the problem the CPU usage was max whereas before the recovery it was 50% max. This has happened in every single game I have tried and my super PC has become a potato.

Steps I've taken already
- Overclocked the CPU to 4.5 GHz thinking that would help
- Run a full virus scan (no threats detected)
- Checked for any background processes (none, the application itself is using 80-90% cpu)

The CPU is not thermally throttling, temps are recorded aroud 40-50 C and GPU usage is 50% max. There is no driver issues either, all drivers are fully up to date. Have also tried all games on various settings which had 0 effect on performance - neither increased or decreased it.

Specs:
CPU: i5 6600k
GPU: MSI Armor GTX 980
PSU: XFX XTR 650W
RAM: 8GB (1x8) DDR4 2400MHz

 

[Tolis_GR]

Did you try reinstalling chipset drivers? A clean Windows install usually fixes everything, that would be your last resort.

 

[thegamingproject52]

Did you try reinstalling chipset drivers? A clean Windows install usually fixes everything, that would be your last resort.

Have given reinstalling the chipset drivers a go. Didn't really want to do it but it does very much look like a clean Windows is the way to go

 

[dontlistentome]

'System recovery from iso' meaning what exactly? Pre-builts can come with system recovery images, Microsoft supplies Windows isos, so what exactly did you use?

I would have troubleshooted(troubleshot?) the USB issue first but oh well. Next, I'd do a clean install of Windows, after saving all important data of course. Then you'll need to install chipset drivers and videocard drivers, etc.

I don't like doing any kind of system recovery/Windows repair/Windows install without starting clean. It's more convenient to simply overwrite what's on the drive but what if it still doesn't work right? You'll have to do a clean install anyways, so you might as well start with one.

 

[thegamingproject52]

'System recovery from iso' meaning what exactly? Pre-builts can come with system recovery images, Microsoft supplies Windows isos, so what exactly did you use?

I would have troubleshooted(troubleshot?) the USB issue first but oh well. Next, I'd do a clean install of Windows, after saving all important data of course. Then you'll need to install chipset drivers and videocard drivers, etc.

I don't like doing any kind of system recovery/Windows repair/Windows install without starting clean. It's more convenient to simply overwrite what's on the drive but what if it still doesn't work right? You'll have to do a clean install anyways, so you might as well start with one.

Sorry, wasn't very clear what I meant. I used a windows 10 installation usb drive and was going to fresh install before seeing 'recovery' or something along those lines which seemed to be what I needed, it recovered my data from last Decmeber and everything worked after that.
I did a lot to try and fix the USB issue but nothing worked so the whole ISO thing was a last resort. Unfortunatly it does look like a fresh install will be required so I will try that if no other solution presents itself after a few days

 

[Tolis_GR]

Did you try reinstalling chipset drivers? A clean Windows install usually fixes everything, that would be your last resort.

Have given reinstalling the chipset drivers a go. Didn't really want to do it but it does very much look like a clean Windows is the way to go

Yes. Problem is that it's hard to find out what has been messed up. Try restoring your bios defaults first or reset CMOS

 

[mdd1963]

As you used an MS install CD, and then selected a 'recover' option,you did likely save your data, but, still reverted to WIndows default drivers everywhere vice the optimal chipset drivers and GPU drivers. (from a driver perspective, roughly the same as a full clean install, but pre-driver install, excluding default MS drivers....)