Extremely low CPU usage, low FPS

[Archie Griffs]

I've been having this problem for the past couple weeks, where occasionally games will run incredibly slow, far below normal FPS along with terrible stutter, and the CPU staying between 2-3% usage (game dependent, some will have normal or only slightly lower CPU usage). System restarts will solve the issue, around every other system restart, maybe every third restart results in persistent low FPS, while restarts where I don't experience the issue everything runs completely fine for the entirety of my session.

PC Specs:
OS: Windows 8.1
CPU: i7 4770k
MOBO: Z97 Gigabyte Gaming 5
GPU: R9 290 Tri-X
RAM 8Gb

My CPU and MOBO is rather new, I changed both the MOBO from a older chipset and the CPU from an i5 haswell to an i7 haswell. Changing the CPUs out shouldn't be giving me any issues, changing the MOBO easily could have messed with drivers though.

Here's a wall of text that is mostly me rambling but is me trying to go in-depth about why I think certain things might be the problem.

Spoiler

Here's a few examples for FPS for games: Normally on World of Tanks I can play on highest settings @ 1440p with 50-60FPS, when this problem I'm having occurs, I run 20-30FPS on lowest and get terrible stutter. In Skyrim I normally get around 30 FPS (keep in mind this is incredibly modded out), when I have that problem, I get 10 FPS and terrible stutter. This problem extends to pretty much all games, with less demanding older games being less of a problem.

What I recently discovered is that when playing games the CPU usage is incredibly low, for Skyrim it hovers at 2-3%, wheras a normal range would be 20-35%. A system restart or two will solve the issue and I can game normally, but it's getting on my nerves that I still haven't been able to fix it.

Things I've tried:
Tried repairing the registry
Reinstalled windows
Reinstalled GPU drivers multiple times, the problem works with and without drivers
Disabled some startup programs
checked PSU voltages/ PSU fan working correctly

At this point either windows 8 didn't wipe everything with a reinstall and the problem persisted or it's hardware related. .

I guess I could shove an old MOBO/CPU in to see if that fixes things, but even then I don't know if it's the CPU or the MOBO, and I guess I'll have to buy thermal paste. That's going to be my last resort, I hope it doesn't come to that. If anyone has some insight and thought of something that hasn't already been tried, please contribute, no matter how obvious it is.

 

[chris987]

monitor your temps.! what are they? cpu must be >75c under load (use core - real temp) and with such gpu(with great cooling) >75c also.(use gpuz) and post your psu please what is it?

 

[Archie Griffs]

Corsair HX 750w PSU

CPU temps ~ 40-50c under load with an H100i, with the stock cooler I get around 65c (temps don't change whether or not I'm having the FPS issues). It's not overheating, if the H100i was ramped up to full RPMs I would know in a heartbeat. I've also played around with the stock cooler when I also had FPS issues and again heat was normal for the stock cooler.

GPU temps are 68-75c under load, normal for the Tri-X cooler. If it was the stock 290 cooler it would have been normal to see 90c, and the 290 series is rated up to 92c I believe, so I'm not sure why you're recommending below 75c for the GPU. Wait.. you used a > sign, so you're saying I should see higher than 75c for my CPU?

Unless my CPU/MOBO/RAM is faulty, it's not a hardware issue. Temps aren't indicating anything abnormal so I also believe it has nothing to do with overheating/throttling, and it's a very similar setup to the one I had before I was having the issues.

Before you ask, it's not related to overclocking.

 

[chris987]

your temps are great.(i meant <75c on both sorry) as for your gpu that temps are what i would expect from the tri x cooling, it can easily operate on higher ones, i know. suddenly your cpu stops responding for a reason. since you arent overclocking thats not normal.your psu is a very good one and more than capable.does the gpu also stops responding when your cpu does? if yes then you might have a driver issue but there is a chance of a power issue too. get a read on the psu voltages through bios and check if your psu isnt overheating and fan is operating under load!(it should even it has that zero rpm fan mode)

 

[Archie Griffs]

GPU usage is normal, it's staying around 100% utilization, at least when I tested it a few days ago, I'll play a game or two and reconfirm that GPU usage isn't similar to CPU usage. I should probably expand on CPU usage and say that 2-3% isn't my max, it looks like it's my max during gaming (could easily be PSU related or driver related). When scrolling up or down in firefox there's lag, and my CPU jumps up to like 25%. So that could be power delivery or drivers.

I think I can eliminate startup programs as my BIOS lags like crazy (similar to firefox internet browsing lag, which shouldn't at all be affected by startup programs when it's only in the BIOS).

I haven't been able to find the PSU voltages in the bios, I'll figure out how to find them in my BIOS real quick and I'll also check to see if the fan is working during loads as well.

EDIT: I think this might be the PSU voltages:

Spoiler

It wasn't under health status but it was pretty much in plain sight under the main menu. I'll be checking to make sure the fan is working.

 

[chris987]

wait a minute. dindnt you reinstall windows after changing mobo and cpu. even not for once!??? changing to another chipset mobo requires windows reinstall!!! sorry my mistake. you need to reinstall there isnt any other way!

 

[Archie Griffs]

So it looks like CPU usage when playing a different game was normal it was usually in the 20-22% usage range, weird that Skyrim was stuck at 2%. The PSU fan was running during load. Here's a bunch of temps/usage etc. for a variety of parts, I'm not seeing anything wrong, my 4770k is running at the specified 3900 mhz etc.

Still thinking it's drivers, I guess I'm going to have to do that reinstall of Windows 8.1 :\. I don't have an installation CD for it, so basically I have to buy another copy, but I can get it for 10$ so it's not a huge issue. Just not sure if I can make a backup of it and restore settings if I ever have problems since my new copy of windows will also not come with an installation CD -_-... unless I wanted to pay 15$ extra for it.

EDIT: another issue I found is that sound occasionally cuts out on one of the games I tried playing WoT, but not Skyrim.

 

[Archie Griffs]

So after an OS reinstall I'm still having issues. I think one of my RAM sticks went bad, I'm going to play around with some of them out and see if that helps. I had some weird memory leak when gaming with a million tabs up in firefox and I had my computer restart on me, but that was when I had 4GB of RAM in, so I never really put two and two together, but it's been a suspicion from the start that I should have payed attention to. I had been needing the OS reinstall anyways, so as long as I can finally pin down the issue :\.

A OS reinstall should eliminate any driver related issue, pretty much looks to be hardware, I'm crossing my fingers it isn't my new MOBO/CPU, especially the CPU.

EDIT: Played around with the RAM, I'm still having the same issue after having pulled out half of my RAM trying it and then taking out the other two and trying a different set, I'll test it in-depth more, but unless all 2 or more went bad all at once, it doesn't look like it's RAM. My OS reinstall left AMD drivers half tact, completely clueless as to why, I'm going to completely uninstall them and then play around on my comp until I run into the issue.

Another edit:
Problem persists without AMD drivers installed, heck I'd go so far as to say the problem is amplified. The only reason I would think it's AMD drivers is if they sometimes decide not to work but other times do, and even then it shouldn't be affecting BIOS speed internet browsing etc. The more and more I look at this it's got to be something hardware related. I'll borrow my bro's RAM and see if that changes anything, otherwise I'm thinking my MOBO randomly stopped functioning properly.

So confused right now.

 

[chris987]

test with this http://www.memtest.org/ each ram stick individually!