FPS Drop/Frame Stutter System-Wide, Impacting All Games

[cs_zelot]

Hello Tom's Hardware community,

For the last four days, I have been experiencing sever FPS drop/frame stuttering across all semi-demanding games. For example, while trying to play Grim Dawn or Player Unknown's Battle Ground, two games I was capable of running with ease previously, I will almost immediately dip from 80-100 FPS to average around 40 FPS, no matter the graphical settings.

I believe this is not related to a hardware issue as my HWiNFO64 status log recorded all 4 cores averaging between 35-45 degrees Celsius in both games. However, I could be mistaken on this account and, just to be sure, have gone ahead and attached the following Google Excel file for the HWiNFO64 statistics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gYOkLRbjFdkvhbnmP3bElluEG6GqeJfT0a66NQLYypw/edit?usp=sharing

As of this post, I have also gone ahead and attempted to implement the suggested changes from the following forum posts:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/127518-13-sudden-drops-games
http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-3101198/sudden-fps-drops-games.html

In addition, I also used Display Driver Uninstaller to uninstall and remove my previous Nvidia GeForce Game Drivers and reinstall the latest drivers (382.05). I also ran Malwarebytes and AdwCleaner, which removed the malware PUP.Optional.Conduit from my system (though had no impact on the FPS drop).

I have also tried to update my Windows 10 to the most recent version, as I have been told that a recent update may be causing this frame delay. With the latest updates installed, I am still suffering from frame stutter.

My Rig:
Graphics Card -
GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1080 G1 Gaming GV-N1080G1 GAMING-8GD Video Card
Motherboard -
GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 (rev. 1.0) LGA 1151 Intel Z170 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 ATX Intel
PSU -
CORSAIR RMx Series RM750X 750W 80 PLUS GOLD Haswell Ready Full Modular ATX12V & EPS12V SLI and Crossfire Ready.
CPU -
Intel Core i7-6700K 8M Skylake Quad-Core 4.0 GHz LGA 1151 91W BX80662I76700K Desktop Processor Intel HD
RAM -
CORSAIR Vengeance LED 16GB (2 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Memory (Desktop Memory) Model
OS -
Windows 10 Home - 64-bit - OEM
CPU Cooler -
CORSAIR Hydro Series H110 Extreme Performance Water/Liquid CPU Cooler. 280mm (CW-9060014-WW)

Please help Tom's Hardware community! Any and all suggestions and/or questions are more than welcome, and thanks for the support!

 

[bgunner]

Make sure there is nothing else using a lot OF the CPU 's compute power during your gaming session but opening task manager and running your game in windowed mode so you can see both. While the the game is experiencing low FPS look and see what else is using the CPU.

Do the same for disk usage and Memory usage.

you can also check the OS files for corruption by opening a command prompt in administrator mode and type the following and pres enter: SFC/ScanNow
If this find errors it can not fix type the following into the command prompt and hit enter: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

You can also do a disk check by typing the following into the command prompt with administrator privileges and hitting enter: dskchk /f

 

[cs_zelot]

CPU usage averages between 30-35% while running Grim Dawn. 23% of the usage is being taken by Grim Dawn specifically, according to the task manager. Memory usage is a steady 31%, Disk usage is either 0%-1%.

No integrity violations when running the SFC/ScanNow. Unfortunately, the command dskchk /f was not recognized, but thank for all the suggestions! Good to check these things, may help to determine the problem.

 

[bgunner]

sorry that's my bad, I typed it wrong, it is actually chkdsk /f

 

[cs_zelot]

sorry that's my bad, I typed it wrong, it is actually chkdsk /f

Unfortunately that command only seemed to have resulted in my computer unable to establish an ethernet connection after restarting. I was able to reset the connect after flushing my ipconfig and resetting the router. The FPS issue is still persisting :\, but thank you again for the suggestions.

 

[Carnaxus]

Wait a minute, chkdisk /f shouldn't have any impact on your network connectivity. Something's gone sideways somewhere, possibly within Windows itself.

Try enabling game mode. Launch the game, hit Winkey+G, click the settings button, and select "Use game mode with this game." If nothing else, it'll rule out another option.