FPS Drops from solid 300 down to 30?

[rnunes416]

Was recently on here to ask about installing my new motherboard and CPU. Thanks to all that helped. However, I've approached a new problem

My rig was running just fine until today. I would run games like CS:GO at 300 FPS, easily. Today I was stuck with V-Sync off and at lowest settings at 50 FPS. At times, I uncap fps at different rates (fps_max 300, 400, etc) and the values go up, but opening console, etc. seems to slow down fps. Fallout 4 gives very sad results as well. Most all games I have tried have significant FPS drops for unknown reasons. My computer specs are here . This build is not scrawny, and was working just fine recently. I have tried updating and changing NVIDIA drivers, but no success. I haven't seen any artifacts or signs of GPU dying - the card is only a few months old. And the CPU hasn't been OC'ed, and doesn't seem to be dying either. I checked my power settings and set for performance. Still very unsure. Do I need to uninstall all drivers?

Thank you in advance.

UPDATE: As seen below, Shaun o had the right idea for my case. Still went through by re-installing drivers, removing old ones, etc. But the villain in this was Intel SpeedStep. If you have that on, it could be the reason.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd at least START, by doing this, and go from there.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/clean-graphics-driver-install-windows.html

There could surely be something else at play here, like a malware infection, thermal issue or other OS related problem, but I'd start with a CLEAN GPU card driver install and see what shakes out. Simply changing drivers or uninstalling via add/remove programs doesn't always, in fact, rarely, cut it.

 

[Shaun o]

If you have looked at the graphics card and the temps seem fine.

And the system was running fine a few days ago giving you good frame rates in games.

Just ask yourself what was the last thing you did before the performance went down in games relating to the FPS drop.

If it was to update the video card driver of the graphics card simply revert to the prior version number or install package you used.

I would also if you have not done this verify that the cpu is running at a good tempreture, I have noticed you have a AIO water cooling solution fitted to the cpu.

If the Temps are high then you may need to look at the installation of the cpu water block on the cpu to verify it`s fitted right.

In your bios as a test, Disable Intel speed step technology.
Just to make sure it not the cause of the bad frame rates in games due to speed step down clocking the cpu core speed in Mhz.

It will do this as part of power saving as you know, but also if the cpu is reaching the trigger point set in the bios for the max temp values set for under clocking the cpu to get rid of heat or system shut down if the cpu reaches the set trigger point value set in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Test the system with Speed step disabled for one run of it, to see if frame rates in games improve.

As a rule of thumb when things go wrong, just remember the last change to the system you made including installing new video drivers.

And revert backwards one step.

 

[rnunes416]

I'd at least START, by doing this, and go from there.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/clean-graphics-driver-install-windows.html

There could surely be something else at play here, like a malware infection, thermal issue or other OS related problem, but I'd start with a CLEAN GPU card driver install and see what shakes out. Simply changing drivers or uninstalling via add/remove programs doesn't always, in fact, rarely, cut it.

I will definitely check this out. I have made the mistake before of add/remove, I couldn't really find a proper guide like this. I will try this tomorrow and see how it turns out.

 

[rnunes416]

If you have looked at the graphics card and the temps seem fine.

And the system was running fine a few days ago giving you good frame rates in games.

Just ask yourself what was the last thing you did before the performance went down in games relating to the FPS drop.

If it was to update the video card driver of the graphics card simply revert to the prior version number or install package you used.

I would also if you have not done this verify that the cpu is running at a good tempreture, I have noticed you have a AIO water cooling solution fitted to the cpu.

If the Temps are high then you may need to look at the installation of the cpu water block on the cpu to verify it`s fitted right.

In your bios as a test, Disable Intel speed step technology.
Just to make sure it not the cause of the bad frame rates in games due to speed step down clocking the cpu core speed in Mhz.

It will do this as part of power saving as you know, but also if the cpu is reaching the trigger point set in the bios for the max temp values set for under clocking the cpu to get rid of heat or system shut down if the cpu reaches the set trigger point value set in Celsius or Fahrenheit.

Test the system with Speed step disabled for one run of it, to see if frame rates in games improve.

As a rule of thumb when things go wrong, just remember the last change to the system you made including installing new video drivers.

And revert backwards one step.

It may very well be a cooling issue, but I thought I installed my cooler correctly. Should I go about an entirely new re-seat of the cooler and block, or do I just need to disconnect and reconnect?

Recently I tried to put back on Precision X to do some OC'ing, but I didn't do much. There has been a huge problem with moving some things to my new SSD, and running old things on my HDD. Could that be a factor?

I will try tweaking BIOS, I haven't messed with it but I checked multiple times to see that I didn't change anything. I will remove the speed step and get back to you.

I hope it hasn't put some heat on and needs to be reduced. The CPU hasn't been OC'ed yet, and it's not like what typically happens when you OC a CPU and the frames start fine, then slowly drop and crash. Everything starts low that was once high and average.

I will be sure to go through this checklist though and get back to you, thank you!

UPDATE: I disabled Speed Step, and my FPS is back! I don't remember enabling this! But my FPS is back. Is there any harm in doing this? I will still go through with everything else, but this seems to be the solution. Thank you!

 

[Darkbreeze]

Download HWinfo.

http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php


Install it and run "sensors only". Fire up a game or whatever you're normally doing when the problems begin, and check the thermal values in HWinfo. Posting screenshots of ALL the sensors, which usually takes two or more screenshots, while running under load, is helpful in helping to determine if there is a thermal issue or not. Lots of other useful information available from the sensor readings as well. You can post screenshots here as follows:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2580030/detailed-instructions-posting-images-tom-hardware.html

 

[rnunes416]

I'd at least START, by doing this, and go from there.

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2767677/clean-graphics-driver-install-windows.html

There could surely be something else at play here, like a malware infection, thermal issue or other OS related problem, but I'd start with a CLEAN GPU card driver install and see what shakes out. Simply changing drivers or uninstalling via add/remove programs doesn't always, in fact, rarely, cut it.

I re-installed drivers following the guide, didn't seem to change anything onto next steps?

 

[rnunes416]

Download HWinfo.

http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php


Install it and run "sensors only". Fire up a game or whatever you're normally doing when the problems begin, and check the thermal values in HWinfo. Posting screenshots of ALL the sensors, which usually takes two or more screenshots, while running under load, is helpful in helping to determine if there is a thermal issue or not. Lots of other useful information available from the sensor readings as well. You can post screenshots here as follows:

http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-2580030/detailed-instructions-posting-images-tom-hardware.html

Here is the screenshot of all 4 sensors from HWInfo, (also attached is my HWMonitor here , along with my Resource Monitor here). I ran CS:GO and hit rock bottom FPS of 50. The strange thing was, decreasing my settings (Changing to low, ultra low, etc.) dropped them more, from 40 to 30. Very confused. Fingers crossed, hoping it isn't anything too major. Looking through the temps, nothing seems to be wrong though?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Those sensor readings were under a full out gaming load? Can't be. Your CPU is only at 800mhz on all cores and your GPU usage is 0%.

 

[rnunes416]

Those sensor readings were under a full out gaming load? Can't be. Your CPU is only at 800mhz on all cores and your GPU usage is 0%.

Exactly, the results didn't make sense. I did what Shaun o said and disabled Intel SpeedStep in UEFI - everything ran fine again, and I ran it fine all night. I will check temps and everything again, I just don't even remember enabling SpeedStep?

 

[Darkbreeze]

Your FPS were possibly decreasing when you lowered the settings due to the fact that lowering settings puts less load on the GPU, which then shifts the priority to the CPU. Since your CPU was locked to only 800mhz and the GPU was apparently, not sure how it could be 0% regardless of WHAT settings you designated if a game was running, then the more you reduced the settings, the lower the FPS since more and more load was getting piled on a CPU that wasn't increasing clock speed accordingly.

Speedstep should not need to be disabled. Ever. Unless you want to lock the CPU to it's maximum speed, in which case, you can disable speedstep and then go into the control panel power settings and make sure it's either set to "Performance" or go into the advanced settings of whatever plan you have assigned and make sure the processor power profile is set to minimum of 100% and maximum of 100%.

Personally, I like to set the minimum to 10% and maximum to 100%, so the system isn't wasting power when it's not needed. That helps the system to run cooler and use less energy on your power bill, which is what it's designed to do (Speedstep).

I've built and configured hundreds of gaming machines and can't think of a single occasion when permanently disabling Speedstep was a necessary configuration requirement in order to resolve an issue.

I would go to the product page for your motherboard and manually install every relevant driver for your motherboard model and OS version.

I would also, while I'm there, compare the latest BIOS version available for your board to the one you have installed, and update if you are not on the latest version.

On a side note, not to specifically knock anything that's been suggested here by others, but reversion techniques rarely result in anything good. If there is a problem with something, using system restore or another utility to "revert" rarely results in a lasting resolution to the problem. Finding out WHAT the problem is, and gettting the proper fix in place, whether that means a different driver or a clean OS installation, is always a better method of resolving issues. Otherwise, you may be likely to simply do whatever it is you did before that caused the problem since you never bothered to find out what the problem was in the first place.

 

[rnunes416]

Your FPS were possibly decreasing when you lowered the settings due to the fact that lowering settings puts less load on the GPU, which then shifts the priority to the CPU. Since your CPU was locked to only 800mhz and the GPU was apparently, not sure how it could be 0% regardless of WHAT settings you designated if a game was running, then the more you reduced the settings, the lower the FPS since more and more load was getting piled on a CPU that wasn't increasing clock speed accordingly.

Speedstep should not need to be disabled. Ever. Unless you want to lock the CPU to it's maximum speed, in which case, you can disable speedstep and then go into the control panel power settings and make sure it's either set to "Performance" or go into the advanced settings of whatever plan you have assigned and make sure the processor power profile is set to minimum of 100% and maximum of 100%.

Personally, I like to set the minimum to 10% and maximum to 100%, so the system isn't wasting power when it's not needed. That helps the system to run cooler and use less energy on your power bill, which is what it's designed to do (Speedstep).

I've built and configured hundreds of gaming machines and can't think of a single occasion when permanently disabling Speedstep was a necessary configuration requirement in order to resolve an issue.

I would go to the product page for your motherboard and manually install every relevant driver for your motherboard model and OS version.

I would also, while I'm there, compare the latest BIOS version available for your board to the one you have installed, and update if you are not on the latest version.

On a side note, not to specifically knock anything that's been suggested here by others, but reversion techniques rarely result in anything good. If there is a problem with something, using system restore or another utility to "revert" rarely results in a lasting resolution to the problem. Finding out WHAT the problem is, and gettting the proper fix in place, whether that means a different driver or a clean OS installation, is always a better method of resolving issues. Otherwise, you may be likely to simply do whatever it is you did before that caused the problem since you never bothered to find out what the problem was in the first place.

I figure it could be that my GPU wasn't being utilized. I don't understand it either.
I will update all drivers, see what that does.