Question High GPU load, low temperature

[dyland2014]

My GPU has recently been lagging extremely badly when in-game. This is a PC I built and everything ran fine for a long time, and now all of a sudden I am hitting max GPU load. I ran a 3D Mark benchmark which I will post here. I also have ran into some malware issues with my browser, but I feel like I fixed all of that so I am not sure if that could possibly be the issue. I have optimized with afterburner before, but everything was fine and I did not change any setting or overclocking when it started one day. Any help at all to diagnose this problem would be greatly appreciated. Also, any recommended anti-virus programs (preferably free) would also be appreciated.

https://imgur.com/a/3DmrX5x

View: https://imgur.com/a/3DmrX5x

 

[Avro Arrow]

I used Avast for a long time and I used AVG before that. I also use Spybot Search & Destroy's immunization feature for my browsers.

The most important thing for avoiding malware is to never install anything that is offered to you, especially those stupid "toolbars".

 

[Darkbreeze]

If you have been hit with any kind of virus or malware, and you had problems, and you even SUSPECT that you might STILL be having problems due to it, then doing a clean install of Windows (Not a reset, refresh or restore, a CLEAN install) is really the only adequate solution.

You can TRY a second opinion scanner like those mentioned in my brief guide, but honestly, once infected, if it's not simply a basic nuisance type infection, it can be nearly impossible to get rid of it or be sure it's not hidden in multiple sections somewhere.

How To - How to protect from and remove virus, malware and rootkit infections for the layman

Below you will find not a highly technical How-To, as there are plenty of those across the web, but instead an easily referenced resource for less technically astute members or visitors who simply want easy provision of resources related to the discovery and removal of infections in a variety of...

forums.tomshardware.com

Personally I wouldn't even mess around. Hopefully you have everything of importance backed up to another location that was NOT connected to the system while you were infected, otherwise any data on that drive is ALSO going to be very suspect. I'd simply do a clean install and if you have stuff that isn't backed up elsewhere, you can do so before doing this, but you need to thoroughly scan any personal documents, files, folders, music, movies, etc. that you take from the infected drive, before you reconnect it to the now clean installed Windows machine otherwise you may just be putting whatever was there, right back again.

While this is for Windows 10, it's really only the beginning part up to where you click "Next" on where to install Windows TO, that really matters. It's important to disconnect all drives except the drive Windows is going on and whatever drive you are installing from (Generally a USB flash drive) and then delete ALL of the existing partitions on the drive Windows is going on, then install to the unpartitioned and unformatted drive space. Windows will create any necessary partitions and perform any required formatting automatically. That part has been the same since basically Windows 8.1.

The rest of the guide should be relatively similar but there will be a few screens that are different, mostly because it's been a while since I created that clean install guide but also because there are some minor differences in the Windows 11 installer but they are few and easily worked through by simply following your own preferences.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Zerk2012]

I would agree full wipe.