Question i5-8600k slowing down for no reason?

May 20, 2019
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Hey all,

I run a 8600k with Gigabyte Windforce GTX 970, MSI Z370 Gaming Plus, 16 GB RAM 3000MHZ, EVGA Supernova G2 750W, m.2 ssd samsung evo 970 pro, and 2 normal WD Blue Sata drives. My water cooler is CM MasterLiquid ML240. I am running dual monitor, one AOG 1440p 144hz screen and a normal 1080p 60hz screen.

I have been having this issue for a while now and I have tried absolutely everything to fix it, but to no avail.

CPU demanding games, such as BF5 - Apex Legends - MORDHAU (in which the issue is constant and the game absolutely unplayble) - even a bit on GTA V online have been having random sudden drops from anywhere from 30 seconds to 5 minutes straight. In this time my CPU usage drops from 40-60% to 10-15% and my FPS to 5 making the game and also the PC (if I tab out) unusable. The thing that made it most weird was only when playing GTA V online and I had that issue, if I had it on windowed mode and I alt tab and back in, the issue is gone. It is a sort of a fix I guess. What makes me absolutely certain that this is not a GPU issue is that Ive dropped the graphics settings to absolute garbage and even went as low as displaying the games on 1200x800 to still have the same issue. In MORDHAU which is the one I ve been having the most serious issue, game is playing perfectly on 70-80 fps for like 5 minutes, then 2 minutes of 5 fps, then back to normal. I have tried absolutely everything. Swapped game from hdd to m.2 ssd, restored default BIOS settings and disable turbo boost to get stock clock (3.6x), scanned for malware and viruses, priorities set on high on Task manager and Geforce Control panel, power plan on high performance, I cleaned and reinstalled drivers, removed XBOX apps (gamebar or whatever is said to create problems), installed new drivers for mobo, flashed bios and even formatted pc to only have the very same issue again and again after 10 days of trying. Ran all stress tests that I know of for CPU - Prime 95, AIDA64, HeavyLoad, Intel XTU and ABSOLUTELY NO ISSUES on those whatsoever. HwInfo does not show any throttling or any temp breaches, in fact the CPU is at 55-60C every time it randomly decides to drop to 10% usage. The MOS sensor on HWinfo does not show high temps on my VRMs, though I do not know if my motherboard has such a sensor (sometimes it is not supported as I have heard). So what I did is open the case tempered glass, turn all case fans blowing towards my VRMs (they were pushing air out before) and have an air condition unit which is on top of my PC blow cold air at the same time while trying MORDHAU. Still the same - CPU usage dropped. Even if that did not work, I do not think VRMs can overheat that fast as the issue has appeared multiple times the moment I enter the game server from a previously shut down PC. The only thing I have not tried is swapping out parts as that is impossible, I have no friends with similar speccs from whom I can borrow a mobo or a CPU chip.

I am adding 3 screenshots of the issue as it happens from HwInfo and XTU (different occasions).


https://puu.sh/DuYgs/152f6bdb7d.png
https://puu.sh/DuWSk/06d5929601.png
https://puu.sh/Du1Vd/769aa25861.png


The issue only appears on the CPU heavy games mentioned above as in that time period I have also tried PUBG, Fortnite, WoW, Tera, FF 14, Witcher 3, Divinity, Civ 6, NBA 2K19 and lots more other games that play perfect and generally my PC is running otherwise perfectly with 0 other issues whatsoever.

Everything in my PC is not even 2 years old (except GPU which is from 2015) and the only thing on the top of my head that could perhaps be faulty is the IO, as it sometimes makes gurgling sounds which I ve been told is mainly due to air bubbles in the hose. I do not want to start replacing parts randomly only to find the issue still persists as I had spent a substantial amount 1 and a half year ago on this rig.

Does anyone have any idea on what could cause this issue? Is it possible my sub-par GPU (for 1440p) could be causing those issues or be faulty? Or should I just give up and start replacing part after part? I do not know anyhmore....

Would appreciate any help
 
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Does your motherboard perhaps limit power consumption to just 100%, effectively limiting your CPU to it's 91 watt TDP? (you did not address clock speeds, although normally it would require overclocking to bust the official TDP)

If you can find some power limit settings, try 110% max.....vice 100%...
 
May 20, 2019
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Hey, thanks for the reply. Previous to the BIOS flash I had increased the wattage to 150W from 90 that it was on default. I guess since I restored to factory settings and flashed BIOS it should be back at 90. However, would this be an issue with the clock at 3.6 ghz and disabled turbo? Hwinfo and XTU also do not mention any throttlingg because of power limit. The only time the notification for power limit turned on was when running prime95 for 30 mins and even then throttling was from 100% cpu usage to 95% for 5 seconds.

I will try nonetheless, but I keep my hopes low.

Thank you again.
 
May 20, 2019
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You bought an 8600K, but are intentionally disabling it's ability to turbo/function normally?

Certainly, even at full factory specs, normal power limits are not normally breached easily...


No. I disabled turbo boost, just in case it helped with the issue at hand as it would make the CPU run faster and thus create higher temps. It did not.