Medium level gaming pc cant play games anymore

[xXThaiDyeXx]

Hi recently I had to help a friend who had a hardware problem so I let him borrow my motherboard with the cpu still in it and the power supply to troubleshoot what was preventing him from starting his pc up. Now I have all of my parts back and I put everything back in carefully, and everything was running fine except when I go to start up games likes Dota 2 and Arma 3 I get below 10 FPS even on the lowest settings possible. Usually I get constant 60FPS on ultra with dota and 30fps on Arma 3 on high, now they are completely unplayable. I ran task manager with the games on and the CPU/disk usage was around 20% across the board. I swapped out my GTX 980 with my old card RX 270x and still have the same problem. I ran CPU-Z to see if something was wrong with the CPU but everything looks fine, then proceeded to push in all the cables on my motherboard and they're in tight. Looking to see if it was a software problem I did an entire windows 10 reinstall and wiped everything on my drives, updated all of the drivers then proceeded to start up the games and still the problem persists. I'm thinking I probably have to get a new mobo, cpu, and power supply but I really don't want to drop the money to get new parts could someone help me troubleshoot the problem? Any solution helps

My specs:
Intel Core i5 4690K
EVGA GTX 980
B85M Gaming (MS-7823)
CORSAIR CX500 500W
Ballistix Sport 12gb DDR3-1600 UDIMM (3 sticks of 4gb)
SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250GB SSD
WD Blue 1TB HDD (WD10EZEX)
Windows 10 Home Edition (x64)

 

[Supahos]

I assume your monitor is plugged into your 980, not your motherboard? It needs to be in the 980 to begin with. That rig should have done much better than that before your issues as well

 

[xXThaiDyeXx]

I assume your monitor is plugged into your 980, not your motherboard? It needs to be in the 980 to begin with. That rig should have done much better than that before your issues as well

Yeah I'm using an HDMI cord and it's plugged into the 980, and it wasnt a really big problem but I noticed stuttering with my games on the max settings didnt know how to fix it and hated it so currently playing most games at med/high

 

[The Paladin]

what's your power supply make and model.

 

[Supahos]

Also consider updating your bios.as that board didn't natively offer full support for your CPU. The next thing I'd try is downloading MSI afterburner (actually try this first) and monitor CPU and GPU temps. What CPU cooler are you using? Did you remove it for the move? Might it have come loose?

 

[InvalidError]

Yup, double-check CPU core temperature, this does sound a lot like the CPU being stuck in thermal throttling.

 

[xXThaiDyeXx]

Also consider updating your bios.as that board didn't natively offer full support for your CPU. The next thing I'd try is downloading MSI afterburner (actually try this first) and monitor CPU and GPU temps. What CPU cooler are you using? Did you remove it for the move? Might it have come loose?

I am using the stock Intel fan and I did remove it when we switched it out. I ran the MSI afterburner GPU is at 30 degrees Celsius average. The CPU is constantly at 99 degrees Celsius is that bad?

 

[Supahos]

Yes that is your problem STOP using it and buy a new cooler.

 

[Supahos]

The paste is dry and when you removed it it stopped working properly. You could just buy new paste but you may as well buy a hyper Evo 212 of something cheap and better anyway as those chips run warm

 

[xXThaiDyeXx]

what's your power supply make and model.

I'm using the Corsair CX500

 

[xXThaiDyeXx]

The paste is dry and when you removed it it stopped working properly. You could just buy new paste but you may as well buy a hyper Evo 212 of something cheap and better anyway as those chips run warm

Okay I will go purchase a new CPU Fan and I'll update you once my old one is replaced. Thank you so much for the feedback, I would rather spend $25 than $500!

 

[Supahos]

For the two games you're playing that thing should comfortably pull 100+fps on max settings it's way above mid range for them.

 

[Supahos]

Take your CPU out and clean it with 80% isopropyl alcohol before installing the new CPU cooler.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I am using the stock Intel fan and I did remove it when we switched it out. I ran the MSI afterburner GPU is at 30 degrees Celsius average. The CPU is constantly at 99 degrees Celsius is that bad?

CPU cooler is not correctly installed.
When you removed it previously, you had to turn black push-pins, that hold cooler into place.
To reinstall cpu cooler, push-pins have to be turned back into previous position. If you don't do it, that results in bad contact between cpu and cooler.

This is common mistake people make, when reusing Intel coolers.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2231&page=7

 

[xXThaiDyeXx]

For the two games you're playing that thing should comfortably pull 100+fps on max settings it's way above mid range for them.

Could internet speed be the culprit? I am using the ASUS Wi-Fi adapter (PCE-AC56) and I don't know if it was the CPU or not but browsing the internet, file explorer and etc it gets a little stutter and freezes from time to time forcing me to end the application(before removing my parts), my gaming pc just doesn't feel smooth like my on gaming laptop where it does run Dota 2 100fps+ on max and browsing the web is flawless so it couldn't be my router.

 

[Supahos]

Anything above 85C and the CPU slows itself down to prevent dying. The fact it's at 99 tells me everything will run slow

 

[xXThaiDyeXx]

Yes that is your problem STOP using it and buy a new cooler.

So I applied some new thermal paste and used an old cpu fan from another pc and the games run normally! Thank you so much you are a life saver!

 

[Supahos]

Glad to help!

 

[InvalidError]

Could internet speed be the culprit?

The CPU being at 100C is a dead giveaway that the heatsink isn't installed properly and that the CPU is most likely thermal throttling to avoid/delay self-destruction. Under normal circumstances, Intel's CPUs hardly ever break 80C with the stock HSF at stock settings.

 

[xXThaiDyeXx]

Could internet speed be the culprit?

The CPU being at 100C is a dead giveaway that the heatsink isn't installed properly and that the CPU is most likely thermal throttling to avoid/delay self-destruction. Under normal circumstances, Intel's CPUs hardly ever break 80C with the stock HSF at stock settings.

Wow I did not know this, I'll be careful from now on! I broke the pins on the stock fan so one side wouldn't go in all the way but it was tight enough that I left it alone, thank you for your feedback I really appreciate it.