[SOLVED] PC dropped in performance drastically overnight. (Only in games)

[Robert Jablonski]

My computer randomly dropped in performance overnight in games. I turned it off the night before as normal, and when I turned it on the next day, everything was fine, until I went into a game and performance was just shockingly low. At first I thought it was the game, however I checked other games and it was the same exact issue repeated.

I then realised that the performance drop is very abstract. In games it would say I'd be getting decent frames (60 and above) however it felt extremely sluggish, this isn't to say the frames were fine as there was an obvious FPS hit, but even when there were moments my framerate looked fine stat wise, it still felt so, so awkward. Even more weirdly my PC itself ran fine, games loaded pretty much just as quick as they normally would, browsing the web was pretty much the same as before, it's just in-game performance that took a major hit.

I then downloaded MSI Afterburner as I heard it's got a FPS graph and upon enabling it, the framerate and frametime were very inconsistent.


Framerate and frametime stats from games I know I can run well.

League of Legends

Even on high-ish framerate the game still felt extremely janky and awkward, however the fps is still constantly jumping from 80 to 40 to even low 20s back up to 80s etc.

Mirror's Edge 2009

Just ran awfully from the start. Frametime looks like polygraph test having a stroke.

Deus Ex GOTY

Pretty shocked when I launched this and saw the framerate, considering I played through this before on the same exact PC no problems.
However the game is old, so take it with a grain of salt.

Fallout: New Vegas

This shows an issue I was trying to screenshot with AC: Black Flag, this was me not moving the mouse, and there are moments of the game running well, and then dropping into a frenzy.

---

Some games did, run well however, I tried 2, 2D games Factorio and Stardew Valley and they ran well except for a stutter every few seconds, however it was playable.

I suspect it might be the PSU as I have had this very strange on and off issue (pardon the pun) with my computer where it restarted randomly. So I wouldn't be surprised if it's the PSU causing trouble, however I have no spare PSU to test, and I have no idea how to go about testing a faulty PSU.


Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
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Things I've tried to fix it:

• Uninstall and update graphics drivers
• Update Windows
• Virus Scan (Malwarebytes)
• Restart countless times
• Monitor the temps, they're also fine for both GPU and CPU

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Specs:
GTX 1050TI 4GB
AMD 4300FX
8GB RAM
MSI 760GM - P23 (FX) (Motherboard)
PSU -Unknown- I will take it out the PC case if it needs to be checked Cooler Master Model No RS-500-ACAB-B1 500W

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

try using DDU in safe mode to remove all graphics related files then reinstall the latest package from Nvidia.
sometimes using the Nvidia\Windows uninstaller leaves vital system files behind that could possibly be corrupted.

also test your RAM sticks & DIMM slots.
try each stick separately in each DIMM slot and test if they are functioning properly.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's the PSU causing trouble, however I have no spare PSU to test, and I have no idea how to go about testing a faulty PSU.

to ensure you have proper wattage for your system & how reliable the existing unit is,
the make & model needs to be determined.

the easiest way to test if one has malfunctioned is to just swap it out with a known functioning unit.
try to get a friend, co-worker, family member, etc to offer theirs.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

try using DDU in safe mode to remove all graphics related files then reinstall the latest package from Nvidia.
sometimes using the Nvidia\Windows uninstaller leaves vital system files behind that could possibly be corrupted.

also test your RAM sticks & DIMM slots.
try each stick separately in each DIMM slot and test if they are functioning properly.

to ensure you have proper wattage for your system & how reliable the existing unit is,
the make & model needs to be determined.

the easiest way to test if one has malfunctioned is to just swap it out with a known functioning unit.
try to get a friend, co-worker, family member, etc to offer theirs.

I have used the DDU to uninstall my Nvidia drivers and folder yesterday, and it didn't change anything. I'll try to test the different RAM slot, however I do have only 1 RAM stick as my pc is pre-build (Yeah yeah, i know). If that doesn't make a difference, I'll go and remove my PSU to check make and model, it's just a bit painful cause the pc case is weird, and PSU label is facing the floor.

 

[lordmogul]

I would check the temps, if anything is throttling and maybe do some benchmarks.
If you get way lower scores than your hardware should, you can rule out any accidental change in game settings. (for example most FX-4300 + 1050 Ti setups get around around 2300-2500 in Time Spy. You should get something close) The benefit here is that the sequence is repeatable and there is a big database of results.
The New Vegas graph looks interesting. It seems the game stays at 60 fps for about half the time shown, then something happens, and then crashes down into random jumps.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

try using DDU in safe mode to remove all graphics related files then reinstall the latest package from Nvidia.
sometimes using the Nvidia\Windows uninstaller leaves vital system files behind that could possibly be corrupted.

also test your RAM sticks & DIMM slots.
try each stick separately in each DIMM slot and test if they are functioning properly.

to ensure you have proper wattage for your system & how reliable the existing unit is,
the make & model needs to be determined.

the easiest way to test if one has malfunctioned is to just swap it out with a known functioning unit.
try to get a friend, co-worker, family member, etc to offer theirs.

I switched RAM slots, no difference, and the PSU model is Cooler Master Model No RS-500-ACAB-B1 500W.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

I would check the temps, if anything is throttling and maybe do some benchmarks.
If you get way lower scores than your hardware should, you can rule out any accidental change in game settings. (for example most FX-4300 + 1050 Ti setups get around around 2300-2500 in Time Spy. You should get something close) The benefit here is that the sequence is repeatable and there is a big database of results.
The New Vegas graph looks interesting. It seems the game stays at 60 fps for about half the time shown, then something happens, and then crashes down into random jumps.

I did monitor the temps yesterday and it all seemed fine, but I'll try again just to make sure. Every game it seems reacts differently, some are just unplayable and some feel like theres a strain holding over it and letting go for a brief moment (few seconds). Before going back to stuttering and general low fps, like seen in New Vegas and what I saw in Black Flag.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

I would check the temps, if anything is throttling and maybe do some benchmarks.
If you get way lower scores than your hardware should, you can rule out any accidental change in game settings. (for example most FX-4300 + 1050 Ti setups get around around 2300-2500 in Time Spy. You should get something close) The benefit here is that the sequence is repeatable and there is a big database of results.
The New Vegas graph looks interesting. It seems the game stays at 60 fps for about half the time shown, then something happens, and then crashes down into random jumps.

I went and downloaded the Time Spy benchmark demo and these are the results below, I've no idea if those 400 points below average really show my problem, as I've no idea what benchmark scores mean. I'm assuming the average is people with the same setup, rather than a global average.

UPDATE, After looking at the results more thoroughly I realised that my CPU underperformed greatly, (If I understand the scores.) Most average CPU Score was around 1400, but mine sat at a low 700.

My Results: Results
Random Average : Results
I made sure that the clock speeds were similar when comparing, but my clock speed rather than being 3.8ghz, was at a 3.4ghz, which I haven't underclocked?
Does this mean my CPU is at fault, or that PSU could be underdelivering? I could order some thermal paste, and clean the PC however as I said the temps when I'm playing are fine. Could it be the temps seem fine because the CPU underclocks itself under heavy load? Completely puzzled.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

I decided to clean my PC components, cleaned CPU, applying thermal paste, and I even did it to my GPU for good measure, whilst CPU temp has dropped, the GPU is basically the same at 50c idle and 60c+ gaming, which I hear if very common for single fan GPU cards (As mine is).

I'm deciding maybe to just do a clean install of Windows, deleting my files, and apps.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

have you checked your Windows Power Plan settings?
Windows seems to have a random habit of changing which plan is enabled and even changing some of the attributes inside it's default plans.
a few instances i've even had to create a new plan to properly optimize the system.
one simple solution that sometimes gets overlooked.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

have you checked your Windows Power Plan settings?
Windows seems to have a random habit of changing which plan is enabled and even changing some of the attributes inside it's default plans.
a few instances i've even had to create a new plan to properly optimize the system.
one simple solution that sometimes gets overlooked.

Sorry for the late reply. Checked and its on High Performance, nothing seems different.
However now my PC is restarting itself more constantly. It always had this issue of having these episodes of random restarts, it would restart quite frequently for week or two and then stop for a while or restart 4 times in one day and then stop. Basically very arbitrary. I've no idea if this is related as well to the low game performance issue but it has started to restart it self more as the issue actually started occurring.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

Update: I took out out my current HDD and put in this old one from a spare PC I had lying about which had Windows 7 32bit on. Anyway--- I downloaded the latest drivers for my graphics card on it, which were from 2018 and downloaded a game, launched it and.... the issue was no longer there, which I guess confirms that the issue is related to my hard drive in some way. However the restarting is constantly happening meaning its unrelated to my performance drop.

https://ibb.co/J3WZs5g -- Screenshot of FPS graph in-game. Shows the frametime and fps stable and not jumping up and down like before.

Could the performance drop be due to some corrupted windows files? I tried to reroll the updates and drivers but it didn't help, however I might try it again just in case. Worst comes to worst I'll just do a clean reinstall of windows on the hard drive.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

Could the performance drop be due to some corrupted windows files?

actually happens quite a bit.
sometimes uninstalling some Windows updates or restoring back to a previous period can solve these issues.
but many times it seems only a drive wipe & fresh OS reinstall seems to do the trick.

you can also run disk checks on the other disk to check if the drive itself is deteriorating and causing performance issues.

 

[Robert Jablonski]

I reset my HDD and happy to report the jumping fps issue seems to be gone, however I wasn't able to pinpoint to what it was exactly that was causing it.