Question Periodic frame drops while gaming

[Itacool]

I've only experienced this during gaming. Every 5 minutes or so the game goes from a solid 60 FPS to about 20 FPS for about 20 seconds, which spreads the lag to the entire laptop (ASUS ROG G752VY), sometimes resulting in stuttering mouse, stuttering audio and just a very slow computer overall, until it all suddenly stops after about 20 to 30 seconds.
Specs:
Windows 10 64-bit
Intel Core i7 6700HQ @ 2.60GHz (goes up to 87 C temperature while gaming)
32 GB RAM
Nvidia GTX 980M

 

[CosmicDance]

What are your temperatures like during gaming as it could be thermal throttling if they are too high?

Andy

 

[Itacool]

What are your temperatures like during gaming as it could be thermal throttling if they are too high?

Andy

My CPU goes up to 94 while my GPU lingers at around 84. I noticed via MSI Afterburner graph that the intense frame drops occur once my CPU temperature hits at around 94. When that happens, it goes down to around 78 for the duration of the frame drops. I also notice that: all the CPU usages spike up, the CPU "clock"s all spike down FROM 3090 to 798, RAM usage also goes down and so does my GPU usage.

 

[CosmicDance]

Yes you are reaching the thermal throttling limits of both your CPU your GPU as well.
You might have a build up of dust inside your laptop causing this.

Andy

 

[Itacool]

Yes you are reaching the thermal throttling limits of both your CPU your GPU as well.
You might have a build up of dust inside your laptop causing this.

Andy

Yes, it was definitely a cooling problem. Ordered some compressed air and cleaned the fans, doesn't go over 80 now.

Also, is it normal that I can't get good FPS on some of my games even if both my CPU and GPU usage isn't at the max? It's funny because whenever I look upwards towards the sky, my FPS goes up by a ton. If I look down towards, like a town or something, my FPS drops, yet my specs meet the recommended requirements. Any ideas?