Permanent FPS drop in ALL types of programs & browsers.

[Shurfe]

I have a legacy customized desktop; Intel 2 Quad CPU Q9550 2.83GHz , 4GB RAM, ATI Radeon HD 4770 , Windows 10 64bit.

I used to have my computer working pretty much okay, running games on Low~medium settings on graphics, Really fine working, sat on 40~100 fps on various games (Warframe, BF3, LoL, etc.)
Until about a week ago, My desktop has FPS dropped down to 1~20 in all games, including programs such as Discord, Steam, Apple music, Heck even browsers, Im even sitting on a solid 5 fps on Cookie clicker (for the sake of the test).

I have tried running a pc virus scan, and a full physical clean-up of the fans (took out about 10grams of dust out of the fans because i thought that is what causing a possible overheat that chains into major FPS drops.)
Tried to find a way to re-install the drivers of the GPU, but couldn't find any from AMD's site.

I am completely clueless right now,
(Buying any new equipment is not an option at the moment, unfortunately.)

 

[Obakasama]

I would add a malware scan with something like MalwareBytes as well if you haven't just to be on the safe side.

AMD classes the HD 4770 as legacy. There aren't any further drivers for it beyond what they already have for it. AMD's page: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Driver-Support-for-AMD-Radeon%E2%84%A2-HD-4000%2c-HD-3000%2c-HD-2000-and-older-Series.aspx

Download a software monitor to check on temperatures. It's the one thing I don't see eliminated in your post. It's also the main starting point when there are performance drops.

 

[Shurfe]

I would add a malware scan with something like MalwareBytes as well if you haven't just to be on the safe side.

AMD classes the HD 4770 as legacy. There aren't any further drivers for it beyond what they already have for it. AMD's page: http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/Driver-Support-for-AMD-Radeon%E2%84%A2-HD-4000%2c-HD-3000%2c-HD-2000-and-older-Series.aspx

Download a software monitor to check on temperatures. It's the one thing I don't see eliminated in your post. It's also the main starting point when there are performance drops.

I have downloaded a software monitor and saw that my CPU is standing still at 55~60 C degrees when no other programs are active, But when i activate a game for example, it jumps to 100 degrees and the load percentages jump to 100% from 5~10%.

I have downloaded as well the MalwareBytes, scanned, and removed all threats, after a re-boot, i attempted to check any fps problems on browsers first, youtube seem to work just fine now, but games will continue having the major FPS issue.

I tried downloading GPU drivers from AMD's site, all it tells me is this;
"Driver support for these products under Windows® 8.1 and Windows® 10 is only available via Windows Update. Please enable Windows Update to allow it to automatically detect and install display driver version"
*My Windows Update is always enabled* , Is it actually possible to manually re-install legacy GPU drivers on Win' 10?

 

[Obakasama]

Depending on the accuracy of the software monitor it may be inaccurate but 71 deg C is as far as you'd want to go with the Q9550. As such it sounds like it's overheating. I would suggest you go through the task of cleaning out the PC case and fans of dust as a starting point and work towards reseating the CPU cooler to see if it helps (it's possible the thermal paste may have dried over the years or lost effectiveness).

You'd need new thermal paste, isopropyl alcohol and lint-free cloth. Personally I would start the PC before switching it off, disconnecting from mains and then remove the cooler. Clean the old thermal paste off with the isopropyl alcohol from the CPU (you'll likely have to remove it from its socket first) and the cooler. Use a pea-sized blob amount of thermal paste on the centre of the CPU and then reinstall the cooler (the paste should spread evenly over the CPU). Tighten the screws and you should be good to go. Should also be tutorial on Youtube if you need a visual aid.

There should be a link to the last driver AMD released on that page I linked, but it is for Windows 8.1 I believe (which should be compatible with Windows 10). As such I would suggest as one possible course of action to check again to see if it allows you download it. (It may be easier to manually search through the options rather than auto-detect?) As long as it's certified it should install without issue (but there are ways around it if it isn't).

You may also try updating via Device Manager to see if that can provide a solution on installation. (Oddly, Steam did this update for me one time when I couldn't install manually. Never figured out why...)

 

[thebudman420]

When you cleaned the fans out of your processor did you take the fan off and blow the dust in the heatsinc out? On my computer the heatsinc fins get clogged up and if i don't do that every several months my processor will be running hot hot hot. You can't blow it out good with the fans attached. I usually blow out the fans and use qtips on both sides of every blade. Soon as i blow that sinc out my temps fall dramatically like a 15 / 20 c difference. I live on a dirt road though. Did anything change in your operating system recently? Maybe it is a windows update affecting it. Does windows 10 still force updates? Remove the offending update or is that even an option with windows 10? I wont use an os like that. Did you install any new programs that may be conflicting somehow? Wouldn’t you get better fps on win 7 than 10 or are you playing directx 12 games? Something changed either a program or an update or driver. Or the cpu / gpu running to hot is affecting it. If taking the fan off the sinc and blowing it out good don't drop the temp redo the thermal paste. Do you have restore points enabled and have you tried restoring to a time when it was running normal? If your processor has been running to hot for to long it could of done damage to it so the processor wont run optimally. It must of been running way hot as you said that was the temp after you blew it out.

 

[Shurfe]

I have cleaned and put thermal paste, the CPU overheat is gone but FPS issue is still on. (45C off-gaming, 55~60C on-gaming)
I have uninstalled the graphics card drivers and restarted the pc so it has re-installed the graphics card's drivers.
The Permanent FPS drop is still up however, Thanks in advance.

 

[Obakasama]

Right. We're moving in the right direction then. Have you got any monitoring software which can record or allow you see what your CPU is doing while you are playing games? I'm thinking something along the lines of MSI Afterburner which has a lot of monitoring options. This is to check how your PC components are being used. I would look at things such as CPU usage, CPU frequency, similarly for the graphics card, RAM usage and perhaps even page file usage.

Do you recall any particular changes to the PC when the drops happened? (Temperature is no longer a factor, and hopefully no lasting damage was done.) Any new software or even updates you're aware of?

Also worth checking is seeing what processes are running in the background. I would use Task Manager as a start to seeing if there's anything going on, especially under CPU usage.

 

[Shurfe]

Right. We're moving in the right direction then. Have you got any monitoring software which can record or allow you see what your CPU is doing while you are playing games? I'm thinking something along the lines of MSI Afterburner which has a lot of monitoring options. This is to check how your PC components are being used. I would look at things such as CPU usage, CPU frequency, similarly for the graphics card, RAM usage and perhaps even page file usage.

Do you recall any particular changes to the PC when the drops happened? (Temperature is no longer a factor, and hopefully no lasting damage was done.) Any new software or even updates you're aware of?

Also worth checking is seeing what processes are running in the background. I would use Task Manager as a start to seeing if there's anything going on, especially under CPU usage.

There were no particular changes to the pc, nothing that i can remember of. it's like it happend by itself.
When i open task manager to see what's going on under CPU, a few programs jump and take over the "first place" of what takes the most space in the CPU. such as a thing called "System interrupts" , And "Service host : Local System" (and it's similar type of programs under the name "Service host")

I have ran CCleaner to clean the registry of Windows, no improvment in terms of FPS.

 

[Obakasama]

So that would eliminate background processes and other such things hampering CPU usage. I assume RAM and disc usage were fine in Task Manager as well?

Have you had the chance to check MSI Afterburner as suggested? This would provide us most insight into how your PC is performing in the games themselves.

 

[Shurfe]

So that would eliminate background processes and other such things hampering CPU usage. I assume RAM and disc usage were fine in Task Manager as well?

Have you had the chance to check MSI Afterburner as suggested? This would provide us most insight into how your PC is performing in the games themselves.

Alright, using the MSI Afterburner ,i noticed that even without playing any games i still have those almost un-noticeable FPS issues on my computer, as seen on the following snapshot i took of the CPU usage using MSI afterburner; https://i.gyazo.com/5affeb193b6b30eae57849e1a204ec47.png

The next snapshot was taken during gameplay;
https://i.gyazo.com/634ce80748299e4b3d06c7f51c1173b9.png

Maybe the problem is with the CPU after all? What are those "Service Host" jumping to the top of CPU usage on task manager? "System Interrupts" is bouncing to the top as well sometimes (As well as "Systems")

 

[Obakasama]

A lot of those processes are Windows processes. Whether those are actually problematic depends on their usage as shown in Task Manager. When you mentioned it previously it didn't sound as if they were problematic, but yes, they do bounce around if Task Manager is ordering them by percentage. If you aren't running any particular software (basically the PC is idle) and the various usage labels in Task Manager are low then I don't think they are of concern.

From what I can see, CPU usage does reach 100% and then there are drops. From that alone I can't tell if there's anything behind those drops. It's why other components are monitored as well and settings like frequency. Do you recall where they correspond to in-game? If you haven't it is worthwhile setting up the OSD (on-screen display) for when you are playing the game; you'd be able to see changes in real time as you play. I personally choose the following to observe: power, GPU temperature, GPU usage, memory usage, framerate, frametime, CPU1 temperature, CPU usage, RAM usage and pagefile usage. These are the things typically associated with performance for me. They all form part of the complete picture of what is going on when these performance dips occur. If there's a pattern then there's a chance of figuring out a solution. (And hopefully others may have ideas as well.)

There is the possibility of the previous overheating damaging the CPU, but they should be fairly robust. In most cases the CPU should have safeguards to prevent damage like throttling or underclocking. Personally I don't want to draw that conclusion just yet.

 

[Shurfe]

A lot of those processes are Windows processes. Whether those are actually problematic depends on their usage as shown in Task Manager. When you mentioned it previously it didn't sound as if they were problematic, but yes, they do bounce around if Task Manager is ordering them by percentage. If you aren't running any particular software (basically the PC is idle) and the various usage labels in Task Manager are low then I don't think they are of concern.

From what I can see, CPU usage does reach 100% and then there are drops. From that alone I can't tell if there's anything behind those drops. It's why other components are monitored as well and settings like frequency. Do you recall where they correspond to in-game? If you haven't it is worthwhile setting up the OSD (on-screen display) for when you are playing the game; you'd be able to see changes in real time as you play. I personally choose the following to observe: power, GPU temperature, GPU usage, memory usage, framerate, frametime, CPU1 temperature, CPU usage, RAM usage and pagefile usage. These are the things typically associated with performance for me. They all form part of the complete picture of what is going on when these performance dips occur. If there's a pattern then there's a chance of figuring out a solution. (And hopefully others may have ideas as well.)

There is the possibility of the previous overheating damaging the CPU, but they should be fairly robust. In most cases the CPU should have safeguards to prevent damage like throttling or underclocking. Personally I don't want to draw that conclusion just yet.

So i began playing a game of LoL just to monitor over the hardware during gameplay, took a snapshot of it;
https://i.gyazo.com/f17a6d2d9e24bd17fc21913f6267a100.png
(The 'pagefile usage' sat on a solid 2090MB)
Looks like the CPU usage is the main issue here, maybe after all?

 

[Obakasama]

One major dip in CPU usage which doesn't seem to be supported by other parts of that reading. We do know in some games the CPU is pushed to its limits, hence the 100% usage readings. Tricky. Although the CPU is running at 100% the reason I'm not blaming it is because of your stated previous performance. The comparative performance doesn't make sense leading me to believe there's something else at play here but I can't identify it.

On current information there are only a few things left that I am of which I would check for anomalies.

(1) CPU frequency. For whatever reason the CPU has entered a permanent under utilised state. Fix is to get it out of that state which could be BIOS settings (would be odd if you haven't touched BIOS settings). Perhaps even try the high performance settings in Windows (long shot).

(2) GPU usage. Going back to the drivers aspect you mentioned earlier. (Did you manage to update the drivers in the end?) There's a possibility this is being under utilised effecting framerates. Maybe check power cables just in case though this seems unlikely. Have yet to mention the obligatory clean installation of drivers (possible driver corruption).

(3) PSU. Complete shot in the dark but sometimes the PSU can be a factor. Whether because it can't supply the necessary power to components or because it's starting to show signs of deterioration. I would suggest using a software monitor, eg. HWMonitor, to have a sample reading. It won't be as accurate as using proper electrical equipment to test, but hopefully will at least indicate a really poor PSU's electrical supply to the PC.

(4) Windows updates. They are known to do odd things at times.

I'm sure I'm missing something else, but I'm pretty much at the limit of how I can help unfortunately.

 

[Shurfe]

One major dip in CPU usage which doesn't seem to be supported by other parts of that reading. We do know in some games the CPU is pushed to its limits, hence the 100% usage readings. Tricky. Although the CPU is running at 100% the reason I'm not blaming it is because of your stated previous performance. The comparative performance doesn't make sense leading me to believe there's something else at play here but I can't identify it.

On current information there are only a few things left that I am of which I would check for anomalies.

(1) CPU frequency. For whatever reason the CPU has entered a permanent under utilised state. Fix is to get it out of that state which could be BIOS settings (would be odd if you haven't touched BIOS settings). Perhaps even try the high performance settings in Windows (long shot).

(2) GPU usage. Going back to the drivers aspect you mentioned earlier. (Did you manage to update the drivers in the end?) There's a possibility this is being under utilised effecting framerates. Maybe check power cables just in case though this seems unlikely. Have yet to mention the obligatory clean installation of drivers (possible driver corruption).

(3) PSU. Complete shot in the dark but sometimes the PSU can be a factor. Whether because it can't supply the necessary power to components or because it's starting to show signs of deterioration. I would suggest using a software monitor, eg. HWMonitor, to have a sample reading. It won't be as accurate as using proper electrical equipment to test, but hopefully will at least indicate a really poor PSU's electrical supply to the PC.

(4) Windows updates. They are known to do odd things at times.

I'm sure I'm missing something else, but I'm pretty much at the limit of how I can help unfortunately.

1) By BIOS, You are reffering to Overclocking among other things?, If so, I wasn't actually paying attention the BIOS earlier to be completely honest. I have just overclocked the CPU to maximum of 2.50GHz, The computer runs slightly faster, but gets quite warmer as result (by 3~4 degrees, stil 46~47C on Idle).

2) No i didn't actually get to update the drivers since it will always tell me that the drivers are up-to-date. I have tried Uninstalling the GPU drivers and then re-booting the machine, The drivers seem to be re-installed, but i am still not completely sure that the drivers were actually uninstalled and re-installed automatically by the system. (Did it just simply roll-back?)
I will re-check the GPU's power cables however

3) I have changed the PSU once in the last two years, it's the newest component in the machine,highly doubt that something is actually wrong with it, but i will check anyways, just in case.

4) How can i check if one of the latest Windows Updates have influenced the performance of the computer?

 

[Obakasama]

BIOS: Not necessarily overclocking. Sometimes certain settings in BIOS will limit the clockspeed of the CPU so it doesn't perform as it should. There have been mentions of a button on the motherboard which can throttle the CPU (haven't seen a motherboard with such a button but the topic has come up). If you're already overclocking the CPU then clockspeed is ruled out as it should be running at that assigned clockspeed all the time. But is 2.5GHz a typo? The Q9550 should run at 2.83GHz at stock.

Drivers: Sounds ruled out. Also would expect certain issues if the driver was corrupted. Doesn't sound like the case.

PSU: If you have changed it recently then it does seem unlikely. Sometimes it can explain odd behaviour.

Windows update: I would check update history to see when the last one was. The thinking is as follows: On the one hand I would wonder if an update has messed up somewhere which affects the PC's performance (didn't install properly for example), and on the other an update could resolve certain problems (some graphics cards didn't work properly without the necessary update). It's a long shot as a solution.

The thing which I did forget in the previous post is for file checking. Checking game files' integrity and perhaps even Windows file system for corruption. Most games should have an option about checking integrity of the files. With Windows it uses a command prompt: https://appuals.com/how-to-run-sfc-scan-in-windows-10/

The last thing I can currently think of would be dependent on your disc drives. If they're mechanical see if it's worth defragging (I personally use Defraggler). A fragmented HDD will have some impact on performance but shouldn't be the cause of the drops you see.

Well... I suppose there is the clean boot option to see if any other software is playing up, but I would have expected it to have shown up when checking Task Manager.

 

[Shurfe]

BIOS: Not necessarily overclocking. Sometimes certain settings in BIOS will limit the clockspeed of the CPU so it doesn't perform as it should. There have been mentions of a button on the motherboard which can throttle the CPU (haven't seen a motherboard with such a button but the topic has come up). If you're already overclocking the CPU then clockspeed is ruled out as it should be running at that assigned clockspeed all the time. But is 2.5GHz a typo? The Q9550 should run at 2.83GHz at stock.

Drivers: Sounds ruled out. Also would expect certain issues if the driver was corrupted. Doesn't sound like the case.

PSU: If you have changed it recently then it does seem unlikely. Sometimes it can explain odd behaviour.

Windows update: I would check update history to see when the last one was. The thinking is as follows: On the one hand I would wonder if an update has messed up somewhere which affects the PC's performance (didn't install properly for example), and on the other an update could resolve certain problems (some graphics cards didn't work properly without the necessary update). It's a long shot as a solution.

The thing which I did forget in the previous post is for file checking. Checking game files' integrity and perhaps even Windows file system for corruption. Most games should have an option about checking integrity of the files. With Windows it uses a command prompt: https://appuals.com/how-to-run-sfc-scan-in-windows-10/

The last thing I can currently think of would be dependent on your disc drives. If they're mechanical see if it's worth defragging (I personally use Defraggler). A fragmented HDD will have some impact on performance but shouldn't be the cause of the drops you see.

Well... I suppose there is the clean boot option to see if any other software is playing up, but I would have expected it to have shown up when checking Task Manager.

BIOS : It was apparently on 2.00GHz before, overclocked to 2.50GHz, yet task manager says that the computer still runs on 2.00GHz

Windows Update: So i have checked latest updates, last one occured on 22th of February, something about Flash player, i deleted the update to see if system runs better. No improvement, so i re-installed.

I did check game files, Also the games did not update at all during that sudden time of the FPS drop, suddenly all games drop FPS at the same time? i don't think it's anything about the game files though.. And i did an SFC scan once before. Nothing.

How do i know if my disc drives are mechanical? What do you mean by that?

Clean boot... i think i'd rather keeping it for last.. as a last resort...

I'm just sitting here and thinking... maybe it's just because the computer itself is ancient. Time has no cure i guess.

 

[Obakasama]

CPU: This is starting to look like the issue then. As I mentioned previously, and even you yourself posted, the Q9550 should run at stock speeds of 2.83GHz. Yet you've had to 'overclock' it just to achieve 2.5 which is lower than its stock speed. Something is wrong there. I would want to suggest clearing CMOS (check manual) so BIOS is reset to default. At the very least the CPU is underperforming in accordance to spec. Whether it's a BIOS quirk or result of overheating I don't claim to know.

Flash: Shouldn't be source of the problem.

Game files: You don't necessarily have to update or do anything specifically for files to be corrupted in general. Checking the game files, which all services I've used provide, is a simple way of checking whether anything has corrupted.

Disc drives: Sounds like you didn't build this PC so can only assume prebuilt. Given the age of the CPU it's far more likely to be a mechanical hard drive. Many software monitors provide information on the PC including precise model of components (except for PSU); this can be used to check. With mechanical hard drives, data is physically read off platters. Over time, files can get scattered or fragmented making read times longer. While it won't be a source of severe underperformance, defragging the hard drive is considered basic PC maintenance. It helps to gather the related files together.

Clean boot: It's a safe thing and not a nuclear option (I consider reinstalling the operating system to be the nuclear option). All it does is disable all non-essential services when booting up and it doesn't damage the PC. It helps to troubleshoot whether another piece of software is causing problems with Windows.

While the PC is old, in and of itself, it is not an explanation for a sudden dip in performance. Actual damage is another matter and we had established overheating previously. The question remains whether this has damaged the CPU causing low performance in games. At this point though, CPU clockspeed is the source of the issue. Now we try to find a way of rectifying it if possible.

EDIT: researching around it may be worthwhile to check BIOS for the Intel Speedstep option. There are some cases in which it causes clockspeeds to drop.