Potential bottleneck/FPS issues in games

[BlackSirrah239]

Hello,
I am currently running a custom built computer that I made late last year (probably early december) and was running pretty damn well until about a week ago. I honestly have no clue why, but game performance seems to have dropped rapidly and I cannot find the cause of it. I have been monitoring performance in games by using a second monitor and 2 programs (GPU-Z and Aida64) to monitor GPU and CPU usage during games. With this, I have a broad overview of what is being used, for example:

Tomb Raider (Max settings, old fps: 40-60, current fps: 11-16) - ranging between 60-99% GPU load and 20-30% (GPU) memory load, and between 90-95% CPU usage.
World of Warcraft (Max settings, old fps: 55-60, current: 12-20) - ranging between 15-25% GPU load and 5-10% (GPU) memory load, and between 50-65% CPU usage.
Spin Tires (Max settings, old fps: N/A, current: 25-35) - ranging between
30-40% GPU load and 10-15% (GPU) memory load, and between 60-70% CPU usage.

Although it is only a few games, it shows a fairly drastic difference and to me doesn't really show any consistencies. Here are my specs & dxdiag:
http://pastebin.com/NgkP4V51

GPU: nVidia GTX 760 2GB (Gainward)
CPU: Intel i5 4460 @ 3.2GHz
RAM: Kingston HyperX Fury 16GB (2x8GB) @ 1600MHz
Mobo: Asrock B85M-HDS

Does anyone have any ideas as to what could of happened and/or potential fixes? I am happy to help provide as much information as I can if I forgot anything.

EDIT: I forgot to add that these FPS averages ARE consistent over all graphic settings (e.g low, medium, etc) in games tested. For example, if I get 20 FPS on high I may get 20-30 FPS on minimum graphics.
EDIT2: I should also add I did some benchmarking tests on both Windows and Linux and both came up with similar results, so I do not believe it is cluttered OS or similar that is causing the issues as my Linux is a pretty fresh install.

Thanks,
BlackSirrah239

 

[sz0ty0l4]

You should test your memory modules, it could be a faulty memory. download memtest or something and try to test it.
it could also be an overheating issue. are your fans working properly? did oyu clean out the dust from your pc? what temperatures you have on gpu/cpu?

 

[BlackSirrah239]

You should test your memory modules, it could be a faulty memory. download memtest or something and try to test it.
it could also be an overheating issue. are your fans working properly? did oyu clean out the dust from your pc? what temperatures you have on gpu/cpu?

Hello,
Another thing I forgot to mention was I did upgrade my RAM after this started happening. I upgraded from a set of 2x4GB RAM (linked) to my current 2x8GB RAM. I did run a memtest on these RAM modules when I got them and they did not come up with any errors, and the issues persisted. As to the fans, I do not believe I am having any issues with these. My computer stays moderately quiet ('silent' fans) and I dont think I have seen the temperatures go above 60 degrees Celsius. Anyway, here is a screenshot that includes my second monitor with SpeedFan, Aida64 and GPU-Z while running WoW (with 16FPS).

 

[BlackSirrah239]

Good news is I can eliminate the GPU as a physical component causing this as I finally got my hands on another GPU (GTX 750) and it had the same results as the 760.

Anyone else got possible solutions? I have been trying for over a month now and still haven't worked anything out.

 

[coozie7]

Sudden drops are often a symptom of virus or malware infections.

 

[BlackSirrah239]

Sudden drops are often a symptom of virus or malware infections.

That's what I first thought, but since this happened almost a month ago and there are no threat warnings (real-time protection), I don't believe this to be the case. I have done multiple full system scans, quick scans and even a boot-time scan, all using Avast!

 

[coozie7]

Software like Avast! does well at finding virus infections, but you'll need something like Malwarebytes to find and kill malware, I'm not saying it is the cause, but these infections are one of the most common reasons why a system suddenly slows down.
That and overheating of either the CPU or graphics card.

 

[BlackSirrah239]

Software like Avast! does well at finding virus infections, but you'll need something like Malwarebytes to find and kill malware, I'm not saying it is the cause, but these infections are one of the most common reasons why a system suddenly slows down.
That and overheating of either the CPU or graphics card.

Funny enough, when I saw your first post I downloaded Malwarebytes (This is my second preference to Avast for antivirus, on my other 2 computers I use both simultaneously) and did a 'Threat Scan'. As this came up with nothing, I am now running a full scan of C: and D:.

As for overheating, I did post a screenshot of the temperature during gameplay of my PC components and none of these were stupid high (According to EXPERTool, the fans should of been running at about 65% at 51C) so I don't believe that this would be the case.

 

[BlackSirrah239]

It appears to be fixed after I updated from Windows 7 to Windows 8.1. I don't know if broke something in the OS itself (although sfc /scannow fixed anything it found and didn't change performance) or if there was something on my C drive that I couldn't account for that was slowing it down. Updating to 8.1 wiped my C drive (primary OS drive; programs and pretty much everything else was on D drive including AppData and temp) and obviously updated the OS files, so either of these could of been the fix. Thanks to those who offered their help and it appears to be working at its original speeds now (yay for 60FPS)!