[SOLVED] Seems like my CPU is bottlenecking. What could be the reason?

[Grim43]

A few days ago after waking my PC from sleep, upon entering into anything gaming or video related, my CPU usage immediately shoots to 100% regardless of settings and my GPU usage doesn't go above 10%.

In games where I before held a stable frame-rate at 120 fps or higher (usually 144), I now struggle to hit even 70. I have no background programs running, my power settings are on high performance, my BIOS is updated, there were no recent Windows updates or Nvidia updates, my PC is clean from dust, and my temps are all normal. This problem literally started after playing a game, putting my PC to sleep for 1 hour, and using it again with no interference.

Setup:
i5-7600k
GTX 1070
ASRock Z270 PRO4.

 

[Karadjgne]

Reset. Sometimes windows services dont/wont re-run on waking from sleep/hibernation (if you have hibernation you can get rid of it, it's for laptop use) due to either uber low power states, timers etc. Many times just cleaning the pc using ccleaner from piriform.com (default settings) can help, as it'll reset cache files, drop temp files/folders etc that can be causing hangups.

 

[Grim43]

Reset. Sometimes windows services dont/wont re-run on waking from sleep/hibernation (if you have hibernation you can get rid of it, it's for laptop use) due to either uber low power states, timers etc. Many times just cleaning the pc using ccleaner from piriform.com (default settings) can help, as it'll reset cache files, drop temp files/folders etc that can be causing hangups.

I had already reset and cleaned with ccleaner. Neither showed any improvement.

 

[Karadjgne]

Check task manager, look for usage, ram usage, gpu usage etc, check processes/services tabs for anything that's using a high amount of cpu usage.

Take your normal settings and drop to low. Does fps really not change much? Or change drastically. If not much, then the cpu is the culprit somehow, it's only putting out a lower fps than normal. If fps changes drastically, it's the gpu somehow as the cpu is putting out decent fps, but the gpu isn't responding in kind.

Also check in nvidia control panel, make sure 3d DSR is off, same if you have GeForce Experience.

Windows can and will install critical updates during idle times, without notification.

 

[Grim43]

Check task manager, look for usage, ram usage, gpu usage etc, check processes/services tabs for anything that's using a high amount of cpu usage.

Take your normal settings and drop to low. Does fps really not change much? Or change drastically. If not much, then the cpu is the culprit somehow, it's only putting out a lower fps than normal. If fps changes drastically, it's the gpu somehow as the cpu is putting out decent fps, but the gpu isn't responding in kind.

Also check in nvidia control panel, make sure 3d DSR is off, same if you have GeForce Experience.

Windows can and will install critical updates during idle times, without notification.

Usage is normal across the board until a game is started which then that game will use 95%+ of the CPU and almost none of the GPU. Regardless of settings my fps doesn't drop below 55 but also doesn't go above 90 when before it used to be consistently 120+ in all games. No windows updates were installed either.

 

[Karadjgne]

So just the game uses 95% and not in combination with any other apps? Because that's what's killing your fps, something is causing that sudden high amount. Could be malware, Trojans, game update/patch. I've even seen fonts from nvidia drivers do that.