Sudden FPS drops while playing Overwatch

[Paxalot]

Hello, I've been having this issue when playing Overwatch, where I can play the game at a solid 60 fps on high settings, but it drops down and fluctuates between 20-40 fps for like 5-10 seconds, then goes back up to 60. The thing is, before the Christmas event patch, I was playing the game at 60 fps without any problems. It didnt drop during team fights or whenever multiple people popped an ult. Whenever an fps drop happens all of my CPU core usage goes up to 100% and the temp is always something between 60 and 70C. Weird thing is, HWmonitor shows all cores at 100%, but Windows task manager shows total CPU usage at like 60%. The fps drops happen seemingly randomly. Sometimes they happen when multiple people activate their ult, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they happen when im just standing somewhere, looking at a wall. I don't think this has anything to do with my GPU, the temperature stays normal at 48-51C. This has really been killing me, I got this PC a couple of months ago and had no problems with it. Would really suck if it was the PCs fault. So, what I really want to know is, whether or not this is my computers fault or the games fault.

CPU: AMD FX-6300 six core processor
GPU: GeForce GTX 750 Ti
RAM: 8GB

 

[LORDPrometheus]

AMD FX CPUs will thermal throttle at and past 65 degrees Celsius so i suspect this is what you are seeing what CPU Cooler do you have?

Essentially what is happening is you are reaching that temperature and the CPU lowers your clock speed until it drops to say 55 degrees, then it will return the clocks to normal and it will heat back up and repeat.
Hence your cpu may be at 100% utilization but only functioning at 60% strength.
What case do you have and what is your fan Setup.
Too little airflow can be the bane of many a pc

 

[RCFProd]

Might be worth checking if CPU clock speeds are going down to 1.0 Ghz ranges when the 100% CPU spikes happen, which would indicate throttling due to insufficient VRM cooling from the motherboard.

 

[Paxalot]

AMD FX CPUs will thermal throttle at and past 65 degrees Celsius so i suspect this is what you are seeing what CPU Cooler do you have?

Essentially what is happening is you are reaching that temperature and the CPU lowers your clock speed until it drops to say 55 degrees, then it will return the clocks to normal and it will heat back up and repeat.
Hence your cpu may be at 100% utilization but only functioning at 60% strength.
What case do you have and what is your fan Setup.
Too little airflow can be the bane of many a pc

I have a Deepcool Smarter case. And by fan setup I assume you mean how many there are and where they're located? I'm not too good with computer related stuff, but I'm looking to learn, so sorry if I misunderstand some things.

 

[Paxalot]

The weird thing is, I didn't have this problem before the Christmas event patch. There are other people that have the same or similar problem. Ran smoothly before that. On the day the patch was released, I started playing Overwatch and started getting the fps drops. I know this probably sounds ridiculous, but the night before the update, when I had already turned off the PC, my cat jumped off my chair and hit the side of the computer. Didn't sound like the softest of bumps. So how likely is it that the force of the impact dislodged or damaged something, causing the fps drops?

 

[LORDPrometheus]

AMD FX CPUs will thermal throttle at and past 65 degrees Celsius so i suspect this is what you are seeing what CPU Cooler do you have?

Essentially what is happening is you are reaching that temperature and the CPU lowers your clock speed until it drops to say 55 degrees, then it will return the clocks to normal and it will heat back up and repeat.
Hence your cpu may be at 100% utilization but only functioning at 60% strength.
What case do you have and what is your fan Setup.
Too little airflow can be the bane of many a pc

I have a Deepcool Smarter case. And by fan setup I assume you mean how many there are and where they're located? I'm not too good with computer related stuff, but I'm looking to learn, so sorry if I misunderstand some things.

Thats fine we all had to learn at some point. Assuming you have the stock layout of this case you are pulling air directly over your graphics card and then up to your CPU cooler and out a rear exhaust. If you have a rear blower style card this should be fine but if you have an internal exhaust cooler on your GPU (most cards by EVGA MIS Sapphire Zotac Gigabyte etc do) you will be dumping all of that heat right into your CPU which can lead to overheating.

I would not suggest getting a new case or gpu for simple reasons of cost vs effectiveness.

What i would suggest buying another 120mm fan make sure it is a high static pressure fan NOT a high airflow fan and install it in the side panel mount on your computer as an air intake. this will help increase the amount of cool air in the system. another valid idea is to go and buy an aftermarket cooler if you do not already have one. a simple Hyper 212 Evo would be fine but a 120mm radiator AIO water cooler from Corsair or Cooler-master is even better, just be absolutely sure whichever you buy is compatible with your board socket type. tutorials on how to install these things are readily available online and the process is very easy however if you do not feel comfortable you can always take it to a pc repair shop or store and they can likely do it for you.

 

[Paxalot]

AMD FX CPUs will thermal throttle at and past 65 degrees Celsius so i suspect this is what you are seeing what CPU Cooler do you have?

Essentially what is happening is you are reaching that temperature and the CPU lowers your clock speed until it drops to say 55 degrees, then it will return the clocks to normal and it will heat back up and repeat.
Hence your cpu may be at 100% utilization but only functioning at 60% strength.
What case do you have and what is your fan Setup.
Too little airflow can be the bane of many a pc

I have a Deepcool Smarter case. And by fan setup I assume you mean how many there are and where they're located? I'm not too good with computer related stuff, but I'm looking to learn, so sorry if I misunderstand some things.

Thats fine we all had to learn at some point. Assuming you have the stock layout of this case you are pulling air directly over your graphics card and then up to your CPU cooler and out a rear exhaust. If you have a rear blower style card this should be fine but if you have an internal exhaust cooler on your GPU (most cards by EVGA MIS Sapphire Zotac Gigabyte etc do) you will be dumping all of that heat right into your CPU which can lead to overheating.

I would not suggest getting a new case or gpu for simple reasons of cost vs effectiveness.

What i would suggest buying another 120mm fan make sure it is a high static pressure fan NOT a high airflow fan and install it in the side panel mount on your computer as an air intake. this will help increase the amount of cool air in the system. another valid idea is to go and buy an aftermarket cooler if you do not already have one. a simple Hyper 212 Evo would be fine but a 120mm radiator AIO water cooler from Corsair or Cooler-master is even better, just be absolutely sure whichever you buy is compatible with your board socket type. tutorials on how to install these things are readily available online and the process is very easy however if you do not feel comfortable you can always take it to a pc repair shop or store and they can likely do it for you.

Thank you for the advice! I know a guy who is really good with this kind of stuff, he's the same guy who built this computer for me, so I'm gonna consult him about that.