Question Why is my system running like a 3 legged hippo?

[LongUsername]

Yesterday, I decided to play CK2, but as soon as I started playing my PC got septic shock or something and FPS in games is terrible (valorant was running at 20-50fps), even dragging the cursor on desktop is massively delayed, starting and moving around on chrome tabs is laggy and UI elements load incredibly slowly. All of this while task manager shows CPU, GPU, SSD and RAM usage to be within acceptable ranges, my CPU and GPU temps are normal etc. virus scans returned nothing out of ordinary and frankly I am stumped. I have restarted the pc several times and the lag persists. It begins as soon as the PC starts before all the background programs are running so "too many programs on at the same time" is not the issue.

Clues ive gathered:
- it started after running Crusader kings 2
-Colors started looking washed out (but that might be just a trick my eyes are playing on me)
-Dragging the mouse on my 2nd monitor is smoother but still slow. And programs used on the 2nd monitor run slowly as well

I am stumped

Important specs
12900k
32gb ram
6950xt (drivers up to date)
1000W PSU, asus ROG Strix
2tb ssd, 980 pro (magician reports perfect condition)

 

[Order 66]

Yesterday, I decided to play CK2, but as soon as I started playing my PC got septic shock or something and FPS in games is terrible (valorant was running at 20-50fps), even dragging the cursor on desktop is massively delayed, starting and moving around on chrome tabs is laggy and UI elements load incredibly slowly. All of this while task manager shows CPU, GPU, SSD and RAM usage to be within acceptable ranges, my CPU and GPU temps are normal etc. virus scans returned nothing out of ordinary and frankly I am stumped. I have restarted the pc several times and the lag persists. It begins as soon as the PC starts before all the background programs are running so "too many programs on at the same time" is not the issue.

Clues ive gathered:
- it started after running Crusader kings 2
-Colors started looking washed out (but that might be just a trick my eyes are playing on me)
-Dragging the mouse on my 2nd monitor is smoother but still slow. And programs used on the 2nd monitor run slowly as well

I am stumped

Important specs
12900k
32gb ram
6950xt (drivers up to date)
1000W PSU, asus ROG Strix
2tb ssd, 980 pro (magician reports perfect condition)

That kind of a system should not be running those games so poorly. Have you tried uninstalling GPU drivers with DDU? What are your temps? Is your BIOS updated?

 

[LongUsername]

That kind of a system should not be running those games so poorly. Have you tried uninstalling GPU drivers with DDU? What are your temps? Is your BIOS updated?

Temps are around 50C, which should be fine
I haven't uninstalled drivers, but the issue exists even when not gaming so I dont think that is the issue
BIOS most certainly is not updated

 

[Order 66]

Temps are around 50C, which should be fine
I haven't uninstalled drivers, but the issue exists even when not gaming so I dont think that is the issue
BIOS most certainly is not updated

The issue still being there when not gaming doesn't mean that it is not the driver. Remember the drivers allow the OS to communicate with the hardware regardless of gaming or not. Try uninstalling the GPU drivers and see if that helps. At worst, it doesn't do anything and we know that it is not the drivers.

 

[helper800]

Make sure to use DDU to uninstall the drivers and get the latest GPU drivers from AMD to reinstall.

 

[LongUsername]

The issue still being there when not gaming doesn't mean that it is not the driver. Remember the drivers allow the OS to communicate with the hardware regardless of gaming or not. Try uninstalling the GPU drivers and see if that helps. At worst, it doesn't do anything and we know that it is not the drivers.

Make sure to use DDU to uninstall the drivers and get the latest GPU drivers from AMD to reinstall.

Uninstalled drivers, problem still persists

Also launched in safe mode, still lagged
Ran user-benchmark, which showed hardware to be running as they should, yet still games, browsers and other programs run incredibly slowly.

 

[JohnBonhamsGhost]

It begins as soon as the PC starts before all the background programs are running so "too many programs on at the same time" is not the issue.

this is not how it works.
many programs have start-up features that load just as the OS is initializing.

you would need to check your Task Manager's 'Processes' tab to show what is actually using resources.
claiming that component usage is "within acceptable ranges" doesn't mean anything if there are multiple processes fluctuating and potentially competing for those resources at different times.

Colors started looking washed out

if this is really true;
take a screenshot of a heavily colored image upon system start.
then take another of the same image after what you perceive as "washed out" begins to appear.
then look at these 2 images on a different device.

it's possible that the card could be having a problem rendering as it "warms up".
if this is the case you should see a difference between the saved images.
if it's just an issue with the software relaying the image to your screen then they would appear the same.

this could lead to a malfunction with the GPU itself which could explain further issues you're experiencing.

 

[ThomasKinsley]

You can rule out the graphics card by using your CPU's onboard graphics instead. Remove the 6950xt and plug in only one monitor into the motherboard's onboard video. See if the colors are still washed out and the cursor movement is delayed.

 

[LongUsername]

this is not how it works.
many programs have start-up features that load just as the OS is initializing.

you would need to check your Task Manager's 'Processes' tab to show what is actually using resources.
claiming that component usage is "within acceptable ranges" doesn't mean anything if there are multiple processes fluctuating and potentially competing for those resources at different times.

if this is really true;
take a screenshot of a heavily colored image upon system start.
then take another of the same image after what you perceive as "washed out" begins to appear.
then look at these 2 images on a different device.

it's possible that the card could be having a problem rendering as it "warms up".
if this is the case you should see a difference between the saved images.
if it's just an issue with the software relaying the image to your screen then they would appear the same.

this could lead to a malfunction with the GPU itself which could explain further issues you're experiencing.

this is not how it works.
many programs have start-up features that load just as the OS is initializing.

you would need to check your Task Manager's 'Processes' tab to show what is actually using resources.
claiming that component usage is "within acceptable ranges" doesn't mean anything if there are multiple processes fluctuating and potentially competing for those resources at different times.

if this is really true;
take a screenshot of a heavily colored image upon system start.
then take another of the same image after what you perceive as "washed out" begins to appear.
then look at these 2 images on a different device.

it's possible that the card could be having a problem rendering as it "warms up".
if this is the case you should see a difference between the saved images.
if it's just an issue with the software relaying the image to your screen then they would appear the same.

this could lead to a malfunction with the GPU itself which could explain further issues you're experiencing.

I just disabled the entire GPU through device manager, the lag remains the same. The gpu is not the culprit

example video of the lag on desktop

 

[Bob.B]

Uninstalled drivers, problem still persists

Also launched in safe mode, still lagged
Ran user-benchmark, which showed hardware to be running as they should, yet still games, browsers and other programs run incredibly slowly.

Run userbenchmark again like this.
Reboot.
Wait a few mins.
Run ubm with the browser closed.
Post a LINK to the results page.

 

[LongUsername]

Run userbenchmark again like this.
Reboot.
Wait a few mins.
Run ubm with the browser closed.
Post a LINK to the results page.

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

Another thing I noticed, I tried playing Crusader Kings 3, and I was reaching 100% CPU usage BUT the temps remained at around 60C. This was happening while idling, and by no means should the CPU usage be going up to 100% on a 12900k while idling in this game

Also, this is on an air-cooled 12900k.
If it was really going up to 100% usage it would be thermal throttling like crazy but that isn't the case, so I'm not sure what's up with that. During that user benchmark for example it was thermal throttling with temps going up to +90C which it should be doing, and it also explains why it performs as it should during the benchmark. But in CK3 it is running like ass despite 100% CPU usage and low temps so i dont know

 

[Bob.B]

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

Another thing I noticed, I tried playing Crusader Kings 3, and I was reaching 100% CPU usage BUT the temps remained at around 60C. This was happening while idling, and by no means should the CPU usage be going up to 100% on a 12900k while idling in this game

Also, this is on an air-cooled 12900k.
If it was really going up to 100% usage it would be thermal throttling like crazy but that isn't the case, so I'm not sure what's up with that. During that user benchmark for example it was thermal throttling with temps going up to +90C which it should be doing, and it also explains why it performs as it should during the benchmark. But in CK3 it is running like ass despite 100% CPU usage and low temps so i dont know

Try enabling xmp for the ram see if you can get the ram up to the proper speed then run ubm again and post a link.

 

[LongUsername]

Try enabling xmp for the ram see if you can get the ram up to the proper speed then run ubm again and post a link.

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

RAM performed better, but the lag issue remains the same

 

[Bob.B]

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

RAM performed better, but the lag issue remains the same

Did you run ubm the proper way?
You show a lot of background running.

 

[LongUsername]

Did you run ubm the proper way?
You show a lot of background running.

Yeah, I ran it right after booting up
But regardless the benchmark shows it should be working fine yet it continues to lag

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

Everything im seeing is pointing to CPU being at fault, but because the benchmark came out clean the issue is software related? Windows? no clue

 

[Bob.B]

Yeah, I ran it right after booting up
But regardless the benchmark shows it should be working fine yet it continues to lag

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

Everything im seeing is pointing to CPU being at fault, but because the benchmark came out clean the issue is software related? Windows? no clue

After you boot you have to wait a few mins for things to settle down before running ubm.

You show 8GB of ram being used at startup that's a lot of stuff loading make your startup group skinny.

 

[LongUsername]

After you boot you have to wait a few mins for things to settle down before running ubm.

You show 8GB of ram being used at startup that's a lot of stuff loading make your startup group skinny.

Sure, but that doesnt change the fact that both the benchmarks show that the CPU, GPU and ram are working perfectly

 

[Bob.B]

Sure, but that doesnt change the fact that both the benchmarks show that the CPU, GPU and ram are working perfectly

Fix what shows one piece at a time.

 

[thestryker]

I may dislike userbenchmark as I find it relatively useless, but your SSD is performing atrociously. There is something extremely wrong there.

 

[LongUsername]

I may dislike userbenchmark as I find it relatively useless, but your SSD is performing atrociously. There is something extremely wrong there.

Agreed, but it has been that way for a long time so it isn't the cause of this

EDIT: I just booted from my HDD and after 20 minutes it finally turned on aaaand.... THE LAG WAS GONE.

So, the issue is with the SSD, or software on the SSD.

 

[LongUsername]

Ended up wiping the SSD, and doing a clean windows install and the problem went away.

The problem shall remain a mystery I guess

Although my SSD now functions as it should so I guess it was better this way, thanks for participating

Here is the userbenchmark after fresh installation

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

 

[Unolocogringo]

Ended up wiping the SSD, and doing a clean windows install and the problem went away.

The problem shall remain a mystery I guess

Although my SSD now functions as it should so I guess it was better this way, thanks for participating

Here is the userbenchmark after fresh installation

Please click the green human to continue - UserBenchmark

The problem is not quite a mystery.
Everybody missed that your 2 tb SSD was way to full.
Install Samsung magician.
Allocate 15-20% of your drive to over provisioning.
I know you lose some space, but you do not loose performance by filling it up. And it will last longer.
SSDs need space to wear level writes from the operating system.
The fuller it gets the longer it takes to write small chunks everywhere, instead of larger chunks here and there.
A very dumbed down non technical version but it conveys the idea.

 

[thestryker]

The problem is not quite a mystery.
Everybody missed that your 2 tb SSD was way to full.
Install Samsung magician.
Allocate 15-20% of your drive to over provisioning.
I know you lose some space, but you do not loose performance by filling it up. And it will last longer.
SSDs need space to wear level writes from the operating system.
The fuller it gets the longer it takes to write small chunks everywhere, instead of larger chunks here and there.
A very dumbed down non technical version but it conveys the idea.

While leaving plenty of space is great advice this is absolutely not the only thing that was going on here. I've run plenty of SSDs down to 5% or less space without the performance turning worse than a HDD.

example of what I'm talking about: https://www.anandtech.com/show/16087/the-samsung-980-pro-pcie-4-ssd-review/3

 

[LongUsername]

The problem is not quite a mystery.
Everybody missed that your 2 tb SSD was way to full.
Install Samsung magician.
Allocate 15-20% of your drive to over provisioning.
I know you lose some space, but you do not loose performance by filling it up. And it will last longer.
SSDs need space to wear level writes from the operating system.
The fuller it gets the longer it takes to write small chunks everywhere, instead of larger chunks here and there.
A very dumbed down non technical version but it conveys the idea.

My ssd had been slow from the very beginning even when I had less than half of the space occupied
Some people put faaaaaaaaaar too much focus on the space occupied.

Yeah, I might lose 10% off the possible speed but my SSD was running at 10% of what it should have been running at. That was not caused by too much data. In the benchmarks it wasn't even doing the 4K deep queue

I think the problem was caused by me migrating my old HDD instead of just doing a clean installation in the first place.
BUT that still doesnt explain why all of a sudden my pc performance dropped massively

 

[helper800]

My ssd had been slow from the very beginning even when I had less than half of the space occupied
Some people put faaaaaaaaaar too much focus on the space occupied.

Yeah, I might lose 10% off the possible speed but my SSD was running at 10% of what it should have been running at. That was not caused by too much data. In the benchmarks it wasn't even doing the 4K deep queue

I think the problem was caused by me migrating my old HDD instead of just doing a clean installation in the first place.
BUT that still doesnt explain why all of a sudden my pc performance dropped massively

Your PC has to wait for things to load from storage devices to work properly. If the speed of your SSD was limited to 10% the speed of an HDD then things that are loaded from that SSD would take 50 times longer to load than expected, thus being 50 times slower. Also, if there is something wrong with the SSD besides it just being slow, you cannot trust the operating system was working properly because that is where the OS is stored.