FPS Dropping now when it hasn't before

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slash25

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Dec 13, 2012
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Hi all,

Lately (past 2 days) I have been having issue with framerate drops in games. Before I would be able to play these without any issues at the same exact settings they are at now. When I play them now, there is a noticeable framerate drop and I don't know why.

I've done some Googling, and I looked at a few things people mentioned and tried them.

Here's what I've done so far:

1) Ran Full System Antivirus Scan. Results: Clean (other than some lingering Tracking Cookies)
2) Ran Malwarebytes. Results: Some malware detected. Wasn't flagged for high severity by MB. Quarantined it all anyways.
3) Ran CCleaner to clean up the registry.

I ran the Malware scan this morning so I'll check back later to see if that was the culprit.

If that isn't the case, I saw that it might be CPU/GPU Temps.

Here is my hardware and what temps they are at with certain conditions:

CPU: i7 - 960. Cooler: Stock Cooler
Idle Temps: 48-52 C
50% Load: ~70 C

GPU: GTX 580
Temps While Gaming: 48-50C

The GPU looks to be fine to me but the CPU has me a bit worried. There is a visible amount of dust on the cooler, but nothing crazy. Nevertheless, I will attempt to clean it with air even though I recently just did.

Anyone have other suggestions for what this could be?

UPDATE: The Nvidia Drivers ARE up-to-date
 
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Yea when I cleaned it, there was a significant amount of dust. Not necessarily on the CPU cooler itself, but on a lot of the surrounding areas. I usually give the CPU/GPU a...
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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have you recently updated your nvidia display drivers? check the install date in start-control panel-programs and features... see if the most recent install date matches up with your recolection of when this started to happen.

check the program list if the nvidia programs all are older then this problem. see if anything recently installed that matches up with the timing of this problem.
 
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herrwizo

herrwizo

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Feb 17, 2009
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You just diagnosed your computer all by yourself. Yes, it is the CPU, it is very hot and throttling (reducing frequency to prevent overheating), thus you get lower performance from time to time. Clean the dust ASAP. If using a stock cooler, you might consider getting Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO.
 
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slash25

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Dec 13, 2012
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The drivers are up-to-date. I forgot to mention this in the post.
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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i'm not asking "are drivers up to date?"

I'm asking "when were the drivers updated?"

if they were updated right around the time this started to happen then it is either a bad driver for your card, a bad driver install, or a bad update for the games you play. It's not unheard of for either AMD or Nvidia to put out a driver that hurts performance. And it's very common for a bad/corrupt driver install to do exactly what's happening with you.

Additionally if you recently installed a program that's hogging system resources you can get the same effect, which is why i asked you to check the install dates of everything, and see if anything was installed around the time this problem started to happen.

FINALLY, someone said 70C is hot and your cpu is throttling. this is incorrect. If you had an AMD chip, then yes, you would be temp throttling. however intel cpus do not temp throttle till you get up to 95C... and they're perfectly safe to run for extended periods of time under 80C

your temps (if accurate) are not an issue.

However, we don't know if your temps as reported are accurate. your gtx580 temps are too low for belief... that gpu is a known space heater, and probably should be much hotter while gaming. So i'm not sure those temps as reported are accurate. You can test for overheating by popping the side of your case off, and sticking a room fan blasting on high into the opening. and see if the drop in frame rate vanishes. if it does, then something is overheating though nothing is showing up as overheating in your reported temps)
 
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slash25

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Dec 13, 2012
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First off, the point of me saying that the drivers were up to date was to quell any comments about them being out of date.

Regardless, the latest drivers were installed on 5/26, so it was definitely not them.

Secondly, you are not correct about the throttling and temperatures.

Here are the sepcs for the CPU I have

Notice where it says "TCase" and notice the temperature next to it. You'll see that it is LESS THAN 70 DEGREES. Herrowizo was CORRECT about it being too hot, as was I since I suspected this was the issue.

You are correct about the GTX 580 temperatures being too low while gaming. I don't know where that number came from.

Anyways,

When I got home, I took my computer outside and used my air compressor to get rid of all the major dust buildup I could see.

As far as I can tell from my basic testing, it seems like either the Malware Scan or the removal of dust helped (i'm still saying it was the later).

Here are some updated temps, with ATTACHED PICTURES:

CPU (Idle):
45-50 C (Usually 45-47. Sometimes it is a bit lower, sometimes higher)

CPU (Gaming):
MAX: 70C
Range: 60-70 (Fluctuate per core)

GPU (Idle):
MIN: 52 C
AVG RANGE: 55-58 C

GPU (Gaming):
MAX: 77 C
AVG RANGE: 65-75

NOTE: Below pictures are from Idle, but you can still see the min/max temps both hit

CPU Temps via RealTemp 3.70
GPU Temps via MSI Afterburner
 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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tjmax is 100C on that chip... as i said, your cpu was not overheating.

~but it will temp throttle before it gets to 100C, at around 95C intel core series cpus tend to temp throttle.

~tcase is what intel calls "safe max operating load temps on the surface of the heatspreader"... unfortunately, no intel core temp actually represents this temp accurately... generally it's assumed this is -10C from the reported core temps on the cpu. which brings me back to my previous comment you're probably alright with sustained temps up to 80C.

furthermore, your system will temp throttle at tjmax -5C (95C)... that is your core temp.
 
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herrwizo

herrwizo

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Feb 17, 2009
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You guys keep mentioning 70 degrees, when the op clearly indicated 70 under only 50 percent load! More likely than not, under max load he got well over 90 degrees on the cpu. But it doesnt matter, it is a good practice to keep cpu cool, not at or near its borderline values. Do you always drive your car at 7000 rpm? Guess not, for the longevity sake at least.

OP, i bet that the cleaning looked like a simulation of thermonuclear blast :) clean the pc from time to time, and if possible, get 212 evo. Its only 30 usd, so why not? Cools much better than the stock.
 
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slash25

Honorable
Dec 13, 2012
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10,520


Yea when I cleaned it, there was a significant amount of dust. Not necessarily on the CPU cooler itself, but on a lot of the surrounding areas. I usually give the CPU/GPU a good cleaning with compressed air every month but I guess that's not good enough.

As far as the 212 EVO goes, it is pretty cheap and if I keep having problems, I'll look into getting it. I plan on building a new rig in a few months anyway so this will just hold me over for now.
 
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