PC slows down after 10 mins of gaming? $50 reward

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510
$50 reward via paypal and eternal gratefulness for anyone who can FIX my problem

I have a lot of information to provide, so I'm sorry for the essay :D

I play a game called Counter-Strike: Global Offensive professionally and ever since August 2013 it's been quite the struggle for me. Everytime I play CS:GO or any game in fact (H1Z1, Borderlands 2, Europa Universalis, etc) 10-20 mins into playing, my PC/game will slow down making my mouse feel a lot slower and my movement/shooting in game. I figured it was probably something to do with my PC obviously, but I couldn't figure out which part it could be, so one day I just said f*ck it and bought a whole new PC.

specs:

Intel i7-4790k 4.0 GHz processor
NVIDIA GTX 970 video card
4 sticks of 4GB Crucial DDR3 1333 Mt/s RAM
ASRock Z97 OC Formula motherboard
Intel 730 Series 240 GB SSD HD
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS
EVGA SuperNOVA 850G2 PS

I also bought new internet and that didn't effect anything either. I'll turn on my PC and play cs:GO and I'll be able to do everything that everyone else can do, but after that 10-20 min grace period is over, it'll start getting slower and slower. My FPS in-game is fine, going from about 200-300 constant, my temperatures are fine (I think- will provide screenshots later in post).

Every mouse I've used slows down when my PC starts slowing down as well to add to the frustration. All 4 of my logitech mice (2 g400s, 2mx510s) will not only slow down, but constantly freeze and make the unplugging noise. I also have a Deathadder 2013, a Zowie FK1 and a SteelSeries Rival and they all slow down considerably in-game, but don't freeze constantly like my logitech mice do.

People I describe my issue to online suggest it's only in my head, but my roommate and my friend who both play CS:GO have played it on my PC and feel the same problem. I've tried restarting my PC after every scrimmage/match I play, but the effect is only minimal. I've tried tons of different settings in CS:GO, Windows settings, video card settings, but none of those have helped either. I can hear my PC start becoming louder than usual after playing for awhile. It doesn't make a crazy unusual noise, but an overworking sort of noise.

I did a test a couple nights ago to make sure it most likely wasn't anything to do with my internet, so I left 5 people's twitch streams on Source in my tabs, which is the highest quality setting you can have. While I wrote an essay, I left their streams on my browser for 4 hours straight with ZERO buffering. I then closed their streams and played CS:GO for 30 mins. After I was done playing, I turned their streams back on and their streams were just constantly buffering for me. So you would think this HAS to be some sort of overheating/overworking PC issue, right?

Here are 4 screenshots I took using Open Hardware Monitor to see if any of you can see any sort of problems as neither me or any of my friends can see an issue. The first 2 are before I did anything on my PC and the last 2 are while having CS:GO, Europa Universalis IV and Sleeping Dogs open (and my PC was being slow).

Before: http://i.imgur.com/H2XwDbl.png & http://i.imgur.com/LipZOzH.png

While: http://i.imgur.com/tbGUljL.png & http://i.imgur.com/cLIljv3.png

I honestly don't know what else to do. I've had the same issue on the last 2 PC's and the last 2 ISP's, and still have no idea what is causing this problem. The day I had this new PC put together it was already doing this, so please don't tell me "it's probably spyware and you should reformat." Playing this game is currently my job and I can only play so well with this issue, so I'll most likely have to quit playing altogether if I can't figure out how to fix it. Sorry for the long read, but I'm just really frustrated and tried to provide as much information as possible for you guys.





 
Do you know what's happening with your ping when this happens? It may be that and not the download speeds. You may want to use something like pingtest every 5 minutes and plot the results so we can rule out the connection latency as a cause.
 

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510
PizzaTheHutt- My ping is always stable and fine. If I join a server with 50 ping, it'll stay that way. I get 90-100 MB d/l & 9-15 MB upload.

rg1101- No, I didn't. I dunno why it's showing only 2 cores :XX
 

DubbleClick

Admirable
I'd first try to resolve the 2-core-issue. Since open hardware monitor isn't exactly known to be accurate, I'd recommend you to download coretemp and cpu-z. One other thing that seemed very strange is the extremely low voltage.
In case coretemp/cpu-z also show 2 cores, go to the bios and set "number of cores" to 4 and disable Hyperthreading and Turbo Mode (just as a test).
Either way, set your voltage to static/override mode. For 4.0ghz (turbo disabled) you should be looking at about 1.1v.
Also try removing two sticks of ram to have the remaining in dual channel mode (typically slots 1 and 3 on the board). 1333mhz is bit low actually, but that wouldn't cause issues over time.

After you did all this look at coretemp and cpu-z again and see if the issue persists. Also try out intel burn test for stability testing and see if that causes the issue too (even after you ended the stability testing).

As for gpu checks (rather unusual with the pc and mouse slowing down in general, but worth a try) use MSI afterburner to check gpu related things (and upload screenshots of those too). Also try setting the core and memory clock like 50mhz lower (just for testing purposes).

Also, do not run multiple performance hungry applications at the same time. Do not render videos while playing and don't play two or more games at the same time.

Last but not least, about the problem. Can you describe it a little more accurate and/or make a video? When the pc slows down, it's not just the mouse but also everything else?
 

DubbleClick

Admirable
Oh, since you mentioned the pc getting louder ehen it happens, it might be not working "garbage collection". See if in the task manager any processes are at higher cpu usage than before playing. And if so, try restarting them. Either way inculde task manager process tab to the screenshots of the other monitoring I suggested.

Screenshots could look like this by the way (+ msi afterburner optionally):

Before: http://i.imgur.com/IPxvppv.png

While: http://i.imgur.com/dDAqtv8.png

After: http://i.imgur.com/9gSdKAv.png
 
The fact the Logitech mice are apparently disconnecting is a major hint I think; there really aren't too many ways that a mouse could spontaneously disconnect itself from the USB hub. Also worrying is the fact the CPU is coming up as two cores, rather then the 4 expected. How many cores does Task Manager show?

So first things first: Check the BIOS and make sure everything is set up right. After that, a memory check via memtest86+ couldn't hurt (though I doubt that's the case here, but it wouldn't hurt to check).
 

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510
PizzaTheHutt- I've tried AVG and avast separately and same issue occurs still. I'll try what you suggested in your second post as well as DubbleClick's suggestions, but it will take me a couple days.
DubbleClick- 1.My mouse sensitivity slows down, it feels as if my mouse won't respond accordingly to the quick movements i'm asking of it. 2.My movement in-game slows down (when i try to strafe quickly or peek a corner on someone it just takes me a lot longer). 3.When I shoot, it's a lot harder to control where my bullets are going as my game just feels slow and sluggish. People who watch me play see when I'm talking about. Like I said before, it seems like my PC starts overworking itself/overheating somehow so it responds by making my PC slow down to protect itself. I never ever run unnecessary programs when I play CS:GO as you can probably imagine I've become paranoid about slowing it down with anything, while other people have a crazy amount of programs running that they're not even using while playing and it doesn't affect them at all :(
gamerk316- In task manager I see 4 cores (CPU 0, CPU 1, CPU 2, CPU 3 correct?)
 

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510


I put together a whole new PC with a fresh new windows, sorry if I misled you. My old processor was an i5-2500k and my motherboard was an ASUS P8B75-M.

 
gamerk316- In task manager I see 4 cores (CPU 0, CPU 1, CPU 2, CPU 3 correct?)

Task manager should be seeing 8, since your CPU has HTT. So it's probably running as a dual core + HTT, which could explain the performance. Doesn't explain why USB mice are disconnecting though...

So first things first: Open up the start menu, and type "msconfig". Go to Boot->Advanced Options, and check what the "Number of Processors" field is set to. It should be set to four, or unchecked (which should use all of them).

Failing that, check the BIOS and make sure all the settings are configured correctly. Also might want to check if there's a later BIOS version for your board.
 

DubbleClick

Admirable


But programs still start quick and desktop stuff goes without problem? So the problem is only in the game?
Does it persist when you restart? Also, please follow the other things I wrote.
 

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510


It's set at 4. The logitech disconnecting issue I've heard other people have the same issues, but I wouldn't expect all 4 mice (2 of them being brand new) to do it with and without the drivers.
 

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510


I will do your other possible solutions tomorrow and over the weekend as I've been super busy all week. Once I start playing a game (CS:GO, H1Z1, etc), 10-20 mins later my whole PC slows down. Regardless of if I restart my PC or not, it's slow permanently until i shut my PC off for a few hours. Clicking through folders, different websites, watching twitch streams, as well as doing anything at all is dramatically slower. Like I've said, it's like my PC hits some kind of wall/overheats and protects itself OR is just at it's limit. I don't know a lot about PC's clearly, but I do know it should not be like this. It's rough because I have no idea what could even cause such an issue and I've already tried so many different solutions with the same results.
 


The first thing that jumps to my mind when you say this is your page file - are the settings in there OK (max should be double your RAM amount and in should be your RAM amount)? Also, are superfetch and prefetch disabled as they have been known to cause entire system slowdowns, even though their purpose is to prevent it :).
 

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510


Minimum allowed: 16 MB, Recommended 18355 MB, Currently allocated: 12237 MB. Should I just set the custom size to what you recommended?
 

st3v30

Admirable
Try to set your Power Profile to High Performance(in Control Panel) when you play, it will set your CPU at max frequency on all cores and will stay there so when you finish with game just turn it back to Balanced. Also try to update BIOS and if it is on latest version try to roll it back to previous and reset your BIOS settings to Default one, maybe current BIOS version has problems with USB , try both USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports.
 

asdf11

Reputable
May 8, 2014
16
0
4,510
CPU-Z was showing 2 cores and 4 threads even though in bios I had it set to 4 and the number of processors was set at 4 under "Open up the start menu, and type "msconfig". Go to Boot->Advanced Options, and check what the "Number of Processors" field is set to. It should be set to four, or unchecked" thing gamerk mentioned. So I searched around and fixed THAT issue by making sure system configuration was set to Normal startup, instead of Selective Startup. Now, it's showing 4 cores and 8 threads in CPU-Z and in Windows Task Manager, but the same problem is still happening. My FPS in games seems better than usual as well as performance, but after 10-20 mins the same slowness still happens (of course). I updated my BIOS as well and still no change.

I'll try some of DubbleClick's advice now. I'm just not sure what else to do really, everything I try doesn't work lol. Something random makes my PC slow down everytime I play a game :(
 

DubbleClick

Admirable


Finally, haha. Sometimes fixing things takes some more effort.
Anyway, you mentioned even a pc restart doesn't fix the issue, but only after like 2 hour of not using it? Have you checked PSU and Motherboard temperatures? (although they should really cool down much quicker). Did you try unplugging the power connector after shutting down, waiting 20 seconds and then plugging it in again and starting the pc?