PC lag/low frame rate only PC restart will fix

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Rbuck117

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Apr 25, 2015
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OS: Windows 7 x64
CPU: Maxwell i5-4590
GPU: Nvidia GTX 980 OC
PSU: EVGA G2 750w
MB: Gigabyte G1 Sniper B5
2 SSD, OS installed on Samsung 840,
2 HDD WD black label, Movies, games, etc on those.

Most bizarre thing and I can't quite put my finger on it. I think it may be a CPU issue but I may be wrong and apologize if it's in wrong category. I will start my PC up for the day from being off and everything will be kosher. Great frame rates, no mouse lag, short load times. However, if I leave my PC on overnight and try to use it the next day it's horrible. Crap frame rates, mouse lag like crazy, longer load times. When I say mouse lag I mean just moving the cursor on the desktop not even games. I run teamviewer, CAM software for fan control, plex server, and WD backup software all the time and need access to these. I have killed all these processes the next day when I start having issues and still not resolving issue. However, if I restart my PC when I'm having all these issues I have no problems again. Restarting my PC everyday is not practical for me, worried I might not have beefy enough CPU and may be causing these issues? Bottleneck between CPU and GPU? Any ideas?
 
Solution
synphul
The same issue affecting the desktop could be affecting the game. If the game doesn't have enough memory or if something is accessing the hard drive and the system or game (or any other app) has to fight for access, it can cause lag. Similar to running a virus scan (that isn't designed to slow down or pause while there's user interaction) or disk defrag or anything else disk intensive - and trying to use a program at the same time. The two are going to butt heads and fight for rights to the hard drive.

If cpu/ram usage don't appear to be maxed when you check in the morning after leaving it on overnight, try and check disk activity from the resource monitor. Not sure which version of windows you're running. Here's how to get to...
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synphul

synphul

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Mar 11, 2011
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How much ram do you have? Doubtful it's the cpu, not the way you describe it. Cpu's don't 'suddenly' get laggy, they either perform well or not. Since you have good performance after a boot with poor performance the next day (overnight) it could be something with the power settings. Not sure if your pc goes to sleep or hibernate modes after extended periods of inactivity, it can sometimes be problematic (windows problem) or it could be ram. Usually if ram's full or nearing full increasing swap file access, a reboot of the computer frees all that used ram up again (and you have no issues).

Try looking at your task manager when you first boot/restart the system with all your typical programs loaded and running - plex, wd backup etc. Take note of cpu usage % and ram usage %. Leave it overnight like you typically do and when it's laggy, check again. See what % of ram is being used, if cpu's spiked to 80-90% or higher and if so what processes are responsible. Sometimes a program like a background process can increase its' priority during user inactivity demanding more cpu time and not ramp back down properly once you begin using the system again (forcing a restart to fix it).

Despite possibly being a number of things, I think it's more of a software issue than hardware. If the cpu weren't powerful enough you'd be lagging from the start with cpu usage % very high. Some software is horrible at releasing memory it no longer needs and ram usage can start off lower and slowly grow and grow. Often referred to as 'memory leaks'.

This is a related post from someone with similar issues using plex. Not saying this is the answer or will fix it, just a possibility.
http://www.reddit.com/r/PleX/comments/2lv7ji/tracking_down_a_memory_leak/
 
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Rbuck117

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Apr 25, 2015
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Thanks for the quick reply. I have 16gb total RAM, 4 4gb sticks. I will take a look at CPU and RAM usage tonight seeing my PC has been on overnight and all day. I'll report back and let you know. Lag is real noticeable when playing GTA V. If I give it a reboot though, smooth as can be. I thought it might just be GTA because it's new however, even moving my cursor around on desktop is laggy than when I first boot up PC.
 
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synphul

synphul

Champion
Mar 11, 2011
9,477
7
54,965
The same issue affecting the desktop could be affecting the game. If the game doesn't have enough memory or if something is accessing the hard drive and the system or game (or any other app) has to fight for access, it can cause lag. Similar to running a virus scan (that isn't designed to slow down or pause while there's user interaction) or disk defrag or anything else disk intensive - and trying to use a program at the same time. The two are going to butt heads and fight for rights to the hard drive.

If cpu/ram usage don't appear to be maxed when you check in the morning after leaving it on overnight, try and check disk activity from the resource monitor. Not sure which version of windows you're running. Here's how to get to resource monitor if you're unfamiliar with it.
Win7
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/open-resource-monitor

Win8
http://www.isunshare.com/windows-8/5-ways-to-open-resource-monitor-in-windows-8-8.1.html
 
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