My more demanding PC games start lagging after 20-30 mins.

Hi!
Since I got,a sort of a more demanding game,Prototype 2,and today,CoD Ghosts,I noticed this weird problem my PC is having. After playing 20-30 mins on any of these 2 games,the game starts lagging really,REALLY horribly and it takes me like 2 mins to exit the game. And,if I would to start the game again,it will work,but then again,the same problem occurs after the same amount of time.
But,there is something else. If I was to play TF2,CS:GO,One Finger Death Punch (the most badass game of all time,definitely recommend it,best spent 5 euros in my life) or any game that can be run on a potato,I can play for as long as I want.
And before you go on saying: "Well it's gotta be the temperature of your CPU/GPU.", no it's definitely not. After closing Ghosts,I checked the temps in HWMonitor and the CPU was 43C and the GPU 37C.
So..I don't know what can be the issue here. Do you guys have any ideas what could it be?
Oh,I forgot the specs. And yeah,it's a self built PC. But I did a pretty good damn job I think,since it's working from December 2014 xD If you want to check out some pics:
http://imgur.com/a/hUZro#7
^^^^ That was before I realised how terrible my wiring was AND that my PSU is upside down,so here it is "improved":
http://imgur.com/a/kNwzg
And don't worry,the wire that you see over the GPU in the pics is now under the GPU. ;) :D
Oh yea,the specs:
Antec GX500 case
TP LINK TL-WN722N Wireless Adapter
An old ViewSonic VA1931wa-LED monitor (working on replacing it with a (hopefully) 1080p monitor)
Speakers
Steelseries Siberia V2 headsets
Logitech G400s mouse
Razer Goliathus Medium Control mouse pad
Logitech K740 Illuminated keyboard (shiny! :D )
AMD Phenom II X6 1055t
CM Hyper 212 EVO
ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0
Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x4GB 1600 MHz RAM
Gigabyte R9 270X 2GB OC Edition
XFX TS550W
WD Blue 500GB HDD
LG ODD
Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit (reserved a free Windows 10 upgrade :D )
I cleaned this PC about 10 days ago,as well replaced the thermal paste if that matters. (Arctic Silver 5 paste)
EDIT: Windows updates are downloaded and installed automatically if that also matters :D
 
It sounds like you are running out of RAM.

Check your RAM usage after playing some 10-15 minutes, if the game hasn't started to lag yet then.

I have a lot programs open myself, including web browser on 2nd screen, with at least 15 tabs open.
They + newest games = RAM usage at 80-90%
So I'm getting similar problem in many games as well.

Titanfall, Assassin's Creed Unity...


With no game running, I'm usually using from 4 to 5.5Gb RAM
The OS always keeps about 1Gb reserved. So with game taking more than 1.5Gb, I'm running out of memory. Yet still enough to not get errors.
 
Hi,

1) No evidence of a severe hardware problem since other games work fine.

2) I always recommend running Memtest for a FULL PASS (roughly 30 minutes). www.memtest.org (boot order in BIOS might need to be changed to allow USB or DVD to boot before Windows drive)

3) Run hard drive check as well using WD latest software (Data lifeguard diagnostic for Windows).

4) *Possible software glitch... you could install Windows 10. I'll explain below.

(**FYI, my clean install of W10 preview works perfectly. When I tried to UPGRADE several builds ago it failed and rolled back.)

Windows 10 installation before August 1st. Two options:
1) If you have a SPARE drive you can do a dual-boot (register for preview, download ISO, burn to DVD or USB, boot to it NOT from within Windows, delete any partitions on the SPARE drive if there, finish install, then video drivers..)

*If using STEAM you can install Steam to Windows 10 then simply point to your games catalogue on the other drive. Will not have any local saves but if has saves on the CLOUD will offer to use those (choose NO for that).

2) UPGRADE now to Windows 10:
a) Create a backup IMAGE if possible using Acronis True Image or similar (requires another drive but need not be blank... but if it is blank just do the dual-boot option instead.)

b) Install and UPGRADE Windows 8.1. It will create its own backup to rollback if issues but do not trust that hence the backup you made.

c) Reinstall video drivers etc, but frankly I'd do this as a last resort. (upgrading to W10 I mean... I'd wait until at least September personally for some extra post-release issue fixing)

*Windows 10 Preview will automatically update itself to the RTM version if you replaced a genuine W7 or W8.1 with the Preview so no need to reinstall later.

3) Drivers:
a) find and use driver remover tool, then
b) reinstall drivers

Summary:
- test System Memory with Memtest
- test hard drive with WD software
- test software using Windows 10 instead of Windows 8.1
- reinstall drivers after using removal tool

Other:
Google for game specific issues related to your problem.
 
Update:
System RAM is a possibility though Windows 8.1 does give a WARNING about that. My dad got a warning when close to 7GB of his 8GB was used.

You can CHECK this way if you want:
a) Open Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL)
b) View-> Change to LOW
c) Performance-> Memory
d) When game is slow, exit and look at memory usage history. If it didn't max out then there was no problem. Do not use ALT-TAB for now as it can cause problems in some games.

*Close all web browsers before running your games. At least for now. You can use several GB's. Really no point in running it since you can setup web browsers to RESTORE your tabs when you open it again but running at the same time can eat up a lot of memory.

Other:
Try dropping the game quality settings really LOW just to test.
 
First off,thanks for the answers,I didn't think anyone was gonna answer lol.
Anyway,photon,I'll get back to your first reply bit later.
Because now,I think you guys were right about the RAM.
6.3 god damn GB out of 7.9 are used when having only Opera with 1 tab open. Wow.
So...does that mean I should get 1 more identical stick of RAM (1x4GB Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600 MHz) or another 2x4GB or just get a brand new 2x8GB set?
 


A lot of small programs can use up a lot RAM amazingly quick.

I have the fairly heavy Anti-Virus (F-Secure), Corsair Link, Steam, of course NVidia Geforce Experience, Razer Synapse (for keyboard), SteelSeries Engine (for mouse), NZXT Cam 2.0. Add to that the browser.
Opera, like Chrome, can be quite RAM hogs.

Also, if you have money, buy brand new set.
Otherwise get another 2x4Gb of same Crucial.
 


Well, you would be in normal usage. With barely any programs running and only occassional basic gaming.
But for hardcore gaming/demanding gaming, 8Gb is just barely enough.

 


I have NO ISSUES using 8GB.

For one thing, Windows can usually move things out of memory to free up space while gaming so it is only when something goes wrong that this is insufficient but again there is NO game out there that has an issue with 8GB not being enough.

Your memory usage seems pretty high so go into Task Manger and see how much is used and by which program. If you are using over 6GB but it's not actually CHROME (just close Chrome to see) AND you don't see any obvious memory hogs in Task Manager then this means it is a Microsoft Windows application as those are the only ones I believe which can hide from Task Manager.

***Windows Search***

This was a major memory leak for myself and others. It would keep eating up all of the System Memory.

1. type in-> indexing (to search)
2. Open-> Indexing Options
3. Click-> Modify
4. Uncheck everything and it should still show folders like-> Documents, Music etc which is fine
5. OK, then CLOSE.

Other:
If really stumped as to what is using up memory and it is not Indexing then you can investigate using RAMMAP:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff700229.aspx

I'll post this, look at RAMMAP to refresh myself, then post how to use it below.
 
The biggest things that are using my memory are Steam,Opera that's running,Avast and these 2 things called "Service Host: Local System (Network Restricted) (13)" and "Service Host: Local System (15)".
Oh,I went to the Indexing options,unchecked everything and still had 6-7GB of memory being used (depending on how much tabs I've got open on my Opera :p )
 
RAMMAP:

1. Download, and extract
2. Run
3. Click-> Processes
4. Click-> Total (order from highest to lowest usage, and use scroll to ensure you are at the TOP of the list)
5. Observe which programs are using most memory

*Chrome will have several listings if multiple tabs, however it is easiest just to CLOSE CHROME as that automatically restores the memory it used. With one tab I highly doubt Chrome was your problem.

Again, Windows under MOST circumstances can free up memory when gaming by closing programs. And again, close all web browsers to be sure they are not eating up memory.

No need to buy more memory once the problem is sorted. I have done extensive testing on this. Long-term due to video/system memory swapping more than 8GB will end up helping (also DX12 tile sharing) but for now it is not necessary.
 


Use RAMMAP as I just posted and see if that helps. Again, some programs may be HIDDEN from Task Manager.

If you do not REBOOT very often do that as well, but use RAMMAP first, reboot then use it again.

(You did not state the AMOUNT of memory used by the programs you just gave so I have no idea if that is your problem but I would have expected a single program using a lot more than 1GB of memory..)
 
Well, some people just run memory extensive programs. OP however doesn't seem to be one of those.

For me, I need to have the browser open on the 2nd screen while gaming. So the RAM gets eaten quick.
Sometimes so that the memory which Windows frees up, gets eaten right away.
 
Booted the PC this morning,usage is still (+ - 0.2GB) 2GB.
I'm gonna go play TF2 and see how high the usage will go.
Then I will hop on CoD Ghosts,play on high,see how far my usage goes. If it starts lagging again,I'll turn down the settings to low and medium and see how long I can play the game.
I'll report back once I've done everything.
 
Alright,so I played TF2 for ~30 mins,memory usage didn't go over 3.5GB
Hopped on to Ghosts,same settings as before(high) ,played 3 missions,didn't lag a single time,usage didn't go over 4GB.
Oh,and while I played both of these games,I made sure nothing was open.