FPS fluctuating

[Grimy]

Hey guys,

For the past month any game I play the FPS has been fluctuating for no reason, I haven't installed anything or done anything different.

PC specs are:

I5 2500K 3.6Ghz
8GB Ram
ATI 6770 Radeon HD 1GB
H61M-DS2 Motherboard

I've updated to the latest graphics card, turned the settings to the lowest, turned off P2P, synced windows clock, gone into msconfig and turned off everything to see if it was a program, re-installing the game, cleaning the pc, re-installing the OS, re-installing the graphics drivers...I'm completely out of ideas what to try next.

For example when I play League of Legends I used to have it on very high settings with a constant 60 FPS, now it doesn't matter what setting its on, the FPS fluctuates the entire game, worse during team fights and that most of the time freezes the screen and drops to 10 or lower.

It's nothing to do with overheating as I've checked the temp while playing LoL and its at 39.

If anyone has any suggestions of what I could try next or knows if it's a hardware problem I'd really appreciate it.

Many thanks.

 

[Sunius]

What did you use to check the temperatures?

 

[Grimy]

What did you use to check the temperatures?

MSI Afterburner.

 

[Sunius]

That checks only the temperature of the graphics card, but not the processor. Would you mind using HWMonitor and checking the temperatures of the CPU when the lag occurs?

You can download HWMonitor from www.cpuid.com

 

[Grimy]

That checks only the temperature of the graphics card, but not the processor. Would you mind using HWMonitor and checking the temperatures of the CPU when the lag occurs?

You can download HWMonitor from www.cpuid.com

Just downloaded it and the temperature for cores 1-4 is 82-86.

 

[Sunius]

Oh that points to overheating indeed. I suppose that's idle temperature?

 

[Grimy]

Oh that points to overheating indeed. I suppose that's idle temperature?

Yes. I just loaded League of Legends and it went up to 95-98 .

 

[Sunius]

Okay. Now we don't want to damage your CPU so don't run any games until we fix this.

How old is your PC? Did you build it your self? Is anything overclocked?

 

[Grimy]

Okay. Now we don't want to damage your CPU so don't run any games until we fix this.

How old is your PC? Did you build it your self? Is anything overclocked?

PC is roughly 1 year old. No I did not, I ordered it off eBay and they built it once I had ordered. No, nothing is overclocked.

 

[Sunius]

Can you open your PC case and confirm that the CPU fan is spinning? Is the PC still under warranty?

 

[Grimy]

Can you open your PC case and confirm that the CPU fan is spinning? Is the PC still under warranty?

I don't think it's still under warranty as I did replace the graphics card thus the warranty is void. I'm not too smart when it comes to the insides of the PC, I may be able to, I just don't wanna break anything or mess something up haha. I just looked at the back of the PC and im pretty sure if I un-screw it and take the case off I won't be able to put it back . If you really need an answer about the fan then I could get my friend over tomorrow to have a look inside?.

 

[Grimy]

Can you open your PC case and confirm that the CPU fan is spinning? Is the PC still under warranty?

The temp has gone down to 65-70 for some reason

 

[Grimy]

Just opened it up and the fan is working fine.

 

[Sunius]

Keep it open. Does it help the temperature? It should.

Is your friend more tech savvy than you are? You might need to replace the thermal paste.

 

[Grimy]

Keep it open. Does it help the temperature? It should.

Is your friend more tech savvy than you are? You might need to replace the thermal paste.

The case has been off for a few mins and the current temp is 65-68. He is more tech savvy than me but I don't think he's replaces the thermal paste before, if that is what had to be done.

 

[Sunius]

I wouldn't say it's a very hard thing to do, and it will most certainly help. There are plenty of guides online of how to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3gx6c62D7I&hd=1

 

[Grimy]

I wouldn't say it's a very hard thing to do, and it will most certainly help. There are plenty of guides online of how to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3gx6c62D7I&hd=1

Do you think I'll need to replace the fan as well? or just the paste?.

 

[Sunius]

Just the paste. You said the fan was spinning, so there's no problem on that side .

 

[Grimy]

Just the paste. You said the fan was spinning, so there's no problem on that side .

Ok, thank you . What temp should I be getting while being idle and playing a game?.

 

[Grimy]

It's now at 85 for no reason, will applying new paste really lower the temp by a decent amount?.

 

[Sunius]

Idle - around 40°C.
On full load - no higher than 60°C.

It should fix it. Try touching the CPU heatsink - if I'm correct, it should barely be warm, and not hot at all (which is a problem).

 

[Grimy]

Idle - around 40°C.
On full load - no higher than 60°C.

It should fix it. Try touching the CPU heatsink - if I'm correct, it should barely be warm, and not hot at all (which is a problem).

Just touched the heatsink and it's not even warm so that's not the problem it seems. Should I get the Arctic Silver 5? I heard that's good.

 

[Sunius]

Yea that's great. Don't forget to remove the old paste before applying the new one, though!

 

[Grimy]

Yea that's great. Don't forget to remove the old paste before applying the new one, though!

Yeah will do . Thanks for the help. When I've replaced the paste I'll let you know if it's solved the problem .