Crashing and locked FPS

[Inspirational]

Hello. My PC randomly crashes me out of some games, and my FPS is locked.
Would anyone be able to suggest a series of steps I can go through to try and work out what is causing it?
It has been occurring for multiple months now because I never bothered to dig into it. I have a feeling that it is either the CPU or GPU that is giving in and causing the issue.

SPECS:
CPU: Intel Core i7-6700k - 4.00 GHz but I overclocked it by 15% so it should be 4.50 or 4.60 GHz. I'm not sure if it was done correctly, however, I overclocked it when I first built the PC (2 or so years ago) and it was fine then. This issue is pretty recent. I also have the CRYORIG H5 Ultimate CPU fan.
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070 FTW (8 GB - all my drivers are up to date via the GeForce Experience software).
RAM: 16 GB (8 GB Corsair x2 - yes they are placed correctly within the motherboard)
OS: Windows 10 Pro x64
MOBO: ASUSTek Z170-AR
HDD: SSD, HDD, and an External HDD. SSD for Boot, Windows, and other important software. HDD for storage. External HDD that is also used for storage.
 

1) I CANNOT INCREASE MY FPS.
Despite having great specs, I cannot increase my FPS in games. They appear to be stuck at 58-60 FPS. What this means is that despite not having any caps on the FPS, playing with the visual settings does not change the FPS I get, whether it is on minimum or maximum settings, it is always stuck at 58-60 FPS. My biggest concern has been on League of Legends but it is giving the same issue with other games. I have a feeling that some internal GPU settings were changed in the Display settings/NVIDIA Control panel menu (accessed by right-clicking on the desktop) because the visual settings in the games do not appear to affect the FPS.
Note: The graphics quality still changes, just not the FPS.

 

2) WHY IS MY CPU READING LIKE THIS?

I don't know too much about CPU's but do they always run at near-full speed? Or is Task Manager giving false readings?
The utilization is also constantly moving between 5-12% when the PC is idle (almost everything is closed).

Core Voltage varies from 0.700 V to about 1.400 V.
Core Speed varies from 4590.00 MHz to 4600.00 MHz while occasionally dropping to 0700.00 MHz.
Are these normal readings?

3) Games are crashing:
I first noticed this issue sometime in late November 2018. After launching League of Legends, within the first 2 minutes of the game, I have a 30% chance of crashing. I hear the "Du du duuuu..." Windows 10 error sound and suddenly the game freezes and my mouse begins to lag on the screen. I bring up Task Manager and end the processing of it - and then reconnect to the game where once I do, it doesn't crash again. The game's client is also laggy. I have tried to reinstall the game multiple times and have gone through the fixing thing that it tries from the settings menu but to no avail. Could this be the GPU or CPU (or even RAM) choking up at something and then crashing? 
Looking at another example: Apex Legends also has about a 60% chance to crash (per game), but the only difference is that it can occur at any time within the game.

Feel free to ask any questions.

[191x7]

Have you tried reinstalling Windows and everything?

 

Are you using the latest drivers for everything (GPU, motherboard/chipset, sound, usb, ...)? The latest bios on the board? Latest SSD firmware?

 

Have you checked your hard drive with somethning like Hard Disk Sentinel?

[Inspirational]

10 minutes ago, 191x7 said:

Have you tried reinstalling Windows and everything?

 

No, I don't remember or still have the code for windows, and I would like to avoid a full reinstall of windows.

Quote

Are you using the latest drivers for everything (GPU, motherboard/chipset, sound, usb, ...)? The latest bios on the board? Latest SSD firmware?

1

Only for GPU I guess. The rest are the drivers that were installed 2-3 years ago. I assume that the drivers for them can be found on their relative websites, correct?
SSD firmware? I haven't heard of such a thing. Is it like a driver for SSD?

Quote

Have you checked your hard drive with somethning like Hard Disk Sentinel?

I'll check now.

[191x7]

4 minutes ago, Inspirational said:

No, I don't remember or still have the code for windows, and I would like to avoid a full reinstall of windows.

Only for GPU I guess. The rest are the drivers that were installed 2-3 years ago. I assume that the drivers for them can be found on their relative websites, correct?
SSD firmware? I haven't heard of such a thing. Is it like a driver for SSD?

I'll check now.

If you have used the PC while logged into your Microsoft account, the key for the configuration is stored and connected to the account - if you reinstall Windows, log in with the same account on the same machine the activation process does its magic and activates Windows.

If you don't know how to find the drivers, try something like Driver Booster from IObit, it works quite well in most cases.

Firmware to an SSD is like bios to a motherboard, it tells the flash controller what to do and how to do it. Firmware updates fix bugs and/or improve performance.

[Inspirational]

 

On 2/11/2019 at 7:03 PM, 191x7 said:

Are you using the latest drivers for everything (GPU, motherboard/chipset, sound, usb, ...)?

1

Yes.

On 2/11/2019 at 7:03 PM, 191x7 said:

The latest bios on the board?

I checked for it online and it gave me a .CAP file. I Googled around a little but failed to find a proper response on how it is used  

 

On 2/11/2019 at 7:03 PM, 191x7 said:

Latest SSD firmware?

Yes.

 

On 2/11/2019 at 7:03 PM, 191x7 said:

Have you checked your hard drive with somethning like Hard Disk Sentinel?

Yes, everything is "excellent."

 

On 2/11/2019 at 7:22 PM, 191x7 said:

If you have used the PC while logged into your Microsoft account, the key for the configuration is stored and connected to the account - if you reinstall Windows, log in with the same account on the same machine the activation process does its magic and activates Windows.

 

I am not using the Microsoft account to log in

 

On 2/11/2019 at 7:22 PM, 191x7 said:

try something like Driver Booster from IObit, it works quite well in most cases.

 

Yes, it was very helpful. 

Note: Sorry for the late response, I had a family wedding (and preparations for it etc throughout the week) so I had completely forgotten about this thread  

[191x7]

7 hours ago, Inspirational said:

 

Yes.

I checked for it online and it gave me a .CAP file. I Googled around a little but failed to find a proper response on how it is used  

 

1

Here's the BIOS download:

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z170-AR/HelpDesk_BIOS/

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/Z170-AR/Z170-AR-ASUS-3801.zip?_ga=2.265654735.1338099800.1550319657-1934251815.1547580164

 

User manual:

https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1151/Z170-AR/E10395_Z170-AR_UM_WEB.pdf?_ga=2.261462477.1338099800.1550319657-1934251815.1547580164

Section 2.11. explains how to update BIOS.

[Inspirational]

I spent 3 hours trying to get the first option of installation to work and after repeated failing, moved onto option 2 (installing via usb) which completed it in 5 mins :')

Anyway, BIOS is now also up to date. Most recent was 2018 (I was on 2017).

What else can I do now?

EDIT: Thanks for your time, I really do appreciate it  

[191x7]

After you update your drivers (Driver Booster), does it still crash (with new windows, drivers and bios)?

[Inspirational]

I'll keep an eye on it and let you know if it does. Since it seems to be based on chance, it's not something I can immediately test  
The FPS is still locked.

Would there be anything else I can try while waiting to see if it has improved?

And by the way, are the CPU readings and info I posted at the top normal?
I will also try to reinstall windows. Hopefully, I don't run into any troubles with the key for it.

[Inspirational]

Reinstalling Windows fixed everything.