Suddently poor performance

BetteBalterZen · March 31, 2020

Edit: I cleaned my GPU cooler - even though temps were good - and that fixed my random performance problem

Hello all!

In the past week, I've experience really bad performance and I cannot fix it.

Started with one day - about a week ago - I went into FH4 in the morning before work to play an hour or so. Everything ran perfectly. Then I went in to play again after work, and suddently my FPS went from 75-ish to 45-ish with the 45-ish FPS being really stuttery and laggy. I tried reinstalling GPU drivers - which worked the first time (tried an older driver) - then after a day (after PC was turned off and then on) performance was really bad again. Back to 45-ish FPS. Then I tried other GPU drivers, which had no effect. Then I looked after updates for Windows and there was an update - think it was for framework or something like that - I installed it, and damn my FPS was back to normal.
Then a day after, performance was bad again - 45-ish FPS was back. I then tried turning off various different softwares and nothing worked. Then I tried closing the Oculus rift services running in the background when the headset wasn't being used and damn, it worked. FPS was back to normal. And then - you probably guessed it - a day after the FPS was back at 45-ish... This time closing the Oculus rift services or whatever you wanna call them did not help. Then I noticed I no longer was able to watch 4K HDR content on my PC. Now I had a choppy playback with 8FPS. Then I thought, whatever, I'll format my PC which I've done. And nope, did not work either. Totally fresh Windows install with fresh drivers. NOPE. Did not work.

Now today, I went into to Star Wars Battlefront 2 because it does run kinda normally, with NZXT CAM turned off(used it before - also when I had no problems at all). Then I thought about trying FH4 for fun, see if it runs good, and damn it did. Ran perfectly smooth. Then I thought, hmm, maybe I can watch 4K HDR content again - and damn, it worked perfectly. Then I rebooted my PC to see if the performance would "stick" and nope, it did not, performance was back to terrible - back to the same 45-ish FPS in FH4 and 4K HDR playback is impossible again (the 8 FPS). And nope, having NZXT CAM turned off this time did not do anything.

I've seen two other guys on Reddit, with very different PC's, playing very different things, in the last week or so (like me) suddently have poor performance (again, like me).

Also, another one here on this forum also talk about sudden loss in performance.

I does sound like it's a Windows issue, right?

Edit: I've also found an article talking about the latest Cumulative Updates - March 10th 2020 have made performance worse for people, among other things aswell. Must be an issue with Windows.

Akolyte · March 31, 2020

First things I would try would be:

Alt+Tab while playing your game or playing any slow performing video, and open task manager. Are there any processes using signifcant CPU, Is your GPU working 100%?
Download a tool such as HWMonitor Link Here, and keep it running in the background while you play. It will record the highest temperatures of your CPU, GPU, Motherboard and whatnot. If you're unsure if any of the temps are acceptable, post a screenshot of all the recorded max temperatures.

To me, it sounds like an issue with heat throttling, but since you reinstalled your drivers and closed some programs and it worked before, I'm not really too sure what to make of that. I think just follow those steps above and we'll get an idea of where we need to explore next.

Just remember, the troubleshooting process can take days, so patience is key. And progressing through the steps and suggestions we post here, as it will give us all an idea of what could be wrong. I know sometimes it might seem like we're asking really basic questions, but the best way to resolve a problem is to deduce it.

Lemme know how you go.

BetteBalterZen · March 31, 2020

Hello Akolyte - thank you for your input

Alt+Tab does not work. I have tried. My GPU usage is good(like near 100% when gaming, as it should be) and my CPU usage isn't high (no bottleneck). Also my temps are good. I monitor everything. GPU is at 83c, which it is meant to and always have been (it's a blowerstyle 1080 Ti from MSI, clocking 1800MHz) and my CPU temps are 45-55 while gaming such as FH4 and Star Wars Battlefront 2. Doing photo editing, benchmarks or anything that is heavy, I get spikes in the 80s, which is fine.

So yeah - unfortunately - I know it's not thermal throttling... Atleast that would have been easy to fix.