HUGE performance problems on Gaming PC

[CottonFly]

Hi guys,

 

I have recently started experiencing massive performance problems on my gaming PC. 

Here are my specs, before I get into the details of the problem:

 

i7 4790k CPU

MSI z97 Gaming 7 motherboard

MSI GTX1080ti graphics

16 GIG of Ram at  2400mhz 

850 Watt power supply

Windows 10 running off an SSD

 

So, it started with game performance dropping dramatically while playing games such as Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition. I would normally get a very solid frame rate of 60FPS on both these games at 1080p, but lately it would suddenly drop to as low as 10FPS!

So I started investigating...

Long story short, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my graphics card. Benchmark scores on 3DMark using the Extreme tests still shows average of close to 60FPS and with a stability rate of 98%.

However, using CPU-Z to benchmark my CPU resulted in very alarming results!

The reference 4790K would have a single thread score of 444, while mine comes in at 86. The multi-thread score for the reference is 2282, mine is a pathetic 427!!!

My conclusion from this is that there is definitely a big problem somewhere, but I am not sure if the CPU is failing or if the power supply is failing or maybe the motherboard?

 

I'm getting no beeps, no PC crashes, no signs whatsoever suggesting a hardware failure. 

 

As part of my attempts to solve the problem, I have done things like completely formatting my drives, re-installing Windows, flashing my motherboard BIOS with the latest version from MSI, unplugged all power cables and re-did them, tried switching to the alternate BIOS on the motherboard, flashed that as well, switched back to the initial BIOS, but nothing seems to help!

 

My next step would be to replace the power supply with a new one, but I would appreciate some insight into what else I should try?

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

[MrDrWho13]

Have you checked the CPU temperatures?

[Bwithnewcast]

Since there is no problem with the gpu i wold think there is no problem with your motherboard or psu. So i would say the problem is the cpu or ram, but you have the cpu microcode drive?

[Princess Luna]

12 minutes ago, CottonFly said:

, I have done things like completely formatting my drives, re-installing Windows, flashing my motherboard BIOS with the latest version from MSI, unplugged all power cables and re-did them, tried switching to the alternate BIOS on the motherboard, flashed that as well, switched back to the initial BIOS, but nothing seems to help!

 

My next step would be to replace the power supply with a new one, but I would appreciate some insight into what else I should try?

Based on the stuff you have already done you either have a bad hardware, most likely PSU or your boot drive... now you should try testing the hardware on other PC until you find out what is the faulty one

[Jurrunio]

You should look more into the CPU first, like whether it runs too hot and thermal throttles, or somehow locked clock speed down.

[Gpuprodamnn]

36 minutes ago, CottonFly said:

Hi guys,

 

I have recently started experiencing massive performance problems on my gaming PC. 

Here are my specs, before I get into the details of the problem:

 

i7 4790k CPU

MSI z97 Gaming 7 motherboard

MSI GTX1080ti graphics

16 GIG of Ram at  2400mhz 

850 Watt power supply

Windows 10 running off an SSD

 

So, it started with game performance dropping dramatically while playing games such as Witcher 3 and Dragon Age Inquisition. I would normally get a very solid frame rate of 60FPS on both these games at 1080p, but lately it would suddenly drop to as low as 10FPS!

So I started investigating...

Long story short, there is absolutely nothing wrong with my graphics card. Benchmark scores on 3DMark using the Extreme tests still shows average of close to 60FPS and with a stability rate of 98%.

However, using CPU-Z to benchmark my CPU resulted in very alarming results!

The reference 4790K would have a single thread score of 444, while mine comes in at 86. The multi-thread score for the reference is 2282, mine is a pathetic 427!!!

My conclusion from this is that there is definitely a big problem somewhere, but I am not sure if the CPU is failing or if the power supply is failing or maybe the motherboard?

 

I'm getting no beeps, no PC crashes, no signs whatsoever suggesting a hardware failure. 

 

As part of my attempts to solve the problem, I have done things like completely formatting my drives, re-installing Windows, flashing my motherboard BIOS with the latest version from MSI, unplugged all power cables and re-did them, tried switching to the alternate BIOS on the motherboard, flashed that as well, switched back to the initial BIOS, but nothing seems to help!

 

My next step would be to replace the power supply with a new one, but I would appreciate some insight into what else I should try?

 

Any help would be much appreciated!

had same problem, disabled superfetch, windows search and changed balanced to performance mode. UR disk usage is probably 100%

[CottonFly]

30 minutes ago, MrDrWho13 said:

Have you checked the CPU temperatures?

Yes, temperatures are fine. My CPU temperature never seems to go above 40 C.

[Radium_Angel]

Did you OC your CPU? That seems to be a common thread around this forum, and the cause of issues like this.

[CottonFly]

31 minutes ago, Bwithnewcast said:

Since there is no problem with the gpu i wold think there is no problem with your motherboard or psu. So i would say the problem is the cpu or ram, but you have the cpu microcode drive?

CPU microcode drive? Shouldn't that only be needed if the CPU can't be identified? I had a look on the Intel website, but I can't find any driver downloads for this...? I guess I don't really understand what you imply, could you elaborate?

[CottonFly]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Did you OC your CPU? That seems to be a common thread around this forum, and the cause of issues like this.

No, I've never made any attempts at overclocking the CPU. Never had any need to.

[Radium_Angel]

If you boot into Windows, and let it just idle, look at the task manager, what's the CPU doing?

Ditto with the hard drive, and run something like GPU Temp and Core Temp and, at idle, what are the temps?

[CottonFly]

24 minutes ago, Jurrunio said:

You should look more into the CPU first, like whether it runs too hot and thermal throttles, or somehow locked clock speed down.

I agree, the CPU seems to be the cause of the problem, which is why I am asking for help because I'm kind of at my wits end and I don't really know what to do. I've been through every single setting in BIOS to see if anything seems wrong, but I can find no settings at all for CPU.

[CottonFly]

2 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

If you boot into Windows, and let it just idle, look at the task manager, what's the CPU doing?

Ditto with the hard drive, and run something like GPU Temp and Core Temp and, at idle, what are the temps?

When idle, the CPU sits at 1% utilization, disks are at 0%, temperatures are all very cool (CPU 27c, motherboard 36c, disks between 20 and 27c, graphics 43c). I really don't think heat is any problem.

[CottonFly]

15 minutes ago, Gpuprodamnn said:

had same problem, disabled superfetch, windows search and changed balanced to performance mode. UR disk usage is probably 100%

Disabling superfetch has no effect at all, I'm afraid.Disk usage is very low.

[Radium_Angel]

You should be able to pick up a used compatible CPU form eBay, drop it in, and see what happens. If the same issue occurs, then it's not the CPU. If it doesn't, then it is.

[CottonFly]

Here is a screenshot of Speccy showing my CPU details. I notice that bus speeds are hitting the ceiling at 100Mhz, is this normal? 

[Terryv]

Have you tried clearing you CMOS?

[Vroooom]

Can you monitor your CPU temperatures and clock speeds while running something that sees the performance drop?

[CottonFly]

8 minutes ago, Vroooom said:

Can you monitor your CPU temperatures and clock speeds while running something that sees the performance drop?

I just ran a AIDA64 stress test on the CPU and it stays at exactly 20% without even getting hot. This is so very strange, it looks like something is causing the CPU to cap at 20%?

The AIDA64 test is reporting 100% CPU usage, but Windows Task Manager shows 20% usage.

[Vroooom]

HWiNFO64 has a section in the sensors called "performance limit reasons". It might be worth installing that and running the stress test and seeing if it shows anything

[Jurrunio]

55 minutes ago, CottonFly said:

Here is a screenshot of Speccy showing my CPU details. I notice that bus speeds are hitting the ceiling at 100Mhz, is this normal? 

Normal. CPU adjust frequency with the multiplier

 

Try update or reset the BIOS.

[CottonFly]

48 minutes ago, Terryv said:

Have you tried clearing you CMOS?

Yes. It's made no differnce

[CottonFly]

31 minutes ago, Vroooom said:

HWiNFO64 has a section in the sensors called "performance limit reasons". It might be worth installing that and running the stress test and seeing if it shows anything

Had a look at HWinFO64 but I can't find this "performance limit reasons" you are referring to?

[Vroooom]

I think some of the versions don't have the sensors section. I'm on the latest beta version 5.59. On the welcome screen, uncheck "sensors-only" and "summary-only" and hit run. Then close the "system summary window". Now click "sensors" in the toolbar. You should get a window with a big one-column table with a bunch of sections in it, and a few of the sections will have sensor data from your cpu, including a "performance limit reasons" section

[CottonFly]

1 hour ago, Vroooom said:

I think some of the versions don't have the sensors section. I'm on the latest beta version 5.59. On the welcome screen, uncheck "sensors-only" and "summary-only" and hit run. Then close the "system summary window". Now click "sensors" in the toolbar. You should get a window with a big one-column table with a bunch of sections in it, and a few of the sections will have sensor data from your cpu, including a "performance limit reasons" section

Thanks for the instructions! I can see a Performance Limit "Utilitzation" which says "Yes" in all 4 columns. But this only really confirms what I already know which is that for some mysterious reason only 20% of my CPU is being used (while it thinks it is using 100%), or 0.87Ghz on a 4Ghz CPU! This thing has been reduced to something similar to what....a Pentium 3 cpu? LMAO!!! 

And that is a hysterical, I'm losing my mind kind of laugh....

I've been building my own PCs for the last 15 years and I have NEVER seen anything like this. 

Just don't know what to do