Need Help: Massive Recent Computer Slowdown - Cause Unknown

LetoAtreidesII

Junior Member
Apr 6, 2017
19
0
36
Recently, my computer started slowing down massively in certain situations. I've been desperately trying to identify the cause but have been thus far unsuccesful.

I need your help to figure this out.


The main problem is that my frame rate drops to gameplay-impairing levels (10-20 fps) in moderate to heavy load situations that never used to cause such slowdowns (didn't cause such slowdowns just a few weeks ago). Even web browsing can be slow, though that's usually when multitasking. It seems to slow down more in heavy-load, high-stress situations that you would expect to tax a computer. However, such slowdowns were slight and barely noticeable before but are significant and very noticeable now. For example, I play Warhammer End Times Vermintide, and whenever a pack/swarm spawns, there is a noticeable drop in framerate that can impair my aim. I also play SWTOR and in combat situations in pvp warzones and during pve raids my frame rate drops to painfully low levels whereas before I didn't notice any drop at all. Even in low-stress situations when my framerate is generally high there is occasional hitching/stuttering that never happened before (this doesn't seem to register as an fps drop).


I haven't made any major hardware/software changes in the past few weeks or even months (when this started happening). I run a very clean system. I obsessively monitor all my processes and services and have trimmed anything I've deemed unnecessary. If there is a new/unfamiliar process in task manager I recognize it immediately because I basically have all the processes I'm supposed to have memorized. I don't pirate any games, software, or movies and don't visit any shady websites. I also browse only with Noscript. I only let websites that are cleared by https://safeweb.norton.com/ or https://global.sitesafety.trendmicro.com/result.php through noscript.


The only thing I've done differently in the past few weeks was start to run videos while afk to earn points on tremorgames.com. I started by running one video window at a time but later increased the amount to 2-4 windows at a time (to gain points faster). The videos are from EngageMe.TV via the Adscendmedia survey wall on Tremor. I basically started allowing everything on Engageme.TV through noscript. After doing this for a couple weeks I noticed my computer performance start to suffer (to state the obvious - I close the afk movie windows whenever I'm not afk - I don't play games with them running in the background). After I noticed the slowdown I stopped running the afk videos completely. The afk videos may not have anything to do with the slowdown but it's the only thing different I've done recently. The only other programs I've installed recently are various Steam games that I mostly run afk for cards and then uninstall.


System built in 2011 (have upgraded it several times since then). These are the current specs:

OS: Windows 7 64bit (also Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit dual boot on another hard drive)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52400
Motherboard: Intel BOXDH67CL LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
This is the bugged one but I was very careful to not use any of the affected SATA ports so the bug doesn't affect me.
RAM: 16GB (4 x 4GB) CORSAIR Vengeance 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Memory Kit Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
Video Card: EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-3662-KR GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Sound Card: Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer

After running many diagnostics I've ruled out faulty RAM, CPU, and hard drive failure. I ran Memtest86 5.01 and all my RAM was fine. I ran IntelProcessor Diagnostic Tool and my CPU was fine. I ran Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic and my hard drives are fine. I defragged my hard drive. I ran multiple malware scans with Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Anti-Rootkit and no malware was found. I also ran downloaded and ran 3DMark on both my Windows 7 64 bit and 32 bit installs and the results were very similar for both (4 739 and 4 662 respectively). I updated my video drivers (with clean install). Unfortunately, I didn't run it before this slowdown occurred so I have no basis for comparison. My GPU temperature is always under 60 C (usually 50-60 C under heavy load - it's usually in the 40's) so there's no GPU overheating, at least. I will start monitoring CPU temps soon (just downloaded CPU-Z) but somehow I doubt that's the problem.


So I really can't figure out what's going on. My top candidates for what's causing my problem are:

1. Subtly Dying Graphics Card - No artifacting, no overheating, no crashes/reboots. Just the aforementioned slowdowns in high-load situations that never happened before.

2. Dying Motherboard - No problems other than the aforementioned slowdowns. No problems recognizing any devices.

3. Dying PSU - No symptoms other than the aforementioned slowdowns. I'm going to download Speccy to try to diagnose this.

4. Dust - No overheating (I think) so this is unlikely, I think.

5. Undetected Malware - I ran Malwarebytes but there could still be something there causing this that it didn't detect. Any suggestions?


I was thinking of just buying a new video card, but decided to hold off until I'm more confident in identifying the cause of my problem. I can use all the help I can get. I'm completely baffled.
 

postmortemIA

Diamond Member
Jul 11, 2006
7,721
40
91
If you don't have SSD, this is 99% hard disk problem.
When you detect slowdown, you should go to task manager and look for the CPU utilization. If there's no high CPU utilization, then again it's the hard disk. If it anything else than your game, then that's the culprit :D
 

Ketchup

Elite Member
Sep 1, 2002
14,545
236
106
In the game Warhammer End Times Vermintide, for example, I know that I would experience slowdowns in steam games, only to realize that a game update caused it to max all my graphics settings in the game. Since you card is a little on the low side for that game to begin with, make sure your games are running the settings you had set when they were performing well.
 

LetoAtreidesII

Junior Member
Apr 6, 2017
19
0
36
If you don't have SSD, this is 99% hard disk problem.
When you detect slowdown, you should go to task manager and look for the CPU utilization. If there's no high CPU utilization, then again it's the hard disk. If it anything else than your game, then that's the culprit :D
The same games were performing like 4x better with the same hard drives just a few weeks ago. The hard drives are fine. I ran Western Digital Lifeguard Diagnostics on them and they're good.

In the game Warhammer End Times Vermintide, for example, I know that I would experience slowdowns in steam games, only to realize that a game update caused it to max all my graphics settings in the game. Since you card is a little on the low side for that game to begin with, make sure your games are running the settings you had set when they were performing well.
Checked, graphics settings didn't change.

What I did find out was that my CPU seems to be overheating. Checked CPU temps with Speccy. It's running at 98-99 C during Vermintide! 97-98C during SWTOR. 90C idle. So that could very well be it. Does anyone have a link to a good guide on replacing thermal paste? Also, should I buy new thermal paste or can I use the rest of the tube I bought 6 years ago when I built this system?

And could the CPU cooler actually be broken? How can I tell if it's broken or not? I'm using the stock cooler and prefer to keep it unless it's actually broken.

I also have doubts about my PSU so I'd really like to rule that out, but I can't figure out the Speccy data. This is all the voltage data I could find (under motherboard), and I have no idea if it's normal or not, so I can really use help reading it:
Voltage
CPU CORE 1.144 V
MEMORY CONTROLLER 1.120 V
AVCC 3.408 V
3VCC 3.408 V
VIN4 1.048 V
VIN5 1.048 V
VIN6 1.088 V
PCI Data
Slot PCI-E
Slot Type PCI-E
Slot Usage In Use
Data lanes x16
Slot Designation J6B2
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 0
Slot PCI
Slot Type PCI
Slot Usage In Use
Bus Width 32 bit
Slot Designation PCI Slot
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 1
Slot PCI
Slot Type PCI
Slot Usage Available
Bus Width 32 bit
Slot Designation PCI Slot
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 2
Slot PCI
Slot Type PCI
Slot Usage In Use
Bus Width 32 bit
Slot Designation PCI Slot
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 3
Slot PCI
Slot Type PCI
Slot Usage Available
Data lanes x1
Slot Designation PCIeSlot
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 4
Slot PCI
Slot Type PCI
Slot Usage Available
Data lanes x1
Slot Designation PCIeSlot
Characteristics 3.3V, Shared, PME
Slot Number 5
Under Graphics it says:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti
Voltage 0.987 V
 
Last edited:

Fardringle

Diamond Member
Oct 23, 2000
9,184
753
126
Those temperatures would definitely cause throttling of the CPU, and that would make everything slower. If the fan seems to be spinning normally and the heat sink is securely attached to the CPU, then new thermal paste would be the next logical step. You can use old thermal paste and it's usually probably OK, depending on the type, but after 6 years I'd spend a few dollars to get new stuff.

Pick your CPU out of this list for Arctic Silver's officially recommended application process for that CPU:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

If you have the same problem with new paste, then it could be a bad cooler or possibly something failing in the CPU that is causing it to produce excessive heat.
 
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sm625

Diamond Member
May 6, 2011
8,172
137
106
Assuming the fan is actually spinning, it sounds like maybe a heatsink pushpin or screw has come loose or even broken. Try pressing on the base of the heatsink, at all 4 corners. Do this while running prime95 set to 1 or 2 threads. See if any added pressure anywhere causes temps to drop.