Following a thorough cleaning of my computer’s hardware, I've noticed performance dips in frame rates.
Following a thorough cleaning of my computer’s hardware, I've noticed performance dips in frame rates.
Here’s a rewritten version of the text, using different words and aiming for clarity:
Greetings – this describes my computer setup:
* **Graphics Card:** MSI GTX 960 with 2 GB of memory
* **Motherboard:** MSI H110m Pro-VD
* **Processor:** Intel i3 6098p (running with the stock fan)
* **Memory:** 8 GB of DDR4 RAM at 2400 MHz
* **Storage:** A 1 TB hard drive with a rotational speed of 7200 RPM
* About two days ago, I cleaned my PC, suspecting there was a lot of dust buildup. I removed the processor, graphics card, and RAM – I used a hairdryer on its cool setting to remove dust from the components. I didn’t touch the hard drive. I also reapplied thermal paste to the CPU. After this, I reassembled everything and turned on the computer, but there was no display on my monitor; it just showed a black screen. Following that:
* First, I checked all cables and connections inside the case to ensure nothing was loose. There were no missing connections.
* Second, I removed and reinstalled the graphics card and tried again, still without a display.
* Third, I removed and reinstalled the CPU and reapplied thermal paste – again, no display.
* Finally, I detached the RAM and attempted to install it into a different slot. Then, I tried reinserting it into the original slot as well. Here’s where something unusual occurred. I thought I had inserted the RAM incorrectly, because when I removed it, it was upside down. However, this is likely not the case. I carefully reinstalled the RAM correctly in its slot and turned on the computer. A display appeared, and I was able to launch Dark Souls 3.
After successfully booting up, I launched Dark Souls 3, a game I had played previously with consistently high frame rates. However, I was shocked to see that the frame rate was only around 10 FPS or even lower. I didn't change any graphics settings. I tested other games, and the problem persisted – the frame rate remained consistently low. Therefore, I began investigating to find the root cause:
* First, I ran Windows Memory Diagnostic to check for RAM errors, but it didn’t report any problems.
* Next, I used MSI Afterburner to monitor temperatures while gaming. The CPU idled at around 25-30 degrees Celsius, but in games, it reached approximately 50 degrees, and the GPU didn’t exceed 60 degrees.
* Then I scanned my hard drive with HD Tune to check for any issues, which took approximately two hours and showed no errors in the drive's health.
* Following that, I considered a potential virus infection – perhaps some kind of malware was using my GPU for mining. I ran both Avast and Malwarebytes anti-malware scans. Avast found no issues, but Malwarebytes detected around eight malware files that I quarantined, which didn't solve the problem.
* After that, I re-tested the RAM using Memtest86 on both slots for about two and a half hours, again without finding any errors.
* I then completely uninstalled and reinstalled all NVIDIA drivers, rebooted the computer, and launched Dark Souls 3. The game ran smoothly like it had in the past. However, when I tried another game, *Sekiro*, the frame rate was severely low. I returned to Dark Souls 3 and continued to experience very poor frame rates.
I noticed that I was consistently experiencing a 100% disk usage issue, which I addressed by fixing it. However, this didn’t resolve the core problem. Ultimately, I decided to format my PC and reinstall Windows 10 Pro. Because of the time it would take to re-download and install all my games, I only installed League of Legends. I installed the drivers and the game simultaneously. I immediately tested League of Legends, and the frame rate was low – it was significantly lower than my usual 150 FPS. I then rebooted the PC and launched the game again, but the frame rate dropped quickly at first, only to recover briefly before falling again.
Currently, I experience inconsistent frame rates while playing games. When the frame rate drops, I often restart the game or perform actions that reload it, such as disabling/enabling V-Sync or adjusting graphics settings – this sometimes works temporarily, but not consistently. I continue to try different solutions until the problem is resolved, only for it to reappear when loading a new game.
Also, even without using Furmark, I am seeing a "Lim: voltage" alert in the game's on-screen display.
I’m at a loss for ideas now, and I've been running Furmark and AIDA64 stress tests on my GPU and CPU. I'll provide the results with links, as well as screenshots from HD Tune and HD Sentinel showing my hard drive's health status. Please advise on how to solve this problem. Thank you!
Could you please specify your power supply's manufacturer and model number, as well as your operating system? If you are using Windows 10, could you also indicate which version of the OS you have?