Performance dropped significantly once the computer stopped working properly, requiring a strong restart.
Performance dropped significantly once the computer stopped working properly, requiring a strong restart.
Yesterday evening something unusual occurred. I was browsing YouTube when suddenly my whole PC froze unexpectedly. Nothing functioned properly, it became completely unresponsive. Even turning the power button didn't restore it, so I forced a shutdown. After rebooting, it started up, but both screens remained black. I went to sleep and planned to wake up later, hoping things would improve. Upon waking, I checked again and everything worked. However, booting into games like League of Legends, Trackmania, and Cyberpunk caused my frame rate to swing wildly between 30 and 60 FPS. This was surprising given my usual performance of consistently 150+ FPS before the issue and my decent hardware specs. It wasn't a powerful system like NASA's supercomputers, but it could run new games smoothly at high settings. My GPU is an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti, with 16 GB RAM (two 8 GB modules), the CPU is an Intel Core i5-10400F at 2.90GHz, and the motherboard is MSI PRO H410M-B (MS-7D82). The system runs Windows 10 64-bit, with a BIOS dated December 7, 2021 (version 1.00). I attempted a system restore after the crash, but it didn't help. I updated the graphics driver, which wasn't the latest (526.98) but worked, though it didn't resolve the low FPS problem. I also performed a clean boot and updated all Windows updates, even defragmenting the hard drive, but nothing changed. I've attached a link to a benchmark test that shows my performance was poor. I'm reaching out for advice and any additional details you might have. I'm not a tech expert, so I don't know exactly what I need to fix.
Initially I wanted to highlight that userbenchmark is a benchmarking tool for gaming hardware and its findings should be interpreted carefully. From what I observed, your Toshiba HDD is performing poorly, so I’d suggest disconnecting it to check if the performance improves. A failing HDD can lead to slower gameplay and overall Windows instability, especially if the affected drive is hosting games. I also noticed it reports RAM speed at just 800MHz, which is significantly lower than expected. Verify the actual speed in Task Manager’s performance section. If it falls below the rated rate, ensure XMP is enabled in the BIOS settings. Regarding the graphics driver, try using DDU from Guru3d.com to uninstall existing drivers and then reinstall the latest version via GeForce Experience. If your GPU refuses to accept new drivers, it may indicate a deeper hardware issue causing the performance drop.
I noticed a few things affecting your setup. For your RAM, it wasn't showing the actual speed in Task Manager, so I used CPU-Z which indicated 400MHz (likely halved since you have two sticks). In the BIOS, XMP profiles were hidden and couldn't be enabled. I adjusted the DRAM frequency to the maximum setting, which is now 2667 MHz. Testing it in Cyberpunk gave me consistently over 100 FPS, so thank you for the assistance. However, 2667 MHz is quite slow now. The graphics driver issue seems odd—I removed it with DDU and then reinstalled the latest GPU driver, but it still didn't update properly. The second newest driver works fine without problems. It might be worth replacing the RAM if it's showing signs of wear, though it seems to be in good shape. As for the HDD, unplugging it might not help much since most components run on the OS. Let me know what you think!
It's good to hear the RAM was the problem. 2666mhz isn't fast enough nowadays, especially on DDR4 systems. With graphics drivers, sometimes they don't fully install in GeForce Experience unless you restart after setup—restarting post-install usually resolves the issue. This seems to be a recurring problem with the latest drivers too. For storage, I'd strongly suggest swapping out the HDD for an SSD; prices are low enough that using a regular mechanical drive isn't worth it anymore.
You reinstalled the driver, restarted the computer, and launched NVIDIA GeForce Experience. While downloading the latest driver (526.98), it installed an older version from August (516.94) without prompting. When attempting to install the newest version, it blocks the process with an error message about continuation being impossible. No details provided on the reason. You mentioned considering RAM upgrades and HDD replacement.