System performance is significantly reduced compared to normal operation.
System performance is significantly reduced compared to normal operation.
The laptop has been functioning well until recently. While playing Astroneer, I needed to leave briefly, so I closed the lid after saving my game. I suspect it didn’t shut down properly, which might have caused the battery to drain quickly afterward. After a short return, the battery was depleted, and games started running slowly. In Task Manager, each game spikes GPU usage significantly (95-100%), but temperatures remain normal. I tried disabling all background apps, but the issue persisted. Normally, streaming services like YouTube run smoothly in the background, so this isn’t the main cause. Currently, I’m seeing around 20-30 FPS compared to the usual 100+. I’ve checked graphic settings, restarted and powered off the machine multiple times, charged it fully, played while charging, and updated Windows and drivers. The storage is not full on the SSD.
I notice your laptop has only 8GB of RAM. 16GB is typically the suggested minimum for gaming. Given you run additional background processes alongside your game, your task manager screenshot indicates you're already utilizing 91% of your available RAM, making a upgrade to 16GB advantageous—particularly since you likely use single-channel memory now. It's possible background tasks such as Windows updates or scheduled malware scans are consuming more RAM than usual, contributing to the shortage. When the system powers off, it saves its state so you can resume smoothly. With limited RAM, this could have been a problem. Upgrading would be the most effective fix.
Thanks for the update. Yes, I understand your RAM is a bit limited, but it hasn't been affecting performance recently. I've managed to run games smoothly for several years now.
Have you explored using DDU to delete and reinstall your GPU drivers? This method often resolves driver problems with your graphics card. Additionally, have you verified the temperatures of your GPU and CPU? Even if your readings aren’t extreme, the laptop might be throttling itself to keep temps within safe limits. Have you recently installed any unfamiliar software? Running a malware scan is wise, especially using Malwarebytes, which is excellent for this task.
You can manually update the GPU drivers and then look into checking the GPU and CPU clock speeds using system tools like Task Manager or GPU monitoring apps.
You can obtain hwinfo from hwinfo.com. Both the portable and installer formats are suitable here. Launch the application and it will display a prompt window asking for a starting point. Focus only on sensors since this is the intended use. Proceed downwards to locate sections for your GPU (temperatures, clocks, details) and your CPU. After that, start your game, return to hwinfo, and click the clock icon in the lower-right corner to refresh the data. Play for approximately 15 minutes, then revisit hwinfo to identify any unusual readings such as elevated temperatures or low clock speeds. This tool tracks all components including CPU, RAM, and GPU.
The easy method to determine if the problem is hardware or software is to restart your system from another drive or partition. If you have an external HDD or SSD, convert it into a bootable Windows file using Rufus. Install and test your games there. You might also attempt to disable GPU tweaking tools like MSI Afterburner, EVGA Precision, or ASUS GPU Tweak. These can cause issues on certain devices.