PC Performance abysmal

Vicxas

Hey all,

Need some help with an issue with my father in laws PC.

SPECS: Chassis: Alienware Araura
Processor: 3970k
GFX: Stock geforce 680


Backstory: FIL was playing the computer on friday when he noticed a massive slowdown on the PC performance, framerate dropped to 4-5 FPS and refused to move any higher, the PC then crashed and refused to boot. He removed the cover and noticed a lot of dust which he cleared out and rebooted. PC played fine for about 15 minutes and then dropped the framerate again.

So I bring my rig over so we can swap out parts and try to diagnose if its a HW issue. I stick my ram in (Corsair Vengeance) and notice an improvement on load times but the 15 minute issue kicks in again where the FPS drop and never rise.

I then stick my GFX Card in (MSI HD7950 TwinFROZR) and the issue still persists. We then swap everything back in and clear the registry and any temp files using CC cleaner and theres no improvement.

Could it be a faulty HDD? Damage from overheating and dust? I dont think its the Ram or GFX card as the issue persisted with my components in the PC.

So the TL;DR edition is, PC suddenly stops performing. Framerate doesnt go above 5fps and swaping out ram and GFX card didnt help.

Any ideas?

Dulchie

Suspect malware infection. Unlikely to be hardware related.
Try Malwarebytes and see what shows up in the scan.
What type of anti virus is installed is it up to date ?
What OS is installed ?

Vicxas

Dulchie wrote: »

Suspect malware infection. Unlikely to be hardware related.
Try Malwarebytes and see what shows up in the scan.
What type of anti virus is installed is it up to date ?
What OS is installed ?

Ran Malwarebytes and it picked up nothing. Running AVG premium edition.

Its Windows 7 64 bit Pro.

Cuddlesworth

Open up resource monitor, play the game. When the fps tanks, alt tab into resource monitor and find out what the pc is doing. Pay attention to the max cpu frequency, cpu usage, ram usage and disk usage.

PrzemoF

OP, that PC might be mining bitcoins... read this : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/28/watch_dogs_pirate_gamers_botnet/

Vicxas

PrzemoF wrote: »

OP, that PC might be mining bitcoins... read this : http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/05/28/watch_dogs_pirate_gamers_botnet/

Cheers for that mate,

We've resorted to stripping the OS HDD and making a clean install to see if that fixes it.

sw33t_r3v3ng3

Let us know how you get on !

PropJoe10

Probably a malware infection but could also be related to the power supply. Does the drop in FPS only happen when the PC is under load, or when idling?

Vicxas

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Probably a malware infection but could also be related to the power supply. Does the drop in FPS only happen when the PC is under load, or when idling?

It was under load that it would drop (15 minutes of CIV V)

When we rebooted the lag was instant.

PropJoe10

Vicxas wrote: »

It was under load that it would drop (15 minutes of CIV V)

When we rebooted the lag was instant.

Its possible that when under load, the PSU is not providing enough power to the components, hence the drop in performance. Try swapping out the PSU if possible, and see if there's any difference.

Vicxas

PropJoe10 wrote: »

Its possible that when under load, the PSU is not providing enough power to the components, hence the drop in performance. Try swapping out the PSU if possible, and see if there's any difference.

Ill give that a bash and let you know.

PropJoe10

Definitely worth a try. Good luck!

Overheal

Especially with a high output card

Vicxas

So we ran a full scan of Malware bytes and repaired the windows install and it all seems to be working.

Will keep you all updated. the curse of the self healing Pc is on