Is my CPU dying? FPS issues.

[ruuBEN]

So like, hey.

So, I'm always typing a bunch of "amg i want a new processor" threads on this forum, and I was actually at microcenter about to make these purchases, but I backed out a couple of days ago with an odd mindset.

Lately, I've been playing cs:go a lot, and WoW ever since the new patch. Ever since the new patch, I've noticed I had strange FPS issues. For no reason, absolutely no reasons, my FPS will spike around and be locked at intervals of 10. 100, 90, 80, 70 FPS. I've gone from 100 to 40 to 70 to 50 to 90 then back to 100 while flying in a matter of 3 seconds. There are times when flying around, it claims I have 70 FPS, but it's like I'm at less than 20 FPS. There are even times that when I alt-tab to a steam chat window, my laggy, 70 FPS game will be forced down to 30 FPS and still run smoother. Even with lowering my graphics all the way down to medium to low except for view distance, it still lags hardcore. What's the deal? I used to run the game at all max except for shadows and liquid, which was at medium. I never dipped under 37 FPS when looking at any amount of water, and now? I sometimes skip down to 15.

I thought it was just the game update; then I've been noticing: in CS:GO, I will randomly go from my 100+ FPS down to a random 50 and just stay there, there are times when in smoke I'll skip down to 20-30 FPS and lag haaaaaaardcore with just two there; when in the beta I've spammed over 50 smokes in one area with friends and never go under 150. I cleaned my computer, cleared a bit on my harddrive, haven't done much other than notice obvious performance issues. Even on youtube my framerate loves to skip around when watching videos.

AMD 955 black, stock temp, 3.2 ghz
Antec 900 with all fan sockets up and running- even brand new fans as of a few months ago
Thermal paste is on, but very, very old. I bought this computer in sept/october of 2010; haven't done anything to the paste.
No custom heatsink.
MY COMPUTER HAS SUFFERED HEAT ABUSE, btw. That's something I put in caps to make noticeable. maybe I should bold it.
From the time I got the computer until last april, it literally would be killed. It's been force-shut-down'd twice or three times due to overheat, and several blue screens have turned my computer off while in an intense game- fans died, didn't replace them, and never cared to clean my comp. I learned my lesson. So yeah. heat abuse is a factor for this- I have a video I can upload of how it sounded when it idled. It sounded louder than a refridgerator- a friend said "It sounds like you have a freaking AC unit in your room."
GTX 460
8 gigs, 4 gig x 2 sticks, at 1600 hz.

What's the deal? Has anyone been getting these FPS issues? Is my comp dying?

I'm not exaggerating when I say my game claims it sees 80 FPS, but my stuff is only processing at like 15-20. Because minimizing and forcing my game to 30 fps makes it SMOOTHER than when it isn't minimized. again, fullscreen windowed mode makes this observation possible.
I can't even do archaeology.

---------- Post added 2012-09-04 at 11:37 PM ----------

AND HERE IT IS AGAIN. >:C

Flying from hyjal down into ashenvale; 70-75 FPS, wasn't going over 73 but never under 71, running smoothely. I get into the trees of ashenvale, keep a stable 65 ish, just as smooth. for NO reason, I'm now lagging as if I'm at 15 FPS, but it claims I'm getting no lower than 50.
I alt tab, forced 30 FPS; smoother than it is running not being alt tabbed.. :\

[Bigbazz]

Clean heatsink/fans/case of dust to sort cooling issues. Format harddrive, reinstall windows etc and then try again. That is what I would do, it could easily be some sort of software/driver issue causing your problems.

[ruuBEN]

Clean heatsink/fans/case of dust to sort cooling issues. Format harddrive, reinstall windows etc and then try again. That is what I would do, it could easily be some sort of software/driver issue causing your problems.

The reformatting's going to take roughly a week; but I've already cleaned it head to toe today. I mean seriously.
Air compressor+tons of inspection for roughly an hour today, not a single bit of dust clogged anywhere.

edit: Other than that, what seems to be a likely issue to my problem? :<

[endersblade]

You could also try reseating and re-thermal'ing the CPU, as you said, the paste has been on there for over 2 years.

I Also agree with Bigbazz, how old is your windows installation? I typically wipe my drives and reformat every year or so, right around tax season lol. In case I wanna upgrade something :-P But having a cluttered drive is definitely going to cause you some issues.

You may also want to try reinstalling your GPU drivers too.

That's the problem with computers...you may have one, what seems like simple problem, but there are a thousand and one different little things, or combination of things, that may be the culprit ><

[Deleted]

The reformatting's going to take roughly a week; but I've already cleaned it head to toe today. I mean seriously.
Air compressor+tons of inspection for roughly an hour today, not a single bit of dust clogged anywhere.

edit: Other than that, what seems to be a likely issue to my problem? :<

i sort of had the same, bought a new fan and ofcourse re applied heatpaste, mine was all dried out. probably didnt need the fan in the end though
just the paste

[ruuBEN]

You could also try reseating and re-thermal'ing the CPU, as you said, the paste has been on there for over 2 years.

I Also agree with Bigbazz, how old is your windows installation? I typically wipe my drives and reformat every year or so, right around tax season lol. In case I wanna upgrade something :-P But having a cluttered drive is definitely going to cause you some issues.

You may also want to try reinstalling your GPU drivers too.

That's the problem with computers...you may have one, what seems like simple problem, but there are a thousand and one different little things, or combination of things, that may be the culprit ><

I'm aware, but there may be people who have experience with issues like this! :-D
In my experience, any FPS droppage like this is always from heat or, well, a hardware failure. My coretemp's been running all day, it never went over 62 degrees under a huge load. That's celcius, too, btw. But even then, it would sometimes spike over 80. :\

My windows installation was done back in July. Yeah. That recently. I also have already updated all my drivers- the only thing I'd have to do is re-assemble, like you're suggesting.. but it doesn't make sense.

The only reason it doesn't is 1] I cleaned it/dis-assembled it all today to clean it and put it back on. Yet, I still have the exact same issue/results/problems from about a week ago- even a week or two before MoP came out.

So far, at this point, the only thing that seems to be the culprit to me is a hardware failure, or just some ugly windows installation, but... blah.

[Deleted]

I'm aware, but there may be people who have experience with issues like this! :-D
In my experience, any FPS droppage like this is always from heat or, well, a hardware failure. My coretemp's been running all day, it never went over 62 degrees under a huge load. That's celcius, too, btw. But even then, it would sometimes spike over 80. :\

My windows installation was done back in July. Yeah. That recently. I also have already updated all my drivers- the only thing I'd have to do is re-assemble, like you're suggesting.. but it doesn't make sense.

The only reason it doesn't is 1] I cleaned it/dis-assembled it all today to clean it and put it back on. Yet, I still have the exact same issue/results/problems from about a week ago- even a week or two before MoP came out.

So far, at this point, the only thing that seems to be the culprit to me is a hardware failure, or just some ugly windows installation, but... blah.

Homestly i would re-apply paste and rule it out as a problem or solve it. cpu shouldnt rly go to 62c imo, maybe whem gaming but mine never goes over 45c. on windows its usually on 25c imo before you ask for help you should do the basics first~

[drmadhatter]

Honestly are you just having these issues after patch because I know people who just bought a new machine 2 days before patch and when patch game the fps went to hell. I have never had issues with fps either and since patch it was horrible. I have done every thing re installed wow and even played other games I can play sc2 on ultra and Diablo 3 and never go below 75 frames but wow is sitting at less then 30. The patch has had alot of issues i have turned addons off I have put the settings down. Its not your comp, its wow. There are so many issues going on that there begging for people to help.


Edit: I would also try to turn off the SSAO detail its not really worth it honestly and My machine was doing great with out and now its crap with and with out but just a chance for you.

[ruuBEN]

Honestly are you just having these issues after patch because I know people who just bought a new machine 2 days before patch and when patch game the fps went to hell. I have never had issues with fps either and since patch it was horrible. I have done every thing re installed wow and even played other games I can play sc2 on ultra and Diablo 3 and never go below 75 frames but wow is sitting at less then 30. The patch has had alot of issues i have turned addons off I have put the settings down. Its not your comp, its wow. There are so many issues going on that there begging for people to help.


Edit: I would also try to turn off the SSAO detail its not really worth it honestly and My machine was doing great with out and now its crap with and with out but just a chance for you.

Sorry for these late ass replies,

I turned everything either 100% off (like the SSAO detail, and shadows, and liquid, and sunshafts), and other things to medium range at absolute most, and I'm still getting these frame issues.

I want to say it was with the patch- but it wasn't just right after the patch. Even in CS:GO during the beta back in july, there would be times after loading it for so long, I would be forced/stuck at 20 FPS. There would be a solid 1+ second lag in my mouse movements and keyboard clicks, and not just in CS:GO, but in CS:S, CS 1.6, and even WoW. I'd have to do a full reboot/restart to fix it. It still exists to this day, it just happened last night while I was trying to video edit. Was recording clips, and bam. :\

So it's not just WoW; and like I said, the only thing I can do for cooling is getting a liquid-cooling heatsink, or re-apply some thermal paste, but now? It's running cool/fine/isn't overheating. I know 62 is abnormal, but that's during video processing/rendering/etc. So yeah. :\

[Musta Kyy]

I would guess it is your GPU running too hot, so instead of shutting down your computer, it just lowers the clocks speeds until it is cool again, which would cause lower frame rate for a moment.
Could you monitor GPU (and CPU) temperatures while you are gaming.
Latest patch made WoW quite a bit more stressful for the GPU, so that is what might cause your GPU to run too hot.
What is your monitor's refresh rate (its no use making your GPU to push 100fps if your monitor can show only 60 frames every second)? If you dont have vsync on, your GPU will be at 100% load in most games.
Try vsync or lock your fps to 60 or so and see if the problem stays.