Games slow down after playing for a while...(new build) [SOLVED]

[Bradbeary]

Hello all,

I just built a new gaming rig for the first time this week and I'm having trouble keeping my games running consistently well for some reason after half an hour to an hour of play time. Everything runs smoothly and great but then things start to stutter (both graphics wise and audio wise). I'm a noob when it comes to troubleshooting problems which brings me here! I initally thought the problems were isolated with the first games I was playing (Wolfenstein, Rage) but it seems like my problem carries on with other games too (Tomb Raider, Shadow of Mordor, Far Cry).

Here are my detailed specs:

Processor: Intel i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz

Motherboard:ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII HERO LGA1151 DDR4 M.2 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.1 Type A Type C Intel Z170 ATX Motherboard

Installed memory (RAM): 15.9 GB (Kingston HyperX FURY Black 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4 Non-ECC CL14 DIMM Desktop Memory (HX421C14FBK2/16))

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB SC+ GAMING ACX 2.0+, Whisper Silent Cooling w/ Free Installed Backplate Graphics Card 06G-P4-4995-KR

OS and applications installed on: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD

Steam library installed on: WD Blue 1TB Desktop 3.5 Inch SATA 6Gb/s 7200rpm

Power Supply: Corsair CX Series 750 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Bronze ATX12V/EPS12V 744 Power Supply CX750M

Waterpump: Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

Some extra things to note:
-According to the Corsair Link software, nothing seems to be overheating. My CPU stays under 30 degrees C. The GPU doesn't go past 60 degrees C. The fans supposidly do not kick in until 60 degrees C.

-I optimize the games to run according to GeForce Experience just so I don't over do things.

Any ideas? Maybe I have something faulty in the hardware or perhaps I overlooked something?

UPDATE: Maybe it is an overheating issue. I paused Tomb Raider to read about and post my problem. 10-15 minutes later, things seemed to be running fine again. I feel like something gets really hot and needs to chill out for a while before operations could resume normally again. The question is what?

UPDATE 2: Restarting the computer each time when games start to stutter seems to "fix" the issue. Could it be a memory caching problem or something related to memory storage? I don't want to have to restart everytime my games slow down but this seems like the only way to alleviate the problem I'm having.

[_I_]

most likely thermal throttling

corsair i series clc kits have lots of link issues

watch the cpu temps when gaming
use hwmonitor, it logs min/max temps
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
alt+tab takes long enough for the cpu/gpu to drop 20+c

[ThomasHynes]

Download Speccy from piriform and monitor your temps before during and after gaming, if none of the temperatures go into the red then it's not a over heating issue. I'd check bios to make sure memory is running at correct speed and enable xmp if supported. You can using "crystaldisk" to check disk read and write speeds to rule out faulty ssd.

[Bradbeary]

Originally posted by _I_:

most likely thermal throttling

corsair i series clc kits have lots of link issues

watch the cpu temps when gaming
use hwmonitor, it logs min/max temps
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html
alt+tab takes long enough for the cpu/gpu to drop 20+c

I took a screenshot right after I started suffering slowdowns. Here's what everything looks like:

http://postimg.org/image/q9c089b79/

[Bradbeary]

Originally posted by TOMK1N:

Download Speccy from piriform and monitor your temps before during and after gaming, if none of the temperatures go into the red then it's not a over heating issue. I'd check bios to make sure memory is running at correct speed and enable xmp if supported. You can using "crystaldisk" to check disk read and write speeds to rule out faulty ssd.

I just tried this software (its pretty neat too!) and caught my GPU in the 70 degree C range (the numbers were orange).

[_I_]

core temps range from 23-25c idle and 67-72c at load
still not hot enough to throttle the cpu or gpu

28-55c at the time of the ss, thats more than a 5c swing between cores
id redo the thermal paste

[Bradbeary]

Just as an update:

Restarting the computer each time when games start to stutter seems to "fix" the issue. Could it be a memory caching problem or something related to memory storage? I don't want to have to restart everytime my games slow down but this seems like the only way to alleviate the problem I'm having.

[_I_]

it may be a driver issue if you are using windows 10

[[☥] - CJ -]

Look at the CPUs core clocks
I would think that could be a possible issue, regardless of the temps.

[Revelene]

Originally posted by JoshMoshes:

Just as an update:

Restarting the computer each time when games start to stutter seems to "fix" the issue. Could it be a memory caching problem or something related to memory storage? I don't want to have to restart everytime my games slow down but this seems like the only way to alleviate the problem I'm having.

It sounds like thermal throttle but if you want to find out if it is the memory..

Run a test on it. Windows can do a mem test, called Windows Memory Diagnostic. It is a quick test and not very accurate at all but it is worth running. If it doesn't find an issue, you can try Memtest86 which is a lot more in depth but it can take a while to complete. 1 pass takes about an hour, give or take. I personally let it run for at least 5 hours for all new ram and when switching ram around.

How do you have your airflow setup?

It could possibly be a driver issue, especially if it was upgraded to Windows 10 from 7/8.1

[Bradbeary]

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

Look at the CPUs core clocks
I would think that could be a possible issue, regardless of the temps.

What would I be looking for specifically?

[Bradbeary]

Originally posted by Revelene:

Originally posted by JoshMoshes:

Just as an update:

Restarting the computer each time when games start to stutter seems to "fix" the issue. Could it be a memory caching problem or something related to memory storage? I don't want to have to restart everytime my games slow down but this seems like the only way to alleviate the problem I'm having.

It sounds like thermal throttle but if you want to find out if it is the memory..

Run a test on it. Windows can do a mem test, called Windows Memory Diagnostic. It is a quick test and not very accurate at all but it is worth running. If it doesn't find an issue, you can try Memtest86 which is a lot more in depth but it can take a while to complete. 1 pass takes about an hour, give or take. I personally let it run for at least 5 hours for all new ram and when switching ram around.

How do you have your airflow setup?

It could possibly be a driver issue, especially if it was upgraded to Windows 10 from 7/8.1

I'll try running the Windows Memory Diagnostic test and follow up with the Memtest86 to be sure.

In regards to airflow, I'm using a Corsair C70 case:

1. PSU fan draws air in from the bottom
2. One chasis fan on the rear that pushes out air
3. Two chasis fans on the front that pull air in
4. Two fans and a watercooler acting as an exhaust for the top of the case

If its a possible driver issue, should I uninstall the nvidia driver and reinstall? Since the build is brand new, it started from Windows 10 fresh.

[[☥] - CJ -]

Well firstly, theyre at 4500 at idle, Intel Speedstep should be on so that the clocks Lower when the power isnt needed and raise when it is.

Secondly, the max is 4800, so did you actually set that overclock yourself or did the XMP set it?

4800 seems a bit high to me and seems as though it may be unstable, instability can cause slow downs..

[Bradbeary]

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

Well firstly, theyre at 4500 at idle, Intel Speedstep should be on so that the clocks Lower when the power isnt needed and raise when it is.

Secondly, the max is 4800, so did you actually set that overclock yourself or did the XMP set it?

4800 seems a bit high to me and seems as though it may be unstable, instability can cause slow downs..

I actually turned down the OC speeds back to normal (or auto/default). Earlier this week, I set them to the "Gamer's OC" profile in the BIOS which probably wasn't a smart idea to begin with considering I'm not really using all that juice.

As an update, the Min is now 4214 and the Max is 4223.

[Revelene]

Originally posted by JoshMoshes:

Originally posted by Revelene:

It sounds like thermal throttle but if you want to find out if it is the memory..

Run a test on it. Windows can do a mem test, called Windows Memory Diagnostic. It is a quick test and not very accurate at all but it is worth running. If it doesn't find an issue, you can try Memtest86 which is a lot more in depth but it can take a while to complete. 1 pass takes about an hour, give or take. I personally let it run for at least 5 hours for all new ram and when switching ram around.

How do you have your airflow setup?

It could possibly be a driver issue, especially if it was upgraded to Windows 10 from 7/8.1

I'll try running the Windows Memory Diagnostic test and follow up with the Memtest86 to be sure.

In regards to airflow, I'm using a Corsair C70 case:

1. PSU fan draws air in from the bottom
2. One chasis fan on the rear that pushes out air
3. Two chasis fans on the front that pull air in
4. Two fans and a watercooler acting as an exhaust for the top of the case

If its a possible driver issue, should I uninstall the nvidia driver and reinstall? Since the build is brand new, it started from Windows 10 fresh.

You put the PSU fan down so you know about air flow, good.

You could always try using DDU to do a nice clean and then install the latest GPU driver straight from Nvidia.

Did you install all the drivers for all your hardware?

[[☥] - CJ -]

Originally posted by JoshMoshes:

Originally posted by ☥ - CJ -:

Well firstly, theyre at 4500 at idle, Intel Speedstep should be on so that the clocks Lower when the power isnt needed and raise when it is.

Secondly, the max is 4800, so did you actually set that overclock yourself or did the XMP set it?

4800 seems a bit high to me and seems as though it may be unstable, instability can cause slow downs..

I actually turned down the OC speeds back to normal (or auto/default). Earlier this week, I set them to the "Gamer's OC" profile in the BIOS which probably wasn't a smart idea to begin with considering I'm not really using all that juice.

As an update, the Min is now 4214 and the Max is 4223.

Ok so, with those new mins n maxs its still doing the slowdowns?