FPS Randomly Plummeted And I Can't Figure Out Why

[Suggs515]

I've changed virtually nothing (and nothing that should affect performance), but I'm now running skyrim at 10-20 FPS and 100% GPU usage.

 

I honestly have no idea what to do or why this happened. Help?

[Lord Garon]

"and nothing that should affect performance", is probably a clue. Rarely, actual failures can cause a performance drop, but, almost always, its a recent change, and you may not have made it.

 

First, "virtually nothing" is not "nothing"; what changes did you make?

 

Second, do you allow auto-updates on anything that might affect your GPU, video drivers, or Skyrim itself (especially, Steam and subscribed mods)? Even a Windows update can sometimes impact performance.

 

Third, check the Event Viewer and see if your system is suddenly complaining about something.

 

Finally, our old friend, malware, can sneak in and break things. Can you run a virus scan or MRT and see if they find anything?

[Suggs515]

"and nothing that should affect performance", is probably a clue. Rarely, actual failures can cause a performance drop, but, almost always, its a recent change, and you may not have made it.

 

First, "virtually nothing" is not "nothing"; what changes did you make?

 

Second, do you allow auto-updates on anything that might affect your GPU, video drivers, or Skyrim itself (especially, Steam and subscribed mods)? Even a Windows update can sometimes impact performance.

 

Third, check the Event Viewer and see if your system is suddenly complaining about something.

 

Finally, our old friend, malware, can sneak in and break things. Can you run a virus scan or MRT and see if they find anything?

Literally the only thing I've changed is a small add on to Vilja follower to make her eyes green (it's from the official Vilja Nexus page, not a third party change).

 

Here's the weird part; I tried updating my drivers yesterday to try and fix the problem, and I started a new game and the problem was fixed. However, I got several hours in, and the FPS tanked again at a very random place. I was just in a field in Whiterun and all the sudden my FPS went from ~40 to <20. After a reboot of my PC, my FPS again went back to normal, then three minutes later, tanked once more. This is insane.

 

I'm running virus protection right now. Will post results.

 

Malewarebytes and Spybot S&D found a couple problems, we'll see if that fixes my issue. I sure hope it does. :(

Edited July 12, 2014 by Suggs515

[dennis20014]

You may need to do a defrag. I would suggest finding a really good free one (though, I will be honest, I don't think any free ones are worth it).

 

You could try using Contig, which is a nice super defrag type program for specific folders.

 

Defragging once a week keeps my skyrim running silky smooth. I definitely notice performance drops after uninstalling/installing mods and programs so.

[Suggs515]

You may need to do a defrag. I would suggest finding a really good free one (though, I will be honest, I don't think any free ones are worth it).

 

You could try using Contig, which is a nice super defrag type program for specific folders.

 

Defragging once a week keeps my skyrim running silky smooth. I definitely notice performance drops after uninstalling/installing mods and programs so.

Thanks for the suggestion. I didn't know about defragging (relatively computer illiterate).

 

After I ran the virus scan I got another hour or so of regular gameplay then it randomly slid down again. This is making me worried.

 

Well, running a defrag now.

[Suggs515]

Defrag'd C:\ three times, but started Skyrim, and it was running ~15 FPS right off the bat.

 

What the hell is happening?

[Lord Garon]

Defrag'd C:\ three times, but started Skyrim, and it was running ~15 FPS right off the bat.

 

What the hell is happening?

 

If a disk operation (defrag) makes a consistent change in your symptoms, you might also want to run chkdsk on the drive, just to be sure.

 

Some file system errors can cause Windows to repeatedly (thousands of times) try accessing a file. I've never seen it cause such a large FPS drop, but I have seen file errors cause stutter, at least. Couldn't hurt to run an disk error check.

 

Does a NEW game exhibit these FPS drops at the beginning?

[notmyhome]

What's your system's specs?

One thing I'll tell you right away, if you're playing from an SSD and defragged it, you mucked up big time. They're not meant to be defragged, ever. Pray you're on a normal HDD.

Also, instead of rebooting your computer, try consoling "pcb" withouth "". That should give you a little boost for until you get into the next cell.

What's also great to reduce VRAM usage is to cut down those ultra-high-rez textures using something akin to Optimizer Textures.

[JerichoRedman]

Guys, I know what the problem is because I suffered it myself with FO3, NV and Skyrim.

Suggs, you problem is simple: Overheating. Those random FPS drops in a 3 min interval is because your CPU overheats, and it reduces the clock speed for a while to cool down. As soon as it does, it cranks up the clock speed again (FPS improves), after a while it overheats, making clock speed to decrease again (FPS drops). Cools down, cranks up the clock speed again.. Balh, blah, blah, all of this in a infinite loop.

 

See for ways to keep you computer cool. Problem solved.

[jhelzei]

JerichoRedman is probably correct. To check your temperatures you'll need a utility that can read the various temperature sensors in your PC. At a minimum, the CPU should have a temperature sensor to give you an idea how hot things are inside your rig. A handy utility for checking temps is Speedfan. Google for it, and check those temps.

 

To start with, you can use "canned air" to blow out the dust from your PC. After that, your best bet would be to buy more/faster fans and install them into your PC. Not as hard as it sounds. You can go to Youtube and search for tutorials on installing/upgrading PC fans.

Edited August 2, 2015 by jhelzei