Worsened game performance

[LEANder24]

Hello!

To give some context, a couple weeks ago my game (Arma Reforger) started black screening after about 15-30 minutes of playing. The machine itself kept running but my screen would eventually black screen and the only fix would be to power it down and up again. I wasn’t sure what it could be so I went through a lot of changes on my computer, hoping it would fix it. I did some tests on the different components and eventually it gave my power a couple thousand errors. I tried stress testing it and eventually it shut my PC down, which confirmed my suspicion. I ended up replacing the PSU, which fixed my main issue.

However, the issue as of now (and prior to this incident) is that my incident is that my performance has somewhat decreased significantly. In ArmA 3 I would run about 120-240 FPS, compared to 35-90 FPS now. I have also noticed textures tending to load a bit slower which makes the game stutter and nearly unplayable as well.

Here are my current specs:

• AMD AM4 Ryzen 7 5800X3D CPU
• Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL DDR 3600Mh
• Cooler Master ML360 ILLUSION
• Asus Geforce RTX 3070 ROG STRIX
• be quiet! Pure Power 12 M 750W PSU
• ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II
• Kingston A1000 480GB M.2D SSD

I have played around with a whole bunch of settings, drivers are up-to-date, BIOS is up-to-date, and I’ve spent a whole bunch of money on apps which specialize in updating and cleaning system, drivers, and such but nothing has really helped.

Thank you in advance.

[Bruce]

Let’s do a full workup of your system.
No personal data is published and everything shown is safe.

1. Download Speccy by Piriform.
   In Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
   Paste that link into your post. Is Speccy safe?
2. Download GetSystemInfo by Kaspersky.
   In GSI, click Start. (takes about 10mins)
   It makes a ZIP file on your desktop, drag that to their GSI Parser site.
   Once analysed, paste the newly created URL into your post.
3. Download MiniToolBox by Farbar.
   In MTB, tick List Installed Programs, click Go then close the program.
   A file MTB.txt is created in the same folder, attach that to your post.

[Bruce]

Let’s do a full workup of your system.
No personal data is published and everything shown is safe.

1. Download Speccy by Piriform.
   In Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
   Paste that link into your post. Is Speccy safe?
2. Download GetSystemInfo by Kaspersky.
   In GSI, click Start. (takes about 10mins)
   It makes a ZIP file on your desktop, drag that to their GSI Parser site.
   Once analysed, paste the newly created URL into your post.
3. Download MiniToolBox by Farbar.
   In MTB, tick List Installed Programs, click Go then close the program.
   A file MTB.txt is created in the same folder, attach that to your post.

[LEANder24]

Let’s do a full workup of your system.
No personal data is published and everything shown is safe.

1. Download Speccy by Piriform.
   In Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
   Paste that link into your post. Is Speccy safe?
2. Download GetSystemInfo by Kaspersky.
   In GSI, click Start. (takes about 10mins)
   It makes a ZIP file on your desktop, drag that to their GSI Parser site.
   Once analysed, paste the newly created URL into your post.
3. Download MiniToolBox by Farbar.
   In MTB, tick List Installed Programs, click Go then close the program.
   A file MTB.txt is created in the same folder, attach that to your post.

Thank you for the quick response, appreciate it.

Speccy:

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/XoIDH2mu6Z875XOLLaXsFa7

GSI:

https://www.getsysteminfo.com/report/f0ce68c25355673faf217eb54276100f

Below I have attached the .txt from MTB

[LEANder24]

Let’s do a full workup of your system.
No personal data is published and everything shown is safe.

1. Download Speccy by Piriform.
   In Speccy, click File > Publish Snapshot > Copy to Clipboard > Close.
   Paste that link into your post. Is Speccy safe?
2. Download GetSystemInfo by Kaspersky.
   In GSI, click Start. (takes about 10mins)
   It makes a ZIP file on your desktop, drag that to their GSI Parser site.
   Once analysed, paste the newly created URL into your post.
3. Download MiniToolBox by Farbar.
   In MTB, tick List Installed Programs, click Go then close the program.
   A file MTB.txt is created in the same folder, attach that to your post.

Thank you for the quick response, appreciate it.

Speccy:

http://speccy.piriform.com/results/XoIDH2mu6Z875XOLLaXsFa7

GSI:

https://www.getsysteminfo.com/report/f0ce68c25355673faf217eb54276100f

Below I have attached the .txt from MTB

[Bruce]

Some things from the Speccy report;
[ul]
[li]you are connecting via wireless, any chance you can change that to ethernet, even just for further testing to see if it helps. Wifi is never the preferred choice when gaming, unless of course you have no alternative[/li][li]your DNS servers are on a different IP range from that of your gateway, are these the IP’s of your Internet Provider or have you manually changed them?[/li][li]D:\ drive looks old, if no relevant software is on it, let’s disconnect it while we test things[/li][li]you have 3600MHz memory, AMD stats the max memory for 2 x 2R configuration is DDR4-3200, check the QVL (Quality Vendors List) on their website for compatibility[/li][li]NVidia says recommended PSU is 650w, Lumion recommend 800w. So while one may be low-balling and the other high-balling, basically it may show you are on the cusp with your 750w[/li][li]be quiet says[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)] One PCIe 5.1 12V-2x6 600W and 2 PCIe 6+2 connectors for high-end GPUs - so double check your cables[/li][/ul]
Otherwise, some other paths - you mention changing a bunch of stuff, without trying to remember what that all was, have you tried creating another user account and logging in under that profile, in case your profile has been modified wrongly?

And of course, there’s always the option to reinstall Windows, to guarantee a clean slate to start from. (y)[/COLOR]

[Bruce]

Some things from the Speccy report;
[ul]
[li]you are connecting via wireless, any chance you can change that to ethernet, even just for further testing to see if it helps. Wifi is never the preferred choice when gaming, unless of course you have no alternative[/li][li]your DNS servers are on a different IP range from that of your gateway, are these the IP’s of your Internet Provider or have you manually changed them?[/li][li]D:\ drive looks old, if no relevant software is on it, let’s disconnect it while we test things[/li][li]you have 3600MHz memory, AMD stats the max memory for 2 x 2R configuration is DDR4-3200, check the QVL (Quality Vendors List) on their website for compatibility[/li][li]NVidia says recommended PSU is 650w, Lumion recommend 800w. So while one may be low-balling and the other high-balling, basically it may show you are on the cusp with your 750w[/li][li]be quiet says[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)] One PCIe 5.1 12V-2x6 600W and 2 PCIe 6+2 connectors for high-end GPUs - so double check your cables[/li][/ul]
Otherwise, some other paths - you mention changing a bunch of stuff, without trying to remember what that all was, have you tried creating another user account and logging in under that profile, in case your profile has been modified wrongly?

And of course, there’s always the option to reinstall Windows, to guarantee a clean slate to start from. (y)[/COLOR]

[LEANder24]

Some things from the Speccy report;
[ul]
[li]you are connecting via wireless, any chance you can change that to ethernet, even just for further testing to see if it helps. Wifi is never the preferred choice when gaming, unless of course you have no alternative[/li][li]your DNS servers are on a different IP range from that of your gateway, are these the IP’s of your Internet Provider or have you manually changed them?[/li][li]D:\ drive looks old, if no relevant software is on it, let’s disconnect it while we test things[/li][li]you have 3600MHz memory, AMD stats the max memory for 2 x 2R configuration is DDR4-3200, check the QVL (Quality Vendors List) on their website for compatibility[/li][li]NVidia says recommended PSU is 650w, Lumion recommend 800w. So while one may be low-balling and the other high-balling, basically it may show you are on the cusp with your 750w[/li][li]be quiet says[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)] One PCIe 5.1 12V-2x6 600W and 2 PCIe 6+2 connectors for high-end GPUs - so double check your cables[/li][/ul]
Otherwise, some other paths - you mention changing a bunch of stuff, without trying to remember what that all was, have you tried creating another user account and logging in under that profile, in case your profile has been modified wrongly?

And of course, there’s always the option to reinstall Windows, to guarantee a clean slate to start from. (y)
[/COLOR]

[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]

• As for the first point, I am unable to change to ethernet at the moment though ping and such has never really been an issue when it comes to gaming for me.
• Regarding DNS servers, I do not recall having manually changed them. Is there something that I have done otherwise that could have caused it?
• Regarding my D: drive, yes, it is a rather old HDD which I have most of my games on due to their file sizes. One can think that playing games on HDD might be the issue? Though it was fine up until recently…
• Regarding my be quiet! PSU, I have the 2 PCIe 6+2 connectors plugged in. It comes with a 600W cable, but I was unable to find anywhere to plug it into my GPU?

I haven’t tried to create another user yet, though it might be worth a shot. Like you said, the option to reinstall Windows is there, though I think it might be a last resort once I have exhausted all my other options.[/color]

[LEANder24]

Some things from the Speccy report;
[ul]
[li]you are connecting via wireless, any chance you can change that to ethernet, even just for further testing to see if it helps. Wifi is never the preferred choice when gaming, unless of course you have no alternative[/li][li]your DNS servers are on a different IP range from that of your gateway, are these the IP’s of your Internet Provider or have you manually changed them?[/li][li]D:\ drive looks old, if no relevant software is on it, let’s disconnect it while we test things[/li][li]you have 3600MHz memory, AMD stats the max memory for 2 x 2R configuration is DDR4-3200, check the QVL (Quality Vendors List) on their website for compatibility[/li][li]NVidia says recommended PSU is 650w, Lumion recommend 800w. So while one may be low-balling and the other high-balling, basically it may show you are on the cusp with your 750w[/li][li]be quiet says[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)] One PCIe 5.1 12V-2x6 600W and 2 PCIe 6+2 connectors for high-end GPUs - so double check your cables[/li][/ul]
Otherwise, some other paths - you mention changing a bunch of stuff, without trying to remember what that all was, have you tried creating another user account and logging in under that profile, in case your profile has been modified wrongly?

And of course, there’s always the option to reinstall Windows, to guarantee a clean slate to start from. (y)
[/COLOR]

[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]

• As for the first point, I am unable to change to ethernet at the moment though ping and such has never really been an issue when it comes to gaming for me.
• Regarding DNS servers, I do not recall having manually changed them. Is there something that I have done otherwise that could have caused it?
• Regarding my D: drive, yes, it is a rather old HDD which I have most of my games on due to their file sizes. One can think that playing games on HDD might be the issue? Though it was fine up until recently…
• Regarding my be quiet! PSU, I have the 2 PCIe 6+2 connectors plugged in. It comes with a 600W cable, but I was unable to find anywhere to plug it into my GPU?

I haven’t tried to create another user yet, though it might be worth a shot. Like you said, the option to reinstall Windows is there, though I think it might be a last resort once I have exhausted all my other options.[/color]

[Malnutrition]

Remove these with Geek Uninstaller.

AVG AntiVirus Free
AVG TuneUp
AVG Driver Updater
Intel® Driver & Support Assistant
Intel® Computing Improvement Program
Sonic Radar 3 (Virtual 3-D sound overlay)
Sonic Studio 3 (heavy DSP effects)
Java 8 (nothing you listed requires the runtime)
Multiple RGB utilities you don’t need (Patriot, Kingston, Viper, Holtek, WD-Black, Aura standalone)

---

---

Create and run a batch file to tidy up:

Create and run batch file.

Open a notepad and copy the entire content of the code box below.
Do not copy the word code!
Paste the txt into the notepad. Save the file to your desktop as [COLOR=rgb(243, 121, 52)]GameMode_Cleanup.bat
Now you will right click the on[COLOR=rgb(243, 121, 52)] GameMode_Cleanup.bat and run as administrator.

@echo off

powershell -NoLogo -c “Checkpoint-Computer -Description ‘GameMode_Cleanup’ -RestorePointType MODIFY_SETTINGS”
set “DESK=%USERPROFILE%\Desktop”
powershell -NoLogo -c “Get-Service | Sort Name | Out-File ‘%DESK%\services_before.txt’”
powershell -NoLogo -c “Get-ScheduledTask | Sort TaskName | Out-File ‘%DESK%\tasks_before.txt’”
set “SERVICES=Connected User Experiences and Telemetry,SysMain,WSearch,XboxGipSvc,XblGameSave,XboxNetApiSvc,RetailDemo,RemoteRegistry,Fax,icssvc,DSAService,AVGTuneUpSvc,AVG Driver Updater,AVG Antivirus,ArmouryCrateService,AsusFrameworkService,GameSDK Service,LightingService,ROGLiveService,AI3_Service”
set “TASKS=\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate*,\GoogleUpdateTaskMachine*,\OneDrive\OneDrive Standalone Update*,\Microsoft\Office\OfficeClickToRunServiceMonitor,\AVG*,\Intel*SupportAssist*,\ASUS\ArmouryCrate*,\ASUS\Aura*,\Microsoft\XblGameSave*,\Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program*”
set “RUNKEYS=OneDrive,Spotify,Discord,Steam,CCleaner Monitoring,ArmouryCrate,AsusFramework,LightingService,IntelDriverSupportAssistant,AVGUi,AVGTuneUpUI”
powershell -NoLogo -c “$n=‘%SERVICES%’.Split(‘,’);foreach($x in $n){$s=Get-Service -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Name $x;if(!$s){$s=Get-Service -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue|where{$_.DisplayName -eq $x}};if($s){if($s.Status-ne ‘Stopped’){Stop-Service $s.Name -Force};Set-Service $s.Name -StartupType Disabled;Write-Host '[OK] '$s.DisplayName}else{Write-Host '[skip] '$x}}”
for %%T in (%TASKS%) do (
schtasks /Change /TN “%%T” /Disable >nul 2>&1
echo [OK] %%T
)
for %%R in (%RUNKEYS%) do (
reg delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v “%%R” /f 2>nul
reg delete HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v “%%R” /f 2>nul
reg delete HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v “%%R” /f 2>nul
echo [OK] %%R
)
echo All done – a restore point plus backup TXT files are on your desktop.
echo Reboot to finalise. Test your games; re-enable anything you miss.
pause
exit /b

[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[Malnutrition]

Remove these with Geek Uninstaller.

AVG AntiVirus Free
AVG TuneUp
AVG Driver Updater
Intel® Driver & Support Assistant
Intel® Computing Improvement Program
Sonic Radar 3 (Virtual 3-D sound overlay)
Sonic Studio 3 (heavy DSP effects)
Java 8 (nothing you listed requires the runtime)
Multiple RGB utilities you don’t need (Patriot, Kingston, Viper, Holtek, WD-Black, Aura standalone)

---

---

Create and run a batch file to tidy up:

Create and run batch file.

Open a notepad and copy the entire content of the code box below.
Do not copy the word code!
Paste the txt into the notepad. Save the file to your desktop as [COLOR=rgb(243, 121, 52)]GameMode_Cleanup.bat
Now you will right click the on[COLOR=rgb(243, 121, 52)] GameMode_Cleanup.bat and run as administrator.

@echo off

powershell -NoLogo -c “Checkpoint-Computer -Description ‘GameMode_Cleanup’ -RestorePointType MODIFY_SETTINGS”
set “DESK=%USERPROFILE%\Desktop”
powershell -NoLogo -c “Get-Service | Sort Name | Out-File ‘%DESK%\services_before.txt’”
powershell -NoLogo -c “Get-ScheduledTask | Sort TaskName | Out-File ‘%DESK%\tasks_before.txt’”
set “SERVICES=Connected User Experiences and Telemetry,SysMain,WSearch,XboxGipSvc,XblGameSave,XboxNetApiSvc,RetailDemo,RemoteRegistry,Fax,icssvc,DSAService,AVGTuneUpSvc,AVG Driver Updater,AVG Antivirus,ArmouryCrateService,AsusFrameworkService,GameSDK Service,LightingService,ROGLiveService,AI3_Service”
set “TASKS=\Microsoft\EdgeUpdate*,\GoogleUpdateTaskMachine*,\OneDrive\OneDrive Standalone Update*,\Microsoft\Office\OfficeClickToRunServiceMonitor,\AVG*,\Intel*SupportAssist*,\ASUS\ArmouryCrate*,\ASUS\Aura*,\Microsoft\XblGameSave*,\Microsoft\Windows\Customer Experience Improvement Program*”
set “RUNKEYS=OneDrive,Spotify,Discord,Steam,CCleaner Monitoring,ArmouryCrate,AsusFramework,LightingService,IntelDriverSupportAssistant,AVGUi,AVGTuneUpUI”
powershell -NoLogo -c “$n=‘%SERVICES%’.Split(‘,’);foreach($x in $n){$s=Get-Service -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -Name $x;if(!$s){$s=Get-Service -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue|where{$_.DisplayName -eq $x}};if($s){if($s.Status-ne ‘Stopped’){Stop-Service $s.Name -Force};Set-Service $s.Name -StartupType Disabled;Write-Host '[OK] '$s.DisplayName}else{Write-Host '[skip] '$x}}”
for %%T in (%TASKS%) do (
schtasks /Change /TN “%%T” /Disable >nul 2>&1
echo [OK] %%T
)
for %%R in (%RUNKEYS%) do (
reg delete HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v “%%R” /f 2>nul
reg delete HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v “%%R” /f 2>nul
reg delete HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run /v “%%R” /f 2>nul
echo [OK] %%R
)
echo All done – a restore point plus backup TXT files are on your desktop.
echo Reboot to finalise. Test your games; re-enable anything you miss.
pause
exit /b

[/COLOR][/COLOR]

[Bruce]

It sounds like you have changed lots of stuff, so if any of those changes are to blame, we won’t know unless you create a new user account or fresh install Windows.

As to wireless vs ethernet - fair enough, leave as is.
For DNS, log into your modem menu settings and see if the DNS servers have been entered there.
The other place is in the wireless network adapter, go into its properties and look in the TCP/IPv4 section - obtain IP address, and obtain DNS server address are normally both set to automatic.
Disconnecting D:\ drive is another attempt at pick the low hanging fruit first - it’s an old drive, all your games are there. Installing one game that’s currently giving you FPS issues onto the SSD and disconnecting D:\ would be a logical trouble-shooting step.
The PSU is fine for now, my point was you are already at its limit, so adding more screens, drives, etc may be an issue later.

[Bruce]

It sounds like you have changed lots of stuff, so if any of those changes are to blame, we won’t know unless you create a new user account or fresh install Windows.

As to wireless vs ethernet - fair enough, leave as is.
For DNS, log into your modem menu settings and see if the DNS servers have been entered there.
The other place is in the wireless network adapter, go into its properties and look in the TCP/IPv4 section - obtain IP address, and obtain DNS server address are normally both set to automatic.
Disconnecting D:\ drive is another attempt at pick the low hanging fruit first - it’s an old drive, all your games are there. Installing one game that’s currently giving you FPS issues onto the SSD and disconnecting D:\ would be a logical trouble-shooting step.
The PSU is fine for now, my point was you are already at its limit, so adding more screens, drives, etc may be an issue later.

[LEANder24]

It sounds like you have changed lots of stuff, so if any of those changes are to blame, we won’t know unless you create a new user account or fresh install Windows.

As to wireless vs ethernet - fair enough, leave as is.
For DNS, log into your modem menu settings and see if the DNS servers have been entered there.
The other place is in the wireless network adapter, go into its properties and look in the TCP/IPv4 section - obtain IP address, and obtain DNS server address are normally both set to automatic.
Disconnecting D:\ drive is another attempt at pick the low hanging fruit first - it’s an old drive, all your games are there. Installing one game that’s currently giving you FPS issues onto the SSD and disconnecting D:\ would be a logical trouble-shooting step.
The PSU is fine for now, my point was you are already at its limit, so adding more screens, drives, etc may be an issue later.

Couple of the things I remember changing is settings in Nvidia control panel (though most I reverted to default again), power management plan settings, uninstalled and reinstalled Nvidia drivers, reverted back and forth between BIOS updates, and probably more that I can’t remember.

One of the apps I installed and used to update outdated drivers, system settings, and equivalent, definitely could’ve made some changes to my system. Example: it disconnected my keyboard in device manager, so I had to use a on-screen keyboard to find my way around and re-enable it.

I went ahead with what Malnutrition proposed and carried out those changes. I also created a new user and gave that a shot, and I didn’t really notice any significant changes as to performance.

• DNS: I logged into my modem menu settings, went to DNS and the servers have been entered there
• Also confirming that my IP and DNS server address are both set to automatic

The issue with testing the games on my SSD is their file size, I simply don’t have enough disc space to replicate the troubleshooting on my SSD. If anything, I’d like to throw in that textures tend to load a bit slower and in areas (in-game) where there is a lot of objects it stutters a lot and the FPS is generally low, around 35-50. Maybe that’s the HDD having difficulties processing the information quick enough? I don’t know.

[LEANder24]

It sounds like you have changed lots of stuff, so if any of those changes are to blame, we won’t know unless you create a new user account or fresh install Windows.

As to wireless vs ethernet - fair enough, leave as is.
For DNS, log into your modem menu settings and see if the DNS servers have been entered there.
The other place is in the wireless network adapter, go into its properties and look in the TCP/IPv4 section - obtain IP address, and obtain DNS server address are normally both set to automatic.
Disconnecting D:\ drive is another attempt at pick the low hanging fruit first - it’s an old drive, all your games are there. Installing one game that’s currently giving you FPS issues onto the SSD and disconnecting D:\ would be a logical trouble-shooting step.
The PSU is fine for now, my point was you are already at its limit, so adding more screens, drives, etc may be an issue later.

Couple of the things I remember changing is settings in Nvidia control panel (though most I reverted to default again), power management plan settings, uninstalled and reinstalled Nvidia drivers, reverted back and forth between BIOS updates, and probably more that I can’t remember.

One of the apps I installed and used to update outdated drivers, system settings, and equivalent, definitely could’ve made some changes to my system. Example: it disconnected my keyboard in device manager, so I had to use a on-screen keyboard to find my way around and re-enable it.

I went ahead with what Malnutrition proposed and carried out those changes. I also created a new user and gave that a shot, and I didn’t really notice any significant changes as to performance.

• DNS: I logged into my modem menu settings, went to DNS and the servers have been entered there
• Also confirming that my IP and DNS server address are both set to automatic

The issue with testing the games on my SSD is their file size, I simply don’t have enough disc space to replicate the troubleshooting on my SSD. If anything, I’d like to throw in that textures tend to load a bit slower and in areas (in-game) where there is a lot of objects it stutters a lot and the FPS is generally low, around 35-50. Maybe that’s the HDD having difficulties processing the information quick enough? I don’t know.