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CPU usage drops abnormally when playing games

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robrt

robrt

PCHF Member
May 22, 2022
10
1
27
#1
Hey there, this is my first time using this website.

I've been trying to fix this problem I've had with my 2017 Dell Inspiron 7000 for about a month now, but I've had no results.

Basically, every time that I play a game, let's say, Rocket League, my FPS drops from 220-240 to 9-22, ping goes from 28-45 to 150+, and PC starts lagging like crazy, can't even tab out to check task manager.* **

*These issues are kind of cyclic, what I mean by that is that, for a minute, it's running fine and the other, I'm completely lagging, making it unplayable. After a bit of time, it goes back to normal, just to start lagging again.
**For some reason, there's been sessions where I have absolutely no issues, but these are very rare (happened maybe once out of the past 2 weeks of usage (about 4h/day) )

I've had the same issue with multiple games, such as Valorant, osu!, and Quaver, just to name some.

I'm a little concerned as to if this is a hardware issue instead of a stupid setting that I have on.
As of right now, I think it might have something to do with my CPU noticing that it's usage is too high/temperature is too high and wanting to completely drop it's usage by itself in order to cool down/stop high usage programs.

If anyone could please help me out with this issue that I have, I would reaaaally appreciate it!!

Thanks,

robrt
 
#2
Please download and run speccy.

Once you have ran speccy, follow the instructions to upload a snapshot found here.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:​

  1. In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.
  2. In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.
  3. Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot dialog box. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.
Click to expand...

Please monitor your usage, you can do this with a number of programs, the easiest would be Task Manager

CTRL + Shift + Esc - Click more Details - and select the Performance tab, watch for any spikes in temps or usage.

If you would prefer a different program such as NZT Cam or HWInfo you could use those as well.

Look for anything out of the oridnary/unexpected that doesn't line up with your game (a heavily wooded area/city will cause higher usage than an empty desert).
 
#3
Pyro said:
Please download and run speccy.

Once you have ran speccy, follow the instructions to upload a snapshot found here.
Click to expand...
Here you go, http://speccy.piriform.com/results/SmFSOZoGnmX6KDLKVGwMk46

I have had task manager open in the background while playing games in order to monitor my resources, and that's where I found a gradual CPU % decrease when it gets too high, until it stabilizes at around 15-20% (from the 80-95% while playing).
It's at that same "stabilized state" where I start lagging, dropping my frames and everything else I said above
 
#4
Quick update: seems like undervolting my CPU (trying it at -99.6mV) helps a little, the fps drops go up to 80-115fps instead of the 9-22fps from before.
 
#5
Disable any overclocking or changes to power/performance settings
Turn off XMP/any overclocking or underclocking you have done (if any)
Settings > System > Power and sleep > Additional power settings
Make sure your power plan is set to balanced, anything else could tamper with the wrong settings and cause issues.


Once you have completed these tasks, plug your laptop in, restart it (using the restart option in the power menu) and re-test with it plugged in.
When testing, please make sure you are not downloading anything in the background or the like, multitasking could skew the results.


Try playing the mentioned games in an offline mode, disconnect your internet that way that is not a factor, does this affect it at all?


Is your laptop on a cooling mat when you use it for games, has it ever been cleaned/dusted with compressed air?


I see some McAfee bloatware, I would remove this as it will only eat up system resources. (You can do this from the Apps and features menu).
 
#6
Pyro said:
Once you have completed these tasks, plug your laptop in, restart it (using the restart option in the power menu) and re-test with it plugged in.
When testing, please make sure you are not downloading anything in the background or the like, multitasking could skew the results.
Click to expand...
I've always had my laptop plugged in, I don't know if that matters (battery health was last checked at about 83%, I think)
Pyro said:
Try playing the mentioned games in an offline mode, disconnect your internet that way that is not a factor, does this affect it at all?
Click to expand...
Playing said games in offline mode still makes me lag, I guess it's not an Internet problem either
Pyro said:
Is your laptop on a cooling mat when you use it for games, has it ever been cleaned/dusted with compressed air?
Click to expand...
I use one constantly, and I've cleaned a bit of the dust about a year ago, but it wasn't with compressed air, since I didn't want to go too deep in the components. (I wasn't sure of what I was doing yet)
Pyro said:
I see some McAfee bloatware, I would remove this as it will only eat up system resources. (You can do this from the Apps and features menu).
Click to expand...
That's weird, because I already had it uninstalled from a couple of days ago. Plus, it doesn't show up on the Apps and features menu or the control panel uninstall feature. I just deleted all the McAfee files that showed up in the File Explorer search.
 
#7
Disable any overclocking or changes to power/performance settings
Turn off XMP/any overclocking or underclocking you have done (if any)
Settings > System > Power and sleep > Additional power settings
Make sure your power plan is set to balanced, anything else could tamper with the wrong settings and cause issues.
Click to expand...
Any luck with these steps in particular?

I've always had my laptop plugged in, I don't know if that matters (battery health was last checked at about 83%, I think)
Click to expand...
Overcharging batteries can lead to a shorter lifespan, the same is truly for completely discharging them, if you're not playing games or doing intense tasks, I would charge it up to 100% and run it down to however low you can without causing the computer to power off (It's better to plug it in a couple % too early than too late).

That's weird, because I already had it uninstalled from a couple of days ago. Plus, it doesn't show up on the Apps and features menu or the control panel uninstall feature. I just deleted all the McAfee files that showed up in the File Explorer search.
Click to expand...
Try restarting the system, it's possible these are old processes that ended when you uninstalled McAfee, @Malnutrition might also know why.
 
#8
Pyro said:
Any luck with these steps in particular?
Click to expand...
I've reverted all the changes I've done in general, except the underclocking since it actually helps significantly, as I said before, and I've had no luck with the other steps.
Pyro said:
Overcharging batteries can lead to a shorter lifespan, the same is truly for completely discharging them, if you're not playing games or doing intense tasks, I would charge it up to 100% and run it down to however low you can without causing the computer to power off (It's better to plug it in a couple % too early than too late).
Click to expand...
Yeah that's the thing, I've always used my laptop for pretty heavy tasks (games, 3D rendering, photo editing), so I always kept it plugged in all the time. Unplugging it obviously makes it perform worse than usual
Pyro said:
Try restarting the system, it's possible these are old processes that ended when you uninstalled McAfee, @Malnutrition might also know why.
Click to expand...
I've deleted all McAfee related files, doesn't seem to help much
 
#10
#11
Uninstall the following with Geek Uninstaller, use force mode if needed.



Dell Digital Delivery Services - 4.0.92.0
Dell SupportAssist - 2.0.6875.402
Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery Plugin for Dell Update - 5.4.1.14954
Dell SupportAssist Remediation - 3.1.1.3834
Dell SupportAssistAgent - 2.0.2.21
Dell Update - 3.0.1
Intel® Software Installer - 21.110.2.1
NVIDIA Telemetry Container - 2.6.1
NVIDIA Update 25.6.0.0 - 25.6.0.0
NVIDIA Update Core - 25.6.0.0
NvTelemetry - 2.6.1.0

Clean install your Nvidia driver with DDU.

Grab a fresh copy from here.


Disable windows 10 spyware with O&O software, this can chew up bandwidth while you game as microsoft is constantly uploading various data from your machine.

Disable windows update, and only enable it once a week to update on your terms not whenever microsoft feels you need an update.

Uninstall Useless to you windows apps with O&O App buster.


Open a notepad and copy the content of the code box below, paste into open notepad and save it to your desktop as clean.bat then right click on clean.bat and run as admin.

Note: Do not copy the word code.

Note: This batch will reboot your machine so close anything you are working on and save it.

Code: 
@echo off
netsh advfirewall reset
netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state On
wmic nicconfig where (IPEnabled=TRUE) call SetDNSServerSearchOrder ("76.76.19.19", "8.8.4.4")
%WINDIR%\SYSTEM32\lodctr.exe /R
%WINDIR%\SysWOW64\lodctr.exe /R
C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\lodctr.exe /R
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\lodctr.exe /R
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup
DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
del /s /q C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\download\*.*
del /s /q "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Cache\*.*"
del /s /q "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Opera Software\Opera Stable\Cache\Cache_Data\*.*"
del /s /q "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\temp\*.*"
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.tmp
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.log
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\*.chk
del /f /s /q %systemdrive%\recycled\*.*
del /f /s /q %windir%\*.bak
del /f /s /q %windir%\prefetch\*.*
ipconfig /flushdns
sc stop sysmain
sc config sysmain start= disabled
sc stop DiagTrack
sc config DiagTrack start= disabled
sc stop dmwappushservice
sc config dmwappushservice start= disabled
reg add hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\tcpip6\parameters /v DisabledComponents /t REG_DWORD /d 0xFFFFFFFF
pause
shutdown -r
Exit /B
 
#12
Sorry to barge in on the topic like this but I had the exactly same issue when I had picked up ocean of games crypto mining virus... Lost few weeks trying to figure the cause of problems. Tried to install some old game and during installation I had a request to disable Windows defender... bad mistake :) Since I added the game folder in windows defender exclusion folder, no harmful files were found afterewards. So after a few fresh windows installations (I really wanted to play the game so I tried to install it again every single time) , windows optimization registry scripts, overclocking tries and the usual.... I finally installed Malware Bytes and in first scan it found it and removed it. No problems after that... Obviously I don`t use Ocean of games anymore...
 
#15
Seems like none of the above seemed to work, as I still have lag spikes while playing (CPU % drop)

One thing though: Using Malwarebytes actually found me a virus/exploit called Exploit.CVE202121551.Vulnerable, which seems to be related to my Dell drivers somehow.
 
#16
Let's check your machine for malware, create a new thread by clicking the link below. Post the malwarebytes log there, and we will use a couple other tools to make sure you are clean. Malwarebytes will not be able to find all malware on it's own.

Post thread

pchelpforum.net pchelpforum.net
 
#18
Good deal, along with the malwarebytes log, please post the Frst and addition.txt logs.
Instructions for Frst logs below.

Information - [Prework] Please Read Before Posting

You must be Registered and Logged in to Follow this Procedure. Welcome to the PCHF Malware Removal Forums Please review the PCHF Security team Disclaimer prior to beginning your adventure through malware removal. Additionally, please read the Security Forum Guidelines before posting. Please...
pchelpforum.net pchelpforum.net


Post in malware area, not here.
 
#20
Yes, but I’m still looking into it and I will continue my thread in the malware section, just as Malnutrition told me. I just hadn’t had the time to do it yet.
 
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