Great Computer, Terrible FPS Drops, tried everything...

Hey all.

You can see my laptop specs below. It lags super hard on any modern-ish title with insane FPS drops every few minutes or so. My old computer could run Dark Souls 3 on max with no problems, my current computer (which is way better) cuts the fps nicely in half from 60 to 30 every few minutes of playing on the lowest settings. It goes back up to 60 for a minute, then goes back down to 30 for another. If I alt-tab out and wait for a minute or so, it can go for 3-4 minutes at 60 until it goes down.

I assumed this was heat throttling, so I bought a tree new bee cooling pad, but that didn't help. I track the CPU and GPU temps, and both have a minimum of 50c without any programs running (except CPUid monitor or CAM.) When gaming, it goes up to 60 - 80c. My dorm room is pretty cool, very normal temperatures, and it's on a flat surface.

When the fps cuts to 30, my GPU skyrockets to 99% (which its normally under 50%) and the CPU stays under 30% regardless of the fps. When the fps returns to normal, the GPU returns to normal. I tried undervolting my CPU with throttle stop, although I can't tell if that did anything.

I've been through every forum post, tried every minor optimization for my games and literally nothing works. I did a full clean with 6 different antivirus programs to see if I had a bitcoin mining trojan or something and I had absolutely zero finds for anything on any service, including Malwarebytes.

To top it all off, I tried taking off the bottom panel of the laptop to blow any potential dust out of the fans, (which don't seem to show up on SpeedFan or CAM or anything, only the BIOS) and it just won't come off. I think it's like nailed down to it or something because I can pry the edges up and un-snap the plastic wedges, but it won't come off enough for me to get a clear look at the vents. I haven't even had it for more than 6 months, so it's not like there should even be a ton of dust in it.


Does *anyone* have literally any idea what's going on?


Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.4
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 10 Home, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-7700HQ CPU @ 2.80GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 158 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 8
RAM: 16339 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, -1024 Mb
Hard Drives: C: 118 GB (20 GB Free); D: 931 GB (760 GB Free);
Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., FX503VM
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled and Updated

 

Sometimes Windows 10 can get flaky when your primary boot drive is getting full. It typically turns on when storage is super low. [Windows doesn't care about the second drive.] You only have 20gb left.

https://lifehacker.com/free-up-space-on-your-hard-drive-automatically-with-win-1825497914

That may be slowing you down. Also your start up programs may be effecting you as well.

Click on the search box and type "start up" Click on the first result. See which ones are not needed. Leaving the windows 10 related ones in place.