Guild Wars 2

Good to hear

Indeed a 560ti will be perfectly fine for GW2 .. i even use one.

However..as Rampage explained. If your FPS is fine during PVE and events but drops during WvWvW it is HIGHLY likely its your CPU slowing your computer down. GW2 is HEAVILY dependant on how fast your CPU is when things involving lots of other players come along.

Even monster OC’s on i5’s and i7’s cannot give a steady 60 fps in LARGE WvWvW battles. Unfortunalty thats just down to bad game engine optimisations.

Well tbh, its all rather dated/slow. And any 1 part upgrade will requir other parts upgraded aswell.
Im guessing the ram is DDR2 ?

Anyway i recommend the following.

CPU upgrade:
2550k + Mothebroard + DDR3 RAM

GPU upgrade:
Nvidia 560ti

Question then arises is. Can the rest of your parts fit together with the newer components. It looks to me your current rig is prebuilt. So you need to know how big is ur current powersupply. What mothebroards types does you box allow ? (ATX, M-ATX, E-ATX?) Are you HDD’s and optical dirves Sata or IDE ?

Wauwi.

You should have your GPU fan speed set to keep your GPU cool even at 100% usuage.
GPU’s are designed to be used at 100%. So heat shouldnt be a problem. If your uncomfortable with 81c, then use EVGA precision and setup a custom fan speed curve.

I have not OC’d my 560ti more than what it was as factory (950core 4580effecitve memory) but i did have to change the fan speed curve to my own one to keep the temperature from going above 75c. When temps hit 70c my fan bumps up to 70% and when it hits 75c the fan goes to 80%, that stops it from going any higher. I can run it all day at 100% load and it wont go above 75/76c.

With GW2 90% of cases end up being the CPU limiting performance.

Try OC ur cpu and see what fps gains you get.

I run a 560ti factory OC’d to 950 on the core and 4580 effective on the memory. I run 1920×1080 max settings (except supersampling and somtimes reflections are set to down to terrain and sky) That gives me usualy 45 to 60 fps depending on where i am and whats goign on.
however the main performance giver is my CPU which is a OC’d 3930k at 4.6ghz . if it was stock i wouldnt be getting such high framerates (by gw2 standards) in game.

with a 3.2ghz laptop cpu and integrated gpu ..i doubt you will have a ‘enjoyable’ experiance playign GW2. FPS will be low.

IMO i recommend any of the following laptop cpu’s + a 570m or 660m gpu or better (or ATI equivalent)
Lowest to highest:
3740QM
3820QM
3840QM
3920XM
3940XM

Not true.

I run vsync and get anwhere from 35-60 fps (PVE – LA – WvWvW). Not adaptive vsync ether.

I have noticed this half fps cap though on other computers and tbh ..iv never found the root cause.

I hope you replaced the thermal past when you reattached the heatsink.

Stock cpu temps should be lower than 75-80c tbh. Those temps are usualy what you see in OC’d cpu’s running at 100% load.

I guess if you did replace the thermal past and its all attached and clean ..it may just be down to the fact its a stock cooler and maybe you have poor case airflow..but etherway. .with those temps 75-80 ..i wouldnt try OC’ing.

Note that the stated MAX temp of 100c is the temperature at which the cpu will throttle down and/or shut down. Its not a safe temperature to be near, its damaging. keep your cpu Below 90c at all times. Most people when OC’ing try to keep below ether 75c 80c or 85c depending on just how far they are willing to push their OC. And remember thats at 100% usuage.

If those tmeps are at idle btw. .thats even worse. You shouldnt be anywhere near those temps when idling. You should be below 35c idle.

The exact BSOD code would help.

Note he stated that he had to reduce his graphics settings to sustain his original fps during the event. meaning his gpu was bottlenecking it the most.

A new gpu would remove that bottleneck and allow him to play at roughly the same fps with better graphics settings.

Now yes its obviose his cpu is currently a bottleneck aswell, which is lowing his fps even on low settings. BUT a new gpu will allow him to up those settings and is cheaper than switching to a OC’d intel setup at the moment.

In terms of raw performance it will likely only give a 10% increase BUT it will be 10% performance + eyecandy (grpahics settings).

Try switching to an american server (one thats high population so u dont have to many issues with less people being online due to timezones) ..the latencies are usualy just as good as Europe servers. .if not better since many Eu servers tend to be in germany and they can give some horrible pings somtimes.
Im from the UK aswell and i cant stand all the other languages that get used on ENGLISH! servers -.- ..so many times i just move to an American server..since the only 2 languages you ever here there are usualy english and spanish. The only downside to american servers is the americans :P lol

In all honest …buy a completly new laptop.
No point upgrading a laptop cpu specialy when its a AMD. GW2 hates AMD atm.

Recommendations:

Find a laptop with any of the following Intel CPU’s (low to high)
3740QM
3820QM
3840QM
3920XM
3940XM

And the try get it with a GPU that is as good or better than a Nvidia 570m/660m.

That should allow you to play on medium settings with good FPS.

You could spend some money on a new GPU so that you dont need to turn settings down. This wont stop FPS from droping due to your CPU though. it will however allow you to keep your settings and achieve maybe slightly better fps.

My 560ti was maxing out in those events due to the masses of people and spell effects ot render. But i was able to leave my settings on max @1920x1080.

So at mininum i sugest getitng a factory OC 560ti or better.

If you want more performance after that you would need to change ur system over to a Intel i5 K and OC to about 4.3 or 4.5ghz depending on which cpu size u go for..ivybridge(22nm) or sandybridge(32nm). That would requir you to get a new MB and Cooler though, ontop of the CPU.

After that there is nothing more yo can really do. Even my OC’d i7 3930k is caping out on the single thread performance due to GW2’s crapy DX9 thread optimisation.

It does seem odd that you get better fps from a 8800 GT than a 4870.

usualy i would say its your cpu ..but if you were getting 40fps with the 8800 on what ever settings ur using ..and not on the 4870..then it must simply be a compatability issue with the said gpu and GW2.

That isnt screen tearing.

Sounds like corruption of the game files or gpu hardware failure. You could try running a GPU benchmark program to stress you gpu to see if its failing under pressure. And ofcourse you can try reinstalling GW2.

FYI/ Screan Tearing:
Is when the gpu pumps out frames at a different rate than the screen refreshes. This causes frames to be shown with half 1 frame and half another, or some varaition of (i.e 30% one 70% another). What this looks like is bassicaly like if you printed out a picture and ripped it in 2 horrizontaly and shifted the top half left or right ever so slightly, you get that same line across the screen for that 1 frame. This can happen many times and will likely change in position. It looks like crap imo ..but it does depend on how sensative your eyes are as to whether you see it or not. Screan tearing happens all the time when Vsync is OFF no matter if the FPS is above or below the screens refresh rate (usualy 60hz). When its below however, it is alot less noticable.

I know this doesnt help your issue but I do try to stop the spread of missinformation..many people complain about screen tearing when in fact its nothing of the sort.

Get a Intel 2550k cpu + motherboard ..or a 3570k cpu and motherboard. make sure which ever u get, you also get a good cooler. Then OC to around 4.3ghz (3570k) or 4.5ghz (2550k).

The GPU is fine. Im runing a OC’d 560ti and get perfectly playable framerates.

As for monitor.. tbh i dont know ..i honestly dont like any of the current monitors available since none of them can do 1600p or 1440p + 120hz atm.

Does your friend run an OC’d cpu ? What’older’ gpu is your friend running ..it could easily be a mistake to asume a older gpu is slower than a new one .. Special if the new one is a 560 (non ti) and the old one is a 480 for example.

Since changing graphcis settings changes nothing its likely your CPU holding you back ..try OC’ing.

its amazing how many people think they know what the human eye can see.. and yet are so horribly wrong. Its also funny ..becouse anyone with eyes can test it themselves lol. granted everyone is different and not all eyes are created equal ..but still.

Ok bassicaly. You computer is overal lto slow.

The Intel C2D cpu is old and rather slow at 2ghz and wil lstruggle greatly with GW2 when other peopel are around.
The Nvidia 9800 GPU is also rather old but should be bale ot handle low/medium settings.
You main issue. .what is causing your slow downs.. is your CPU ..its to out dated.

120 fps in large WvWvW is impossible atm.

Your likely to get with a OC’d i7 45 fps + on average in large battles.

You may not need as much money as you expect ..specialy if your going by laptop prices. You can get a better performing Desktop for less than a lower performing laptop.

If lowering graphics settings doesnt change fps much .its likely your CPU bottlnecking. However ..you GPU is also rather old ..its somthing like 4 or 5 gpu generations old so it could jus tas easy be you GPU.
bassicaly, your frame rates are around what i would expect with a older rig such as your own. You could porbably pull extra performance out if you make sure your Os is running only essential tasks in the background. OC both CPu and GPU ..and then see how it fairs.

They are roughly same price becouse they are, when you look at the whole picture, ..roughly the same.

The OC thing is true. The 3570k heats up quiker and as such you cant OC it has high as the 2500k. However at the same clock ..say 4.3ghz ..the 3570k will be faster than the 2500k

The heat with the 3570k isnt an issue till you get aboved 4.3ghz, then it will start getting harder to OC on air cooling. The 2500k however will hit 4.5ghz with ease and could potentialy go a little further on air cooling.

1155 motherboard will run both the 2500k and the 3570k.

As for which one you should chose. . Well it works out roughly that ivybridge (3570k) is equivalent to 100mhz faster than a sandybridge (2500k) whilst at the same acutal clock speed. So if both were running 3.5ghz the ivybridge would, performance wise .look like its running and 3.6ghz.
The 2500k will however OC higher than the 3570k, but unless you have top end air cooling or mid high end water cooling ..you wont be clocking high enough to see the advantage of Sandybridge.

So i sugest the 3570k and clock to about 4.3ghz.

Also note ..if u can ..the 2550k is a better choice over the 2500k. But again ..i recommend the 3570k if your not OC above 4.3ghz

ATI + Intel .. Nvidia + AMD. .works fine.

Hmm yea ..change the graphics setting to lower and see if it helps but the 720QM processor is an older generation i7 (released Q3 of 2009) and also rather slow in terms ofclock speed…which matters alot with GW2. A 2.8ghz turbo is a far cry from the recommended (by players) 4.3ghz+ OC that desktops use. Also remember a laptop processor clock for clock ..(meaning say ..2ghz laptop vs 2ghz desktop) ..will be slower.

+1 this

its been said time and again ..but its always good to have more people saying it though ..as we always get those people who refuse to accept that maybe their computer just cant cut it ..or that a peice of software of the same generation as their PC is actually reaching the PC’s limits for once..it happens. .rarely to the cpu (tis usualy the gpu but you can run more than 1 of those to get around that problem) ..but it happens ..and this is one of those times.

What i7 is it exactly ?
The gts 360m is a rather dated GPU tbh. If lowering the graphics settings does not change fps however its highly likely its your CPU.
Just being an i7 isnt enough ..it needs ot be fast. And unfortantly ..very few affordable laptop cpus are actually fast enough for GW2.

We will need your specs pls.

be as specific as you can .. main hardware being.
CPU exact model
GPU exact model
RAM how much of it DDR2 or DDR3
What Operating System you are using.

without that though ..the 1st thing that pops to mind is " oh ..another laptop user wanting good performance not realizing he/she would need a £1200+ laptop to do it" ..sounds harsh but thats what happens :P

I know where your coming from but the above math is only used to show what % of your > total <usuage will be used before bottlenecking occurs. So even though GW2 will not use all the available threads .the total number of threads available is still the same.

i also know the above math works as other people consitantly say “my cpu uses X %” and when you do said math the numbers a very very simular ..even my own cpu always reaches betwen 20 and 25% when it bottlenecks and for me the math works out like this.

100/12 = 8.33 × 2.5 = 20.83
100/12 = 8.33 × 3 = 24.99

2550k is sandybridge
equivialent ivybridge is the 3570k
:)

both are great i5’s ..personaly i would go 2550k for higher OC’s. but for mild to moderate OC’s the ivybridge would be better.

Revelry

No everyone does not. However ..what is a ‘good’ computer to you ? ..becouse unfortunatly GW2 requirs a monster CPU to play WvWvW smoothly.

Chances are if you only just beat minimum specs ..its simply down to not having a powerfull enough computer.

The minimum requirments posted by Anet are, tbh, way to low. However i will point out that minimum requirments are just there to say " you can run the game" not “you can play the game”.

@Jaba
its not mumbo jumbo ..its fact.. if you for some reason refuse to take advice from those more knowledgable.. thats your problem ..no need to try discredit what people say before they even say it ..specialy when they are correct. -.-
In ‘most’ cases so far that i have helped out on in the tech support forums ..when someone complains about performance. .it is simply down to said person expecting more performance out of dated hardware than what the hardware can realisticly produce..and thus requirs upgrading.

First of all. Low FPS is NOT lag. To many people seem to be getting this confused lately it seems. .Makes it hard for those of us who help in the Tech support forum when ppl complain about lag and it turns out they are talking about FPS :P Lag = High latency ..measured in ms usualy.. when people talk about high ping ..they are talking about lag.

Next up. Yes GW2 needs better optimizations for high population environments. But since we cant do anything about that as players the only things we can do are as follows:

OC current CPU
Buy New Intel CPU & OC
Wait

You can get 30+ fps easy in any WvWvW situation..but u need at minimum a i5 OC’d to 4.5ghz (air cooling). At best a i7 OC’d to 4.5ghz or above (requirs water cooling). Thats asuming your GPU can sustain that fps with the higher population and thus objects to render.

the reason changing grahics settings changes nothign is becouse it isnt the graphics card that is having an issue ..its the CPU.

INB4 “but my cpu isnt maxing out”
use this math to work out what % usuage your cpu will show when its bottlenecked.

100/number of cpu threads x 2.5 = lowest % usuage when bottleneck can occure
100/number of cpu threads x 3 = highest % usuage when bottleneck can occure.

I.e intel i5 2500k (4 cores 4 threads)
100/4 × 3 = 75
Intel i7 2600k (4 cores 8 threads)
100/8 × 3 = 37.5

Its ur CPU.

‘Nearly’ all AMD cpu’s run poorly with GW2 ..there a few few exceptions that will run ‘ok’. But basscialy ..u need a up to date intel.

You wont see your cpu at 100% usuage. A basic math equation to work out roughly what % usuage you will see when a CPU bottleneck will occur is as so.
100/number of CPU threads x 2.5 = minimum usuage % bottleneck
100/number of CPU threads x 3 = maximum usuage % bottleneck

in your case its
100/4 = 25x 2.5 = 62.5
100/4 = 25x 3 = 75

So you can expect to see FPS droping, no matter the GPU usuage, when your CPU is between 62% and 75% usuage.
Note this only takes into account GW2 usuage . you can add on % depending on what you computer uses when idling on desktop.

The reason for the 2.5 and the 3 is that GW2 generaly pulls its performance from between 2 and 3 ‘main’ threads (it actualy uses about 50 different threads all together). Depending on the situation it may be running all 3 threads fully thus showing higher usuage. However it may also use only 1 thread fully and 2 other threads moderatly ..however that 1 thread has already caused a bottleneck so the other 2 are just adding onto the total usuage. Kinda hard to explain but take it as it is :P

When you have a cpu bottlneck you gpu usuage will drop and so will your fps as the gpu cannot process information that isnt being given to it fast enough by the cpu. Your choices are:
OC
Upgrade to slightly better AMD cpu & OC
Upgrade to much betetr Intel cpu & OC
Wait for a possible patch by Anet (dont hold ur breath)

EDIT: Also iirc, AMD hyperthreading is different from Intel hyperthreading and isnt as efficient so if ur CPU is 2 physical cores + 2 virtual ..the equation may well give a result that is infact a bit to high.

Any 4core up to date Intel Ivybridge CPU should be able to manage 4.3ghz without any problem. Possibly up to 4.5ghz if you really fine tune the voltages. Any Sandybridge should manage 4.5ghz wihtout any problem and possibly as high as 4.7ghz if its ifine tuned ..and with a little luck. So aim for 4.3ghz atleast. 4ghz would be a trivial OC and only a couple hundread ghz faster than stock.

As for FPS, well with my CPU…im caping out via the GPU in LA atm becouse im on a 560ti however i can manage at 1920×1080 all max settings except rendering ..which is on native ..and with reflections on terrain and sky. I get 60fps in LA. But my GPU is maxed out or almost maxed out all the time 90%+.
If i put reflection on max my fps can dip as low as 35 averaging at 45.

Bassicaly ..if you were running a 3570k or 2550k at 4.3ghz or 4.5ghz respectivly ..with a 66ti ..you ‘should’ be able to get 60 fps in LA so long as relfections are on terrain and sky. If you max that otpion aswell ..you would likely need a OC’d 670 or higher to handle it at 60 fps.

It sounds to me that your laptop is using the onboard Intel 4000 Intergrated gpu.

See if you can manualy disable it in your bios. Failing that, see if you can force the nvidia gpu to run with GW2. I wouldnt know how to do this via OS software unfortunatly ..i have no experiance with integrated gpu’s as my CPU doenst have one.

Kaos ..hyperthreading doesnt increase cpu core speed. It creates virtual cores which means each core can in.. laymens turms ..process 2 threads at once. That isnt EXACTLY how it works but i wont go into details. ‘Turbo Boost’ is what increases core speed, and the 3570 turbo’s to 3.8ghz. But since its a K cpu it should be manualy OC’d by the user for the best performance and will likely hit 4.3/4.4ghz on air cooling.

Additionaly AMD dont run well with GW2 ..atleast at the moment. Some of it will be down to the lower per core performance AMD have compared to intel ..the rest may well be optimizations. As it stands, any1 upgrading in the future and who intend on playing GW2 for the most part, should go with Intel ..dispite the price. You get what you pay for. Also i might add that the windows experiance index is one of the worst benchmarks you can use for performance..its to limited and very vague.

If you do end up upgrading your comp, and still mainly play GW2 when you do, make sure you stick with Intel. In the current Gen Intel CPU’s run better with GW2, i also recommend if you get a K cpu that you make use of the OC features. Nothing worse than see’ing som1 using a Intel K cpu and not OC’ing it atleast mildly. Intel may cost more, and the K ones more so ..but they are worth it.

Anyway GL

People who are on minimum or just above can barely play the game. The advertised minimum requirsments are actualy to low. They need to be raised as alot of people complain about performance issues when they only barely beat minimum requirments.
If you laptop is below the minimum requirments you have next to no chance of playing the game ..let alone play it at any playable fps.

At the very least you need a up to date 2core 4 thread cpu at 3ghz(intel). and a GTX 460 or ATI equivalent to play PVE with playable fps and adequate graphics settings.

I sugest you stress test your GPU. It is likely GW2 is pushing it harder than other games you play. Even BF3 doesnt push gpu’s as hard as GW2 does ..its odd i know but GW2 will make GPU’s run hotter at 99% usuage than BF3 at 99% usuage. Its down to the individual components and how hard the program utilizes them .Gw2 it seems. .uses alot.

It is likely the move to the sylvari starter area .which in the dream area is very gpu intensive ..pushed your GPU to the breaking point.
I know from experiance out of all starter areas..the sylvari one was the only area to push my GPU to its highest temps before my fan curve kicked in and kept it no higher than 75c…the other start areas although highly utilizing my gpu .. but dont run it as hot.

Check ur gpu temps ..it might be just ur gpu overheating causing it to crash. Setup a custom fan speed curve and see fi it helps.

If lowering or increasing ur graphics settings yields little fps change ..then its likely ur CPU.

OC, upgrade, wait for possible patch are your only options.

o.0 wow ..nice price

Ah ..i cant comment on where to get it in America tbh. All i know is that in the UK ..both CPU’s are within a couple pounds of each other. And usualy PC components are cheaper in America than the UK.

TBH $230 is like £138 ..unfortunatly for Uk ..we have to add 20% ontop for VAT >.< + a little extra on top of that aswell.
US cost $230 = £138
UK cost £176 = $ 287

Bassicaly what im saying is ..be happy ..$230 is cheap :P Im sure with some searching you could find somwhere that sells it for the price of a 2500k ..or very close in the US.

Aye a 560ti or Ati equivalent would be adequate but you owuld likely want to upgrade it within a year. If you have the option of gettinga 2550k ..there is no reaosn to get the 2500k unless u want to use its Internal GPu. The 2550k is the same price but has a higher stock clock speed which helsp with OC.

All prices in UK Pounds. If u from US then just take the price ..devide by 120 ..times by 100 ..and then times by 1.63 (ur removing 20% VAT, and converting to dollars) Though its likely u will find most parts cheaper than what it works out at anyway, you could probably remove another 15% actually.

Core parts:

2550k + Noctua NH-D14 air cooler (£173+£68)
Asus motherboard (£87)
GSkill ram 16gb/2×8gb dual channel 1600mhz/ (£70)
Ati 7950 (~£250)

Depending on what u can salvage form your old computer (if u have one)

ATX compatable case (~£65)
750W PSU (~£75)
22" 1080p monitor (~£100)
Logitech, or other gaming, Keyboard & Mouse (~£100)
Sata 500gb HDD (~£65)
Sata Optical Drive (~£15)

Optional
128gb/120gb SSD (~£120)

Then OC the CPU to 4.5ghz (its easy)

That list is not TOP of the line.. but you can consider it more than capable for most games atm. If you wanna save money on any of the core components i sugets it be on the graphics card.
As for the other parts ..you could go down on the size and resolution on the monitor to save some money and also go down to a non gaming keyboard and mouse. Ofcourse if you already have those then no need to owrry about them

SSD is a nice addition, though completly optional, as it only really helps with loading times and in some casses helps reduce stutter in games due to the super fast access times.

Some people have issue with Reflections and shadows on max ..try turning them down.
Shadows to high(not ultra) and reflections to terain and sky should reduce/remove the freezing and fps drops your getting when turnign your camera.
If you havnt already it might also help putting GW2 on a SSD with the system OS as any culling that takes place wont have to deal with slow access times to you HDD when reloading textures and such.

4.9ghz on water cooling sounds right ..could likely go to 5ghz aslong as temps stay below 80c. Just make sure you doing Prime95 custom blend tests for atleast 12 hours for a full stability test ..6 hours at the minimum for ‘reasonable stability assurance’.

Normal Adaptive Vsync does NOT cap your fps at half ..thats ‘Adaptive Vysnc(half refresh rate)’ your thinking of.. but yes check make sure you have not got that applied.

TBH though, if you get 60 fps with vsync ON ..leave it ON .. With Vsync on you wont get the horrible screen tearing issue (asuming your eyes capable of seeing it, differs person to person)

With all that you done ..3 GPU’s.. ..did you not once stop to consider its your CPU.

Fact: GW2 is heavily CPU bound.

You will see a bigegr FPS increase ..specialy in LA and WvWvW by OC’ing your 2600k ..the fact u got a 2600 (K) and have not OC’d it makes me wonder why you bothered getting it in the first place. Not OC’ing a CPU designed ot be OC’d is a waste tbh. And it isnt hard to do nowerdays ether.

Anyway, you want better FPS ..OC your CPU ..2600k should easily hit 4.5ghz on air cooling ..probably go higher.

The low GPU usuage was a sign of what was happening.. Low GPU usuage but also low fps means somthing else is holding your GPU back. In this case its the CPU .it wont show the CPU usuage at 100% .and tbh there are enough threads on this forum that i have had to explain why ..iv given up now tbh lol .. Just trust me when i say ..its your CPU. OC it

Change everything.

When you computer gets that outdated its hard to upgrade any single part wihtout requiring to upgrade other parts.

In your case you need a new cpu ..which would requir a new mobo ..new ram. Then the gpu would be slowing you down so you would need a new GPU.
Chances are with all that you would need a new PSU ..maybe a new box if ur current one isnt ATX compatable. If your HDD and optical drives r not Sata ..u would need new ones of those aswell.

letting a computer get that out dated means when you upgrade ..you spend alot of money in one go.

you have 2 choices bassicaly with a gaming computer.

1) Spend little and often. So upgrade a apart or 2 every 1 or 2 years ..or buy a whole new computer every 2 years that is just good enough for the game of said year. (~$1100/£700)

2) Spend lots rarely. So every 4 or so years buy a whole new computer that can trounce that years games and games of the next year or 2. (~$2200/£1400+)

I personaly go for option 2, but it does requir you to have a large sum of money free in one go. The advanatge however is your in a position to play games for atleast 2 of the 4 years at max settings and max resolutions whilst having max or close to max FPS.
Option 1 is better when you dont always have the money free in one go..but you will rarely play >up to date< games at max settings.

Both options work out at roughly $550/£350 a year to keep a gamign rig going depending on how far you spend.

Well in all honest y with those specs i cant say im surpirsed with your current FPS. .however if you indeed did get better fps in the past i sugest you check your bios settings. If the settings were running on anything other than factory default ..they could potential reset to a slowr default when you have a major system crash, powercut, and although rare the Bios battry could have completly discharged which would reset your bios.
Anway ..BIOS check.

other than ..i cant see anything that would hep. One explanation as to ‘why’ might be that when you had good fps you were playing cut down versions of said games and thus they ran better…again though .thats unlikely.

Also ..try downgrading your drivers ..newer isnt always better.