Performace loss with time?

[Moot]

I have a really strange problem where after a while my system perforce will drop off a bit. If I start my computer, or reboot my computer quake 4 and fear benchmarks will be 62 and 76 respectively. This level will stay consistent for several hours. Then say six to ten hours later (not really sure how long it takes, but it is a while, or it could even be software but I doubt that) the machine will be running a new consistently slower speed. Quake 4 and fear benchmarks now will be 56 and 57 respectively. In windows it’s unnoticeable. In games you do notice the frame rater drop, but it’s not huge. The system never becomes unstable or crashes. All the latest drivers and bios updates for my hardware have been tried. I have tried clock speeds for all my hardware and still the same issue is present. I have tried opening all the software i typically use in a day right away to see if one of them was causing the issue, and it appears not to be the case. There is no processes or thread hogging cpu time when the system is in it's lower performace state. My system info is in my signature for reference. Does anyone have any ideas? Or had the same problem?

Via 5.09a
Nvidia 91.31
Bios 221

[Rytr]

Just a thought. Have you noticed a drop in the +12V rail over periods of extended gaming? The 350W rating on your psu probably is conservative as on most quality units but it may be operating close to its upper rating. Modifying the unit's cooling arrangement might create a higher than normal heat build up and affect the psu's performance over prolonged gaming sessions.
I doubt this is the case since you are not experiencing any instability but just something to check.

[Moot]

Thanks for the reply. I thought of that as well, and tried a better quality 450w power supply. Oddly the 12V rail was more off using the 450-watt than the 350w (350 better made?), and the same loss of performance issue was still preset so I went back to using my 350w.

[LORD-eX-Bu]

could be a heat problem. Check your cpu temps. Could be that your CPU is throttling.

Mines wasn't making good contact with my heatsink so I took it off, reapplied Arctic silver and made sure the HSF was on tight so that it wouldn't move the least bit and it solved my degrading performance probs.

Also check if you have buildup on your case fans and such, maybe its time for cleaning? just a thought

[Moot]

I don’t believe AMD CPUs throttle. Also my temperature is well within normal operation, and I have replaced the stock CPU phase pad with some artic silver five. Something I forgot to mention was that typically I’m just sitting in a windows environment for first while after my computer is turned on, doing stuff like surfing the web, before starting a game. Then just because time has passed (or so it seems) performance will be degraded.

[j0j081]

performance always drops a bit with time depending on what you've run before benchmarking/gaming but in your case it looks to be a bit too much. This is why I always reboot before playing a game.

[Moot]

This morning it only took one hour for quake benchmarks to end up at a consistent 56 fps, when it should be 76. I restarted. I took note of all the stuff I opened durring that hour, and then opened all those programs one by one checking for the issue each time. Although I could not repoduce the issue.