I've been away from PC hardware and gaming for quite a while, and I'm not really sure what I'm looking at anymore. My system has an Intel Core i9-10900K, 32 GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti with 8 GB of VRAM, but it performs much worse than I expected. What information should I check first, and where would you begin troubleshooting?
3 Answers
Those parts should generally handle modern games well, so the first step is figuring out what “runs horribly” means. Note which games you’re playing, your monitor resolution and graphics settings, and whether the CPU or GPU is near 100% usage while playing. Also check temperatures and frame rates, since those can quickly point to the problem.
I’d start with a clean software setup: reinstall Windows if the system has accumulated years of old software, then install the latest motherboard chipset and device drivers from the motherboard manufacturer. After that, install the current NVIDIA graphics driver and run the games again before changing anything else.
Check the BIOS memory settings too. Make sure the RAM is running in dual-channel mode and that XMP is enabled; otherwise the memory may be running slower than intended. It’s also worth checking that the CPU doesn’t have an unusually restrictive power limit configured. Unless you’re playing at 4K with very demanding ray-tracing settings, this hardware shouldn’t normally perform badly.
A fresh Windows installation might help, but I’d check temperatures, utilization, memory configuration, and power settings first so you don’t erase the system without identifying the cause.