Why Does Wreckfest FPS Drop Dramatically During Longer Sessions?
Asked by
MellowOrbit42
I've played Wreckfest for years across several PCs with very few problems, but since upgrading from an RTX 4070 Ti to an RTX 5070 Ti, the game's performance steadily collapses during a single session. It may start around 350–450 FPS, then fall below 30 FPS after roughly 30–90 minutes. This happens in both single-player and multiplayer, while other demanding games run normally on the same system. Restarting the game eventually restores performance, although a full PC restart initially seemed necessary. Temperatures and clock speeds look normal, and there are no obvious signs of thermal throttling.
So far I've confirmed that the game is using the 5070 Ti, benchmarked the GPU, tried several driver versions, verified the game files, disabled mods and recording software, lowered every graphics setting, reinstalled the game on multiple SSDs, tested for VRAM issues by resetting the graphics driver, limited CPU affinity to performance cores, and checked that the RAM is running at the correct speed. Wreckfest is known to have memory-leak problems, but I'm trying to understand what could cause the unusually rapid FPS degradation on this particular system. Are there any other logs, background processes, Windows settings, or hardware counters I should check?
Answers
The fact that closing the game and Steam can eventually restore performance without rebooting the whole computer makes a persistent hardware fault less likely. It could be a game-process leak, a driver resource that is released only after some delay, or another process that remains active after the game closes. I’d capture resource usage immediately after the FPS collapse, then again after exiting the game, to see which value remains elevated.
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This sounds most like a memory leak or another resource leak inside the game. Some older games gradually consume system RAM, VRAM, or other resources during long sessions, and the only practical workaround may be closing and reopening the game. Since the issue is limited to Wreckfest and temperatures look normal, the game itself is a strong suspect.
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It would still be worth monitoring background processes while the slowdown develops. Keep Task Manager or HWiNFO open and compare system RAM, committed memory, VRAM usage, CPU utilization, page-file activity, and GPU clocks at the start of a session and when FPS drops. A background application can occasionally start consuming CPU or memory even when the game appears to be the cause.
MellowOrbit42: I’ve checked temperatures and general CPU behavior, but I’ll compare the memory, page-file, and background-process readings more carefully during the next session.
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MellowOrbit42: That matches what I’m seeing now. I initially thought a full reboot was required, but after waiting a while and reopening the game, performance returned to normal before degrading again.