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Why is my high-end gaming laptop running so slowly lately?

January 16, 2026 4 answers
Asked by GamerGal97
I've been experiencing significant slowdowns with my $2000 gaming laptop for the past month. Initially, it handled games like Marvel Rivals without any problems, but now I'm struggling to get over 20 fps. Even basic applications like Discord lag while I'm streaming or gaming. Interestingly, my task manager shows that my system resources are only at 50% or less during these slowdowns, so there should be capacity for better performance. My laptop has a single SSD and no HDD. Here are my laptop specs: - CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 8940HX with Radeon Graphics - RAM: 32GB - GPU: NVIDIA RTX 5070ti Laptop GPU I've already checked for malware, confirmed that it isn't overheating, ensured my C drive isn't full, defragmented my drive, disabled search indexing, and updated all my drivers. I'm not sure what's causing these performance issues, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!
AMD Ryzen 9 gaming Hardware laptop performance slow troubleshooting

Answers

FlowMaster69
This might sound silly, but check if you accidentally switched your laptop to silent mode in the settings. I’ve done that before and it dramatically affected performance. Make sure it’s switched back to turbo or performance mode.
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SystemSavior88
It sounds like you might be dealing with a problematic Windows patch. I had the same issue with my desktop a couple of weeks ago. I had to wipe and reinstall Windows eventually but switched to Linux and haven't dealt with performance issues since. Just an idea if you're open to it!
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TechWhiz21
Have you tried uninstalling the recent Windows update, KB5074109? That update has been known to cause performance issues for a lot of users lately. It's worth a shot to see if that resolves your problem!

GamerGal97: How do I go about uninstalling that update?

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GamerGuru12
Go into Task Manager and check your memory speed while the laptop is under load. Sometimes the RAM speed can impact gaming performance, and if it’s not running as expected, that could be part of the issue.
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