Solved! Previously High Performance, now Low FPS

[Firetamer]

Hello there,
This is my first post about my problem in a forum, so I apologize in advance for any errors in decorum.

I own a gaming laptop, and have been quite content with it for a couple of years. However, recently it has been performing well below expected. On all games, old, new, mainstream, or indie, the FPS is below 60 and falls the longer I leave the game running. It gets lower FPS than is expected both by benchmarks for the graphics card, and by the GeForce Experience Utility, which recommends game settings which the laptop can no longer handle at more than 30 FPS.

I am hoping that somebody can tell me how I can learn what is causing the issues. The only lead I have so far is that the graphics card does not reach above 74C, which is well below the maximum operating temperature of 98C, so I do not believe the issues are simply due to dust buildup.

Here are my specs:
Laptop: Asus ROG GL551JW
Windows 10 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i7-4720HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz
16 gb RAM (15.9 usable)
GPU: GeForce GTX 960M 2GB

Please let me know if you need any more information.
Thanks!

 

[suteck]

Check your hard drive. if it's an HDD it might be starting to fill up so it will start to run slower. If it's more than 3/4th full it will start bogging down. At least get a good defrag software and defrag it. Don't depend on the windows version, it's SAD. Almost the same thing with an SSD. only difference is the SSD should be "factory wiped" every now and then to reset the read/write to make it practically brand new.

 

[Firetamer]

Check your hard drive. if it's an HDD ...

Thank you! I'll try that.