Solved! Toshiba Satellite C855-1U4 sudden fps drops

[Lucy.1999]

Hi there,
so I've had my laptop for quite a while now (bought it 6 years ago) and I know that it's super oudated at this point. It's got all the specs listed here http/www.toshiba.it/discontinued-products/satellite-c855-1u4/ but I upgraded it to 8GB of RAM and also built in an SSD 250GB (removing the cd slot and replacing it with the SSD).

Now ever since I've gotten that SSD my laptop has went from decent performance to very questionable. I used to get 100fps in CSGO (max rn I get is 60 I believe) but now it can drop down to 15 and just stay there for a random amount of time. I noticed this change in almost all my games where they can run perfectly fine at 60-100fps but drop down to 15 without any actual change happening.
What could be the cause of this?
I don't believe that it's just outdated hardware as I can see that my laptop CAN run at decent fps. It just drops down in unfortunate times .

(Now I know nothing about tech stuff like this but I was wondering whether it could be due to overheating? Maybe the new SSD adds too much heat+blocks air flow? I've had problems with my laptop turning off due to heat in the summer before but solved this by putting it at an angle for it to get air from below).

Please help me out ;-; I just want to play games again.

 

[mtracy1991]

Hi Lucy,

Have you done any software updates to your PC such as Graphics, or Windows?

Run Task Manager and see if anything is running out of the ordinary. Also, check to see if any processes are running that are out of your league.

Secondly, I'd install Anti-Virus such as AVG (Free) and run it; see if anything pops up.

 

[Lucy.1999]

Hi Lucy,

Have you done any software updates to your PC such as Graphics, or Windows?

Run Task Manager and see if anything is running out of the ordinary. Also, check to see if any processes are running that are out of your league.

Secondly, I'd install Anti-Virus such as AVG (Free) and run it; see if anything pops up.

I should be running the latest Windows 10 version. In terms of graphics I've been running update checks on the AMD Radeon Settings App but it doesn't let me update due to old, not supported graphics-hardware apparently.
I'm running an AVG Driver update check rn and it looks just a little bit concerning http/prntscr.com/lxk5b7.
I'll try update most of the listed drivers in there but I'm a bit lost at how to find the correct ones for my laptop to be honest. The current ones that I've got were straight from the Toshiba website and they are outdated...
Done a virus check as well and at least I've got none of those!

 

[mtracy1991]

Hi Lucy,

Have you done any software updates to your PC such as Graphics, or Windows?

Run Task Manager and see if anything is running out of the ordinary. Also, check to see if any processes are running that are out of your league.

Secondly, I'd install Anti-Virus such as AVG (Free) and run it; see if anything pops up.

I should be running the latest Windows 10 version. In terms of graphics I've been running update checks on the AMD Radeon Settings App but it doesn't let me update due to old, not supported graphics-hardware apparently.
I'm running an AVG Driver update check rn and it looks just a little bit concerning http/prntscr.com/lxk5b7.
I'll try update most of the listed drivers in there but I'm a bit lost at how to find the correct ones for my laptop to be honest. The current ones that I've got were straight from the Toshiba website and they are outdated...
Done a virus check as well and at least I've got none of those!

Ok, let's check the hard drives. Since your running Windows 10, what is your disk percentage, memory percentage and CPU percentage at when playing a game versus being idle.

 

[Lucy.1999]

Hi Lucy,

Have you done any software updates to your PC such as Graphics, or Windows?

Run Task Manager and see if anything is running out of the ordinary. Also, check to see if any processes are running that are out of your league.

Secondly, I'd install Anti-Virus such as AVG (Free) and run it; see if anything pops up.

I should be running the latest Windows 10 version. In terms of graphics I've been running update checks on the AMD Radeon Settings App but it doesn't let me update due to old, not supported graphics-hardware apparently.
I'm running an AVG Driver update check rn and it looks just a little bit concerning http/prntscr.com/lxk5b7.
I'll try update most of the listed drivers in there but I'm a bit lost at how to find the correct ones for my laptop to be honest. The current ones that I've got were straight from the Toshiba website and they are outdated...
Done a virus check as well and at least I've got none of those!

Ok, let's check the hard drives. Since your running Windows 10, what is your disk percentage, memory percentage and CPU percentage at when playing a game versus being idle.

I just took a screenshot of Task Manager (Sorry its in german, from left to right is CPU -> Memory -> Disk percentage -> Network).
This is my laptop in idle: http/prntscr.com/lxknsz
And this is my laptop when running a game like CSGO: https/prnt.sc/lxksdw

 

[mtracy1991]

So, overheating can lead to hardware failure & also fps changes. Was your overheating a concern before the SSD was installed?

My next idea would be to remove the SSD and run the game on the HDD and see if there is a FPS performance difference.

 

[Lucy.1999]

So, overheating can lead to hardware failure & also fps changes. Was your overheating a concern before the SSD was installed?

My next idea would be to remove the SSD and run the game on the HDD and see if there is a FPS performance difference.

Yeah overheating has been a concern for like two years (the SSD was installed around Feburary this year). When playing CSGO my laptop would usually just turn itself off from overheating (especially in the summer) but it never really affected my FPS. Especially after I got a RAM upgrade (from 4 to 8) I could run pretty much every game I owned with perfect FPS.
I was also thinking of trying to troubleshoot it by removing the SSD. The only thing I've done so far was let CSGO run from the HDD but without removing the SSD (just went to a worse performance overall) but I have yet to fully take it out. I use it to boot up the entire PC including Windows so I'll have to see how I change all that to my HDD (I really am not very good at this). I'll figure something out and let you know how it goes as soon as I can!
Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far ^.^

 

[mtracy1991]

So, overheating can lead to hardware failure & also fps changes. Was your overheating a concern before the SSD was installed?

My next idea would be to remove the SSD and run the game on the HDD and see if there is a FPS performance difference.

Yeah overheating has been a concern for like two years (the SSD was installed around Feburary this year). When playing CSGO my laptop would usually just turn itself off from overheating (especially in the summer) but it never really affected my FPS. Especially after I got a RAM upgrade (from 4 to 8) I could run pretty much every game I owned with perfect FPS.
I was also thinking of trying to troubleshoot it by removing the SSD. The only thing I've done so far was let CSGO run from the HDD but without removing the SSD (just went to a worse performance overall) but I have yet to fully take it out. I use it to boot up the entire PC including Windows so I'll have to see how I change all that to my HDD (I really am not very good at this). I'll figure something out and let you know how it goes as soon as I can!
Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far ^.^

Let me know, you can also do a complete refresh to factory settings and that may help it out too. I had a laptop so I know what you're going through. I ended up building a PC because laptops become obsolete so damn fast.

 

[Lucy.1999]

So, overheating can lead to hardware failure & also fps changes. Was your overheating a concern before the SSD was installed?

My next idea would be to remove the SSD and run the game on the HDD and see if there is a FPS performance difference.

Yeah overheating has been a concern for like two years (the SSD was installed around Feburary this year). When playing CSGO my laptop would usually just turn itself off from overheating (especially in the summer) but it never really affected my FPS. Especially after I got a RAM upgrade (from 4 to 8) I could run pretty much every game I owned with perfect FPS.
I was also thinking of trying to troubleshoot it by removing the SSD. The only thing I've done so far was let CSGO run from the HDD but without removing the SSD (just went to a worse performance overall) but I have yet to fully take it out. I use it to boot up the entire PC including Windows so I'll have to see how I change all that to my HDD (I really am not very good at this). I'll figure something out and let you know how it goes as soon as I can!
Thanks for all the help and suggestions so far ^.^

Let me know, you can also do a complete refresh to factory settings and that may help it out too. I had a laptop so I know what you're going through. I ended up building a PC because laptops become obsolete so damn fast.

Yeah I've done multiple resets on my pc by wiping it entirely and then remaking it with a boot drive (I'll probably do that once I travel home tomorrow and take out the SSD). I did have my boyfriend build me a pc last month and its amazing (finally 1k fps in Minecraft) but for Uni I still need to use my laptop (can't take my pc with me sadly, its not that handy ).