Extreme FPS drop

[Tremor]

First of all my specs:
Intel Core i5-2400 @ 3.10GHz
Memory 8GB , Corsair
GeForce 9800 GT
Windows 7 x64

I've had my computer for a couple years. I built it myself. I've had no "major" issues until this. I am a gamer and have never had issues running any game with my current system. Now all of a sudden I go from playing something like World of Warcraft 30-60 fps (ranging from idle to 25 man raiding) with moderate to high graphics settings. Now my fps is dropping to 5 fps with lowest settings and while just standing around. This isn't constant, its intermittent. So I can't tell exactly what the issue it. I recently did a reformat of my Hard Drive so everything is fresh. The problem started shortly after doing this. All drivers are up to day as well.

 

[Jad Chaar]

Download the latest driver from here: http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/62791. Chose the "Custom Install" option. Then check the box that says "Clean Install". Proceed with the installation.

 

[Tremor]

I tried this twice just to make sure. Each time it didn't work. As far as I can tell all drivers are up to date. Although after doing this the problem didn't seem to last as long. It lasts for roughly 30 seconds to a minute. Then it will be fine for about a minute.

 

[Jad Chaar]

I notice that I get very bad lag spikes in Planetside 2 (MMOFPS) when something is installing in the background (quietly without me noticing). I press CTRL+D and I see my desktop icons refreshing, which means something was installing. Not sure if WoW is a HDD dependent game, but that may be the issue. Reformatting should have cured it though. I think you need to replace the card buddy.