GTX 680 Battlefield 3 performance issues

[Sub-Human]

Hello. Built my PC about three weeks ago - MSI GTX 680, i5-2500k, 8GB RAM @ 1600 MHz. I ran Battlefield 3 with no performance issues at all. However, today I've been bothered with rather (seemingly) low FPS. I've checked my ping, it goes from 13 to 17. In more intense scenes (multiplayer), I can already see the lag.

Basically, my 680 performs as if it's a 480. I haven't made any changes to my computer. I've tried reinstalling the drivers, but that didn't solve anything. I doubt it's a heat issue since the game was alright even yesterday, and I didn't remove any fans. I also don't think dust would have filled up my computer overnight.

What do you think is the problem? Could something happen to my card and should I get a replacement? Could it be a CPU issue instead? Thanks for your answers in advance.

 

[Cinders]

The cause of your lowered frame rates could be many things, I'd take a look at the memory first with Memtest86+ and make sure nothing is amiss, and then I'd look at the hard drive with the manufacturers disk check utility. Now if both of those items checked out, I'd start searching for malware with Malwarebytes and your antivirus program.

 

[Sub-Human]

OK, thanks for the reply. Unluckily, I can't access Memtest86+ (don't have a CD), but I've ran Windows Memory Diagnostic and two of my RAM sticks seem to have passed. I've ran disk check, but I don't think it found any bad files. Malwarebytes was quite happy with no bad files either. Although I don't have an antivirus program (it slowed down my last OS), I don't wander off to malicious sites and download stuff only when other people have verified it, so I doubt that's a problem.

Any other solution?

 

[Chris Barry]

You can try taking out the GPU,ram..even the cpu. Just make sure everything is secure. And of course put it back in