Performance issues after hard-freezes caused by a bad wall socket
So last weekend I had to move my computer to another room that hadn't been renovated and had old wall sockets with no grounding connectors. Started it up and it seemed to run fine but about 20 ish minutes into browsing the internet my computer hard-froze. I had to unplug it (holding down the power button wouldn't turn it off and the PSU switch was kinda unreachable) and it happened a second time. I reinstalled the graphics drivers and had no issues for the next couple of days.
Monday comes around, it starts happening again... while gaming this time. I must've had like 10 hard freezes before I realized the socket had no proper ground, so I moved it to a newer socket that, despite having grounding pins still wasn't properly grounded. Had some more hard freezes (this time both screens turning black) and doing some research I thought I'd check if the graphics card pins had melted or something. Opened the case, unplugged the card and plugged it again. It's been working like that ever since... Hoooowever...
Games that used to run well... still run, but at lower FPS. I've been playing Arc Raiders and Crimson Desert on max settings, and both games used to run flawlessly with zero FPS drops always at 90 (the cap I had set) and now CD is averaging 65 and Arc Raiders spikes to the low 40s some times. I ran stress tests with OCCT and didn't see anything weird. It's been bugging me all week and checking again I've realized that despite the load, memory usage and wattage varying... My GPU's clock speed is like frozen. Doesn't change by a single digit.
Given that these games are still running even with RTX on and that I've had no artifacts or any other issues... I have the feeling something might've corrupted software-wise. Maybe a delusional thought, it's an expensive card I really don't wanna have to replace...
My system specs:
GPU: MSI RTX 4080 Ventus 16GB
CPU: Intel Core i5-12600K
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z690 UD DDR4
RAM: Kingston FURY Beast DDR4 3200 MHz 8GB CL16 (x4)
PSU: Corsair RM 850W 80 Plus Gold full modular
The first time I ran OCCT the clock speeds were only slightly below the advertised frequency on MSI's website. I forget the exact number but something like 2450mhz. Right now it's at 2745mhz.
This screenshot is running Crimson Desert on max settings with RTX, no DLSS and no path tracing in a heavily populated area.
