I5 4440 underperforming

[Ares95]

My PC specs are:
MSI B85M-P33 V2
Intel i5 4440 @3,1ghz
8gb ram @ 1600mhz
Sapphire r9 280x Vapor-x tri-x oc
650 w power supply with 80-plus bronze certified
storage and other peripherals are irrelevant for this matter in my opinion.

Since i built this computer i used it for gaming mainly,and was pretty satisfied. It wasn't until recently that i tried giving it a few benchmark runs,and only then did i notice that my i5 4440 was underperforming. Single thread benchmarks was up to the expectations,but multi threaded performance and mp ratio was more like i had a triple core processor,and below all results for i5 4440. I've included a few screenshots from benchmarks as well. I don't know if it was performing like this from the moment since i bought it,but i doubt it. My witcher 3 gameplay was running much more fluently during the first playtrough. Thanks in advance.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Since i built this computer i used it for gaming mainly,and was pretty satisfied. It wasn't until recently that i tried giving it a few benchmark runs,and only then did i notice that my i5 4440 was underperforming. Single thread benchmarks was up to the expectations,but multi threaded performance and mp ratio was more like i had a triple core processor,and below all results for i5 4440. I've included a few screenshots from benchmarks as well. I don't know if it was performing like this from the moment since i bought it,but i doubt it. My witcher 3 gameplay was running much more fluently during the first playtrough.

This is what I expect is wrong, just the "drag" that time and all those little things that you've added to your system since it was first built. Those other numbers are from freshly installed systems without all of the background programs that you have.
But I'd also check:
Are you sure the RAM is running at its rated speed? (memory tab, CPU-z)
I also don't see that it's hitting its turbo clocks. HWMonitor should show 3.3 GHz. Could it have been turned off in BIOS?

 

[Ares95]

First of all,thanks for your reply. RAM is running at 800 mhz,but that's without the multiplier(as far as i know), so it's running at it's rated speed. Turbo boost is enabled in BIOS as well. So, it's rather a problem of age and usage,and not hardware malfunctioning ? I was kinda worried, but it makes sense. I guess i'll have to clean the hardware and do the fresh OS install to make it shine in it's full glory. Thanks for your help once more.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

You might just want to try a little system maintenance. Is it actually noticeable during use?

 

[Ares95]

During normal use(browsing with a lot of tabs,coding,heavy multitasking), no, it works like a charm. The only aspect where it's noticeable are CPU heavy games. Do you have some suggestions for maintenance ? Reinstalling the OS might be the overkill right now, since i'm not playing a lot of games these days.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Do you have some suggestions for maintenance ?

I'm actually terrible with that. But you can look at what processes are running and determine if they're needed. I once found that a WD Essentials external HDD was using a full thread on my son's 4 threaded system. It was like a free upgrade when we killed that. And I can't remember what program we used to narrow that down. Maybe Process Explorer

 

[cdawall]

Reinstall windows.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Reinstall windows.

There are benefits to this, but in my example above, would there have been a performance upgrade after a reinstall? If a person turns around and reinstalls the same programs, they may be left with the same performance. If the OP is thinking of adding a SSD, then a new install is called for and that might also help with the swap file.

 

[cdawall]

If the issue goes away at first it shows that its a him problem as opposed to hardware.

 

[Ares95]

So, I downloaded Process Explorer and took a good look at the active processes. I was very supprised to see that the problem was in the external hard drive which was plugged in my computer. The CPU works flawlessly now,achieving the results that it should. As for the reinstall,it won't be necessary, especially since i'm not the type of person who chokes their own PC with unnecessary programs and processes and I'm careful with security. Thank you both for your suggestions, especially thebluebumblebee,since his suggestion solved the problem.