Halp! I Have No Idea What's Wrong with My Computer

[Zenophilious]

So..I made this thread on the Tom's Hardware forums, and I got jack.  17 reads, and the only answers are my own bumps.  Hopefully someone here at Fuwa can help me.  I'll just copy/paste the text from Tom's over here, and just put it in a quote so it's easily discernible from anything else in the original post.

 

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601

CPU: Intel® Core i5-4670K CPU @ 3.40GHz, 3401 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)

BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. P1.50, 7/3/2013

RAM: 8 GB installed (5.79 GB available)

GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770

Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H87 Performance ATX LGA1150

 

I've recently been having issues with my computer's general performance. I built it during Spring Break in April, and it worked perfectly for several months. A around a month ago, though, I noticed that I was getting an extremely low FPS while playing League of Legends. I tested several other games that I'd installed through Steam, and while it wasn't as bad as LoL's drop in performance, it was definitely far inferior to how they had been performing at before. I also can only have around 3-4 tabs opened in one browser before I start to see pages taking longer to load than normal, lag while scrolling, and general overall slowness. I have confirmed that it's not my internet connection, as I tested the same browsers on another computer, and it works perfectly fine with 3 times as many tabs open in several browsers at once.

 

I have not attempted to overclock any of my components, update the BIOS, or reapply thermal paste for the CPU. I keep all of my software up to date, and try to download the latest available drivers for my hardware. So far, I've scanned for viruses with both avast! and Windows Malicious Malicious Software Removal Tool with both quick and full scans (found nothing), started regularly cleaning out my registry with CCleaner, unistalled several games and applications I don't use, limited the programs that can run in the background to what's absolutely necessary, used compressed air to clean out the dust from my rig, scanned for memory problems with Windows Memory Diagnostic (found nothing and caused my computer to shut down by itself after rebooting), and played with the settings of my fans while using various applications and games. I tried the solution in this thread, which helped but did not resolve all of my issues. I have also uninstalled Nvidia GeForce Experience, as I found out that it was partly responsible for the CPU usage spikes I was having and that it's not really as useful as I had previously believed.

Absolutely no idea what to do.  This is seriously pissing me off, since I can't use my gaming computer for gaming, or even internet browsing with multiple tabs open.  It's even struggling to skip read text in VNs; I'm not joking, it occasionally lags for a few seconds before skipping.  If you help me with this I will love you forever.

 

• EDIT: Just disabled V-sync (which I had enabled so I could play Mirror's Edge without it derping out) on Nvidia Control Panel, which helped incrementally.  Just thought I should mention it.

[Darklord Rooke]

Could be anything. It could even be your power supply starting to go.

 

PS: Be careful fiddling with your registry unless you know what you're doing and looking for. 

[Zenophilious]

To the almighty mods: thanks for moving this thread, I wasn't quite sure where to post it, aside from GD.

 

Could be anything. It could even be your power supply starting to go.

 

PS: Be careful fiddling with your registry unless you know what you're doing and looking for. 

Is there any way I can test that?  I'll be kinda pissed if it is on its way out, since it's not even a year old yet  >.>  This is the complete list of components I used, as well as what mouse and keyboard I'm using.

 

And yeah, I've been careful whenever I've used CCleaner.  I looked at every tab before clicking "OK", and I googled the ones that I thought were important or didn't know about.  I didn't start doing that until I had the problems, so I know that's not the cause.

[madvanced]

The psu seems fine on paper, since you haven't done any overclock(and you can't on a h87 chipset) and a 770 doesn't withdraw too much power, also it's made by seasonic regarded as one of the best OEMs. But it can still fail if you happen to receive a bad one. Do you know all of the services that run in your pc? Also do you have your 6-pin auxiliary connector from your mother board to your psu connected it can deliver additional power if that's the problem, though I doubt that it is due to that since it ran just fine until now. You can also try to run GPU and CPU benchmarks to see were the problem in performance is. On a last note check the temps of your CPU and GPU it might be a problem with cooling.

[Zenophilious]

The psu seems fine on paper, since you haven't done any overclock(and you can't on a h87 chipset) and a 770 doesn't withdraw too much power, also it's made by seasonic regarded as one of the best OEMs. But it can still fail if you happen to receive a bad one. Do you know all of the services that run in your pc? Also do you have your 6-pin auxiliary connector from your mother board to your psu connected it can deliver additional power if that's the problem, though I doubt that it is due to that since it ran just fine until now. You can also try to run GPU and CPU benchmarks to see were the problem in performance is. On a last note check the temps of you CPU and GPU it might be a problem with cooling.

Services, as in processes?  I don't know every single one, no, but I've been looking at a large number of the hidden ones ever since someone at Tom's helped me figure out that I needed to update my wifi-adapter drivers.

 

I actually don't know what pin connector I have connecting my motherboard and my PSU.  I just used the ones I was provided with when I got each part.  I had to buy another one for my GPU, since I was missing one, but I'm not quite sure what pin count it was.  I'll look into buying one, since I live around 10-15 minutes away, walking distance, from an electronics store.

 

As for benchmarks/temp checking software, I have FurMark (guy at Riot Support told me to use it, but I'm not sure how to use it, since there's a lot of options, and some people say it can fry your GPU if you use it wrong) downloaded for my GPU, and RealTemp for monitoring my CPU temp.  Any particular benchmarking and temp checking programs you'd recommend?

 

EDIT: Also, is there a way to check if I got a crap PSU besides returning it and getting a new one?  I'm kinda hesitant to use my warranties unless I know something is actually wrong with each part, since I have no idea what might possibly go wrong in the future.

[madvanced]

Services, as in processes?  I don't know every single one, no, but I've been looking at a large number of the hidden ones ever since someone at Tom's helped me figure out that I needed to update my wifi-adapter drivers.

 

I actually don't know what pin connector I have connecting my motherboard and my PSU.  I just used the ones I was provided with when I got each part.  I had to buy another one for my GPU, since I was missing one, but I'm not quite sure what pin count it was.  I'll look into buying one, since I live around 10-15 minutes away, walking distance, from an electronics store.

 

As for benchmarks/temp checking software, I have FurMark (guy at Riot Support told me to use it, but I'm not sure how to use it, since there's a lot of options, and some people say it can fry your GPU if you use it wrong) downloaded for my GPU, and RealTemp for monitoring my CPU temp.  Any particular benchmarking and temp checking programs you'd recommend?

 

EDIT: Also, is there a way to check if I got a crap PSU besides returning it and getting a new one?  I'm kinda hesitant to use my warranties unless I know something is actually wrong with each part, since I have no idea what might possibly go wrong in the future.

temps program you can use is CPUID HWmonitor it will tell both the CPU's and GPU's temps. FurMark is one of the standard benchmark programs for GPU, try to search for either a youtube tutorial or a written tutorial explaining how to use and best configs. aida64 is a good stress testing program for your CPU to check temps(using another program) at full load. Can't you have your pc tested/checked in an electronics store without going to the extreme of returning components when you don't know the problem?

The 6-pin power connector on the mobo should look like this

[Zenophilious]

temps program you can use is CPUID HWmonitor it will tell both the CPU's and GPU's temps. FurMark is one of the standard benchmark programs for GPU, try to search for either a youtube tutorial or a written tutorial explaining how to use and best configs. aida64 is a good stress testing program for your CPU to check temps(using another program) at full load. Can't you have your pc tested/checked in an electronics store without going to the extreme of returning components when you don't know the problem?

The 6-pin power connector on the mobo should look like this

Okay, thanks.  I'll look into those programs.

 

Yeah, that'd be a good idea.  I don't actually have that much experience with maintaining custom-built PCs, or even assembled PCs; I've used Macs most of my life, and the second I could get my own computer, I jumped on the chance to get something that could run WIndows.  So, this is the first computer I've built, and the first computer I've ever owned that runs Windows, so that's why I'm a little stupid at dealing with things like this.  I probably should bring my computer in at this point...I'd just need to find out how much they charge first, since I don't have a lot of money on my person without moving some funds around.

 

EDIT: I'm fairly sure that it's a 6-pin power connector, but I can't be sure without unplugging it, and I'm in the middle of a lot of things right now  :/  I'll try and check by tonight.

[madvanced]

Okay, thanks.  I'll look into those programs.

 

Yeah, that'd be a good idea.  I don't actually have that much experience with maintaining custom-built PCs, or even assembled PCs; I've used Macs most of my life, and the second I could get my own computer, I jumped on the chance to get something that could run WIndows.  So, this is the first computer I've built, and the first computer I've ever owned that runs Windows, so that's why I'm a little stupid at dealing with things like this.  I probably should bring my computer in at this point...I'd just need to find out how much they charge first, since I don't have a lot of money on my person without moving some funds around.

Some stores do check ups at 20€-40€ where I'm from, but around there I don't really know.

[Zenophilious]

Some stores do check ups at 20€-40€ where I'm from, but around there I don't really know.

Probably gonna be more than that, because California has one of the highest cost of living in the States aside from Hawaii, Alaska, and D.C., but thanks for the estimate.

[madvanced]

Probably gonna be more than that, because California has one of the highest cost of living in the States aside from Hawaii, Alaska, and D.C., but thanks for the estimate.

Just hope you have luck and it was just some software failure rather than an hardware one, to not need any new parts.

[Zenophilious]

Just hope you have luck and it was just some software failure rather than an hardware one, to not need any new parts.

Thanks.  Me, too.  School is coming up soon, so I should try and get it checked as soon as possible.  *sigh*  Wish this had happened earlier, and not near the end of summer...

[OriginalRen]

I'm going to say it might be the GPU. Try updating the drivers if you haven't and/or testing another video card to see if that fixes the problem in game.

[Narcosis]

Throw that Fatality stuff away and buy at least a decent mid-grade motherboard from Asus or Gigabyte; reinstall the system afterwards and you'll have no more issues. If anything, it's clearly either the mobo, psu/mobo duo and/or GPU to add (tho I doubt it's the actual culrpit). When you post a specs sheet, be sure to include EVERYTHNG in it and don't just write "8 GB RAM", since it tells practically nothing - there's a lot of brands and sticks that cause major problems. Same goes with HDD's. Are you using a classic HDD, or SSD? If it's the second and you have one of Kingston's late SSD's, it might be the major cause of your issues. I wouldn't recommend using anything from ASrock for high performance/power user/gaming pc's at all, either. Don't get fooled by a fancy name, that mobo is a total crap. Personally, I wouldn't put that even into an office desktop.

 

In general though, you might be simply seeing things; I don't play LoL at all but even I am aware that a lot of users complained lately; since a bunch of last updates game's performance dropped horrendously (Japanese 3dcg eroge do better, seriously) and there's a ton of complaints on official forums. You could as well completely trash your system to the point the general performance dropped. It might be your CPU/GPU overheating.

 

The best thing you can do is to complely erase the system partition and do a clean reinstall of Windows. See if that helps. If it does not, then there's definately something wrong - most propably either with the PSU (again, no info; PSU's are the second most important thing after motherboards and CPU's) or motherboard. I doubt it's the GPU, cause typical issues are often different.

[madvanced]

I'm going to say it might be the GPU. Try updating the drivers if you haven't and/or testing another video card to see if that fixes the problem in game.

That's why spoke about the benchmarks if he could get normal results on the cpu but crappy results on the gpu it would be a gpu bound problem, however the problem with the browser tabs he has is much more RAM+CPU related than gpu, hence why I don't really know what his problem might be.

[OriginalRen]

Generally speaking, most of the time when a problem can't be solved on the software side of things, I would start working on the hardware. In fact, I would test the hardware 1st before the software.

 

Test the RAM with different sticks, try another hard disk to see if that's the issue, etc. The only really bummer would be a processor or motherboard problem, but those are generally very rare if your computer is only 1 year old.

[madvanced]

Throw that Fatality stuff away and buy at least a decent mid-grade motherboard from Asus or Gigabyte; reinstall the system afterwards and you'll have no more issues. If anything, it's clearly either the mobo, psu/mobo duo and/or GPU to add (tho I doubt it's the actual culrpit). When you post a specs sheet, be sure to include EVERYTHNG in it and don't just write "8 GB RAM", since it tells practically nothing - there's a lot of brands and sticks that cause major problems. Same goes with HDD's. Are you using a classic HDD, or SSD? If it's the second and you have one of Kingston's late SSD's, it might be the major cause of your issues. I wouldn't recommend using anything from ASrock for high performance/power user/gaming pc's at all, either. Don't get fooled by a fancy name, that mobo is a total crap. Personally, I wouldn't put that even into an office desktop.

 

In general though, you might be simply seeing things; I don't play LoL at all but even I am aware that a lot of users complained lately; since a bunch of last updates game's performance dropped horrendously (Japanese 3dcg eroge do better, seriously) and there's a ton of complaints on official forums. You could as well completely trash your system to the point the general performance dropped. It might be your CPU/GPU overheating.

 

The best thing you can do is to complely erase the system partition and do a clean reinstall of Windows. See if that helps. If it does not, then there's definately something wrong - most propably either with the PSU (again, no info; PSU's are the second most important thing after motherboards and CPU's) or motherboard. I doubt it's the GPU, cause typical issues are often different.

 ASRock ain't that bad, it had pretty reliable stuff in these last few years. Their extreme boards have been reliable and great overclocking mobos most of the times, although his board in specific could have been a miss.

[Zenophilious]

Well, checked the drivers for the GPU.  I ignored what Windows was telling me it was (so incorrect) and looked it up on Nvidia Control Panel.  It's version 340.52, which is what Nvidia says is the most current driver version for my GPU.  I used to have Nvidia GeFore Experience installed, so my drivers were up-to-date before I uninstalled that piece of crap software.  Only had to manually update them once.

 

Throw that Fatality stuff away and buy at least a decent mid-grade motherboard from Asus or Gigabyte; reinstall the system afterwards and you'll have no more issues. If anything, it's clearly either the mobo, psu/mobo duo and/or GPU to add (tho I doubt it's the actual culrpit). When you post a specs sheet, be sure to include EVERYTHNG in it and don't just write "8 GB RAM", since it tells practically nothing - there's a lot of brands and sticks that cause major problems. Same goes with HDD's. Are you using a classic HDD, or SSD? If it's the second and you have one of Kingston's late SSD's, it might be the major cause of your issues. I wouldn't recommend using anything from ASrock for high performance/power user/gaming pc's at all, either. Don't get fooled by a fancy name, that mobo is a total crap. Personally, I wouldn't put that even into an office desktop.

 

In general though, you might be simply seeing things; I don't play LoL at all but even I am aware that a lot of users complained lately; since a bunch of last updates game's performance dropped horrendously (Japanese 3dcg eroge do better, seriously) and there's a ton of complaints on official forums. You could as well completely trash your system to the point the general performance dropped. It might be your CPU/GPU overheating.

 

The best thing you can do is to complely erase the system partition and do a clean reinstall of Windows. See if that helps. If it does not, then there's definately something wrong - most propably either with the PSU (again, no info; PSU's are the second most important thing after motherboards and CPU's) or motherboard. I doubt it's the GPU, cause typical issues are often different.

I was told by someone at Fuwa that it was a decent mobo for a mid-line gaming computer, and my techie friends couldn't think of a better replacement, so I went ahead and bought it.  Haven't had any problems until now.

 

RAM: Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

SSD: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive

 

I don't think it was LoL, since I noticed a few games, like Skyrim and SR3 (might be because it seems to be a console port, I dunno), doing poorly before I noticed LoL crapping out.  It was perfectly fine before that.  I have absolutely no issues running it on medium-high quality on my Mac, but I don't even know if that's even worth mentioning.

 

EDIT: After turning off my computer for a few hours, switching V-sync to off seems to have made more of a difference than I initially thought.  It's not back to normal, but it's better than it was.

 

EDIT x2: Okay, did FurMark benchmark and took a screenshot, here's it is:

27 FPS.  What the hell.  Like I said, I used to be able to play Skyrim with maxed settings and the HD mod without a noticeable drop in FPS.

[nohman]

I had a similar performance issues that were caused due to overheating. I fixed it by replacing my heat sink on my CPU with an old one I had lying around. If this has already been discussed, my apologies. I quickly glanced through the thread.

[Blizzard884]

Maybe u are going to laugh but give it a try.

Sometimes performance issues can occur because of dust particles. Buy one of that air in spray cleaners and give a good blow.

Also make sure your PC is not in room that is too cold. (below 17 degree condensation may occur, which is a "parts killer")

Before you go into deep search for problems try easiest possibilities first.

[Zenophilious]

I had a similar performance issues that were caused due to overheating. I fixed it by replacing my heat sink on my CPU with an old one I had lying around. If this has already been discussed, my apologies. I quickly glanced through the thread.

Hmmm...I don't think anyone has suggested that yet.  I was planning on getting an i7 processor eventually, when I got a steady job and saved up, so it'd come with a heat sink...

 

Maybe u are going to laugh but give it a try.

Sometimes performance issues can occur because of dust particles. Buy one of that air in spray cleaners and give a good blow.

Also make sure your PC is not in room that is too cold. (below 17 degree condensation may occur, which is a "parts killer")

Before you go into deep search for problems try easiest possibilities first.

Yeah, I already did that.  Cleaned all the fans off, cleaned the screen in front of one of the fans, wiped off various parts with a...wait.  I'm such an idiot, I didn't clean out the heat sink.  Duuuuuhhhhh.

 

I'll try that, and check if my mobo has a 6-pin power connector while I'm at it.

 

EDIT: Seems to be an 8-pin connector, actually.  The PSU cord is two sets of four that go into the 8-pin on my mobo.  From the specs list: 1 x 8 pin 12V power connector

[Blizzard884]

Hmmm...I don't think anyone has suggested that yet.  I was planning on getting an i7 processor eventually, when I got a steady job and saved up, so it'd come with a heat sink...

 

Yeah, I already did that.  Cleaned all the fans off, cleaned the screen in front of one of the fans, wiped off various parts with a...wait.  I'm such an idiot, I didn't clean out the heat sink.  Duuuuuhhhhh.

 

I'll try that, and check if my mobo has a 6-pin power connector while I'm at it.

 

EDIT: Seems to be an 8-pin connector, actually.  The PSU cord is two sets of four that go into the 8-pin on my mobo.  From the specs list: 1 x 8 pin 12V power connector

NOT just fans.... I mean everything. Take your machine apart to clean every single bit and then put everything back together. 

[Zenophilious]

NOT just fans.... I mean everything. Take your machine apart to clean every single bit and then put everything back together. 

I had cleaned literally everything besides the heat sink, and I just did that now.  My performance increased by about 75%.  Still not perfect, which makes me wonder if I damaged my CPU by not cleaning out the heat sink before now.  I still have a warranty on it, and even if I can't get a replacement, I'll just deal with it until I can get an i7.  Ah, the learning process.  So wonderful.

 

I'm just in awe of my stupidity, though.  I cleaned out everything besides one of the most vital things to clean dust out of.  I've passed the levels of human stupidity...I am a GOD of stupidity!

[Blizzard884]

I had cleaned literally everything besides the heat sink, and I just did that now.  My performance increased by about 75%.  Still not perfect, which makes me wonder if I damaged my CPU by not cleaning out the heat sink before now.  I still have a warranty on it, and even if I can't get a replacement, I'll just deal with it until I can get an i7.  Ah, the learning process.  So wonderful.

 

I'm just in awe of my stupidity, though.  I cleaned out everything besides one of the most vital things to clean dust out of.  I've passed the levels of human stupidity...I am a GOD of stupidity!

Eeee don't use simple heat sink.  Personally, I am using this and I don't have any problems at all

[Zenophilious]

Eeee don't use simple heat sink.  Personally, I am using this and I don't have any problems at all

Yeah, mine's just the stock one that came with my i5-4670k.

 

Anyway, thank you to everyone that answered my thread.  Sorry it was something so obvious.  Like I said, this is the first computer I've ever built, so I'm not exactly used to maintaining it yet.  Seriously, though, I doubt I would have figured it out if I had asked somewhere else of just waited for answers at my Tom's thread.  You guys are awesome.

[Blizzard884]

Yeah, mine's just the stock one that came with my i5-4670k.

Anyway, thank you to everyone that answered my thread. Sorry it was something so obvious. Like I said, this is the first computer I've ever built, so I'm not exactly used to maintaining it yet. Seriously, though, I doubt I would have figured it out if I had asked somewhere else of just waited for answers at my Tom's thread. You guys are awesome.

You're welcome!

If you will have more questions in the future feel free to ask.

NOTE: seems like u have a decent build for first time, but definitely invest some money into good CPU cooler.