Computer suddenly running worse.

Lagnar

Hidey ho dooders, I'm having some issues with my PC and was wondering if anyone would have an idea for as to whats up.

A few days ago I finally got this new computer up and running, and when playing Team fortress 2 I was getting about 60~ fps at most times, with every setting at the max. Now all of a sudden I am getting 20 fps or less.

Here are the specs for reference:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129024&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136098&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161310&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131595&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103706&nm_mc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

And Win 7 home premium is the OS.

I'm not really sure as to what the issue would be, Ive heard it might be due to the heat sink not having proper contact with the CPU but Ive checked it and it seems to be in the right position. I didnt actually take it out, but it seemed ok from looking at it, and maybe nudging it a little bit. I don't recall changing any settings with anything really, I was looking at a few things but nothing was changed to my knowledge.

One other thing that has been happening is that it decides to completely freeze, and the only option is to manually restart it. This has only happened when using chrome or Internet explorer though, so I wasn't too worried about it.

stigweard

It could be a failing power supply. Bad ram isn't likely to cause lower fps, but it will cause freezing. Bad power can cause a wide range of symptoms including poor fps, poor performance, and ram like freezing issues. The other possibility could be a faulty cpu or motherboard. Check / reset your bios to make sure you haven't accidentally turned off the cpu cache, or otherwise underclocked the system. Check the capcitors for leaks / burn marks, and see if the hsf is warming up when in operation. A cold hsf means it isn't transferring heat properly.

General_Win

Try a different pair of shoes, if that doesn't fix it's stride you may have to see a orthopedist (foot doctor, also not sure if I spelt that correctly).

Scrublet

General_Win wrote: »

Try a different pair of shoes, if that doesn't fix it's stride you may have to see a orthopedist (foot doctor, also not sure if I spelt that correctly).

That was fucking retarded.

Anyways, stigweird bad power supplies generally don't present the problems you listed out. Bad power supplies will generally have trouble booting or staying on...instead of freezing, the OP would be seeing random abrupt shutdowns and reboots. Particularly when doing GPU intensive tasks, if the GPU is newer and powerful. Additionally, that case comes with an Antec EarthWatts, which is pretty reliable.

My guess would be a faulty hard drive. One thing you can do is download Prime95 and run torture tests. If those fail quickly and seem to cause freezing, I would point the finger at memory (or possibly CPU, depending on what test you run). My second target would be the GPU, and my third would be the motherboard. You may try a format as well, if your performance is fine again immediately after a format you might have some sort of software problem/virus.

Lagnar

Ok, I ran the test on the CPU with Prime95, and it instantly slowed down, and after a few seconds froze. Seems the CPU is the blame. Will poke around some more, and try to fix it, hopefully it isn't too big a deal. Thanks!

stigweard

I wouldn't have said they do if they didn't. I've seen all of those symptoms and more from bad power. It isn't always the psu either, which is why I commented on the motherboard. PSUs with multiple 12v rails can have one fail and still run without crashing despite having circuitry to prevent it. If a 6pin or 8pin plug is dead, a card can keep right on trucking, but end up running slow in games and potentially fry the motherboard as well as the card. Other people have even posted about poor fps, not realizing they had to plug in to the video card.

That being said, it can't be fully diagnosed without more info. No reports of graphical glitches or poor cpu performance, bsods, or app crashes leaves a bunch of room for guess work. Running Prime95 is a good start, but I would probably reach for memtest86+ over it for testing ram. Prime tests too many things at once to be able to say for certain a crash was caused by ram alone. Also, there is potentially a record of those complete freezes in problems and reports. If Lagnar could post the contents of those reports, should they exist, it would be a great help.

edit: Good to see Prime did turn something up. Did you check the temp of the heat sink while it was on? I'd wager it needs to be removed, cleaned, and reseated with new thermal paste.

grrarg

Did you have a temp monitor running alongside Prime95? Sounds like the CPU throttling down and/or shutting off to avoid permanent damage.

Mr. Buttons

grrarg wrote: »

Did you have a temp monitor running alongside Prime95? Sounds like the CPU throttling down and/or shutting off to avoid permanent damage.

I was thinking this, or the temp on the GPU

if you don't already have it, here is Speedfan

Lagnar

Ok, I took the CPU out just to take a peek at, and it appeared that one of the pins was bent, however I remember the same pin being bent (if thats what has happened to it) when I first got it, so I didn't think much of it, I assumed it was suppose to be that way. Now though I'm not too sure.

I also ran prime95 again, and I checked the temp, it went from about 20ish, to about 40 and stayed there, however this time it didn't crash or even slow down which is odd.