Should I upgrade my way out of my computer problems?

Nought

Hi all.
If this belongs in the H/A forum then I hope one of the mods will move it.

Anyway. I have a really weird problem with my computer. Shortly after windows have started I get a strange "lag" where it will work for 4-5sec and then freeze for 2-3sec, and then repeat. My computer looks like this:

HKC USP 7630 630W psu
M2n32-sli Deluxe
Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Kingston DDR2 HyperX PC6400 4x1GB
WD 500GB SATA
GeForce 9800GT
Windows 7 RC

The graphics card is PCI-E 2.0 16x and the motherboard only supports PCI-E 16x, can this cause the problems?

My thoughts are that it is either because of the motherboard or harddrive that the computer is lagging. I have been thinking about getting a new harddrive anyway, but would it be a good idea to get a motherboard that supports PCI-E 2.0 whether my current one is faulty or not?

The motherboard that I'm thinking about getting is MSI K9A2 CF-F. Does anyone have any negative experiences about it?

Edit:

Sorry, I was a bit quick to post and have been slow to respond.

The problem is that the computer will function normally for a few seconds and then freeze for a few seconds, with the mouse still being active in that I can move the curser, and then act normally again for a few seconds and then freeze again. Normal, freeze, normal, freeze, normal, freeze. And it repeats this for hours. Sometimes it stops when the computer has been idling for some time, but if I start doing something on the computer it quickly returns.
Also I can hear the harddrive working while this is going on. Repeating the rhythm that is something like: tap, tap. Pause grind, grind, grind. And then repeat.

The problems generally start when the computer connects to the net, or to be more precise, when I put in the network cable. This made me think that maybe my computer was a zombie, so I spent a day installing anti-virus and malware programmes.
No Viruses were detected but there were some spyware that got cleaned up, but it keeps having the same problem.

I have three harddrives installed but only the one with windows on it is a SATA drive. There is no change in behaviour when I unplug the ATA drives.
I have also had some problems with my SATA dvd-burner not being detected by windows, but this is generally helped by changing the SATA port on the motherboard that the dvd-burner is plugged into. ATM the dvd-burner is also unplugged.
Since I need some more storage anyway, I think I will start by getting a new harddrive, since I can’t format the one with windows on it because I don’t have anywhere to put about 150GB of data.

I’ll then try a new install of windows on the old drive, to see if maybe the drive is at fault. Is it possible to test the drive before I do that?

lowlylowlycook

I don't think there are any real world benefits for PCI-E 2.0 at least for single graphics cards. At least I haven't read about any.

I don't know if I'd buy another MB for that CPU but if I did, I'd get something AM3 capable like this so I'd have the best options for upgrading in the future.

Mr. Buttons

Does the problem only occur when you boot up windows? not randomly while the system is already running? when you say it repeats, do you mean it repeats indefinitely or that it happens twice and everything is fine after?

Hardware-wise, as far as I know, everything is current enough that you shouldn't be having any problems. It may not be cutting edge, but it's more than good enough to boot up to win7. Whereas hardware may be the culprit in your problem, I would say there is an equal or greater chance that it is program related.

emnmnme

I'm gonna piggyback off of this thread and post my question for my aunt's computer problems. She left it at my house for me to fiddle with after she complained it was running very, very slowly. Windows XP SP3. There are 5 user profiles on there and I know they're all screwed up except for the Administrator profile - should I tell my aunt to just get rid of the other profiles and only use the Administrator profile? Would that speed up the ol' PC at all?

I checked the temporary internet files - it was set to cache a gig of junk instead of the usual 50 MB - and it's probably the same setting on the other user profiles, too.

Nought

Hmm. It seems like an edit of the op doesn't count as a new post.

I edited the op so that all the infomation is in one place.

Deicist

Have you got windows update enabled?

Do you have anything else that automatically updates? (ie: anti virus etc)

the 'generally happens when I connect to the net' makes me think that perhaps something is trying to update and lagging your machine out.

Nought

Yeah, now that you mention it that sounds likely.

I generally hate auto updators since I see them as a very efficient way for hacker to infect a lot of people at once, but I tend to be wishy-washy about wether I let them be active or not. Then again I have been using my computer without any anti-virus or malware, so I can't claim to be the most security conscious person i the world.

I bought an external harddrive yesterday, so I'm going to remove anything useful from the computer and start some serious tinkering.

The list of to-dos will be something like:

Locate and disable update service.
Aggressive deletion of programs.
Format and reinstall.
And finally checking the hardware if there is still problems.

I might end up buying a new motherboard anyway, since I really hate my current one by now. I keep promising to myself to stop buying Asus since they always seem act up, and then I go out and buy Asus again...

JPS

Boot into safemode with network support. Connect to the intarwebz. If you are still having issues then run chkdsk /r on all your drives. I see that you have win7, so you may encounter the dreaded super memory usage for it. Obviously, do this while you're not connected to your network.

If that doesn't turn up anything, try disabling the onboard ethernet port and use some cheapo NIC lying around.

If all else fails, you could always just back up stuff and wipe + reinstall. It's a drastic last ditch effort, but I would rather do that then buy a new mobo for no reason.