Please Help - Horrendous PC issues

tusk

Hey guys,

Currently System (mostly 5ish years old)
i5 4570 3.2ghz.
8gb Corsair Vengeance
asrock h87 pro4
2 SSDs (one with windows)
1HDD
600 powersupply.
Gigabyte 1080

I've been having issues where my PC just freezes/stutters and memory or cpu usage goes up to 100% while looking at task manager.

It's much more prevalent when playing games like black ops or modern warfare, and occasionally with Photoshop. But can occur with nothing but a browser and spotify open.

I recently freshly installed windows in the hopes this would help, but things seem the same. I honestly haven't a clue what's going on. Is there anything I can do to figure out the problem? I'd like to not have to buy new parts for a while, I think the current parts should be more than adequate to run smoothly?

Thanks!

Redfox25

I would run a check on the RAM to see if one of the sticks is starting to fail.

Also have you done an antivirus/malware check recently?

Could also be a faulty driver for your GPU, have you updated it recently or has this issue been ongoing for a while?

I would also check all your cables are plugged in tightly as well.

tusk

Redfox25 wrote: »

I would run a check on the RAM to see if one of the sticks is starting to fail.

Also have you done an antivirus/malware check recently?

Could also be a faulty driver for your GPU, have you updated it recently or has this issue been ongoing for a while?

I would also check all your cables are plugged in tightly as well.

Cheers. How would I run a RAM check?

Drivers are kept up to date. As soon as they're released, they're installed.

Will run an malware check & double check all the internal cabling too.

Cheers. Doing my head in now tbh.

Redfox25

Memtest

https://m.wikihow.com/Test-PC-RAM-with-MemTest86

Roll your GPU driver back to a previous version and see if that fixes the issue.

tusk

Stuck on the windows memory diagnostics tool about 2 hours ago. Hasn't budged since will keep you posted.

And then I'll try the above

ED E

Memtest
Linpack
Furmark

After that try other things.

tusk

Still no change in the windows diagnostics. Think it's frozen

Redfox25

It froze on the memtest?
Would seem to point to a bad ram stick so.

If thats the case, remove one of the sticks and try the test again. If it works, put the removed stick back in and test again. If that freezes thats likely your culprit.

Take the suspected bad stick out and run your pc for a while to confirm that the issue is resolved.

Hope that helps.

tusk

Thanks Guys.

Woke up this morning and the memtest was still the same. Will try a removal later on.

If worst comes to worst, would you recommend just going for some new RAM, or would it be better to get a new CPU/mobo and newer ram?

Redfox25

If you identify one of the ram sticks as being bad and the system works for some time after you remove it (Dont throw it away, keep it safe for the moment) , then all you will need is new RAM.

Your CPU should be ok for another while and your GPU is solid

tusk

Redfox25 wrote: »

If you identify one of the ram sticks as being bad and the system works for some time after you remove it (Dont throw it away, keep it safe for the moment) , then all you will need is new RAM.

Your CPU should be ok for another while and your GPU is solid

Found 16gb of similar ram on Amazon earlier for 50 pound, down from 170 so I scooped that up anyway

Redfox25

tusk wrote: »

Found 16gb of similar ram on Amazon earlier for 50 pound, down from 170 so I scooped that up anyway

I would hang on till you confirm its the RAM in case you replace the RAM and the issue persists but at least with Amazon if it doesnt fix it, you can return it.

Hope you get it sorted.

tusk

Redfox25 wrote: »

I would hang on till you confirm its the RAM in case you replace the RAM and the issue persists but at least with Amazon if it doesnt fix it, you can return it.

Hope you get it sorted.

Cheers yeah. I couldn't pass up the ram haha. No hassle in upgrading even if the current ram isn't the issue. Especially for that price

Homelander

No harm to consider an upgrade and sell your old processor and board. You mentioned you are playing games, the a 4th gen i5 is very long in the tooth at this stage. A ryzen 2600 + cheap board + 16gb ddr4 is pretty cheap.

Homelander

Actually i just noticed you have a gtx1080? that's horrendously bottlenecked by a 4th gen i5 like that generally speaking

tusk

Homelander wrote: »

Actually i just noticed you have a gtx1080? that's horrendously bottlenecked by a 4th gen i5 like that generally speaking

What would you recommend?

EoinHef

At framerates above 60Hz at 1080p maybe,any higher resolutions not so much.

Stuttering is common enough on a quad core these days with newer games though.

tusk

EoinHef wrote: »

At framerates above 60Hz at 1080p maybe,any higher resolutions not so much.

Stuttering is common enough on a quad core these days with newer games though.

I'm using a 1440p monitor. So sounds like I could do with a new cpu then?

Have actually been able to play the last day. Haven't changed anything. The freezing just decreased a lot to nearly zero

EoinHef

tusk wrote: »

I'm using a 1440p monitor. So sounds like I could do with a new cpu then?

Have actually been able to play the last day. Haven't changed anything. The freezing just decreased a lot to nearly zero

It would depend on what games your playing. Not all games will struggle with 4 threads. Generally though newer games will prefer 6-8 threads.

Dropping in a i7 4770 with your ram upgrade would be a nice cheap upgrade. 8 threads instead of 4 and a bit of a frequency boost. CEX sell them for €95,they also give a warranty aswell so should be risk free if it doesnt work for any reason. Could sell the 4570 on adverts then to claw a few quid back.

With the ram upgrade you have already got i reckon that would be a nice cheap upgrade for now.

The other option would be to replace the cpu,board and memory but then your getting into a few hundred euro. Some of the older gen AMD Ryzen CPUs are some serious value atm so thats an option but would really depend how much you want to spend.

PostWoke

Yeah with Black Friday/Cyber Monday coming I would take a look at that board and cpu too, maybe upgrade to a Ryzen processor and board.

tusk

Cheers lads, I will keep an eye out for some nice deals.

I have another issue now that's just popped up. Wonder if this is something you can help with.

Just got Gigabit internet installed but speeds are maxing out at 95ish mbps. Found that my link speed is limited to 100mbps for some reason.

I have an asrock h87 pro4 which has gigabit lan, but still unable to get it to change. All cables in the house are cat 5e.

Everytime i try to change the link speed in configuration settings for the adapter, it shuts the adapter off and wont recognise that a cable is plugged in.

Any ideas?

ED E

Cable fault most likely.

Connect a laptop to it to test. Not everything that says 5e is 5e, and damaged 5e could operate at 100mb dropping to 4 wires.

tusk

Did a bunch more testing with different wires/machines/setups. Looks like the issue is my internal wall wiring being cat5 instead of cat5e.

Very sad times.

ED E

Make sure your sparks didnt crimp it for half the cable, that'd have the same effect. Even 5 over short runs normally manages 1G.

tusk

So have narrowed it down a bit further to just one of the internal wires.

Gonna try to re-crimp and see how we go.