Treithop

Here you go.

Thanks for the reply and thanks for linking the other threads, good read. Just wanted to point out that my problem is not necessarily something new (e.g. a recent Windows update). I have had this issue for a year or so, thus why I initially said that I have tried formatting and reinstalling on both Windows 10 and Windows 11 and the problem only comes back after a few months and gets gradually worse. Somebody mentioned that I should run HD Tune. I'm not an expert so I don't really know what it should look like, but I would guess that it should be more or less constant and closer to max, no (I did the test on my older Sata SSD and its pretty constant)? My test (done through a different boot drive just to try to exclude any Windows or other software issues that might be on the Adata SSD in question) has loads of spikes down and that doesn't seem normal. Don't know if it matters but the laggy bit is pretty close to the disk usage size according to the scale at the bottom. The maximum read speed is roughly what would you expect from that drive.

Hey there, So I have been having this problem with my new system I built where it would freeze on Windows startup and my boot drive (Adata swordfish SSD) would jump to 100% usage (without actually showing any noteworthy writing/reading) for a prolonged time but eventually it settles down, it does spike up again some times though. I have tried A LOT of different things starting from updating drives, disabling fast boot, doing memtest, disabling things at startup, disabling unnecessary Windows services etc. up to reinstalling Windows (tried both win10 and win11) and nothing seems to work. The weird part (at least for me) is that everything works fine at first when doing a clean install (formatting the drive + installing windows) but after a while (a month or two) the problems come back and they get gradually worse over time - at first its a one-time thing, but it becomes more common over time up to the point of this being an issue at every boot daily. Another interesting thing I realized is that if you do the Windows repairing/reinstalling while keeping your files it doesn't help at all, the only way it gets better is after formatting and a clean install. I do have an old Sata SSD lying around (with windows 10 on it) from my old computer that I can plug in. When I do so it doesn't have any issues so would that rule out any other hardware issues (e.g. memory, MB)? So would it be safe to assume that its most likely an issue of a bad SSD (googling now it seems Adata swordfish is a shit product that a lot of people are complaining about)? I still have a warranty for the SSD. Now some people have advised me to just drop the SSD and buy a different one because its a sunken cost fallacy and a waste of time trying to debug/diagnose this SSD (they are probably correct). Now I'm just thinking if I could relatively easily conclude that its a hardware issue, I could just go for the warranty to replace it and get another SSD in the meantime and use the replacement for storage, give it to somebody else etc. Any tips would be helpful, thanks!

Thanks for the suggestions. I will def look into B450 motherboards as well. Could take a little bit of money off there. I see that quite a few B450 matx boards have only 1 m.2 slot, right? So what would be your suggestion on storage? Add a sata ssd later on? 16gb of ram won't do for me though.

Thanks for the suggestion. My understanding is that 12500 has slightly better single core performance, correct? With your suggestion I came up with this list: https://pcpartpicker.com/list/3MhVwc A bit of a jump on the budget, probably should look for a cheaper motherboard. CPU is about 20 eur more expensive. Also - I heard that AMD smart access memory is a thing, how much of an impact it would give me if I later decide to go for an AMD GPU e.g. 6600 xt or a 6700 xt. Would this be something to consider when choosing amd CPU over intel CPU?

Budget (including currency): preferably less than 1000 euros (excluding video card) Country: Europe, Latvia Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming - strategy games, 4x, RTS, paradox titles as well some RPGs and eve online. Other details Here is my potential buying list - https://pcpartpicker.com/list/xTjwcb Few notes: - I'm in a dire need of an upgrade since I'm still on Ivy bridge, no workarounds there really, it's just old. - I used PC part picker to make a list, but I added all the prices manually (prices are in euros) after looking through some stores on what can I actually get. - the GPU is what I have currently (thus priced 0) - I cannot decide if I should upgrade that now or do it later, obviously the gpu pricing is still not so great and gtx 1060 still runs ok(-ish) on the sort of games I play, having a better cpu seems to be main priority now. - case - the availability and pricing is awful, nothing much to chose from in the under 100 euro category, I would prefer a silent case with decent airflow, don't care too much about being too flashy with rgb; - PSU - overkill probably, but I haven't decided on what video card I would buy and when, so having some extra room would be good. I don't want to get into a situation where I would have to buy a new PSU together with a new GPU; EVGA generally seems good and the pricing is also decent; - no need for a monitor (i currently have a 1080p 144hz asus monitor) or mouse/keyboard; - I would most likely add another 2 TB SSD in the future; - motherboard - really don't know what to pick tbh, I also saw asrock B550 Phantom gaming 4 for 97 euros (much cheaper). Could be a decent option? I'm still puzzled on how the bios updates and zen 3 works, I would prefer if I could get through with minimal hustle (pc part picker warned me that I might have to update bios to use the 5600x). - cpu cooler - I just threw something in there that had decent reviews online, as far as I understood something like 5600x won't require too much cooling, so a relatively simple air cooler should do the trick, right? I haven't built anything in a looong time, so a lot of it seems alien to me atm... Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

Thanks for the replies, wasn't really aware that my page file was there.... Here is a pic from crystal:

Hey there, So suddenly I experienced weird stuff with my storage HDD. Windows takes a lot of time to load and when it finally loads I get a message regarding page file. My boot SSD seems to be working fine, I can run programs, games without problems, but accessing my storage HDD is super slow, opening files (e.g. images, pdfs etc.) may take like a minute or so. I tried switching up cables, but nothing changed. I tried running smart scan and I guess it doesn't look. Is my HDD dying and should be replaced ASAP? Or are there other things at fault here? Thanks!

The biggest problem imho usually is the motherboard - firstly, you don't really have that much choice in upgrades for your CPU, unless you go shopping for a used one that was top of line with that chipset, but that has its own risks and actually may not be that cheap at all. Its even worse and less upgrade possibilities if you bought your PC on an outgoing socket. I'm running a bit older system myself - x79 motherboard with i7 4820k. I could theoretically upgrade to 4930k or 4960x and that's about it... Even the more beefy 4960x is not that big of a jump and you can only get used ones which are 200+ atm. But more importantly - components do fail, sooo if there is a problem with your motherboard - good luck... Sure, you can get refurbished or used ones on ebay (not cheap either really), but at this point you are starting to test your luck with used components on ebay which can be either a good thing, or an expensive mistake. The big question is - how much is it worth to put in an older system (both upgrades and failed components) before actually buying a modern system?