PC feels "Heavy"

[nmsxsu]

Lately my PC feels like it struggles to go on, like when I move the mouse in games or I do just standard work. It's not lag, the fps in games are the same and I didn't change any hardware lately. What could it be? How can I check if something's wrong?

[aaronfranke]

Do a clean install of Windows (or whatever OS you like). Windows tends to slow down over time.

[Stormseeker9]

1 hour ago, nemeshisu said:

Lately my PC feels like it struggles to go on, like when I move the mouse in games or I do just standard work. It's not lag, the fps in games are the same and I didn't change any hardware lately. What could it be? How can I check if something's wrong?

Did you do any benchmarking to compare it too?

how full are your SSD’s?

temps ?

[nmsxsu]

1 hour ago, aaronfranke said:

Do a clean install of Windows (or whatever OS you like). Windows tends to slow down over time.

I reinstalled windows less then a month ago

[nmsxsu]

I have two HDDs 

1 hour ago, Stormseeker9 said:

Did you do any benchmarking to compare it too?

how full are your SSD’s?

temps ?

I have two identical 1TB Toshiba HDDs, one has Windows and one Has Linux on it, the one with Linux is almost Empty because I don't use it very often, Windows has 480GB left. I didn't do any benchmarks, temps look fine. I can't confirm if the problem persists on Linux because I don't have any heavy programs or games on it. I thought maybe windows doesn't run well on hdds anymore(?).

[Stormseeker9]

23 minutes ago, nemeshisu said:

I have two HDDs 

I have two identical 1TB Toshiba HDDs, one has Windows and one Has Linux on it, the one with Linux is almost Empty because I don't use it very often, Windows has 480GB left. I didn't do any benchmarks, temps look fine. I can't confirm if the problem persists on Linux because I don't have any heavy programs or games on it. I thought maybe windows doesn't run well on hdds anymore(?).

I would strongly suggest adding a ssd to your system. It will make windows much faster. 

 

Grab an ssd like crucial mx500 or evo860 or intel p660 or similar 

[nmsxsu]

Just now, Stormseeker9 said:

I would strongly suggest adding a ssd to your system. It will make windows much faster. 

 

Grab an ssd like crucial mx500 or evo860 or intel p660 or similar 

I just grabbed an evo860 1tb SSD and will do a fresh install, should this make games and programs smoother too?

[vanished]

Can you be more specific about what you're experiencing?  Do programs load more slowly?  Is there input lag?

 

5 minutes ago, nemeshisu said:

I just grabbed an evo860 1tb SSD and will do a fresh install, should this make games and programs smoother too?

Yes, you'll notice a tremendous difference in the overall experience, not just out of the gate, but in a year or two when your system still feels pretty much new as opposed to having ground to a halt and needing to be reinstalled.  At this point every system should have an SSD, period.  imo it's not appropriate to run even a super budget build without one.  It is, again imo, the defining and dividing spec of what makes a computer feel modern vs old.

[Stormseeker9]

8 minutes ago, nemeshisu said:

I just grabbed an evo860 1tb SSD and will do a fresh install, should this make games and programs smoother too?

For sure mate! You will see heaps of benefit / faster performance.

[nmsxsu]

2 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Can you be more specific about what you're experiencing?  Do programs load more slowly?  Is there input lag?

 

Yes, you'll notice a tremendous difference in the overall experience, not just out of the gate, but in a year or two when you system still feels pretty much new as opposed to having ground to a halt and needing to be reinstalled.  At this point every system should have an SSD, period.  imo it's not appropriate to run even a super budget build without one.

My computer is a prebuilt from 2013 I just upgraded stuff along the way. Programs like Photoshop or Premiere take forever to open, and even some games. Boot times are a lot longer too. I don't think there's any input lag, but it feels like the games run at 30 fps but they are running at 100-110. The curious thing is that it all happened suddenly.

[nmsxsu]

4 minutes ago, Stormseeker9 said:

For sure mate! You will see heaps of benefit / faster performance.

Even if that doesn't solve the problem I'm happy to have bought the SSD. I even bought another 8GB of ram because my system only has 8.

 

10 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Can you be more specific about what you're experiencing?  Do programs load more slowly?  Is there input lag?

 

Yes, you'll notice a tremendous difference in the overall experience, not just out of the gate, but in a year or two when you system still feels pretty much new as opposed to having ground to a halt and needing to be reinstalled.  At this point every system should have an SSD, period.  imo it's not appropriate to run even a super budget build without one.

 

[vanished]

Just now, nemeshisu said:

My computer is a prebuilt from 2013 I just upgraded stuff along the way. Programs like Photoshop or Premiere take forever to open, and even some games. Boot times are a lot longer too. I don't think there's any input lag, but it feels like the games run at 30 fps but they are running at 100-110. The curious thing is that it all happened suddenly.

Well the SSD will certainly help with loading times.  Should also make everything feel generally more responsive overall, and able to do several things at once without slowing down noticeably.  What you're describing to me in games sounds like it could be a case of very bad frame times.  100 fps feels smooth if they're all spaced out, but if you render 100 frames all in 0.5 seconds, and then do nothing for the remainder of the second, it's going to feel really choppy despite still being technically 100 fps.  I'm not saying for sure this is what's going on, and I'm not sure what could cause this to start happening suddenly when it was fine before, but it's my only guess at this point.

[Stormseeker9]

7 minutes ago, nemeshisu said:

Even if that doesn't solve the problem I'm happy to have bought the SSD. I even bought another 8GB of ram because my system only has 8.

 

 

Ssd + extra 8GB of ram = definitely better performance 

[nmsxsu]

The SSD should be delivered in a couple of days, I'll let you know. 

10 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

Well the SSD will certainly help with loading times.  Should also make everything feel generally more responsive overall, and able to do several things at once without slowing down noticeably.  What you're describing to me in games sounds like it could be a case of very bad frame times.  100 fps feels smooth if they're all spaced out, but if you render 100 frames all in 0.5 seconds, and then do nothing for the remainder of the second, it's going to feel really choppy despite still being technically 100 fps.  I'm not saying for sure this is what's going on, and I'm not sure what could cause this to start happening suddenly when it was fine before, but it's my only guess at this point.

I just really hope It's something I can fix easily.

[vanished]

5 minutes ago, nemeshisu said:

The SSD should be delivered in a couple of days, I'll let you know. 

I just really hope It's something I can fix easily.

There's many possible causes for stutter, "lag spikes", or bad frame timing/pacing, but none of it strikes me as something that would just start randomly.  Just for completeness though I guess I'll list a few possibilities:

• Not having enough RAM or VRAM
• Having the game installed on a HDD and it needing to do a lot of loading while you move around (ie, GTA V, etc.)
• CPU bottleneck

[nmsxsu]

21 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

There's many possible causes for stutter, "lag spikes", or bad frame timing/pacing, but none of it strikes me as something that would just start randomly.  Just for completeness though I guess I'll list a few possibilities:

• Not having enough RAM or VRAM
• Having the game installed on a HDD and it needing to do a lot of loading while you move around (ie, GTA V, etc.)
• CPU bottleneck

The CPU worries me.. I have an i7 4770k and I can't replace it because that would mean changing the case and the Mobo too, and I don't have that much to spend on my PC right now. But yeah I DON'T have enough ram. Vram should not be a problem I have 6GB . And I have everything on my hdds so..

[vanished]

4 minutes ago, nemeshisu said:

The CPU worries me.. I have an i7 4770k and I can't replace it because that would mean changing the case and the Mobo too, and I don't have that much to spend on my PC right now. But yeah I DON'T have enough ram. Vram should not be a problem I have 6GB . And I have everything on my hdds so..

The thing is if any of these were the cause, I would expect it to have always been an issue, or never.  It wouldn't just start one day, unless something seriously tanked the performance (background apps, security patch, etc.)

[nmsxsu]

5 minutes ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

The thing is if any of these were the cause, I would expect it to have always been an issue, or never.  It wouldn't just start one day, unless something seriously tanked the performance (background apps, security patch, etc.)

I didn't install anything new in at least two weeks and the last thing I did install is Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon 

[Stormseeker9]

2 hours ago, nemeshisu said:

I didn't install anything new in at least two weeks and the last thing I did install is Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon 

Wait for your ssd to come, install a fresh copy of windows on your ssd, also install the games you play most on the ssd and including extra 8 Gb of ram I think you’ll see some noticeable difference. 4770k might be slowly starting to not be enough tho.. so maybe also save up for a new system in a few months if that’s possible for you? Ryzen 3xxx coming out, new gpu’s as well so could push price down of the current gens.

[nmsxsu]

2 hours ago, Stormseeker9 said:

Wait for your ssd to come, install a fresh copy of windows on your ssd, also install the games you play most on the ssd and including extra 8 Gb of ram I think you’ll see some noticeable difference. 4770k might be slowly starting to not be enough tho.. so maybe also save up for a new system in a few months if that’s possible for you? Ryzen 3xxx coming out, new gpu’s as well so could push price down of the current gens.

Yeah I was Initially saving for a new monitor but I think it's more important to put money into a new system..How long is my 4770k with a GTX1060 6GB going to survive more or less in your opinion? I use Graphic Design tools and play in 2560x1080 resolution.

[Froody129]

On 6/16/2019 at 4:45 PM, Stormseeker9 said:

Wait for your ssd to come, install a fresh copy of windows on your ssd, also install the games you play most on the ssd and including extra 8 Gb of ram I think you’ll see some noticeable difference. 4770k might be slowly starting to not be enough tho.. so maybe also save up for a new system in a few months if that’s possible for you? Ryzen 3xxx coming out, new gpu’s as well so could push price down of the current gens.

 

On 6/16/2019 at 7:32 PM, nemeshisu said:

Yeah I was Initially saving for a new monitor but I think it's more important to put money into a new system..How long is my 4770k with a GTX1060 6GB going to survive more or less in your opinion? I use Graphic Design tools and play in 2560x1080 resolution.

 

 

I have a 4770. Performance is still great as most games are still optimised for "only" 4 cores, and with a 1060 you shouldn't be seeing a CPU bottleneck. Graphic design will likely see a boost but if it's not professional I wouldn't worry too much. 

 

My advice is always to upgrade based on how you feel the system performs. If it doesn't feel bad don't upgrade, even if it's old. There are still people running 2nd Gen CPUs that are doing fine 

[nmsxsu]

5 hours ago, Froody129 said:

 

 

 

I have a 4770. Performance is still great as most games are still optimised for "only" 4 cores, and with a 1060 you shouldn't be seeing a CPU bottleneck. Graphic design will likely see a boost but if it's not professional I wouldn't worry too much. 

 

My advice is always to upgrade based on how you feel the system performs. If it doesn't feel bad don't upgrade, even if it's old. There are still people running 2nd Gen CPUs that are doing fine 

I don't do professional work anymore sadly, I used to do that when I bought that pc. With the SSD now the system doesn't feel slow anymore in desktop and programs but I can't see the same improvements in games. It's better, but not what I expected. I guess I need to wait for the ram, maybe that will affect games more.

[Froody129]

2 hours ago, nemeshisu said:

I don't do professional work anymore sadly, I used to do that when I bought that pc. With the SSD now the system doesn't feel slow anymore in desktop and programs but I can't see the same improvements in games. It's better, but not what I expected. I guess I need to wait for the ram, maybe that will affect games more.

Imo a lot of the "huge" differences in games are overstated. Most don't need an SSD. In desktop use its unarguably one of the biggest performance upgrades you can buy, but for games it's not. 

 

RAM should make a nice improvement in everything. I went from 8Gb to 12 and 16 in my desktop and laptop respectively and it's a big difference. Good luck with your build!

[nmsxsu]

9 hours ago, Froody129 said:

Imo a lot of the "huge" differences in games are overstated. Most don't need an SSD. In desktop use its unarguably one of the biggest performance upgrades you can buy, but for games it's not. 

 

RAM should make a nice improvement in everything. I went from 8Gb to 12 and 16 in my desktop and laptop respectively and it's a big difference. Good luck with your build!

Thank you bud!

[vanished]

On 6/18/2019 at 5:35 AM, nemeshisu said:

I don't do professional work anymore sadly, I used to do that when I bought that pc. With the SSD now the system doesn't feel slow anymore in desktop and programs but I can't see the same improvements in games. It's better, but not what I expected. I guess I need to wait for the ram, maybe that will affect games more.

For the SSD, it can make a difference in games that load a lot and can't otherwise keep up - perhaps even a huge difference indeed - but it's not going to change the framerate you get standing still, nor fix stutters that aren't caused by loading in the first place.  The speed of your games drive is like RAM - if you don't have enough, more makes a huge difference but if you've already got plenty, adding more won't do anything.

 

Speaking of the RAM, hopefully that is the solution.  We'll see soon enough I guess.  Glad to hear the SSD is working as expected in other areas though.