My computer is having performance issues but I don't know what else to look for anymore.

[alfashephard]

Hi there.

 

So my specs are the following:

 

OS: Windows 10 64bit 1909 (18363.778)

Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4S 7.50 (latest BIOS version)

CPU: Intel Core i7 6700 non-K @3.4GHz

CPU Cooler: Stock Intel Cooler

RAM: 1x16GB DDR4 2400MHz (Overclocked to 2666MHz recently, but the issue still happens when running at 2400)

GPU: XFX RX 480 8GB Black Edition (iirc)

Case: Nox Hummer ZX Zero

PSU: Enermax Max Pro 600W

Monitors: 2 1280x1024@75Hz (the main one is connected to the GPU and the other one is plugged into the motherboard, using onboard graphics)

 

My problem in a few words is that I feel that my build is underperforming quite severely. I don't know if I should be expecting a lot or not nowadays but seeing as all my performance issues are related to gaming (especially CSGO) I feel like it's a powerful machine giving me headaches.

 

My main game is CSGO, and I guess you know this but having some stutters or input latency really makes it feel bad to play, even if it's just a few milliseconds of frame latency it feels bad. I've tried everything in-game, using low and high resolutions (even if my options are pretty limited because of my monitors), changing all kinds of things settings (makes no difference at all high or low settings. The only settings I'm not changing are anti-aliasing and filtering since it makes the game lag a bit more) and any launch option I've read online.

 

I've tried a lot of things out of it: disabling and enabling Windows features like Game mode, closing everything but the game, changing CPU affinity, disabling HPET (this actually made a bit of a difference but not much), changing BIOS settings and even downgrading/updating BIOS versions to see if there was something about it that could give me problems, but to no avail. I've even tried installing Ubuntu in a separate partition to try and play there and the game just felt a lot BETTER, but since I use a lot of programs that I think are only on Windows (I edit my own pictures and sometimes edit videos, and I'm planning on learning some DJ things) the partition had to go.

 

I also plan on upgrading one of my monitors to a 1080p 144Hz one, but it will feel like wasting money if my games still feel bad to play. I get high framerates (usually +200FPS on most maps) but the frame-latency is around 5-6ms when nothing is running in the background. I don't know if this is the problem I'm experiencing but I asked my friends and they get 2-3ms at most and they have not noticed this issue. If I'm running Medal.tv in the background (to record gameplay and extract clips) the game feels more stuttery, independently of using CPU or GPU encoding, the same happens when streaming to Twitch.

 

I've monitored my hardware temperatures in the past and nothing's throttling, everything's running just fine, so I don't think that's the problem but I can try and get some readings next time if it's needed.

 

So I feel at a loss here. This beast (at least for me) cost me a lot of money back in the day and I thought it would last me some more years. I built it in 2016 and made some upgrades since then, but it doesn't feel like it is performing well enough anymore. I can't get a new build anytime soon too, so this sucks a bit. I love CSGO anyhow but I'd really love it to perform as good as it can.

 

That's pretty much it. Is there anything I can do to maximize the performance out of my machine? Any settings that will give me what I want? If you require any more information just let me know and I'll post everything right away. Thanks in advance.

[TylerDurden!]

9 minutes ago, alfashephard said:

Is there anything

when was the last time you (re)installed win10?

[NotSoEpicMods]

19 minutes ago, alfashephard said:

-snip-

It's not exactly clear as to what problem you're having are you getting stuttering, input lag or both? Temp readings in the past are well... in the past. It's easy for thermal paste to dry up in 4 years and fans to slow because of bad bearings and dust to stop airflow. 

[alfashephard]

1 hour ago, TylerDurden! said:

when was the last time you (re)installed win10?

Not too long ago, probably 1-2 months ago. I wipe my boot SSD (it's a 120GB one so I only install Windows, Steam and CSGO in it) every 6-9 months and reinstall everything as it can get full really really fast.

1 hour ago, NotSoEpicMods said:

It's not exactly clear as to what problem you're having are you getting stuttering, input lag or both? Temp readings in the past are well... in the past. It's easy for thermal paste to dry up in 4 years and fans to slow because of bad bearings and dust to stop airflow. 

I really don't know if it's one or another, but when the game says frame latency is more than 6ms I start to notice more stuttering, and thermal paste on both CPU and GPU were last replaced two months ago too. 

[NotSoEpicMods]

24 minutes ago, alfashephard said:

Not too long ago, probably 1-2 months ago. I wipe my boot SSD (it's a 120GB one so I only install Windows, Steam and CSGO in it) every 6-9 months and reinstall everything as it can get full really really fast.

I really don't know if it's one or another, but when the game says frame latency is more than 6ms I start to notice more stuttering, and thermal paste on both CPU and GPU were last replaced two months ago too. 

Have you tried running with a single monitor? You mentioned you have a second one on the igpu.

[alfashephard]

1 minute ago, NotSoEpicMods said:

Have you tried running with a single monitor? You mentioned you have a second one on the igpu.

Yes I have, and it makes no difference whatsoever. I also ran them both connected to the discrete GPU for the longest time and I felt it was all running the same it is now (which is weird, I guess).