PC becomes extremely slow after idling

[Cs342]

Hi guys, I have a weird problem that's been happening for a long time. I've never really found a solution so I thought I'd ask around here.

Whenever I leave my computer for around 20-30 minutes and then come back to it, it becomes really slow and almost unusable since it responds sluggishly, programs freeze up and it is generally a pain to operate. I have a Core i7 2600K and 8GB of G.Skill Ripjaws X memory, so I don't think it is a CPU/RAM issue. I have noticed that if I am only surfing the web with a few tabs open this slow-down does not occur if I leave the computer idling for half an hour, but if I open many browsers with 10+ tabs each, it slows my entire system to a crawl if I leave and then come back to it after 30 minutes (my RAM is only used up 50%). Note that nothing slows down when I am doing loads of multitasking, but when I leave my computer with loads of programs open and then come back to it, the computer is extremely slow and laggy. Does anyone know why??

[wtfxmitchell]

Have you tried turning it off and on again?

[Overl0rd]

Using a SSD?

[Kuzma]

Check if you're cpu is boosting back up when you're no longer idle; otherwise the only solution i can think of is to put it under a heavy load to get it back into shape (maybe a quick SuperPI or 5 minutes of Prime95)

[Cs342]

Using a SSD?

Nope HDD RAID 0

[Cs342]

Check if you're cpu is boosting back up when you're no longer idle; otherwise the only solution i can think of is to put it under a heavy load to get it back into shape (maybe a quick SuperPI or 5 minutes of Prime95)

Hmm I haven't thought of that. Could you please explain why this would happen after idling ONLY when I have previously been using the PC quite heavily? Like I said before, if I'm only browsing the web with a few tabs open it is super snappy when I leave it idling and come back, but if I have many programs open it becomes super slow when I get back

[Kuzma]

Hmm I haven't thought of that. Could you please explain why this would happen after idling ONLY when I have previously been using the PC quite heavily? Like I said before, if I'm only browsing the web with a few tabs open it is super snappy when I leave it idling and come back, but if I have many programs open it becomes super slow when I get back

Hmmm that could be the PC storing the RAM into your main drive while you're idle and then having to pull all that data back when you come back from idle; it's kinda like a mini-hibernation.

[Cs342]

Hmmm that could be the PC storing the RAM into your main drive while you're idle and then having to pull all that data back when you come back from idle; it's kinda like a mini-hibernation.

Does this happen to all PC users or is it just me? It's really frustrating

[bartekxx12]

Nope HDD RAID 0

Well that's probably the problem. You are running 10s of tabs and many programs and expect excellent performance from your CPU and other components but using just hard drives will slow it down a lot.

 

I'm guessing it's something Windows does. After a while of not using your computer it probably dumps whatever it had cached in RAM and when you start using it again it needs to load all of that back from the hard drives which are... extremely slow. With that sort of hardware I would really recommend that you get an SSD. 

You say that you only have 50% RAM usage but that's the the whole story, the "free" RAM is being used as cache for things you previously opened and have had minimized for a long time or closed them. When that cache is cleared those things need to be loaded again.

This is just a guess but either way you should really get an SSD. It will make everything 99999 times faster and more responsive.

[Kuzma]

Does this happen to all PC users or is it just me? It's really frustrating

It should happen to everyone but equally if you go afk in the middle of some big video editing project and then come back and start trying to work on it again your CPU still has to boost.

[Cs342]

Well that's probably the problem. You are running 10s of tabs and many programs and expect excellent performance from your CPU and other components but using just hard drives will slow it down a lot.

 

I'm guessing it's something Windows does. After a while of not using your computer it probably dumps whatever it had cached in RAM and when you start using it again it needs to load all of that back from the hard drives which are... extremely slow. With that sort of hardware I would really recommend that you get an SSD. 

You say that you only have 50% RAM usage but that's the the whole story, the "free" RAM is being used as cache for things you previously opened and have had minimized for a long time or closed them. When that cache is cleared those things need to be loaded again.

This is just a guess but either way you should really get an SSD. It will make everything 99999 times faster and more responsive.

These are some really good points. I have actually ordered a Samsung 840 250GB drive, but it's not here yet. Do you think doing a clean install of Windows on this SSD will improve my situation?

[bartekxx12]

These are some really good points. I have actually ordered a Samsung 840 250GB drive, but it's not here yet. Do you think doing a clean install of Windows on this SSD will improve my situation?

Well, you could just clone your current install onto the new SSD and see if your issue is fixed and if the performance is high enough for you. 

Other than that a clean install on an SSD will definitely fix this issue and all other slow downs you might be experiencing. A clean install will also be faster just because when installing Windows detects that you have an SSD and optimizes some of its features for that. 

For now you could run a memtest or Prime95 on Blend using most of your RAM for a few hours just to make sure this is not a hardware issue. (But it's probably not)

[<boss2939>]

These are some really good points. I have actually ordered a Samsung 840 250GB drive, but it's not here yet. Do you think doing a clean install of Windows on this SSD will improve my situation?

I prefer a clean install if you have loads of steam games don't erase the hdds just copy the game files from your hdd and then just paste the on the new ssd

[Xelithium]

I prefer a clean install if you have loads of steam games don't erase the hdds just copy the game files from your hdd and then just paste the on the new ssd

Doesn't that cause compatibility issues?

[<boss2939>]

Doesn't that cause compatibility issues?

by copying game files not all the files I did it with my steam account since I had like 30 games

[Cs342]

Well, you could just clone your current install onto the new SSD and see if your issue is fixed and if the performance is high enough for you. 

Other than that a clean install on an SSD will definitely fix this issue and all other slow downs you might be experiencing. A clean install will also be faster just because when installing Windows detects that you have an SSD and optimizes some of its features for that. 

For now you could run a memtest or Prime95 on Blend using most of your RAM for a few hours just to make sure this is not a hardware issue. (But it's probably not)

What optimizations would be made during a clean install? Also I think I will install Steam on the HDD since it won't affect the snappiness of my PC.

[bartekxx12]

What optimizations would be made during a clean install? Also I think I will install Steam on the HDD since it won't affect the snappiness of my PC.

Yeah, games can be left on the hard drive, you will just have to go into the options in steam and point it to where the library is... Or just re-install them.

And yeah you're right, games don't really benefit from an SSD, Windows and applications certainly do. 

And I don't know, I read somewhere that Windows writes it self differently when installing on SSD because they actually benefit from some fragmentation where as HDD's do not. Either way a clean install will be faster. 

[Cs342]

Yeah, games can be left on the hard drive, you will just have to go into the options in steam and point it to where the library is... Or just re-install them.

And yeah you're right, games don't really benefit from an SSD, Windows and applications certainly do. 

And I don't know, I read somewhere that Windows writes it self differently when installing on SSD because they actually benefit from some fragmentation where as HDD's do not. Either way a clean install will be faster. 

This slowing-down issue didn't happen when my PC was new... I don't know what happened to make this issue come up

[bartekxx12]

This slowing-down issue didn't happen when my PC was new... I don't know what happened to make this issue come up

Well whatever it is I am 99% sure the SSD will fix it. You can do a virus scan if you want

[jamesisninja]

For OP: Make sure your power saving options are on max performance, I've heard of this happening to people who have theirs set to Balanced.

 

 

Doesn't that cause compatibility issues?

Moving game files? No. You just get them on the new machine and on steam set a new game folder and "Verify Game Cache" for what you moved and its good to go. I moved about 45 of my games that way last week,

[Cs342]

For OP: Make sure your power saving options are on max performance, I've heard of this happening to people who have theirs set to Balanced.

 

 

Moving game files? No. You just get them on the new machine and on steam set a new game folder and "Verify Game Cache" for what you moved and its good to go. I moved about 45 of my games that way last week,

Is there a way to fix this issue without an SSD? Is there some sort of power setting that might have been improperly set?

[jamesisninja]

Is there a way to fix this issue without an SSD? Is there some sort of power setting that might have been improperly set?

Yes.. the windows power settings, check them. That's what I said.

[Cs342]

Yes.. the windows power settings, check them. That's what I said.

It is high performance already though....

[jamesisninja]

It is high performance already though....

Donno what it could be then? Have you checked your drives for health status?

[Cs342]

Donno what it could be then? Have you checked your drives for health status?

Drives are completely fine