agent_x007

1,86GHz tells me it's Core 2 Duo E6300. You should have searched for at least Core 2 Duo E6600/E6700 (2,4GHz/2,67GHz or over +30% CPU perf. at stock vs. what you have). But if current one is fine for your use - good for you. PS. DO NOT confuse Pentium Dual-Core E6600/E6700 with Core 2 Duo E6600/E6700. The former ones will give you problems in your board, while the latter ones will not.

That's what you get for running 2019 benchmark on 2007 hardware (Dual Core on top of that, and probably at 1/3 full speed - if what diagnostic programs are showing is true). PS. I wouldn't bother with anything past R10 or R11.5. IntelBurnTest is also faster to check stability (2 passes at Standard setting are fine for quick check).

You can throw high perf. power plan to see if that changes anything... But first disable C1E/SpeedStep in BIOS.

Just to point out : This MB doesn't support this CPU. EDIT : Disable C1E/SpeedStep in BIOS if you can (it's clearly broken as CPU doesn't go higher in clock speed when loaded with benchmark).

Just check under "Processes" tab which one takes the most of of CPU. Also, upgrade to 45nm Core 2 Quad if you can (Xeon if budget is very tight). Side note : What MB you are using ? 4GB of RAM is... a bit hard on HDD with Win10. Disable "Hibernation" from console to get more free space on OS partition.

Delete SoftwareDistribution folder and try again ?

Just sanity check (pls don't kill the messanger) : Have run this ? https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/drivers/nv-uefi-update-x64/

Don't those need a XLR pre-amp to boost signal for soundcard ?

Card is detected in Windows, right ? That's all NV installer needs to (attempt) to install driver. In short : You don't need to output video to install driver on GPU. Otherwise no-video out mining cards would be pointless

"Detected in windows" means it's not 100% dead. Try installing driver and make it a PhysX card.

This tool tests if memory cells are damaged/worn out OR if there any issues with SMART. It does NOT test if performance is where it should.

Specsheet : LINK. 256GB model should get around 1GB/s write speed. So no, your drive is limited for some reason (maybe it overheats ?).

Check pins on CPU/RAM slots, and clean memory slots/DIMMs if it's needed. UNCHECK maximum RAM option in msconfig (IF it's enabled).

Number one rule of Ryzen memory support : 1) ALWAYS update the BIOS to latest one before doing anything else (if you encounter a memory compatibility/OC issues)

You can (FPS permitting), and yes it will work (not in window/bordeless mode when desktop is at 720p though). Just tweak scaling options for GUI to make things bigger. Some games GUI may depend on Windows scaling, so forcing 1440p on desktop with setting 200% scaling should help you.