OS and most applications/games are suddenly unbearably slow.

[GreenHatMan]

Hi all. Suddenly most of my 3D games are really slow (even WoW classic takes 6 minutes to boot up!), as well as software (BattleNet launcher, Steam). Slow as in takes minutes to boot up (compared to seconds normally) as well as hanging up with "not responding" and slow on loading content, and in games I get stutter once they slowly booted up. The entire OS feels sluggish, it's like PC barely manages to run it without bigger hick-ups, but chokes on games. Installation of software seems slow, downloads in chrome are slow to finish (when virus scan is run on them, I guess). Even restarting system is slow, despite it being on SSD.

 

Relatively new build, I'm on a Ryzen 2700 and GTX 1060/GTX 770. I first thought it's a bitcoin miner, but the GPU/CPU usage in task manager is completely normal. Tried benchmarking with CPU-Z thinking something wrong with CPU, it performed alright. Power settings are on performance what I can see. HDD/SSD read/write speed is normal.

 

It feels like the CPU is operating at like 10% capacity, which is barely enough for browsers and some simple games/applications, rest hanging up. What can this possibly be, and how do I go about troubleshooting this?

 

Already tried:

 

- Running anti-virus (Super Anti Spyware/Malwarebytes). 

- Resetting to an earlier restore point a week ago (not sure if issue wasnt already existing back then tho).

- Restarting computer.

- Checking CPU fan for dust buildup.

- Creating new user acc, problem persists.

- Checking drives' SMART status, all fine except for my media dumping drive that I don't care about.

- Booting in safe mode feels a bit faster, but can't confirm since no games can run without GPU.

 

Edit: Turns out my overclock settings were causing the issue.

[MrSimplicity]

My only thoughts would be is: what is your capacity of your main drive at? Also have you tried a Defrag on said drive?

[GreenHatMan]

Just now, MrSimplicity said:

My only thoughts would be is: what is your capacity of your main drive at? Also have you tried a Defrag on said drive?

Got over 100gb free out of 250, it's a SSD. Do they benefit from defragging? 

[MrSimplicity]

Any drive benefits from defraging. When you Defrag is moves all seemingly related files next to eachother to better load all related files faster. Also when a HDD or SSD becomes more than 50% full it does start to slow down as it takes longer for your computer to find the files that are being requested from the drive. One thing i like to do when i work on other people's computers is download and run the latest Advanced System Care Beta (the beta just gives you the pro features for free). It usually does the trick.

 

The main thing i would recommend is have a secondary drive that houses your games library and only use your SSD for your OS and any other either essential programs/Drivers and even small games if you wish.

[MrSimplicity]

One thing i learned over the course of watching LTT is that flash memory degrades a bit quicker than most people like to admit as it is still physically writing data to it. So constantly downloading files and games onto your SSD can cause slow downs.

[Mateyyy]

No, you should never defrag your SSD.

 

What power supply are you using? Have you tried resetting the CMOS?

[GreenHatMan]

1 minute ago, MrSimplicity said:

One thing i learned over the course of watching LTT is that flash memory degrades a bit quicker than most people like to admit as it is still physically writing data to it. So constantly downloading files and games onto your SSD can cause slow downs.

Yeah, I only keep my OS on main SSD, rest of programs/games are on secondary drives, so the issue isn't limited to single drive. It seems I can't defrag SSD, but gonna try defragging others just for the sake of it. 

[GreenHatMan]

2 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

What power supply are you using? Have you tried resetting the CMOS?

Corsair RM750X 750W v2, haven't tried resetting CMOS yet, will give it a go.

[MrSimplicity]

2 minutes ago, Mateyyy said:

No, you should never defrag your SSD.

I guess i never actually knew you shouldn't. I've had my PC setup to auto defrag all my drives weekly for the past year and have never had an issue with my SSD

[TheVillageIdiot]

16 minutes ago, GreenHatMan said:

Got over 100gb free out of 250, it's a SSD. Do they benefit from defragging? 

Never defrag a ssd. Defrag is hdd only.

 

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/enable-trim-in-windows-10

 

Other than that...... use the ryzen power profile over the windows performance profile and make sure all drivers are currently updated.

[Mateyyy]

Just now, MrSimplicity said:

I guess i never actually knew you shouldn't. I've had my PC setup to auto defrag all my drives weekly for the past year and have never had an issue with my SSD

You won't notice any issues in the short-term, but it will degrade its lifespan quite dramatically without any sort of benefit in terms of performance. At least now you know  

[TheVillageIdiot]

Consider using windows built in drive cleaner to tidy up temp files ect.............

[NeuesTestament]

2 hours ago, GreenHatMan said:

Got over 100gb free out of 250, it's a SSD. Do they benefit from defragging? 

No, they don't. Keep in mind that some coinminers are able to camouflage their activity in Windows task manager, but that doesn't mean it is the issue

[GreenHatMan]

6 minutes ago, NeuesTestament said:

Keep in mind that some coinminers are able to camouflage their activity in Windows task manager, but that doesn't mean it is the issue

How would I go about tracking it down?

[GreenHatMan]

Well, I sure feel stupid. I've been running overclocked CPU for half a year, and it been stable, so it never hit me that could be the issue. Turning OC off fixed my problems.