i5 6500 Can't Keep Up...

[Trevorq243]

Unsurprisingly, the almost 5 year old quad-core powering my gaming/work machine is just not up to the task anymore. The upgrade path isn't great for my B150 chipset and I just need this thing to hang in there for a few more months while I save for a new build. Gaming, or even running more than a few Chrome windows at once, has the thing pegged at 100% almost full time and temps with the stock cooler are hanging out between 80 and 85 after a few hours. I'm impressed with how long it can crank out those numbers but I'm also noticing that it is not coming even close to max turbo speeds, usually hanging out at 3.3Ghz instead of 3.6. Lately, it's causing stuttering and stupid load times, and my GTX 2070S is being bottlenecked so badly it's about to go on strike.

 

I know overclocking isn't in the cards, between a processor that won't allow it and a chipset that couldn't handle it even if I could convince it to try, I'm thinking that my best bet is probably to throw a better cooler on and hope for higher turbo. That, or scrounge up the newest compatible i7/i9 for my socket and cross my fingers that throwing more cores at it will at least keep it from being pegged at 100% all the time. Is there anything else I can do? Is it even worth spending the ~$30 on a Hyper 212 Evo? I've already disabled a bunch of startup nonsense, run Malwarebytes, et cetera. As far as I can tell there's nothing nefarious going on, right now the CPU is chilling at ~10%. It's only when I have multiple programs open or am trying to game that it starts to fall apart.

Specs are below:
Asus B150 Motherboard

i5 6500 (stock cooler)

16GB DDR3 1600Mhz

EVGA RTX 2070 Super KO (got it from a 1070ti RMA, <3 u EVGA)

Thermaltake 1200W PSU (Gold)

 

Thanks y'all!

 

[Tristerin]

It is probably thermal throttling, repaste it to get better frequency imho for the short term.  The TIM is likely dried out.

[Trevorq243]

4 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

It is probably thermal throttling, repaste it to get better frequency imho for the short term.  The TIM is likely dried out.

Ooh, good point. Didn't even think it might be the thermal paste. Do you think it'll make a difference (noise notwithstanding) using the stock vs. a more robust cooler? 

[Tristerin]

Just now, Trevorq243 said:

Ooh, good point. Didn't even think it might be the thermal paste. Do you think it'll make a difference (noise notwithstanding) using the stock vs. a more robust cooler? 

If the stock cooler, and ambient intake temp is enough for the stock cooler to keep from throttling then I would NOT upgrade the CPU cooler.  If the ambient temp coupled with the stock cooler cant keep up even after a repaste - then a more robust cooler would likely keep it from thermal throttling - but then again if you had any extra case fans around Id just put as many fans moving air as possible in - I dont like spending money if I dont have to kind of thing.

[Biomecanoid]

15 minutes ago, Trevorq243 said:

Unsurprisingly, the almost 5 year old quad-core powering my gaming/work machine is just not up to the task anymore. The upgrade path isn't great for my B150 chipset and I just need this thing to hang in there for a few more months while I save for a new build. Gaming, or even running more than a few Chrome windows at once, has the thing pegged at 100% almost full time and temps with the stock cooler are hanging out between 80 and 85 after a few hours. I'm impressed with how long it can crank out those numbers but I'm also noticing that it is not coming even close to max turbo speeds, usually hanging out at 3.3Ghz instead of 3.6. Lately, it's causing stuttering and stupid load times, and my GTX 2070S is being bottlenecked so badly it's about to go on strike.

 

I know overclocking isn't in the cards, between a processor that won't allow it and a chipset that couldn't handle it even if I could convince it to try, I'm thinking that my best bet is probably to throw a better cooler on and hope for higher turbo. That, or scrounge up the newest compatible i7/i9 for my socket and cross my fingers that throwing more cores at it will at least keep it from being pegged at 100% all the time. Is there anything else I can do? Is it even worth spending the ~$30 on a Hyper 212 Evo? I've already disabled a bunch of startup nonsense, run Malwarebytes, et cetera. As far as I can tell there's nothing nefarious going on, right now the CPU is chilling at ~10%. It's only when I have multiple programs open or am trying to game that it starts to fall apart.

Specs are below:
Asus B150 Motherboard

i5 6500 (stock cooler)

16GB DDR3 1600Mhz

EVGA RTX 2070 Super KO (got it from a 1070ti RMA, u EVGA)

Thermaltake 1200W PSU (Gold)

 

Thanks y'all!

 

You could try re-installing windows and debloat them and kill telemetry. All these weird stuff going in the background you are not even aware can mess up old computers

[Trevorq243]

2 minutes ago, Tristerin said:

If the stock cooler, and ambient intake temp is enough for the stock cooler to keep from throttling then I would NOT upgrade the CPU cooler.  If the ambient temp coupled with the stock cooler cant keep up even after a repaste - then a more robust cooler would likely keep it from thermal throttling - but then again if you had any extra case fans around Id just put as many fans moving air as possible in - I dont like spending money if I dont have to kind of thing.

So, repaste, try to run something, see what happens. There's just no getting around the max utilization I guess, but if I can keep it cool at least it'll run faster. Gonna keep an ear out for other software optimizations as well. It's quite possible all my fiddling over the years has broken something somewhere and made the whole machine run inefficiently.

[Tristerin]

1 minute ago, Trevorq243 said:

So, repaste, try to run something, see what happens. There's just no getting around the max utilization I guess, but if I can keep it cool at least it'll run faster. Gonna keep an ear out for other software optimizations as well. It's quite possible all my fiddling over the years has broken something somewhere and made the whole machine run inefficiently.

If its thermal throttling the utilization will be worse as each core is working hard, at a lower frequency instead of less hard, at a higher frequency.  Basically.

 

As noted above by @Biomecanoid a new install could wipe the machine (especially if you debloat) and start fresh - there is always gains to be found there.

[Trevorq243]

Just now, Biomecanoid said:

You could try re-installing windows and debloat them and kill telemetry. All these weird stuff going in the background you are not even aware can mess up old computers

That's a good point, though a full reinstall is closer to the "Everything's on fire and there's no hope" end of the troubleshooting spectrum for me. I like to avoid it if possible, unless things have changed and it's not a huge PITA anymore. I'm a bit embarrassed to admit I've been out of the hardcore PC game for a while, though my build specs probably gave that away.

 

I do recall a video with Anthony that revolved around de-crapifying Win10, maybe I should give that another watch.

[Trevorq243]

1 minute ago, Tristerin said:

If its thermal throttling the utilization will be worse as each core is working hard, at a lower frequency instead of less hard, at a higher frequency.  Basically.

 

As noted above by @Biomecanoid a new install could wipe the machine (especially if you debloat) and start fresh - there is always gains to be found there.

That is true. I hope to avoid a nuke-and-pave, but if all else fails I might end up doing it. 

I'll throw some good thermal paste on there and see what happens. Thanks for the help!

[toni2]

2 minutes ago, Trevorq243 said:

That is true. I hope to avoid a nuke-and-pave, but if all else fails I might end up doing it. 

I'll throw some good thermal paste on there and see what happens. Thanks for the help!

Putting on those Intel Stock Fans can be annoying. I thing the LGA 1151 is simmilar to the LGA 1150, Here Linus shows how to put the Cooler back on:

 

[Trevorq243]

1 minute ago, toni2 said:

Putting on those Intel Stock Fans can be annoying. I thing the LGA 1151 is simmilar to the LGA 1150, Here Linus shows how to put the Cooler back on:

 

You know what, just the thought of dealing with that stupid cooler is making me lean towards splurging a bit and getting a nice Noctua cooler just for the quiet. Besides, I'm looking at a new build in 6 months or so anyway and will need a cooler, since if I'm understanding the market correctly, high-end chips don't come with coolers anymore anyways.

[toni2]

1 minute ago, Trevorq243 said:

You know what, just the thought of dealing with that stupid cooler is making me lean towards splurging a bit and getting a nice Noctua cooler just for the quiet. Besides, I'm looking at a new build in 6 months or so anyway and will need a cooler, since if I'm understanding the market correctly, high-end chips don't come with coolers anymore anyways.

you'll handle it don't worry. Just follow the video, take a extra look if needed and it will work like a charm

i don't know about Intel. AMD Ryzen Includes pretty good coolers until 5600X