Increasing PC issues from recent build

[SkyShepherd]

Hello Everyone. I recently built a PC with a friend (who admittedly did most of the work) that was working fine but have been running into issues as time went on. I ignored them at first but as more issues occurred and the old ones became more persistent, it has become difficult to ignore. Some of the problems I face is...

• Occasional flickering of the application of Chrome and Steam when I scroll
• Turning on the PC after it has been off for a while will cause it to power on but not boot into Windows
• Moderately lower than expected framerate when compared to benchmarks for games and MSI Afterburner not showing close to 100% GPU, CPU, or VRAM usage. I have Fallout 4 dropping to 30fps at high-ultra settings when benchmarks reveal that it shouldn't drop under 50 even with Ultra settings.

The specs on my build are:

• Windows 10 64-bit
• GTX 970 Strix at original factory clocked speeds
• Intel i7 4790k at stock speeds
• Asus Z97-A mobo
• 2x 8GB HyperX Fury 1866mhz Blue RAM
• EVGA Gold Rated 650w G1 PSU (I know this power supply was a mistake)
• WD 1TB Blue 7200 RPM Hard Drive
• Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB SSD
• NZXT S340 Blue/Black Case
• BIOS version 2501

I have done some research and asked around about what the issue may be. I have heard everything from having a bad motherboard to faulty RAM. With the multiple different responses I received, I'm unsure and can't RMA parts until I know where the problem lies or even if it IS a hardware issue. Thanks for your help and I hope I can get this resolved quickly.

 

EDIT: I'm running 365.19 drivers for the GPU if that matters at all.

[Flowey]

3 minutes ago, SkyShepherd said:

Hello Everyone. I recently built a PC with a friend (who admittedly did most of the work) that was working fine but have been running into issues as time went on. I ignored them at first but as more issues occurred and the old ones became more persistent, it has become difficult to ignore. Some of the problems I face is...

• Occasional flickering of the application of Chrome and Steam when I scroll
• Turning on the PC after it has been off for a while will cause it to power on but not boot into Windows
• Moderately lower than expected framerate when compared to benchmarks for games and MSI Afterburner not showing close to 100% GPU, CPU, or VRAM usage. I have Fallout 4 dropping to 30fps at high-ultra settings when benchmarks reveal that it shouldn't drop under 50 even with Ultra settings.

The specs on my build are:

• Windows 10 64-bit
• GTX 970 Strix at original factory clocked speeds
• Intel i7 4790k at stock speeds
• Asus Z97-A mobo
• 2x 8GB HyperX Fury 1866mhz Blue RAM
• EVGA Gold Rated 650w G1 PSU (I know this power supply was a mistake)
• NZXT S340 Blue/Black Case
• BIOS version 2501

I have done some research and asked around about what the issue may be. I have heard everything from having a bad motherboard to faulty RAM. With the multiple different responses I received, I'm unsure and can't RMA parts until I know where the problem lies or even if it IS a hardware issue. Thanks for your help and I hope I can get this resolved quickly.

well start testing Buddy! Try switching ram sticks around, change the GPU PCIe slot, whatever you need to do do it. 2 or your issues are clearly GPU related, so I'm thinking you might have some issues with either the drivers or the card itself (y gtx 970, r9 290 all the way), so try to put the card in a different PCIe x16 slot, make sure it's x16 as well. Then for the booting problem try resetting CMOS, that the round battery looking thing on your mobo, that will reset it's settings to factory.

 

If none of these works report back here soldier!

[SkyShepherd]

Will do. Thanks for giving me ways to test out how to find the issue. Will resetting the CMOS reset all of my configurations on windows to factory defaults as well?

[Flowey]

4 minutes ago, SkyShepherd said:

Will do. Thanks for giving me ways to test out how to find the issue. Will resetting the CMOS reset all of my configurations on windows to factory defaults as well?

I don't think so, reseated mine a couple of times already after bad overclock, hasn't messed with my Windows install at all. You can still back up your shit if you want to make sure your not losing anything do.

[LabRat]

curious, is there a setting in the bios that will disable the on-board graphics?

 

did you try a cmos reset?

[SkyShepherd]

I have not tried a cmos reset and am not really sure how to do it. To be quite frank, I don't know a lot about PCs. My overly generous friend did a majority of my PC building for me due to my lack of knowledge in it.

[LabRat]

read the booklet that CAME WITH THE MOTHERBOARD. it will show you ( in pictures ) where the cmos jumper is and tell you in words how to jump the pins.

 

your friend doesn't know everything about building pc's. if he did it never would have left his possession without running right. building is easy. software and trouble shooting is a pain, and sometime intensively drawn out. I think corners were cut.

could be a simple software problem too.

[Flowey]

9 minutes ago, SkyShepherd said:

I have not tried a cmos reset and am not really sure how to do it. To be quite frank, I don't know a lot about PCs. My overly generous friend did a majority of my PC building for me due to my lack of knowledge in it.

Ho to do it you pretty much reseat the battery looking thingy, put that back in and your done

[LabRat]

if you do the battery "thingy"......... put a magic marker dot on the back before you pull it out so you put it back in the same way. I prefer the jumper "thingy" because it's the right way to do it....... and less labor intensive. besides, you might have trouble removing it by over bending the hold in clips due to unfamiliarity.

[Flowey]

14 minutes ago, LabRat said:

if you do the battery "thingy"......... put a magic marker dot on the back before you pull it out so you put it back in the same way. I prefer the jumper "thingy" because it's the right way to do it....... and less labor intensive. besides, you might have trouble removing it by over bending the hold in clips due to unfamiliarity.

Yup your right, I've always done it that way, never thought there was an easier way, but I guess now since I've done it so many times that way I'm kinda used to it hehehe.

[SkyShepherd]

Labrat, I should have mentioned this but my friend has built 6 PCs already that all work fine but it just so happens that mine doesn't work.

 

Also as an update, I have changed the GPU to the 2nd PCIe16x slot and changed the RAM positions. I still seem to be getting flickering on Google Chrome and Steam whenever I scroll up and down but haven't tested out GPU performance. I will test that out and will check out the booting issue and provide an update tomorrow.

[SkyShepherd]

As I was checking MSI Afterburner, there was one category in the yellow while I was running Fallout 4 and it continued to show low frame rates in medium to low settings. The pagefile usage (MB) was in the yellow at 8519. Does anyone know what this is?

[Flowey]

5 minutes ago, SkyShepherd said:

As I was checking MSI Afterburner, there was one category in the yellow while I was running Fallout 4 and it continued to show low frame rates in medium to low settings. The pagefile usage (MB) was in the yellow at 8519. Does anyone know what this is?

pagefile usage? wtf is that? To be honest here I would try a fresh Windows install, or benchmark your GPU and COU, then disconnect your OS drive, plug in a flash drive with linux loaded, boot that shit up, download the same progranms you benchmarked with, benchmark again, if your scores are the same then you know it's hardware problems, not software