Diagnose my computer

[Chef]

Im gonna go ahead and start by saying i dont know much at all about computers. Imagine you are explaining this to your grandmother, your grandmother who is having trouble playing GW2 due to lag.

So, for some reason my computer have been acting up lately, most noticeable in Guild Wars 2. From time to time when i play the game starts to lag quite heavily, actually, its not just the game, the entire computer starts to run slow. I have noticed similar behavior in Secret World, but as far as i can remember this didnt actually affect anything outside the game, just lots of delays and loadingscreens of death.
FPS doesnt seem to be a problem either, sure it could be better but its pretty stable.

What i notice ingame when lag starts:
Textures not loading, such as character models, item texts, images.
Sound goes away (partially, such as gunfire etc)
Cinematics are a total mess because sometimes the animation & sound doesnt sync
Loadingscreens between zones are just horrid, takes forever to load. I mean, i can usually go outside and take a smoke and get back before i have zoned.
Game freezes

What i notice outside of the game when lag starts:
Basically everything runs superslow
Delays
Computer freezes
Sound freezes

So far i have updated all my drivers
Cleaned my computer(both physically and with softwares)
Scanned for viruses, following this guide
Used Disk Defragmenter
Used Disk Cleanup
Used MalwareBytes Anti Malware

http://www.ma-config.com/en/tempconf...1_summary.html here is a link to my config(this tells me nothing because i dont even understand it myself, but at least i THINK this should be good enough to play GW2 at max settings without a hazzle, since i can basically run most other games at max settings without any trouble what so ever.)

Inform me if you want me to post anything else, HJT log or whatever.

I understand if this covers like a bazillion different problems that could possibly cause this, but im running out of options and i figured i would atleast make a post here and see if i could get some input.

Also, im well aware that there are several other forums i could take this to, and that this is not a team of computer-servants, but usually this community is really helpful and i usually prefer to post here rather than anywhere else.

Thanks in advance!

[Aldrashan]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say your hdd is dying because your whole computer is starting to act up. Plug in a new one (if you have one lying around) and test it, shouldn't take long.

[chaud]

Your driver version is at least this one or newer, right?

Make sure there are no heat issues. Grab Afterburner and see what your temperatures and GPU usage look like when a slowdown occurs. You might even try increasing the fan speed during a slowdown to see if that helps if it appears to be running warm.

[Chef]

I'm going to take a wild guess and say your hdd is dying because your whole computer is starting to act up. Plug in a new one (if you have one lying around) and test it, shouldn't take long.

Possibly this. I havent changed HDD in a while and its possible this is whats causing the problem. This also means i will probably wait until Win 8 is released and buy a legit version instead of using a ripped win7 version that im running atm.

Your driver version is at least this one or newer, right?

Make sure there are no heat issues. Grab Afterburner and see what your temperatures and GPU usage look like when a slowdown occurs. You might even try increasing the fan speed during a slowdown to see if that helps if it appears to be running warm.

At first i felt really silly, since i downloaded all drivers through ma-config.com and not until your post i realized that the version i downloaded a few hours earlier were outdated. I updated my gfx drivers to the latest version but unfortunately this didn't make a difference =(.

I did download Afterburner and did as you recommended.
http://imgur.com/a/6wKeB
#1 This picture was taken last night after 45min-1h of gameplay without any major issues
#2 This picture was taken after i think 15minutes of gameplay(I used the Trading post/Auction house) up until the end, where i started to move around, and then i noticed the lag was horrendous, took maybe 3-5 minutes to use a waypoint and when i arrived my character was invisible, most textures gone, i couldn't move etc. The funny thing is some stuff works, some doesnt. I can move the camera(LMB) and see how my PoV moves on the minimap, but i cant move my character(RMB)


Since my last post i have uninstalled a few games on my computer, cleared some space on the HDD using the usual control panel function and also JDiskReport.

I thank you both for your time and effort =) just want to let you know its appreciated.

[chaud]

Use something like CrystalDiskInfo to see if there are any bad sections on the drive. Use OCCT and run the PSU and GPU test, making sure to run the GPU test once with error checking and once without.

[c0rnel]

Couple things I see.

Also u have 3x2GB sticks (6GB total). Your motherboard supports dual channel ram but your ram is running in single channel mode because u have 3 sticks installed. For dual channel mode you need to run them in pairs (2s or 4s but never 1 or 3 sticks). 3 would only be good for triple channel. I don't know if this may cause your pc to slow down like that but you definitely look into it.

Either take a 2GB stick out or get 1 more in there for a total of 4. Your motherboard supports it and you have Windows 7 64 bit.

I think from the sound of it the problem is your hard drive. Loading screens, simply playing a game, etc. takes hard drive resources. Your internal hard drive shouldn't have this issue just for playing GW2. Are you running GW2 from your internal hard drive or your USB drive?


EDIT: I see in the config that you have your normal hard drive and then you have your usb drive plugged in too. Make sure you're running Windows and your game from your sata II internal drive and not your USB hard drive. USB 2.0 is slow loading.

Also it's better to just unplug your usb hard drive if you're not using it.

I think you may have installed GW2 on your usb hard drive and that's a problem.

[Chef]

Use something like CrystalDiskInfo to see if there are any bad sections on the drive. Use OCCT and run the PSU and GPU test, making sure to run the GPU test once with error checking and once without.

http://imgur.com/a/RfoCL

Image#1 Idle
Image#2 After ~~1hour of gameplay and I have just started to experience the slowdown.

For how long should i run the OCCT scan? Are we talking 5 minutes or should i do an all-nighter per scan?

Couple things I see.

Also u have 3x2GB sticks (6GB total). Your motherboard supports dual channel ram but your ram is running in single channel mode because u have 3 sticks installed. For dual channel mode you need to run them in pairs (2s or 4s but never 1 or 3 sticks). 3 would only be good for triple channel. I don't know if this may cause your pc to slow down like that but you definitely look into it.

Either take a 2GB stick out or get 1 more in there for a total of 4. Your motherboard supports it and you have Windows 7 64 bit.

I think from the sound of it the problem is your hard drive. Loading screens, simply playing a game, etc. takes hard drive resources. Your internal hard drive shouldn't have this issue just for playing GW2. Are you running GW2 from your internal hard drive or your USB drive?


EDIT: I see in the config that you have your normal hard drive and then you have your usb drive plugged in too. Make sure you're running Windows and your game from your sata II internal drive and not your USB hard drive. USB 2.0 is slow loading.

Also it's better to just unplug your usb hard drive if you're not using it.

I think you may have installed GW2 on your usb hard drive and that's a problem.

Oh i see, well to be completely honest i think someone told me to take the fourth stick out, i still have it around here somewhere, i will get to that in the morning.

as for the harddrives, im running both windows and gw2 from my internal. The external is basically just filled with movies and music

[c0rnel]

Ok then try putting that 4th stick back in unless it's defective.

Have you checked video card temperatures? Are you running out of hard drive space, is your internal drive full and disk paging kicking in?

[chaud]

http://imgur.com/a/RfoCL

Image#1 Idle
Image#2 After ~~1hour of gameplay and I have just started to experience the slowdown.

For how long should i run the OCCT scan? Are we talking 5 minutes or should i do an all-nighter per scan?

5 or 10 minutes is usually enough. Make sure to include the temperatures (and not scale down the image so it is hard to read).

Drive looks okay, no bad sectors or anything.

[Christan]

whole computer starts lagging when put under stress?
even when you close the game?
could be an overheating issue... when was the last time you took a can of air to your computer to get the dust out
(just asking such a simple question because you said / don't know about computers)

hopefully it is as simple as that.

[Ofire]

After looking over the diagnostic you posted, the one thing that looks really whack to me is the video card settings.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
DirectX version installed : 11.0
Core clock : 50 MHz
Shaders clock : 101 MHz
Memory clock : 135 MHz

There is no way even with power saving technology that it should downclock everything that low. You may want to run a stress test on your psu to make sure its giving enough power to your graphics card.

Also the suggestion about the Duel Channel vs Single Channel is correct, you should try to run only 2 or 4 sticks of memory at once if possible, that should help your computer with loading times and resource handling after the initial load up.

Also, if possible, you should get a different hard drive and install windows 7 on it. I have an old WD320 drive and it does not report any bad sectors but windows 7 runs slow as molasses on it. I put in an old 80gig ide drive and windows 7 runs flawlessly off it. So just try it to test it out.

The only other thing besides that is to run a RAM test to make sure your ram is not corrupted and the computer can retrieve and store data to it correctly.

[c0rnel]

Yes those gpu clock speeds seem low for idle. Did somebody or something downclock your gpu accidentally?

Try using MSI afterburner.

http://download1.msi.com/files/downl...erSetup223.zip

Try setting Core Clock to 650Mhz, Memory to 1800, and shaders to like 1000.

These aren't the exact clock speeds u should have but it's a start. The reason is because I don't know your exact nvidia card (xfx, evga,sapphire, gigabyte) and model number to be able to tell you exactly what your video card clocks are supposed to be at on stock.

If u can list it that'd help.

[Chef]

Ok then try putting that 4th stick back in unless it's defective.

Have you checked video card temperatures? Are you running out of hard drive space, is your internal drive full and disk paging kicking in?

Temp shouldn't be a problem, done some tests and it all looks good, using a NZXT Hades case with custom fans.
Well yeah sort of, 68,8 GB free of 232 GB on /C and 144 GB free of 500 GB on external, but again, only movies and music on that one.

5 or 10 minutes is usually enough. Make sure to include the temperatures (and not scale down the image so it is hard to read).

Drive looks okay, no bad sectors or anything.

ok, i will post images of this tomorrow. (click the cogwheel on the upper right corner of the image in the gallery to view full res)

whole computer starts lagging when put under stress?
even when you close the game?
could be an overheating issue... when was the last time you took a can of air to your computer to get the dust out
(just asking such a simple question because you said / don't know about computers)

hopefully it is as simple as that.

well yeah, say i play, and the slowdown starts, when i tab down everything moves really slow, noted that in the first post. But again, i did clean the computer like 1 day before i made this post.

After looking over the diagnostic you posted, the one thing that looks really whack to me is the video card settings.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
DirectX version installed : 11.0
Core clock : 50 MHz
Shaders clock : 101 MHz
Memory clock : 135 MHz

There is no way even with power saving technology that it should downclock everything that low. You may want to run a stress test on your psu to make sure its giving enough power to your graphics card.

Also the suggestion about the Duel Channel vs Single Channel is correct, you should try to run only 2 or 4 sticks of memory at once if possible, that should help your computer with loading times and resource handling after the initial load up.

Also, if possible, you should get a different hard drive and install windows 7 on it. I have an old WD320 drive and it does not report any bad sectors but windows 7 runs slow as molasses on it. I put in an old 80gig ide drive and windows 7 runs flawlessly off it. So just try it to test it out.

The only other thing besides that is to run a RAM test to make sure your ram is not corrupted and the computer can retrieve and store data to it correctly.

Yeah i will run the PSU stresstest tomorrow, also i will insert the last memory stick. Im considering getting a new HDD and install windows on it, the thing is im currently running a ripped version of win7 and i plan to buy a legit version of win 8 when it releases (mid/late oct) not sure im ready to spend all that money fore 1½ month so its basicly a last resort, unless i fix a new win7 rip and reformat that way.

where can i get my hands on a software to test my ram? =)

Yes those gpu clock speeds seem low for idle. Did somebody or something downclock your gpu accidentally?

Try using MSI afterburner.

http://download1.msi.com/files/downl...erSetup223.zip

Try setting Core Clock to 650Mhz, Memory to 1800, and shaders to like 1000.

These aren't the exact clock speeds u should have but it's a start. The reason is because I don't know your exact nvidia card (xfx, evga,sapphire, gigabyte) and model number to be able to tell you exactly what your video card clocks are supposed to be at on stock.

If u can list it that'd help.

The guys at the store built the computer and i havent touched anything since =/, but wouldnt lower the Mhz make it worse? idk..
Core: 775
Memory: 2000
Shaders:??

Shaders? cant find that in the list ^^

Pretty sure its Gigabyte, atleast thats what it says on startup, and ill check the model number in the morning as well and post it here.

---------- Post added 2012-09-05 at 02:23 PM ----------

5 or 10 minutes is usually enough. Make sure to include the temperatures (and not scale down the image so it is hard to read).

Drive looks okay, no bad sectors or anything.

Sorry for making you look through all these, but i don't understand any of it =/ (you're my hero)
http://imgur.com/a/oVZXr Standard GPU test, 5 minutes.
http://imgur.com/a/kZebN Error Checking GPU test, 5 minutes.
http://imgur.com/a/wU7xv Standard PSU test, 5 minutes.

http://i.imgur.com/7VQP9.png Ram Test i ran after plugging in the 4th memory stick

Yes those gpu clock speeds seem low for idle. Did somebody or something downclock your gpu accidentally?

Try using MSI afterburner.

http://download1.msi.com/files/downl...erSetup223.zip

Try setting Core Clock to 650Mhz, Memory to 1800, and shaders to like 1000.

These aren't the exact clock speeds u should have but it's a start. The reason is because I don't know your exact nvidia card (xfx, evga,sapphire, gigabyte) and model number to be able to tell you exactly what your video card clocks are supposed to be at on stock.

If u can list it that'd help.

Gosh, im sorry, this is possibly a really stupid question, but how do i find the model number x), gf threw away the box during spring cleaning and i can't see anything on the card itself.. isnt there any software that can like, detect it or something? Tried last night to find something but without luck.

------

I forgot to tell you guys one possibly vital thing, and i sincerely apologize for not remembering to write this down in the first post.
When i boot my computer it sometimes just shuts down during startup(like the first 10 seconds) after windows starts it doesnt crash anymore, just happens sometimes during the first 10-15 seconds of startup. Worst i have seen is like 3-4 times in a row before the machine actually starts properly. I hope this is non-related because i would hate to have wasted ur time if this is some sort of explanation. Again, my sincerest apologies for not letting you guys know at once, i just didnt think of it until this morning when it happened again.