System bottleneck

[HarryFlatters]

My PC is getting a bit sluggish of late, and I'm suspecting that the CPU and or graphics card are getting on a bit. If you could replace one component, what would it be, and what with?

Case CORSAIR 230T COMPACT GAMING CASE - RED LED
Overclocked CPU Overclocked Intel® Core™i5-4690k Quad Core (3.50GHz @ upto
4.60GHz)
Motherboard ASUS® MAXIMUS VII RANGER: PCI-e 3.0, SATA 3.0, USB3.0
Memory (RAM) 16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X FURY DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 8GB)
Graphics Card 4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 - 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 DP - 3D Vision
Ready
1st Hard Disk 120GB KINGSTON HYPERX SAVAGE SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto
560MB/sR | 360MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk 2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s HDD 7200RPM 64MB CACHE
Power Supply CORSAIR 750W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA
QUIET
Processor Cooling Corsair H60 Hydro Series High Performance CPU Cooler
Thermal Paste ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND
Sound Card ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options MIN. 2 x USB 3.0 & 4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL + MIN. 2
FRONT PORTS
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre UK Power Cable (Kettle Lead)
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

[HarryFlatters]

gr1340 said:

I would get a 2m kettle lead.

What is it struggling with?

I was playing Wolfenstein New order yesterday and it was basically unplayable, given how slow it was running.

However, I gave Fallout 4 a go and it normally runs perfectly, but even it was a bit jerky.

Maybe there was a bunch of background tasks running, updates and shiz... I also had a CPU over temperature warning which I fixed by turning it off and back on again.

[HarryFlatters]

Thanks all, I'll have a check of the numbers tonight.

[HarryFlatters]

Update - CPU temps were 35°c at idle and 60-something while gaming.

The lag/framerate drop has disappeared.

It seems to have mended itself

Thanks for your advice, much appreciated.

[HarryFlatters]

Order66 said:

Was going to say - this seems like a software issue. Worthwhile keeping an eye out for errant processes hogging CPU time (something like Skype, which Microsoft seem to make worse on every update).

I suspect that there was a lot of updates being done as it's the first time it's been switched on this year...

Order66 said:

Absolutely nothing wrong with that hardware spec. The only thing you didn't mention was the power supply unit - oft underlooked and important to provide stable/ample power otherwise cooling might suffer and thus performance.

750w PSU, which should be grand.

Still can't explain the CPU over temperature error, unless the pump in the water cooler wasn't circulating coolant properly...

[HarryFlatters]

MintyScot said:

Yeh its not a bad build. The CPU may not not be new but with Intels lackluster tik-tok improvements you wont get must improvement on a new cpu.

Upgrading the gpu would be what I would do for gaming. Especially if gaming above 1080p.

For free I would format the c drive and reinstall windows and overclock the cpu but as its working again if it isn't broken don't fix it

Yep, I'll leave it for now as it's working again. CPU upgrades are limited by the socket on my mobo, and GTX1080s are still over £400 even though the 20 series is on the market...

[HarryFlatters]

captain_cynic said:

The one part I'd replace isn't a replacement, I'd get a bigger 2nd SSD for games. 7200 RPM drives are fine for storage, but an SSD blows them out of the water for loading times.

Good point. A 120gb SSD was the tits 5 years ago when I got my rig. 1TB SSDs are <£150 these days

captain_cynic said:

Beyond that, maybe get a 6GB RTX 2060... personally I'm waiting for them to drop in price first though (paid £270 for my GTX970, so I'm not paying £350 for a 2060).

Yeah, I'm struggling to tie up VFM on GPUs...

captain_cynic said:

Could also be a case of WinRot, what version of Windows are you running and when was the last time you re-installed it?

No idea, probably years ago when Win10 was foisted upon me.

[HarryFlatters]

So maybe this month I'll have a look at a new SSD, then start saving for a new 1151 mobo/processor/memory...

Food for thought.

[HarryFlatters]

ging84 said:

After looking at the origonal post, I get the feeling that a huge amount of unnecessary data will be a factor.

I'm planning to spend some time de-crapifying, defregging etc over the next few weeks.

[HarryFlatters]

Shuvi McTupya said:

That's not what he meant

[HarryFlatters]

Shuvi McTupya said:

I am pretty certain he is referring to how much 'data' you included in your first post.

Can't win...

Mr_Yogi said:

What exactly is slugish about the PC? Gaming or general use?

it's mended itself, thanks