Very slow computer but low CPU or Memory usage

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My computer is very slow. All the programs and Windows itself is slow. But strangely, all the games run without lag. They are not affected somehow.

I just reinstalled my computer for the 6th time this year, and it is not getting any better. It is always lagging. All the parts are new, bought around November 2013.

These are my specs:

  • CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P at 3.10 GHz
  • GPU: AMD Radeon HD7770
  • HDD: Toshiba 2TB, 7200 RPM
  • RAM: 4GB Kingston, DDR3 at 1333 MHz
  • Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77-HD3
  • Audio: M-Audio Firewire 410 (external audio card)

I am using this computer for recording music.

OTL reports

I read it can be usefull, so I ran the program and here they are:

One more thing! My computer can't sleep! When I hit the sleep button in Windows, it either restarts or sleeps, but then I cannot wake up the monitor.

If someone could tell me why my computer is so slow, I would be very grateful!

MinasTirith

Posted 2014-09-11T21:28:26.563

Reputation: 71

Question was closed 2016-07-31T17:39:28.927

For the record, he has Windows 7 Ultimate with SP1 (6.1.7601). – Samir – 2014-09-11T21:37:17.500

Hitachi what? What motherboard? What speed are the RAM sticks? – Samir – 2014-09-11T21:38:35.117

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77-HD3.Ram is DDR3 at 1333MHz.Harddrive is 7200RPM but I don't know the exact model. The harddrive cost me around 170BGN(110$) – MinasTirith – 2014-09-11T21:40:19.623

1Can you elaborate more exactly whoe you mean by "slow"? How does it feel slow for you? – ap0 – 2014-09-11T21:42:14.040

Well, It takes very long time to load windows, than when I open some folder it takes 4-5 seconds. Sometimes chrome with just 4 tabs becomes unresponsive. Pretty much every action in windows takes 1-2 seconds. But if a run a game, there is no problem, no lag. Also computer becomes almost unresponsive when I leave it for 2 hours without using it /i have to reboot it to use it again/ – MinasTirith – 2014-09-11T21:44:47.327

Update drivers. Set hard disk to AHCI in BIOS. RAM identical sticks? I wonder if your RAM timings aren't quite right in your BIOS. Not all motherboards get the right settings automatically - we've got Intel boards and a problem with the CL slowed our machines so setting them manually sorted the problem... – Kinnectus – 2014-09-11T21:45:12.050

Drivers are the newest possible. The two sticks are identical. I will try that with the BIOS – MinasTirith – 2014-09-11T21:45:52.777

Do you think the problem is the configuration itself, because it wasn't prebuild configuration. I have bought all parts from different places /big mistake/ and now i am struggling with this computer for 6 months already – MinasTirith – 2014-09-11T21:46:53.290

Do you have the latest BIOS version? My last build on an ASUS board with AMD A10-7850K didn't work at all until I flashed the BIOS. It would power on and let me enter BIOS, and I could even begin installing Windows 7, but then it would suddenly freeze. The problem was, as I suspected, the APU was 3 months newer, than the motherboard. I flashed the latest BIOS and it worked like a charm. – Samir – 2014-09-11T21:59:20.640

You can test the random and sequential read and write of your HDD with something like Crystal Disk Mark. I don't trust Hitachi and Seagate. Also check your RAM speed, see what speed they are actually running at. This can be seen through some Windows software or in BIOS/UEFI on new boards. Also test your RAM with something like Memtest86 (the original) to make sure it passes all the tests. Then there's the usual thing like updating drivers and enabling AHCI mode. For AHCI to work properly you might need to re-install Windows again (for the 7th time now). – Samir – 2014-09-11T22:07:20.403

Why do you like one line programming style comments so much? In the middle of a sentence in English? No need for that in a natural language. Try using paragraphs for a change. At the end of your tests and struggles, you may just have to face the fact that your hardware is not powerful enough. Maybe you should have gone for an Intel Core i7-4790K and a Corsair 1600 MHz RAM kit and a Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB SSD disk? Or you may be just asking too much. See what you can do with the hardware you have, and the money you spent on it, instead of chasing performance and upgrading again. – Samir – 2014-09-11T22:13:26.223

@MinasTirith Nice setup man. In my experience slowness is usually caused by the storage device (hard drive). You should do some performance tests (read/write) on it to make sure it's getting proper speeds. Alternatively it could be a memory problem (ram, or pagefile), so as others have suggested, test your ram. I assume you ruled out the basics like: startup applications, defragementing, and running too many programs at once. – Robin Hood – 2014-09-12T00:21:53.910

post pictures of the SMART values from your HDD: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

– magicandre1981 – 2014-09-12T04:19:53.233

sammyg sorry about the programming style comments, i am a programmer from 7-8 years. Oh I forgot, after a month of struggle my uncle gave me his hard drive so now i am with toshiba 2TB 7200RPM, but same problems. Here is SMART values from the HDD: http://pastebin.com/itNAnYBS

– MinasTirith – 2014-09-12T09:06:06.077

I can't read Russian, so it doesn't help. – magicandre1981 – 2014-09-13T05:11:28.283

I didn't even noticed /by the way it's not Russian, it is Bulgarian/. Here is it again in English - http://pastebin.com/HxS4UfCn.

– MinasTirith – 2014-09-13T17:48:48.860

please post a picture. this is easier to read. And post @magicandre1981 so that I get notified that you replied. – magicandre1981 – 2014-09-17T16:22:11.770

@magicandre1981 Here is a pic of the state of my HDD: http://tinypic.com/r/25hhh1y/8.

– MinasTirith – 2014-09-18T14:36:01.147

the HDD is fine. – magicandre1981 – 2014-09-18T16:08:44.123

So if it is not the HDD, what do you think the slowness is caused by? All the parts are 1 year old at most. The computer is cleaned from dust. – MinasTirith – 2014-09-19T08:21:23.483

1

follow this and give me the crated file and try to trace the slowness: http://pastebin.com/at7DyJxm

– magicandre1981 – 2014-09-19T16:28:17.237

@magicandre1981, here it is: https://www.dropbox.com/s/avhlbknzqomtbks/SlowWindows.rar?dl=0

– MinasTirith – 2014-09-20T09:26:32.343

I can't see anything strange in the trace. Only some CPU sage from Superfetch service while it tries to optimize boot performance (sysmain.dll!EcbBootPlanImproveSchedule) – magicandre1981 – 2014-09-20T15:33:19.710

Answers

10

As explained in this other answer:

These symptoms sound like a CPU throttling issue that I had. When my laptop overheated, the CPU would reduce its speed (throttle back) to reduce heat output... as a result my CPU % appeared to be low at around 15%, but in fact the CPU had cycled back to 16% of its max and so it was in fact running flat out.

You can diagnose this by using Resource Monitor instead of Task Manager. (Type "resmon" into the Start-Run prompt.) At the top of the CPU tab processes window there is a useful "Maximum frequency" which will reduce as the CPU throttles back.

If this is the problem then you can look at causes of the throttling. You can use free tools like Speedfan to monitor temperature and check on your fans.

In my case there was a definite correlation between throttling and temperature. My laptop was a Dell E6400 and I used a fan assisted cooling tray to assist with the overheating, and I also hit a known issue with this laptop model - see http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?240717-Dell-Latitude-E6500-E6400-ThrottleGate-Fix

  1. Run Windows Memory Test: Start->Control Panel->type "memory"->Diagnose your computer's memory problems. That will run the Windows memory diagnostic and it's a good place to start.

  2. Run Command Prompt as administrator and then type "chkdsk /r" and hit enter. Follow instructions. That will check the integrity of your install.

If you had extra RAM lying around you could easily switch that out and see if it helped. It's possible that your video card is maybe acting up but that's just me trying to think of all the conceivable issues.

Andrew

Posted 2014-09-11T21:28:26.563

Reputation: 101

1Thank you very much, running the tool chkdsk made my laptop very fast again! – trinity420 – 2018-07-29T22:18:38.340

Asked: 2014-09-11T21:28:26.563

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Active: 2016-01-05T05:30:53.640