I do wonder if you are just using a 'stock' cooling option for your cpu though, as the temps you reported earlier are crazy high.
There is a significant difference between running a real app and stress test tools such as Prime or OpenGL test I linked above.
In that regard, reported temps are fine, for CPU and GPU.
Originally posted by TheScavenger
Well, I'm still going to upgrade, but now I can have time to save my money.
Sure, I was just posting the build to show that you can get a very solid build within 600-700 USD ballpark, there is also no need to replace all parts at once, you can do it piece by piece - if you want to upgrade at all.
Good to hear your performance is back to normal. Computer hw may behave strangely sometimes with no apparent reason and just disassembling and re-assembling the machine fixes the issue.
I did really appreciate it and bookmarked what you posted. But, I had some unforseen expenses the other day, and my PC seeming to be dying even buying a power supply or heck, even cheap ram, would have hit my bank account hard.
I'll probably end up buying things piece by piece as you said...I think that makes most sense. I'll do power supply first, maybe put in the backup motherboard...depending how things go. Then do the GPU next. And then upgrade motherboard/ram
Though I have to also think of some kind of cooling thing, as I think that was part of the problem. But, guess its okay for now.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
Someone probably already mentioned this but check to see what processes are running in the background and how much system resources they are using. You might have installed something or a third party, that is hogging system resources.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
Originally posted by TheScavenger If anyone wanted to know the definite answer. I made the monitor cable a bit loose. My FPS dropped a TON.Fixed monitor cable, game performance went back to normalMade it slightly loose, and my performance dropped a bitMade it VERY loose and my games were unplayable and causing driver crashes and all kinds of thingsFixed monitor cable like I did before, and game performance went back to normal. Kinda strange that was what it was. I've never personally heard of a loose monitor cable doing that.
First I've ever heard of it either, but thanks for coming back and telling us - I'm very glad that a) You found the problem b) You didn't spend a lot of money finding the problem c) You didn't rush right out and jump on all our suggestions to just rebuilt the entire computer
Good job
What kind of monitor cable are you using? DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort/VGA ?
I made the monitor cable a bit loose. My FPS dropped a TON.
Fixed monitor cable, game performance went back to normal
Made it slightly loose, and my performance dropped a bit
Made it VERY loose and my games were unplayable and causing driver crashes and all kinds of things
Fixed monitor cable like I did before, and game performance went back to normal.
Kinda strange that was what it was. I've never personally heard of a loose monitor cable doing that.
That's very strange. My experience with parts coming loose is that they cause things to not work at all, not merely cause reduced performance. Were only some of the pins making contact so it couldn't get enough bandwidth or something? Even if that were the case, I'd be surprised that it worked at all.
As Ridelynn asked, what sort of monitor cable is it? DVI and D-Sub screw in so it shouldn't be possible for those to come loose. HDMI and DisplayPort don't, though.
For what it's worth, your CPU looks like something Gdemami would have picked: two cores for the price of four. And at the time, for nearly the same price as a Core i5 quad core with the same IPC, even. It should be fine for most current games, but if you find something that needs a lot of CPU power, a dual core could struggle.
This actually made me lol
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
Was playing WoW, monitor turned off, came back...WoW had a bunch of colored rainbow oily looking lines everywhere and then it went back to normal. Except it went from 100 fps, to 20 fps and changing graphics settings made the fps actually drop to 10 (changing to lowest made it worse for some reason)
Problem went away randomly, but has come back and is even worse now
(edit: I'm VERY happy its the GPU. Its the easiest thing to replace. No reinstall pc needed, no getting a bunch of new hardware that I can't afford lol (with a new CPU comes a bunch of other new stuff)...the GPU is the best thing to break after ram and the hard drive lol)
I can't really afford a new GPU either, but its the MUCH lesser of evils to go down. Unless it was a titan, but it isn't lol.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
Anyone have an opinion on a GPU to get that has at least 4gb of ram (NOT 2gb or 3)...it needs to be a 4gb card that is BETTER than my gtx 660 that never really worked that great anyway.
I'm going to be selling my skyrim overhaul mod I'm making, and it needs a 4gb video card to run it properly. Sorry, "offering my mod for...DONATIONS...DONATIONS BETHESDA ITS FINE NOW"
I may make some of the money back if people "donate" for my mod. But I need a 4gb card and my 660 was crappy for my skyrim overhaul, couldn't really run it properly and ran out of video ram way too much.
is sold out, so not that that looks like a good one too.
(edit: I want a good card, that can run my skyrim overhaul and my next overhaul for fallout 4 and elder scrolls 6 when that comes out. But something I can afford, I can't pay much more than 300. The GTX 970 looks good and is 300 or so, but I guess you guys don't recommend it. I don't want the gtx960, no thanks, its only 2gb and my skyrim mod would die on it like my crappy 660 lol. Pretty well known to skyrim modders is it needs a 4gb video card for a graphics heavy mod setup. Even skyrim's hd texture mod that bethesda came out with needs a 4gb card)
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
I can't really hire him with my current money. But my tech support guy I use (he travels around helping people with computers, his own business and I've used him for a long time) suggested to rule out heating issue...I take a powerful fan and blow it in my computer. So I did that with the case off.
If it keeps happening, that very much rules out heat and leaves a GPU. If the fan stops it from happening, then I'll need a better way to cool my computer. The case is nice and open, but might still be getting too hot.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
That's about twice as fast as the Radeon R9 270X that I linked above.
Your choices if you really need 4 GB and 3 GB isn't enough are basically:
1) some low end card that tacked on 4 GB of DDR3 to sell to people who don't realize that the GPU chip matters,
2) a doubled memory version of a card that normally comes with 2 GB or so, and
3) a Radeon R9 290, Radeon R9 290X, or GeForce GTX 980.
The GTX 980 is a nice card, but it's also $550. If you have no problem with dropping $550 on a video card and want the best card on the market, then the GTX 980 is for you. Otherwise, you can get 70%-80% of the performance for half the price in a Radeon R9 290.
There's also the GeForce GTX 970, which does have 4 GB of video memory physically wired into the card, but you can only get full speed from 3.5 GB of it. For an awful lot of people, 3.5 GB would be plenty, so I think the concerns about it are mostly overblown if you're willing to treat it like a 3.5 GB card. But if you're insisting that you really need 4 GB, that probably rules it out.
I'm going to replace my motherboard with a spare I have, its same exact one I have...so I won't need to reinstall or buy any new hardware. That will rule that out.
Heat is definitely ruled out now, fan is going really good on it and the air conditioning is going and its cold in here.
Tech guy thinks I might just have a whole host of issues. Possibly a bad motherboard, along with a bad GPU.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
Comments
I did really appreciate it and bookmarked what you posted.
But, I had some unforseen expenses the other day, and my PC seeming to be dying even buying a power supply or heck, even cheap ram, would have hit my bank account hard.
I'll probably end up buying things piece by piece as you said...I think that makes most sense. I'll do power supply first, maybe put in the backup motherboard...depending how things go. Then do the GPU next. And then upgrade motherboard/ram
Though I have to also think of some kind of cooling thing, as I think that was part of the problem. But, guess its okay for now.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
If anyone wanted to know the definite answer.
I made the monitor cable a bit loose. My FPS dropped a TON.
Fixed monitor cable, game performance went back to normal
Made it slightly loose, and my performance dropped a bit
Made it VERY loose and my games were unplayable and causing driver crashes and all kinds of things
Fixed monitor cable like I did before, and game performance went back to normal.
Kinda strange that was what it was. I've never personally heard of a loose monitor cable doing that.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
First I've ever heard of it either, but thanks for coming back and telling us - I'm very glad that
a) You found the problem
b) You didn't spend a lot of money finding the problem
c) You didn't rush right out and jump on all our suggestions to just rebuilt the entire computer
Good job
What kind of monitor cable are you using? DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort/VGA ?
That's very strange. My experience with parts coming loose is that they cause things to not work at all, not merely cause reduced performance. Were only some of the pins making contact so it couldn't get enough bandwidth or something? Even if that were the case, I'd be surprised that it worked at all.
As Ridelynn asked, what sort of monitor cable is it? DVI and D-Sub screw in so it shouldn't be possible for those to come loose. HDMI and DisplayPort don't, though.
This actually made me lol
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently."
- Friedrich Nietzsche
Well, its been a while. But the issue is the GPU.
Was playing WoW, monitor turned off, came back...WoW had a bunch of colored rainbow oily looking lines everywhere and then it went back to normal. Except it went from 100 fps, to 20 fps and changing graphics settings made the fps actually drop to 10 (changing to lowest made it worse for some reason)
Problem went away randomly, but has come back and is even worse now
(edit: I'm VERY happy its the GPU. Its the easiest thing to replace. No reinstall pc needed, no getting a bunch of new hardware that I can't afford lol (with a new CPU comes a bunch of other new stuff)...the GPU is the best thing to break after ram and the hard drive lol)
I can't really afford a new GPU either, but its the MUCH lesser of evils to go down. Unless it was a titan, but it isn't lol.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
Anyone have an opinion on a GPU to get that has at least 4gb of ram (NOT 2gb or 3)...it needs to be a 4gb card that is BETTER than my gtx 660 that never really worked that great anyway.
I'm going to be selling my skyrim overhaul mod I'm making, and it needs a 4gb video card to run it properly. Sorry, "offering my mod for...DONATIONS...DONATIONS BETHESDA ITS FINE NOW"
I may make some of the money back if people "donate" for my mod. But I need a 4gb card and my 660 was crappy for my skyrim overhaul, couldn't really run it properly and ran out of video ram way too much.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161459
is sold out, so not that
that looks like a good one too.
(edit: I want a good card, that can run my skyrim overhaul and my next overhaul for fallout 4 and elder scrolls 6 when that comes out. But something I can afford, I can't pay much more than 300. The GTX 970 looks good and is 300 or so, but I guess you guys don't recommend it. I don't want the gtx960, no thanks, its only 2gb and my skyrim mod would die on it like my crappy 660 lol. Pretty well known to skyrim modders is it needs a 4gb video card for a graphics heavy mod setup. Even skyrim's hd texture mod that bethesda came out with needs a 4gb card)
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
I can't really hire him with my current money. But my tech support guy I use (he travels around helping people with computers, his own business and I've used him for a long time) suggested to rule out heating issue...I take a powerful fan and blow it in my computer. So I did that with the case off.
If it keeps happening, that very much rules out heat and leaves a GPU. If the fan stops it from happening, then I'll need a better way to cool my computer. The case is nice and open, but might still be getting too hot.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
If all you need is 4 GB and faster than a GTX 660, then this will work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202049
That's not much faster than a GTX 660, though, so I wouldn't get it.
Your best bet is probably a Radeon R9 290:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150697
That's about twice as fast as the Radeon R9 270X that I linked above.
Your choices if you really need 4 GB and 3 GB isn't enough are basically:
1) some low end card that tacked on 4 GB of DDR3 to sell to people who don't realize that the GPU chip matters,
2) a doubled memory version of a card that normally comes with 2 GB or so, and
3) a Radeon R9 290, Radeon R9 290X, or GeForce GTX 980.
The GTX 980 is a nice card, but it's also $550. If you have no problem with dropping $550 on a video card and want the best card on the market, then the GTX 980 is for you. Otherwise, you can get 70%-80% of the performance for half the price in a Radeon R9 290.
There's also the GeForce GTX 970, which does have 4 GB of video memory physically wired into the card, but you can only get full speed from 3.5 GB of it. For an awful lot of people, 3.5 GB would be plenty, so I think the concerns about it are mostly overblown if you're willing to treat it like a 3.5 GB card. But if you're insisting that you really need 4 GB, that probably rules it out.
Well my PC rebooted itself (even with fan going on it) and it booted up with CPU fan error. Sadly I don't have any spares.
Would that cause any issues that I have been having? Or is that more of a GPU since I'm now getting graphical anomalies
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
I'm going to replace my motherboard with a spare I have, its same exact one I have...so I won't need to reinstall or buy any new hardware. That will rule that out.
Heat is definitely ruled out now, fan is going really good on it and the air conditioning is going and its cold in here.
Tech guy thinks I might just have a whole host of issues. Possibly a bad motherboard, along with a bad GPU.
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul