Could HDD (or cpu) cause the hickups of my system?

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gbench

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Hi. From time to time my PC suffers lagging while gaming. It doesn't matter if the game is newer one or 5+ years (Half-life 2). I'm aware that my system is entry level and cpu heavy games can't run at all with tolerable FPS. Same story with badly optimized games like GTA IV and NFS Hot Pursuit (2010), even if I turn every possible graphics to low. Specs are: G860, ASUS 4870 512 mb, 4 GB Ram, HDD 160 GB 7200 rpm, Fortron Hexa 500 W. According to some articles many games still use only 2 cores. So 720p should not be a problem (managed to run Battlefield 3 medium settings campaign e.g.).
I also get lag when browsing WEB longer period and many tabs open. Youtube skips for a sec or less and then continues. When I look at task manager I see a huge CPU usage jump to 60-80% and next it comes back to normal. Probably same happens when gaming (cpu jumps and huge fps drops).
Benchmarks are fine, AIDA 64 shows no faulty hardware, HD Tune shows no errors on a hdd, fresh win install, ccleaner, no viruses detected. CPU temps are ok, gpu wont exceed 80 C, if I turn afterburner to high 40%.
So actually I have no idea where the problem lies. My first guess is HDD because it is quite old.

Any advice is appreciated.
Cheers
 
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Feldmarschall

Feldmarschall

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Hi,

It could be lot of stuff. Same problems happened to some of my customers. Once it was GPU failing, does not matter if it does not show any errors, but if underachieves in benchmark by 30% then you know where problem lies. Same applies for processor and for HDD read/write tests and even for memory. Once i managed to say failure after inspecting PC for 2 minutes. Simply look at windows experience index.. If something is quite damaged it will underscore a lot.
You should check all of these tests.

Best regards :)
 
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Feldmarschall

Feldmarschall

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3D mark seems ok. You should check benchmark for CPU with passmark so you could compare results. Also memtest would be advised. Leave memtest before going to bed and check it. Defragment your disk if you have not done it in long time. Even formated HDD's can be fragmented.

Which HDD do you have? Make and model?

It seems that your HDD has problems on random read/write. Those results should be doubled up.

Do you have any other hardware inside your PC like wlan card, dedicated sound card or simillar?
 
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gbench

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All I could find under Device Manager is: gb0160eafje ATA (google gives Hewlett Packard model). I am sure it should be SATA. I connected with 2-way cable which runs into dvd-drive.

Will do tasks you suggested tomorrow and then report back. Thanks.
 
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Feldmarschall

Feldmarschall

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If it is wide cable then it's PATA or ATA1xx or IDE how ever you want :) but it is not SATA.
Check these tests and post back, but it may be your HDD wrong. We will see.

Best regards :)
 
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gbench

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Did some tests already except memory, which I will check tomorrow.
CPU:
Passmark rating: 901
Cpu mark: 3031
Integer Math: 3876
Floating point math: 2999
Prime Numbers: 11.9
Extended Instructions: 10.5
Compression: 3635
Encryption: 406.3
Physics: 189.1
Sorting: 2306
Single Threaded: 1594

DISK MARK: 499.9
Seq read: 69.4
Seq write: 63.8
Random seek + RW: 5.1

Passmark said it is ATA.
My mobo is: http://www.msi.com/product/mb/H61M-P31--G3-.html#/?div=Basic
PSU: http://www.arvutikeskus.ee/est/TOOTEKATALOOG/ARVUTIKOMPONENDID-Toiteplokid-PSU-PSU-500W-550W/Fortron-FSP-HEXA-500W-ATX-v23-Dual-12V-Rails-Silent-120mm-FAN-High-efficiency-andgt80-116558

Many thanks so far :)
 
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Feldmarschall

Feldmarschall

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Your scores are good. Even above rated scores.

It must be windows problem then. How is your Page file set? Put it in manual setting (4096 min - 8192 max)
It can be that you loose virtual memory, but that should not be happening if page file is set to system managed and if windows are ok.

Try this please.
 
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gbench

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Page file was 4096, now min to max as you suggested. Downloaded new 3dmark and when opening install file, it took like 15 seconds to open it. It also loads quite slow before benching and during a bench hdd makes this constant whining noise. Bench itself runs fine. 3dmark says my cpu is 1600 mhz, cpu-z says the same. Maybe its idle speed, but why "lie"? :)
I definitely have SATA connector because there are data and power cables connected to hdd. Just googled for comparison. Passmark and 3dmark both say I have ATA. I looked up my hdd model and there are both ATA and SATA versions.
 
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gbench

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Speed is 3000 mhz as it should be.
While scrolling this page here I got a minor lag twice. Could a bad mouse cause it anyhow? Probably a stupid question but out of better questions :)
 
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gbench

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To come to conclusion, should I change my hdd for newer one, possibly ssd, to get rid of this lag thing? Or the problem lies somewhere else? My rig is under warranty, except hdd and gpu. But I dont see a point taking it there because technically there is nothing wrong. Or should I?
 
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Feldmarschall

Feldmarschall

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I don't think that you need go for warranty. You had no errors. Only test that is somewhat strange is disk random read/write 4k. Other than that everything seems ok.

Have you checked which processes takes CPU spike when task manager is open?
Are you using google chrome for web browsing? (it caused me some lags until i cleaned it and set to use flash player "for other browsers")
 
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gbench

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I mainly use Firefox. Extended usage seems to slow the system because of plugin-container, which grows huge. Chrome also slows down over longer period. And I cant stand the flash to be honest :) Whenever I update it, it always has some bugs and seems slow. With Opera it was intolerable.
One process (cant recall any other right now) to take cpu spike seems to be browser again (FF, chrome). When youtube lags, cpu gets 60-100%. Multiple tabs with live stream, flash pages and youtube running gets me constant spikes (at that time browser process is around 1M K at task manager). This heavy usage is exception than a rule. Sometimes after the spike browser crashes and restores. I have never seen my memory usage over 75%. So it seems cpu gets the blow. Maybe my whole system is just slow, it is entry level after all. Though I cant believe that it cant handle internet properly.
 
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Feldmarschall

Feldmarschall

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It should be working. Old single core celerons with 2GB ram work pefect on internet.

Try to install new flash player. Then install chrome and go to plugins and disable flash player located in program files x86. Leave enabled one that is located in windows folder. That will resolve terrible flash thing with browsers + chrome works better and faster according to Tom.
 
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