random SSD lag spikes (I think)

Girlatthedoor

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Apr 10, 2014
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Hello TH users,

I have never posted here because I usually find my problem answered in a different thread but this time I have run out of options.

Chrome:
Basically it started around 4 weeks ago. My PC started getting lags- I first noticed it opening new tabs in chrome- would take up to 10 seconds to "load", i.e. all tabs blank and the PC lags massively. I deactivated addons, reinstalled chrome, and tried firefox- same issue.

CPU:
I then thought it's the CPU- the task manager revealed "spikes" from under 10% to around 40%. That's not much, so I tried speedfan. The core temperature during a spike rises from 37C to 41C max, which again isn't actually out of the ordinary. I also ran chkdsk, and memtest (all clean). I updated my GPU driver, installed latest windows updates, ran CC cleaner, malware scanner, and my usual Antivirus program (Kaspersky Pure 3.0).

SSD?:
The Resource monitor shows the disk usage to jump to 100% during the jumps. Also, I noticed that the only PC game I have trouble with is World of Warcraft (game crashes during busy raids), and that is the only one I have installed on my SSD. All other games (with steam) are on my HDD (windows is installed on my SSD).

Other things I have tried:
I never had McAfee/Norton installed, I did not do anything to the SSD (I bought it a year ago, this is still the first run without format), I have 120GB of 250GB free, My Ram usage is always around 3/16GB. I dusted and cleaned the inside of my PC, which didn't help either. I have ran a complete diskcheck with Speedfan which assures me the SSD is 100% healthy. So I am completely stumped. I spent a lot of money on my (custom-built) PC and I hope someone can help me/suggest other possible causes. I know sometimes hardware doesn't work together, but this beauty ran smoothly for 11 months.


Specs:
Windows 7 Professional
i5 3570K CPU
Asus P8Z77-V MB
NVidia GTX670FTW GPU
16GB(2x8) Corsair 1600MHz Ram
Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD 2.5inch


Thank you very much for any help!
 

Girlatthedoor

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Apr 10, 2014
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Dear Polke, thanks for the reply. It took me a while to get another lag, and I actually think it might be the CPU ... I really am confused.
Before the lag, CPU usage is 28% and Disk I/O per second is between 85 and max of 1000KB
During the lag, I get 58% CPU usage and Disk I/O is 15.000KB
Highest CPU user: icacls.exe (16%) which terminates instantly, avp.exe (7-15% depending) and svchost.exe(secsvcs) (6-8%)
Disk is 5 times svchost, and sometimes avp which I guess is Kaspersky running background checks every now and then.

//I will keep monitoring the processes, I hope I will spot a pattern.
 

Girlatthedoor

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Apr 10, 2014
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I have managed to take screenshots of two different lags, I hope they can shed some light on my mystery?

lag0.png


lag1.png


First one was opening a tab in Chrome, second one was closing a document in Excel.
 

Girlatthedoor

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Apr 10, 2014
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Even if the speedfan checks are all clean? I would just like to be sure of the faulty SSD before I put money towards a new one. Thank you for your help either way!

//Edit: I think this confirms your theory, does it not?
hdtune1.png


Just to compare this to my slow, 3/4 year-something old HDD
hdd.png