Computer underperforming, temporary stutters

Draydince

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Specs of computer in question:

Corsair cx 430w psu
Gigabyte GTX 750 TI (2gb model)
Phenom ii x4 955 (Slight overclock of 200mhz, bringing it to 3.4ghz total)
8 gigabyte of dual channel 1600 kingston fury ram. I don't remember the exact model offhand.
Biostar a780l3c motherboard
Windows 7 Home 64 bit

Now first off, I know that this is a low to mid range computer at best. I don't have unrealistic expectations. I'm not trying to max The Witcher 3 at 4k or anything like that, but the issue I'm having is with more realistic games like Heroes of the Storm. Just from the game scanning the system it suggests running everything on high. Not ultra, but high.

Then I start the game. Looks awesome, 100 fps at spawn. Then when the game actually starts it drops down to about 40fps and has some pretty intense stutters where the game basically freezes for about half a second. Enough to make a big difference in an online game.

I then figured ok, maybe the game doesn't know what it's thinking recommending high settings so I turn things down to medium. Same issue. Then I reluctantly try low. Same issue. I notice almost no difference between low to high settings in terms of performance.

I've ran stability tests to ensure everything was fine, and that all seemed to check out. I ran valley about 20 different times (Which also suffered from the same momentary stutter while maintaining an average of 60fps, with occasional 40 dips) and ran a straight hour of afterburner with no crash.

I made sure to monitor heat, and the *highest* the cpu got was 50c. The gpu barely even touched 40c.

I recently applied brand new thermal paste, made sure the cpu was properly seated, all the plugs were properly pushed in on the graphics card/everything else.

The minimum requirements to this game are Athlon™ 64 X2 5600+ and a geforce 7200...

While I know the parts in this computer aren't top of the line, they completely dominant the aformentioned parts so I strongly feel like this game should be running more smooth.

The framerate itself is fine. The lowest it gets is about 40 during maxed out team fights, averaging about 50-60 most of the time but the stuttering makes it borderline unplayable.
 
Solution


at this point, that seems the most likely option. Corsair cx series PSUs aren't great, they are tier 4. Try another PSU and see if it still happens.

syked3

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What you could do is unistall all GPU drivers, get rid of any dust in the case, reboot, reinstall drivers, reboot and then see how it performs. However your PSU isn't very good and sometimes a bad PSU can cause stuttering so I'd recommend updating it if you have the money
 

Draydince

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Unfortunately I already tried cleaning/reinstalling the gpu, drivers, etc. I even tried a fresh install of Windows 7. I know the psu isn't very good, but this is a pretty low tdp setup. The processor is the 95w version and I don't know the exact numbers offhand but the 750 ti draws close to nothing. Unfortunately a new psu isn't an option at the time. This is for a friend and I'm just getting it all set up for him.

Do you really think the Corsair cx 430 could be the problem? If so I'll relay the message to him and see if he wants to spend the extra money.
 

syked3

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It could be the problem but before you spend more money, try the following:
update GPU drivers to the latest ones (from website) if not already done
Run a diagnostic test on your hard drive and RAM
Do you have another GPU to hand which you can place in your system? If so, try a different GPU and see how it runs
Enable Vsync
 

Draydince

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Can you recommend a diagnostic test for RAM and Hard drives? I've been using AMD Overdrive and Furmark, but as far as I know those focus more on the cpu and gpu. I don't think that hd's are a factor in that. Unfortunately the only other cards I have either exceed the 430w or are already weaker than the 750 ti (HD 4870)
 

syked3

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the standard windows tests are adequate. Try the other GPU on low settings and see if you get the same problem
 

Draydince

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Hmm, I ran chkdsk and no errors were reported. I then download a few different stress tests, and nothing showed up. I suppose it's possible the psu could be failing to deliver enough powered deliver, I just really figured this system wouldn't draw enough to push past it.
 

syked3

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at this point, that seems the most likely option. Corsair cx series PSUs aren't great, they are tier 4. Try another PSU and see if it still happens.
 
Solution

syked3

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Draydince

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Unfortunately no. I bought this as a pre built used system and I've been gradually upgrading it. So far all components seem to check out, so I'm going to have to assume the psu just isn't providing enough power to everything. Thanks a lot for all your time, I greatly appreciate it.
 

syked3

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I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help but I hope trying a different PSU will solve your problem.