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Custom PC has micro-freeze / lag every couple seconds

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  • Radeon
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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August 28, 2012 5:39:53 AM

Hey Tom'sHardware community,

I'm a first time user on this forum and although I've read multiple threads in the past to help me, right now I'm stuck.

I just got my PC shipped across the country and right now I've set it up again and I'm experiencing micro-freezes every couple of seconds. The PC boots up fine, I can do everything, except it has a <1 second seize every couple seconds. I am narrowing it down to two problems:

1. Something was damaged during shipping - I need to tell Fedex what it is.
2. The only piece of new hardware I have out here is my new ASUS PA238QR Monitor - some graphics settings are wrong.

Here's what I've tried/checked.
-Latest Memtest86 to check RAM - All pass 0 fail
-SeaTools to check my WD HDD and OCZ SSD - SMART pass, short read pass, short drive self test pass.
-Changing underscale/overscale from Catalyst (Radeon 6970 x1 GPU)
-Fiddling with various resolutions
-Tried loading up a game to force it to high performance mode, still experienced lag.

I'm not sure what to do now or what to check. I'd expect cause it was shipped that any damage would go to the HDDs but they seem to be fine... my CPU fan was dislodged when I got it but I put it back in, and is stable at around 50C... could this be due to some sort of CPU damage?

If its the monitor causing the problem, what settings should I check?

Here's my stats:
AMD Radeon 6970 GPU - Catalyst v 12.8 (latest driver installed)
ASUS PA238QR 1920x1080 monitor - connected via HDMI
Intel 2500k
8 gig of Kingston 9-9-9-24 RAM
2TB WD Black HDD
128g OCZ Agility 3 SSD
ASUS P8P67 LE Motherboard
1000W OCZ Power Supply
ASUS Wireless card
USB Peripherals: Razer Lycosa Keyboard, RAT3 Mouse, HP Printer, HP Webcam

More about : custom micro freeze lag couple seconds

August 28, 2012 5:40:55 AM

Try the previous drivers.
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August 28, 2012 5:43:09 AM

I had been running on Catalyst 12.3 and was experiencing this problem still - I thought upgrading to 12.8 would help but it did not. Do you guys recommend a different Catalyst driver that is more stable than 12.8?
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August 29, 2012 1:31:34 AM

*Bump*
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August 29, 2012 4:02:10 AM

I've tried updating my motherboard BIOS, resetting my CMOS, changing monitors (same effect occurs - although albiet a lot less fequently, but still does occur), tried using HDMI vs DVI (doesn't matter)

I am completely stuck. I've also tried catalyst 12.6 but no version seems to be clearly better than any other. Currently I'm back to 12.8 again, with a new motherboard BIOS (p8p67 le v 3302). Maybe it's my processor? Its the last piece of hardware I dont know what to do with. Do you recommend any software to check if my CPU is damaged?
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August 31, 2012 6:20:31 AM

SOLUTION FOUND: read my agony below

So I thought it was my processor right? SO I phoned Intel, and they said because the effect didnt occur in safe mode it had to be my graphics card (remember what other drivers aren't loaded in safe mode while we dicsuss this)......

So i went and bought a cheapo graphics card and the same thing happened again. SO it wasnt my graphics. I went back to thinking it was my HDD or my SSD. So backed up and reinstalled everything. Wiped my SSD (using only one hard drive) installed windows on my SSD -- when I booted in the problem still occured. SO i went and wiped my HDD (using only my HDD now) and installed windows on it. However, because I was lazy I didnt enter PC name password *internet info* or anything. When i booted in, the problem was non existent... I then thought it was my SSD but NO. The problem was easiest to see when I was listening to music (you'd hear a fuzzy noise when it seized up), so I went to the internet and connected so I could stream some music. and THATS WHEN IT HIT ME

1. The second I connected to the internet, the problem started again.
2. This explains why I didnt see it in safe mode
3. This explains why the problem didnt show up for the first 15-20 seconds on boot (wouldnt connect to internet just yet)

IT WAS MY MOTHERF%^&ING WIRELESS CARD

Updated the driver, im good. Something with the new router/internet in this province.
PLZ REPLY TO THIS THREAD IF THE SAME THING HAPPENED TO YOU >.> ASUS PCE-N13 Wireless Card
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