Mid-Range PC Running Slowly

[readysetmosh]

Hey guys. For some reason, ever since i built my computer back in late 2014, it has been going very slow. Programs take awhile to start up and the initial boot takes about 5-7 minutes. However, all the games I play run very well. I actually overclock both my CPU and GPU with low temps. My specs are as follows:

GPU: AMD Gigabyte R9 270 w/ 2gigs vRAM
CPU: AMD FX 6300 OC'd to 4.0GHz
RAM: 8gigs of 1333MHz DDR3
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P
PSU: Sentey 725w

Thanks in advance

Edit: I forgot to mention that the USB 3.0 ports rarely work. This has been a problem ever since I got the mobo. I will probably just call Gigabyte at some point if no is able to figure that out

 

[firo40]

Have you tried installing the newest usb 3.0 drivers for your motherboard from gigabytes site? And what hard drive are you using thats most likely the bottleneck of why things load slowly but run fast

 

[Rabmac]

You need to install drivers for the usb 3.0 to work, can find them on disk that came with mobo.

There are loads of reasons your PC can be running slow, the most common being malware.

 

[firo40]

If the boot time is 5-7 minutes im willing to bet hes running a low powered 5400rpm hard drive which would cause the issue. It's always best the get the most current drivers from the manufactuer website instead of using the drivers on the disc. The drivers on the disc are very outdated and have been revised to fix bugs this is why its important to use current drivers not outdated drivers from the disc

 

[readysetmosh]

Have you tried installing the newest usb 3.0 drivers for your motherboard from gigabytes site? And what hard drive are you using thats most likely the bottleneck of why things load slowly but run fast

Lol yeah I downloaded the drivers ages ago haha. My hard drive is a Samsung HD321HJ 320gb 7200 rpm HDD. I know it is really old especially for such a modern computer but I the reason I didn't buy a new one initially was because I didn't think it would be much of an issue. Does it look like this is the reason for my troubles? I used crystaldiskinfo on it and it didn't show any errors.

 

[readysetmosh]

If the boot time is 5-7 minutes im willing to bet hes running a low powered 5400rpm hard drive which would cause the issue. It's always best the get the most current drivers from the manufactuer website instead of using the drivers on the disc. The drivers on the disc are very outdated and have been revised to fix bugs this is why its important to use current drivers not outdated drivers from the disc

I downloaded the drivers from the website

 

[Rabmac]

I doubt this very much has anything to do with drivers.

If I were you I would carry out some maintenance on your HDD.

1. Run CC cleaner to delete all unecessary files and disable all startup programs you don't need.
2. Run clean disk and delete everything including the system files. I would also delete all but the latest system restore.
3. Uninstall all the programs/games you don't need. Try using a program like revo uninstaller to unsinatll your programs and use advanced setting to clean all registry entries.
4. Go to C:\Windows\Software Distribution and delete the downloads folder.
5. Install windows repair tool: http://www.tweaking.com/content/page/windows_repair_all_in_one.html
6. Boot into safe mode and run windows repair tool. This will fix all damaged system files and other things that can affect your Windows performance.
7. Install defraggler and defrag your hard drive.

By doing all this you should notice an increase in performance. Personally speaking I would scan for and remove malware using the following tools in safe mode: TDSSKiller, Malwarebytes, Spybot search and destroy and adw cleaner. I would do this before carrying out the above steps.

If you can't be bothered doing this, then backup all your data and reinstall Windows and start again.

 

[readysetmosh]

I doubt this very much has anything to do with drivers.

If I were you I would carry out some maintenance on your HDD.

1. Run CC cleaner to delete all unecessary files and disable all startup programs you don't need.
2. Run clean disk and delete everything including the system files. I would also delete all but the latest system restore.
3. Uninstall all the programs/games you don't need. Try using a program like revo uninstaller to unsinatll your programs and use advanced setting to clean all registry entries.
4. Go to C:\Windows\Software Distribution and delete the downloads folder.
5. Install windows repair tool: http://www.tweaking.com/content/page/windows_repair_all_in_one.html
6. Boot into safe mode and run windows repair tool. This will fix all damaged system files and other things that can affect your Windows performance.
7. Install defraggler and defrag your hard drive.

By doing all this you should notice an increase in performance. Personally speaking I would scan for and remove malware using the following tools in safe mode: TDSSKiller, Malwarebytes, Spybot search and destroy and adw cleaner. I would do this before carrying out the above steps.

If you can't be bothered doing this, then backup all your data and reinstall Windows and start again.

Thank you so much. I did the defraggler and CC cleaner and now my pc starts up in less than a minute and all of the programs open instantly. Cheers!

 

[Rabmac]

You are welcome, really glad it worked for you.

If you are confident your PC is in good health this would be a good time to make a disc image using Macrium Reflect Free edition. Once you have this image you can restore your PC to its current state anytime you get a problem. If you do this I can promise you won't regret it.