[SOLVED] Computer slow despite low utilization

[resevil239]

This has been an ongoing issue but it does seem to be getting worse and more consistent in recent weeks. Its especially an issue now that I have to work from home (I havent been using my PC much in recent months). Everything is slow. At first I thought it was just the internet, but all other devices are fine (phones on the wifi and my PS4 which is also hardwired never have issues). Now I notice even programs open slowly. Firefox tabs lag to load consistently, startup is slow, even the windows screen that pops up asking you to confirm you want a program to make changes when uninstalling something takes a min or two from the time I hit unintsall to the time it comes up, I hit yes, and it actually opens the programs uninstaller.

I have a Samsung SSD, my pc is custom built with a FX-8350 cpu and a GTX 1660 gpu. I'm trying to use the samsung magician software to check my SSD, but that has been trying to check the drive for an hour now. I also have a secondary SSD (also samsung) for storage and a 1tb HDD. 64 bit windows 10 and 16GB of ram.

The weird thing is I dont notice much of an issue once I get a game launched for as long as I am in the game. Web browsing is a pain because firefox randomly locks up. Both firefox and steam seem to do that and when they lock up the whole computer does until its resolved. I've tried crome and edge as well and they dont seem to function any better. At this point my best guess is that maybe my motherboard is having issues but I have no idea how to confirm that that is the case.

Windows 10 Pro
16GB Ram
1 120gb SSD (primary drive, contains OS)
1 TB HDD
1 250gb SSD
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3P ATX Mobo
AMD FX-8350 CPU
Gigabyte Geforce GTX 1660 OC 6GB GPU 2x windforce fans
PSU: LSP Ultra 650w Model no: ULT-LSP650P approx 7-8 years old, in good condition as far as I can tell

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS.

Include PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition.

Use Task Manager, Resource Monitor, and Process Explorer (using only one at a time) to observe system performance during varying circumstances.

I.e., while idling , while doing light work/browsing, and while gaming.

Look for bottlenecks that immediately appear or appear with time.

Get a sense of what all is running and when it runs.

(Note: you may need to download Process Explorer via Microsoft's website. Free).

 

[resevil239]

I updated my post with all of the above. I will have to look into the reorce monitor and process explorer another night. Task manager didnt reveal anything, I've been monitoring it all day but usually all the usage was pretty low when it was being particularly slow. I did remove a lot of stuff off the desktop and clear out a lot of programs. My drive usage was all above 10% so I'm not really sure why that would make a difference and I'm skeptical that it wasnt just a coincidence but we'll see how tomorrow goes.

 

[TerryLaze]

I updated my post with all of the above. I will have to look into the reorce monitor and process explorer another night. Task manager didnt reveal anything, I've been monitoring it all day but usually all the usage was pretty low when it was being particularly slow. I did remove a lot of stuff off the desktop and clear out a lot of programs. My drive usage was all above 10% so I'm not really sure why that would make a difference and I'm skeptical that it wasnt just a coincidence but we'll see how tomorrow goes.

Open up your case and reseat both cables that go to both your drives, on both sides,the mobo and the drive.(if you change which sata port each one goes in you might have problems booting so don't do that unless you know how to use your bios)
If that doesn't change anything you should run a memcheck.

What you describe sounds like the system having to do a lot of CRC checks which can happen due to losing contact to the disk or the mem messing up.
But if all your games are on the 1Tb disk then it's probable the 250SSD because the mem would throw up errors during the game as well.

 

[resevil239]

The only issues I had since cleaning everything up was some weirdness with a random restart once I booted up and logged in (it did update last night so that could be related). It definitely isnt nearly as slow as it was. It seems odd to me that that alone would speed it up so much but I'll continue to monitor and check the cables next time I disconnect. My case does have removable drive bay trays with fixed plugs on the drive side (sata plugs into the other side), so its always possible that the fixed bay plug is an issue too.