First an overheat, then disk overload, now stutter!

[jcralphy]

Ok this is a recent problem. On the weekend I found my processor running at 80C under no load, so I carefully cleaned it out. After this temperatures had returned to normal, but now I started getting some serious stutter, for example: with no programs open and hovering over my desktop icons, the highlights lagged behind my mouse. my desktop would also stop responding, and my mouse would freeze up from time to time. Checking my disk usage, I see that it is at 100% way too often, but not always when the freezes occur. This makes playing games impossible, as the stutter bring them down to 5fps, but my frame rate counter says 30. Videos also struggle to load, and hovering back and forth over my taskbar cause them to stop entirely. CPU and GPU usage are at minimum, and a disk check revealed no problems. Games and videos now always run bad, but the freezing and crashing of programs is random and I can't find a cause.

Specs:
Intel i7 3770 3.9GHz

16GB Corsair Vengence DDR3 RAM

MSI GTX 1070

Aerocool Integrator 500w PSU

MSI h61m-p31/w8 Mobo

750GB Crucial SSD (D: Drive)

150GB HDD (C: Drive) Some thing I pulled out of a TV recorder, already a few years old at time of install.

The PC itself was built at the start of the year, so I'm super worried about an issue this early. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[hang-the-9]

Remove the secondary drive, check things again. The power supply is low quality, that may be causing issues, I am guessing you bought it because it was cheap. A good quality 500 watt PSU should be 50% or even double the cost of the Aerocool.

 

[jcralphy]

Remove the secondary drive, check things again. The power supply is low quality, that may be causing issues, I am guessing you bought it because it was cheap. A good quality 500 watt PSU should be 50% or even double the cost of the Aerocool.

Removing the D: drive has no effect. The PSU wasn't the cheapest I could find, knowing that in terms of computers you are better spending money to ensure reliability.

 

[hang-the-9]

Test the system with one RAM stick at a time, a new Windows setup is a good idea to rule out any software issues or a virus in the system. You should look into replacing that power supply also, the one you have is not very good. This is about the lowest power supply you want for stability in a gaming system and it's almost double the price of the one you picked https://www.scan.co.uk/products/550w-corsair-cx550m-80-plus-bronze-hybrid-modular-sli-crossfire-single-rail-458a-plus12v-1x120mm-fan This is also good https://www.scan.co.uk/products/520w-seasonic-s12ii-520-bronze-series-80-plus-bronze-dual-rail-20a-1x120mm-silent-fan-fully-wired-at

 

[jcralphy]

Nope, it still freezes with 100% usage on the C: drive with either stick. Maybe it's just too old? The HDD had 5-10 years of solid use before I re-purposed it for the PC.

 

[James Mason]

Probably the HDD, give it a check:
https://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDiskInfo/index-e.html

 

[jcralphy]

Wow look at the difference in age!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_9kgnQZxnTweF80Rm1nM1R6dFk
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_9kgnQZxnTwTEluSkZwUGJvWmM
They both appear to be healthy though.