FPS spikes when watching youtube videos and gaming

Oct 28, 2018
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So, recently I've been getting lag spikes on my pc. I like to play games a lot, and I have not been experiencing any troubles with this pc in the past 2-3 years. It's pretty old, I must admit, from 2011, or 2012 but it is still good.
I used this program called Core Temp, and these are the results when I occur lag spikes:
https://imgur.com/a/TouD3xv
As you can see on the picture, I was watching a YouTube video, when the load went to 100% and the cpu usage went to 100%.
The same thing goes when playing games like Minecraft, Roblox, Unturned, Terraria and so.
My PC specs are:
https://imgur.com/a/yuCr4mP
https://imgur.com/a/CVOgHPc
https://imgur.com/a/eMNMeiw

If anyone could help me, I would be really thankful.
 
Solution
Your hardware is pretty dated. The AMD Athlon 64 x2 5200+ was released back in 2006 and the Radeon X1700 was released back in 2007 which basically means your hardware is over 10 years old and is considered obsolete.

The reason why your PC is struggling with Youtube is because the X1700 lacks the ability to decode modern video codecs. Video decoding is generally done by the GPU because the hardware to decode video formats are integrated in the GPU. However, if the GPU lacks the circuitry necessary to decode more modern video codecs, the task gets sent to the CPU. The CPU does not have specific circuitry to decode video at all, therefore the CPU uses brute force to decode video which is not efficient and most times it will cause the CPU...
Your hardware is pretty dated. The AMD Athlon 64 x2 5200+ was released back in 2006 and the Radeon X1700 was released back in 2007 which basically means your hardware is over 10 years old and is considered obsolete.

The reason why your PC is struggling with Youtube is because the X1700 lacks the ability to decode modern video codecs. Video decoding is generally done by the GPU because the hardware to decode video formats are integrated in the GPU. However, if the GPU lacks the circuitry necessary to decode more modern video codecs, the task gets sent to the CPU. The CPU does not have specific circuitry to decode video at all, therefore the CPU uses brute force to decode video which is not efficient and most times it will cause the CPU to be running at 100% even in more modern CPUs. Video codecs used to create videos have changed a lot in the past 11 years which is why the X1700 is obsolete.

The Athlon 64 x2 5200+ was considered decently powerful back in the day... However, compared to modern CPUs it is rather weak. While it may be running at 2.7GHz, it does not compare to a modern CPU running at 2.7GHz because modern CPU can process more instructions every 1Hz than a CPU that is over 10 years old. Compared to modern CPUs, it may as well be running at 1.0GHz.


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You basically need a new PC, there is no way around it even to do some as simple as watch Youtube videos which is something that most people nowadays take for granted. The good news is that a basic PC is relatively inexpensive and is more powerful than what you are currently using. Intel 8th generation Core i3 / i5 / i7 CPUs all have the Intel UHD 620 or UHD 630 integrated graphics core (depending on the model #) which are a lot more powerful than the old X1700 and can handle the games you play pretty easily since they do not seem to be very graphics demanding. AMD offers Ryzen CPUs with and without integrated graphics. For several years AMD has been calling their CPUs with integrated graphics "APUs"; processing performance is a bit lower compared to their CPUs. Ryzen APUs have integrated graphics that are even more powerful than what Intel has to offer, but even Ryzen's Vega integrated graphics are considered weak compared to modern dedicated graphics.


Here's an example of a PC you can buy with a Ryzen 5 2400G APU for $525 at Newegg.com.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883102485&ignorebbr=1


Hmmmm.... it seems Newegg.com does not really sell desktop PC with Intel CPUs which only relies on the Intel UHD 620 graphics core. The least expensive desktop with 8th generation quad core i3 CPU sells for $600, but it has a nVidia GTX 1050 dedicated GPU that will simply crush the Ryzen t 2400G's integrated graphics.

https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADYY7856203&ignorebbr=1


Going to Amazon.com, the following Acer Aspire business desktop PC for $400 seems to be the least expensive desktop with a core i3-8130 (Intel UHD 630 graphics core). The 300w power supply is pretty small, but good enough to install a nVidia GTX 1050 GPU if you want to.

https://www.amazon.com/Acer-Flagship-Premium-Performance-Business/dp/B07JJCTPXS/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1540922283&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Core+i3-8100+desktop&psc=1
 
Solution