i5 6600k is slower than usual...

[_MrLilNik_]

Hey guys recently i have noticed my intel i5 6600k is running a lot slower than usual it is not overclocked but it was, and temps are normal. Its bad enough where google is slower than usual. should I RMA both my motherboard and cpu or what steps should i take before that because i am really worried...
Thanks!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The only way to make sense of this is to always use the same benchmarking utility. Suggest an application based benchmark like RoG Real Bench. I stay away from all things Google... it's spending too much time trackinmg you

 

[CorsairSSC]

If the temps are normal it could be a software problem. Open Task Manager in Windows and see what processes are running. Close them and then check if your computer speeds up.

If closing programs via Task Manager doesn't work, check if your RAM is overheating.

Just a friendly warning, but slow performance is a sign of a dying hard drive or solid state drive. Be sure to check for that too!

 

[_MrLilNik_]

If the temps are normal it could be a software problem. Open Task Manager in Windows and see what processes are running. Close them and then check if your computer speeds up.

If closing programs via Task Manager doesn't work, check if your RAM is overheating.

Just a friendly warning, but slow performance is a sign of a dying hard drive or solid state drive. Be sure to check for that too!

i can tell when i shut down google the cpu load goes down, but really google and other programs like this should not slow down a skylake cpu like this...

 

[photonboy]

How to test your CPU:

1. Intel CPU diagnostic: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

If you have any overclock that will disappear until the next reboot. If you are not running all cores, or the temperature or performance is bad this will tell you. If you get the green "PASS" after the short test then I wouldn't worry.

2. Task Manager:
You can have this up and running when the Intel test runs if you want.
a) open Task Manager (for W10, right-click Start... )
b) Performance-> CPU right-click and show all threads (four)
c) CPU usage in idle should be under 10%
d) Start Intel test, and after several seconds all four graphs should jump to about 100%

When the graphs go to about 100% our CPU speed should show roughly between 3.6 and 3.7GHz. (the max Turbo of 3.9GHz applies mainly to one core only under heavy load. The frequency drops slightly as more cores are added.)

*the "Speed" to use is right under the graphs. It normally fluctuates if Intel Speed Step (power saving) is on but should stabilize under heavy load to the appropriate Turbo value.

3) but... it's fine?
I suspect the CPU is fine, however you may have some other issue that is likely software related causing things to feel sluggish.

I don't have enough information to troubleshoot further.

*Don't rely on the INTERNET to judge your PC performance. Your network connection might be slow.

Overclock?
I wouldn't do that until you figure out what makes the PC sluggish, but I would go back to a stable overclock later. Maybe something like 4.3GHz for when all four cores are under load.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Again, google is a poor measuring stick for the answer you are trying to find. If you want to confirm or rule out CPU performance, then you need to use yardstick that measures CPU performance. Google doesn't do that and works hard to disguise exactly what it is doing. Bringing CPU utilization up from 30% to 100% won't help if the system is waiting on something else....especially if that's uploading or downloading data to / from Google servers or sites.

1. Would suggest searching on "[insert specific app name here] performance issues
2. Would suggest not using a Google app / search engine to perform that task.

 

[_MrLilNik_]

How to test your CPU:

1. Intel CPU diagnostic: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

If you have any overclock that will disappear until the next reboot. If you are not running all cores, or the temperature or performance is bad this will tell you. If you get the green "PASS" after the short test then I wouldn't worry.

2. Task Manager:
You can have this up and running when the Intel test runs if you want.
a) open Task Manager (for W10, right-click Start... )
b) Performance-> CPU right-click and show all threads (four)
c) CPU usage in idle should be under 10%
d) Start Intel test, and after several seconds all four graphs should jump to about 100%

When the graphs go to about 100% our CPU speed should show roughly between 3.6 and 3.7GHz. (the max Turbo of 3.9GHz applies mainly to one core only under heavy load. The frequency drops slightly as more cores are added.)

*the "Speed" to use is right under the graphs. It normally fluctuates if Intel Speed Step (power saving) is on but should stabilize under heavy load to the appropriate Turbo value.

3) but... it's fine?
I suspect the CPU is fine, however you may have some other issue that is likely software related causing things to feel sluggish.

I don't have enough information to troubleshoot further.

*Don't rely on the INTERNET to judge your PC performance. Your network connection might be slow.

Overclock?
I wouldn't do that until you figure out what makes the PC sluggish, but I would go back to a stable overclock later. Maybe something like 4.3GHz for when all four cores are under load.

Great news i have passed the cpu test but i still need to find the problem could it be a software problem or motherboard problem etc.?

 

[photonboy]

Just FYI:
1. A bad motherboard or CPU don't usually make your performance simply slower. They usually cause freezing, BSOD, crash or similar.

2. Unless the CPU is being thermally throttled I doubt it's a CPU issue. Again, the Intel diagnostic should rule that out. The fact that the CPU can run at its rated speed for all four cores also verifies the CPU is working.

3. If not hardware, then likely it's a SOFTWARE issue. Thus, you need to isolate.
a) INTERNET, or
b) PC itself

If games and testing shows the hardware generally okay, then it might be a specific browser issue. You can try EDGE, Firefox, Chrome to do the same thing and see how they perform. I've had issues with Chrome, but also issues where my INTERNET is sluggish (an external issue).

4) NETWORK SPEED:
Here's another test. Type in "SPEED TEST" or use one you know to find a network bandwidth. I'm on the low end but get 10Mbps for downloads. I just had a slow-down and for a while got only .39Mbps (25x slower) but the next day everything was fine.

5) Valley, and other game benchmarks:
Unigine Valley and other similar benchmarks are pretty handy as they test the CPU and GPU. Try at least two, write down the results, and make sure they match later. Pick one with CPU included (some like Unigine Valley are more towards the GPU).

Again though, the Intel diagnostic should be fine. I do the above more towards ensuring my GPU and video drivers are generally okay.

6) Still stumped?
If you just can't figure it out, then I'm guessing it's some software issue. Being "sluggish" for browsing but it NOT being a network issue is probably pretty rare but let's assume it's a software issue.

If Windows 10 you can then investigate:
a) System RESTORE POINT (rollback prior to issue)
b) In-Place Upgrade (basically installs W10 over top of most of W10's core code)
c) reinstall W10 completely

Anyway, I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction.

 

[photonboy]

update:
Glad CPU passed.

As per above, you need to isolate first to see if it's specific to the NETWORK or not. I'd start with trying the MS EDGE browser and see how that works if you have W10.

*Please note you have not clearly stated what the problem is. What do you mean by slow?

Are web pages coming in slow? Videos only?

If so, that's all likely an issue with your ISP (Internet Server Provider) and may be temporary. If it is network, but on your end then other computers should experience the same problem. It's unlikely though, since in my experience routers tend to fail not really slow down suddenly.

 

[_MrLilNik_]

Just FYI:
1. A bad motherboard or CPU don't usually make your performance simply slower. They usually cause freezing, BSOD, crash or similar.

2. Unless the CPU is being thermally throttled I doubt it's a CPU issue. Again, the Intel diagnostic should rule that out. The fact that the CPU can run at its rated speed for all four cores also verifies the CPU is working.

3. If not hardware, then likely it's a SOFTWARE issue. Thus, you need to isolate.
a) INTERNET, or
b) PC itself

If games and testing shows the hardware generally okay, then it might be a specific browser issue. You can try EDGE, Firefox, Chrome to do the same thing and see how they perform. I've had issues with Chrome, but also issues where my INTERNET is sluggish (an external issue).

4) NETWORK SPEED:
Here's another test. Type in "SPEED TEST" or use one you know to find a network bandwidth. I'm on the low end but get 10Mbps for downloads. I just had a slow-down and for a while got only .39Mbps (25x slower) but the next day everything was fine.

5) Valley, and other game benchmarks:
Unigine Valley and other similar benchmarks are pretty handy as they test the CPU and GPU. Try at least two, write down the results, and make sure they match later. Pick one with CPU included (some like Unigine Valley are more towards the GPU).

Again though, the Intel diagnostic should be fine. I do the above more towards ensuring my GPU and video drivers are generally okay.

6) Still stumped?
If you just can't figure it out, then I'm guessing it's some software issue. Being "sluggish" for browsing but it NOT being a network issue is probably pretty rare but let's assume it's a software issue.

If Windows 10 you can then investigate:
a) System RESTORE POINT (rollback prior to issue)
b) In-Place Upgrade (basically installs W10 over top of most of W10's core code)
c) reinstall W10 completely

Anyway, I hope this gets you pointed in the right direction.

I will run benchmarks, and i forgot to mention i do not have a gpu i use intels internal gpu inside the cpu

 

[_MrLilNik_]

update:
Glad CPU passed.

As per above, you need to isolate first to see if it's specific to the NETWORK or not. I'd start with trying the MS EDGE browser and see how that works if you have W10.

*Please note you have not clearly stated what the problem is. What do you mean by slow?

Are web pages coming in slow? Videos only?

If so, that's all likely an issue with your ISP (Internet Server Provider) and may be temporary. If it is network, but on your end then other computers should experience the same problem. It's unlikely though, since in my experience routers tend to fail not really slow down suddenly.

I would say the i can tell the PC is not running as smooth as it used to be like i said opening programs its just hard to explain and this all happened after i failed to overclock my PC that is why i was worried it was the CPU.

 

[photonboy]

update:
Glad CPU passed.

As per above, you need to isolate first to see if it's specific to the NETWORK or not. I'd start with trying the MS EDGE browser and see how that works if you have W10.

*Please note you have not clearly stated what the problem is. What do you mean by slow?

Are web pages coming in slow? Videos only?

If so, that's all likely an issue with your ISP (Internet Server Provider) and may be temporary. If it is network, but on your end then other computers should experience the same problem. It's unlikely though, since in my experience routers tend to fail not really slow down suddenly.

I would say the i can tell the PC is not running as smooth as it used to be like i said opening programs its just hard to explain and this all happened after i failed to overclock my PC that is why i was worried it was the CPU.

I can't work with "its just hard to explain" however. I need specific details.

So if your CPU is passing the Intel test, and Task Manager reports four graphs at roughly the correct frequency I don't see how it can possibly be the CPU.

It really does sound like some software issue, but I don't know what else to suggest other than the RESTORE/Reinstall suggestions I did before.

Slow performance suggest a failing SSD or HDD?
It's possible. You can run diagnostics as well as performance tests though. I doubt an SSD would fail in a way that is that noticeable without freezing or crashing.

*You can sometimes have a failing device or driver issue that causes a sluggish system like you suggest.

OTHER:
*I'm pretty much stumped. The only other thing I can currently think of is to make sure you have enough VRAM assigned to the iGPU. I would assign at least 256MB. If you do light gaming bump that to 1024MB.

So let's CONFIRM a few things:
1) BIOS set CPU to default settings
2) enable "XMP" in the BIOS
3) set VRAM usage to at least 256MB in the BIOS
4) UNHOOK secondary drives, other USB etc. Anything not needed to run Windows then boot back up.

5) use Microsoft EDGE instead of Google
6) run diagnostics on system drive (see SSD/HDD manufacturer... not impossible but I doubt this is the issue)
7) Stumped still?
a) use SYSTEM RESTORE and jump back prior to your issue (if you have a Restore Point made prior to this). Note any programs that are affected in case you need to reinstall them.
b) In-place upgrade?
c) last resort: reinstall everything

**You can also consider:
1) Shut down, UNHOOK all drives. Then get a spare SSD or HDD (60GB or higher) and install Windows 10 cleanly but don't bother to Activate it. Just let it finish and see if things run smoothly.

2) You can alternatively try a Linux USB stick if you have one handy. Not ideal, but for example you can burn Linux Mint 64-bit:
a) download the ISO
b) use RUFUS to create the image on USB
c) shut down PC and unhook ALL SSD and HDD
d) boot to USB
e) Test browser (Firefox?). It should work pretty well.

Again, I'd do Windows on a spare drive preferably but I'm running out of things to suggest.

 

[_MrLilNik_]

update:
Glad CPU passed.

As per above, you need to isolate first to see if it's specific to the NETWORK or not. I'd start with trying the MS EDGE browser and see how that works if you have W10.

*Please note you have not clearly stated what the problem is. What do you mean by slow?

Are web pages coming in slow? Videos only?

If so, that's all likely an issue with your ISP (Internet Server Provider) and may be temporary. If it is network, but on your end then other computers should experience the same problem. It's unlikely though, since in my experience routers tend to fail not really slow down suddenly.

I would say the i can tell the PC is not running as smooth as it used to be like i said opening programs its just hard to explain and this all happened after i failed to overclock my PC that is why i was worried it was the CPU.

I can't work with "its just hard to explain" however. I need specific details.

So if your CPU is passing the Intel test, and Task Manager reports four graphs at roughly the correct frequency I don't see how it can possibly be the CPU.

It really does sound like some software issue, but I don't know what else to suggest other than the RESTORE/Reinstall suggestions I did before.

Slow performance suggest a failing SSD or HDD?
It's possible. You can run diagnostics as well as performance tests though. I doubt an SSD would fail in a way that is that noticeable without freezing or crashing.

*You can sometimes have a failing device or driver issue that causes a sluggish system like you suggest.

OTHER:
*I'm pretty much stumped. The only other thing I can currently think of is to make sure you have enough VRAM assigned to the iGPU. I would assign at least 256MB. If you do light gaming bump that to 1024MB.

So let's CONFIRM a few things:
1) BIOS set CPU to default settings
2) enable "XMP" in the BIOS
3) set VRAM usage to at least 256MB in the BIOS
4) UNHOOK secondary drives, other USB etc. Anything not needed to run Windows then boot back up.

5) use Microsoft EDGE instead of Google
6) run diagnostics on system drive (see SSD/HDD manufacturer... not impossible but I doubt this is the issue)
7) Stumped still?
a) use SYSTEM RESTORE and jump back prior to your issue (if you have a Restore Point made prior to this). Note any programs that are affected in case you need to reinstall them.
b) In-place upgrade?
c) last resort: reinstall everything

**You can also consider:
1) Shut down, UNHOOK all drives. Then get a spare SSD or HDD (60GB or higher) and install Windows 10 cleanly but don't bother to Activate it. Just let it finish and see if things run smoothly.

2) You can alternatively try a Linux USB stick if you have one handy. Not ideal, but for example you can burn Linux Mint 64-bit:
a) download the ISO
b) use RUFUS to create the image on USB
c) shut down PC and unhook ALL SSD and HDD
d) boot to USB
e) Test browser (Firefox?). It should work pretty well.

Again, I'd do Windows on a spare drive preferably but I'm running out of things to suggest.

Hey sorry its been a while so i ran a few benchmarks and compared with others ,and i scored very poorly and i have also reinstalled windows 10 what do you suggest i do next as i am certain there is a flaw in my system...
*I will try to reinstall everything next week*

 

[amtseung]

The flaw is probably the integrated GPU. More exactly, how your system splits available system memory to act as VRAM.

If your system doesn't have enough RAM, attempting to split it further means neither CPU nor GPU have enough memory to work with, making everything slow, as all the information is either being constantly flushed to your hard drive as the windows page file, or flushed and cleared and rewritten again and again. If you have 8gb+ of system memory, make sure you've divided it up properly. I'd give the video portion 2048mb (2GB) just to be safe, even if it doesn't exactly need it.

We don't know how much RAM you have, or what motherboard you have, or what power supply you have. We have no information.

The only other potential culprits at this point are a failing or faulty power supply, or drive. Bad power delivery can cause severe hiccups and slowdowns to an otherwise fast system. Swap out the power supply for one that is known working of adequate wattage, and see if the slowdowns don't go away. An SSD that's failing or not trimmed will write exponentially slower until it just... dies. An HDD that's failing might make weird noises, but will be sporadically fast/slow, until one day, it just doesn't spin anymore.

Here's what I think:
1.) Clean your drives. The Disk Clean-up utility in Windows will be just fine.
2.) Optimize your drives. Windows has a built-in utility for doing so.
3.) Run Windows Memory Diagnostic. If anything is wrong with your memory, this will tell you so.
4.) Check your hard drive's S.M.A.R.T. information. If your drives are dying, this might tell you.
5.) Check your CPU and motherboard temperatures. You can use Speccy or HWMonitor or something to do this.
6.) Physically inspect your system. Look for dust, fans not spinning, cables that are nicked or weirdly out of place, check behind the motherboard for possible shorts or obstructions, reseat your RAM and/or CPU, inspect the motherboard socket for bent or weirdly out of place pins. Give your system a good dusting and cleaning. Clear CMOS while you're at it.
7.) Give up and reinstall Windows on a freshly reformatted drive.

If this doesn't fix it, it's a definite hardware problem. Report back to us after you've completed all these steps. Let's save the Linux things for a last-ditch effort. An artificial slow-down with the CPU is going to make writing anything to a USB stick take a lifetime and a half.

Edit: If possible, download CCleaner, and run both the regular cleaner and the registry cleaner as step 1.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Great news i have passed the cpu test but i still need to find the problem could it be a software problem or motherboard problem etc.?

Not seeing a value here. I can go to the doctor and "pass a physical". It basically means I am alive and have no immediate health threats. It would not explain why i can no longer run a 4 minutes mile (yeah, like that's ever happened . But you might use a synthetic benchmark for 24 hours and pass .. and then run an application based multi-tasking test and fail.... or you might pass again but if your score dropped 20% , only now do you have a yardstick because you have a base score at which your system performed at one time and now you are running 20% slower... a "difference" has therefore been confirmed.

Once confirmed, it's time to start looking for causes, unplug ethernet cable and disable AV / malware programs... reboot and try again. Disable items that auto start when you boot a few at a time and then narrow it down. Each time run the application based benchmark and see if you return to your previous scores or at least get in the ballpark We have a site license for our AV solution; have one system that was taking 30-40 seconds to open every program. Once opened / closed, it will then open fine. All of the other seats are fine. Turning the AV off eliminates the problem. Not much of an issue as we don't reboot our systems often so it hasn't been a major issue. As a result I have kept putting "fixing it" on the back burner.... prolly attack it over the turkey holiday

You are trying to determine why you perceive the system to be running slower. This can only be accomplished by looking at before and after tests. Before trying to figure out what might be causing the problem, you need to determine if there is a problem.

Thermal throttling issues will cause such performance issues but these are easy to find. Run HWiNFO64 (sensors only) while running the application based benchmark / stress test and look for evidence of hi temps and throttling, Run Firmark next and use HWiNFO64 to identify any high GPU or VRM temps.

Look at possible failed software / driver issues. A registry cleaner is a great tool for this provided you make the decisions on what to fix. Never let such a utility make wholesale changes to your system, 'fix' only items that you can identify and confirm what they are. For example, if you see an entry for software that you no longer use and uninstalled, they nothing is gonna happen if you remove that entry. If you don't know what it is and can't confirm what it is via web search, leave it alone.

If crashes are happening then there's other tests worth performing (MemTest86+ for example)

For software related problems ....

a) try an alternate product (trial) ... with browsers, if Chrome isn't working try FireFox, if FF isn't working try IE. Check sysnfo and make sure that a 2nd exe is not running. I oft find when peeps have browser trouble, after ya close the program, look in TaskManager, there's another instance running.

b) also look at the list of processes running in Task Manager, identify which belongs to which programs and shut them down... don't shut down any windows processes tho. I noticed a problem on an IBM laptop i owned that one of the hardware components would stop working after installing an update to our backup software. Uninstalling did not solve the problem ... was difficult fix. Installing the next version that came out ... then uninstalling it, rebooting and reinstalling it worked.

But again, always make periodic "baselines" so you can compare perceived performance issues with said baseline and see if you actually have a problem

 

[_MrLilNik_]

Great news i have passed the cpu test but i still need to find the problem could it be a software problem or motherboard problem etc.?

Not seeing a value here. I can go to the doctor and "pass a physical". It basically means I am alive and have no immediate health threats. It would not explain why i can no longer run a 4 minutes mile (yeah, like that's ever happened . But you might use a synthetic benchmark for 24 hours and pass .. and then run an application based multi-tasking test and fail.... or you might pass again but if your score dropped 20% , only now do you have a yardstick because you have a base score at which your system performed at one time and now you are running 20% slower... a "difference" has therefore been confirmed.

Once confirmed, it's time to start looking for causes, unplug ethernet cable and disable AV / malware programs... reboot and try again. Disable items that auto start when you boot a few at a time and then narrow it down. Each time run the application based benchmark and see if you return to your previous scores or at least get in the ballpark We have a site license for our AV solution; have one system that was taking 30-40 seconds to open every program. Once opened / closed, it will then open fine. All of the other seats are fine. Turning the AV off eliminates the problem. Not much of an issue as we don't reboot our systems often so it hasn't been a major issue. As a result I have kept putting "fixing it" on the back burner.... prolly attack it over the turkey holiday

You are trying to determine why you perceive the system to be running slower. This can only be accomplished by looking at before and after tests. Before trying to figure out what might be causing the problem, you need to determine if there is a problem.

Thermal throttling issues will cause such performance issues but these are easy to find. Run HWiNFO64 (sensors only) while running the application based benchmark / stress test and look for evidence of hi temps and throttling, Run Firmark next and use HWiNFO64 to identify any high GPU or VRM temps.

Look at possible failed software / driver issues. A registry cleaner is a great tool for this provided you make the decisions on what to fix. Never let such a utility make wholesale changes to your system, 'fix' only items that you can identify and confirm what they are. For example, if you see an entry for software that you no longer use and uninstalled, they nothing is gonna happen if you remove that entry. If you don't know what it is and can't confirm what it is via web search, leave it alone.

If crashes are happening then there's other tests worth performing (MemTest86+ for example)

For software related problems ....

a) try an alternate product (trial) ... with browsers, if Chrome isn't working try FireFox, if FF isn't working try IE. Check sysnfo and make sure that a 2nd exe is not running. I oft find when peeps have browser trouble, after ya close the program, look in TaskManager, there's another instance running.

b) also look at the list of processes running in Task Manager, identify which belongs to which programs and shut them down... don't shut down any windows processes tho. I noticed a problem on an IBM laptop i owned that one of the hardware components would stop working after installing an update to our backup software. Uninstalling did not solve the problem ... was difficult fix. Installing the next version that came out ... then uninstalling it, rebooting and reinstalling it worked.

But again, always make periodic "baselines" so you can compare perceived performance issues with said baseline and see if you actually have a problem

Will completely reinstalling windows cross out that this is a software problem?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

That's a rather drastic step but if ya not getting anywhere, worth trying. When my kids were ... well kids, I did that every year between XMas an NYs as all the crap they installed / uninstalled left it a mess.... now youngest is 20 and I don't have to ..tho the 2 older ones sometimes do on their own. OTH, wifie's machine still gets the treatment, ...she seems biologically wired to click on anything that says FREE and can't hep it

My "start over" procedure was as follows:

1. Update BIOS

2. Prepare for Windows installation with USB tool
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/windows-usb-dvd-download-tool

3. Connect boot drive data cable to lowest numbered SATA port .... but don't connect:
-Ethernet cable
-SATA Data Cable for any other drives

4. Format C:\ and Install Windows to boot drive

5. Turn off Windows ability to install Hardware drivers
http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8013-windows-update-
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/82137-drivers-turn-off-automatic-driver-installation.html

6. Install all hardware drivers from original media in boxes See Item 7 below

7. Connect ethernet cable and run Windows Update till it stops doing anything

8. Install latest drivers for ALL hardware from manufacturers web sites. The reason we didn't do this in step 5 is 3 fold:
-Sometimes MoBo CD comes with licensed utilities with product key embedded and these are not on web site versions
-Its advisable to establish a working out of box conditions
-Sometimes newer drivers require latest Windows Updates

If you have a 2nd drive ....

9. Shut down and connect HD data cable to 2nd lowest numbered SATA port.

10. Boot to BIOS and make sure that SSD is the 1st boot device, if not fix it

11. Boot to Windows

12. Install RoG Real Bench. run each of the 4 benchmarks twice, 2nd score will usually be significantly better. If anal like me, record the individual scores and average the 2nd thru 4th scores

13. If also concerned about GFX, can run a cupla Unigine GFX bechies
http://unigine.com/en/products/benchmarks

14. If ya have the utility, make a system image that you can restore if anything goes south from here.

15. Install all software from original media (again this is only for where have embedded license codes match media). Of course, not needed for free stuff and if ya have electronic license / download keys can skip this.

15. Use the "check for updates" feature and bring all software up to date

16. May want to do 14 and 15 in bunches and repeat steps 12-14 after each bunch