Question Is my CPU slow? + Should i get a new computer?

brookwooddr

Commendable
Mar 20, 2017
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1,510
I bought my computer about two years ago. Its been getting slower and slower, but its finally catching up to where its been annoying me. My computer has a i7-7700, and a 1060 3GB. It has been relatively fine, but over the past three ish months, ive noticed loading websites/games has been slower, and editing videos has been borderline impossible. I installed Sony Vegas, but it was unusable because of the previews being at 1 frame ever 3 seconds (with no effects whatsoever. just a small video AND on the very worst quality preview).
Even Premiere pro (which i have used for about a year and a half) is almost unusable. cant preview anything on 1/4 quality. A lot of my peers say i shouldnt be having any problems. Im really thinking about getting a new computer, as ive been wanting one for a while. Just dont have the motivation to actually buy it. (just as a little side note: the fan stopped working for a while, but i had some compressed air, and that fixed it. but now sometimes (especially when starting up) it sounds like its struggling to keep at a certain speed. and that its just at a slow speed TRYING to speed up in little bursts.
 

ThatOneDude_21

Commendable
Oct 14, 2019
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1,525
Can you post your CPU temps? If you're having fan issues there is a good chance your CPU is overheating and thermal throttling itself. If that isn't the case, I would bet it's something to do with RAM. An i7-7700 should still be going strong today.
 

ben001

Distinguished
Hi! You are carrying a strong CPU and your GPU is still good to perform most tasks. For games, you may have to negotiate your graphic settings for newer titles. I would like to know your system specifications without accessories. As I am assuming something, but that depends on your answers. :)

Also, I would like to ask about the status of the storage you have installed inside your system and how they are configured ?.
 
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I bought my computer about two years ago. Its been getting slower and slower...

Adding to suggestions, since your hardware spec's seem adequate. You might benefit from some basic maintenance, both of hardware and software. Open it up and blow all the dust out with some 'canned air'. Carefully. And don't ignore the blades of the case fans.

And although Windows 10 is really very much better about keeping itself in good shape it's still possible to accumulate a lot of bloatware and other junk that slows it down. Clean it out if you can... if you can't and there's a lot that's accumulated maybe consider doing a clean re-install.
 

roryrocker13

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Sep 27, 2015
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Can you post your CPU temps? If you're having fan issues there is a good chance your CPU is overheating and thermal throttling itself. If that isn't the case, I would bet it's something to do with RAM. An i7-7700 should still be going strong today.
When was the last time you formatted your C drive, do you have an SSD as your C drive / drive you are trying to install things and use video playback with, before my rig died on me the other day I was editing 4k video on premiere with a gtx 780 and i7-4790k so your system is more than capable, from my experience especially with video editing as you end up filling drives quick with cache and video files, it could be this slowing down your playback and I would say it almost definitely is if your using only mechanical drives for the editing.

More importantly for premiere though is RAM, if your on 8GB then GLHF editing a video with any sort of speed, id assume you have 16GB but obviously idk... Get an SSD if you havent already got one, make it your main drive (install windows on it) and your away, at least try and format your PC now and again ik its hard with alot of footage I try and do it as little as possible but thats why its handy to only keep things you can re download on the main drive and videos ect on slower higher capacity drives then maybe have another quick SSD to move footage to just for editing (what I do)...

Oh and in Prem Pro and AE, try toggling CUDA to on (google will help) or off if it is already on, in theory having it on should be faster but not always the case.
 
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brookwooddr

Commendable
Mar 20, 2017
8
0
1,510
i have 16 gigs of ram, but i have premiere installed on my d drive because my C drive is a98% filled up. I have no idea how its that filled up even though because the biggest app is 500 mb, and theres only like 10 more that are over 200 mb.
 

ben001

Distinguished
i have 16 gigs of ram, but i have premiere installed on my d drive because my C drive is a98% filled up. I have no idea how its that filled up even though because the biggest app is 500 mb, and theres only like 10 more that are over 200 mb.
Let's come straight to the point. I would recommend two simple tips:

  1. Get a Ccleaner and they will help you to detect temporary, junk files, etc..
  2. Optimize & Defragment your HDD (If you have one) manually.

If those options are not enough for you, then have your backups and perform a clean format. That should be your solution. Still, if your problem exists then further troubleshoot options will be given to you. :)
 

brookwooddr

Commendable
Mar 20, 2017
8
0
1,510
Can you post your CPU temps? If you're having fan issues there is a good chance your CPU is overheating and thermal throttling itself. If that isn't the case, I would bet it's something to do with RAM. An i7-7700 should still be going strong today.
I looked at my max temp for today and it was 90 degrees celsius, Im guessing that was when i was rendering a video that i finally managed to finish. Right now my average is about 60 celsius.
 

ben001

Distinguished
That could be an issue too. Now you have conditions as your drive is getting filled up and on the other hand your CPU temperature rising, seems not good. I usually do these tasks every year like changing my thermal paste (once a year), proper dusting whenever it is needed (though it depends how long a system runs in a year), a routine check-up for my storages. I think you already received some ideas from viewers. I hope your problem solves quickly :)
 
C Drive almost filled is an issue as well....

You can often reclaim several GB of 'breathing room' by setting size of recycle bin/properties manually to only 3-4 GB or so..

A 7700, if using a factory 65 w TDP cooler, might benefit from a cleaning and reapplication of a small amount of thermal compound...(your temps were high, even for a marginal Intel cooler)
 

roryrocker13

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Sep 27, 2015
73
4
18,535
I would, re install windows, format your C drive, CCleaner is a good idea too... I would recommend picking up a cheap watercooler or similarly priced air cooler that fits your socket, cooler master 120 lite or something and some decent thermal paste, i like artics paste, not the best but for the money cant go wrong... Also why would your CPU be utilised so much if your using an Nvidia card you can change to using CUDA on premiere, its usually alot faster... oh and some dust cleaning in the meantime... to add, if your C drive is full you have barely any room for paging file, if youve got some spare cash id pick up an SSD and use that as your C drive seeing as premiere will be in there and save its cache in there for rendering ect and install programs on your current C drive (would then be a different drive label but im sure your following)... like a 240gb kingstone or something will do the job, just a cheapy 240gb
 
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