Motherboard vs VGA

[xiongie]

Recently, videos and games have been lagging the way they haven't been before, and I think it could be my VGA overheating, so I m thinking of switching to a new VGA.

By the way, I reformatted and cleaned, tried looking for spywares, malwares, but the lag was still there. I have 3gb of RAM too, so I dont think it should be the memory's problem. If anybody has a better explanation/solution of why this is happening it would help too!

Anyways, I m using a ASRock ConRoeXFire-eSATA2 and on the compatibility page, the highest VGA it lists is a GeForce 7900 GTX, and that's really kinda hard to find at this days. So I m wondering if I get something slightly higher, like a 9 series, will it run?

 

[wa1]

First of all, list your complete specs here...


Have you installed all of the drivers for your system?

 

[xiongie]

I m on SP3
ConRoeXFire-eSATA2
Pentium D 2.8GHz
2944MB RAM (2x 1GB, 2x 512MB)
DirectX 9c
Nvidia GeForce 7300GT (256mb)

and yes, I have installed all drivers for my system. @_@

HD5770>9800?
I m not too familiar when it comes to comparing ATi and Nvidia's VGA.

 

[wa1]

What do you mean by "lag" here?
lag when you are in desktop? browsing? playing music? games?

 

[xiongie]

Yea, lag everywhere, most noticable in games and videos. Games are starting to lag the way they didnt use to lag before, Videos too, used to be able to watch some videos, mostly .mkv files normally, but now they are lagging. Even on the desktop and browsing, typing and stuffs, they are showing small signs of lags. I used to be able to open a windowed game, a video and a few tabs of firefox browser without any problem. But now, closing everything else will not help the lag either. Just any single app will be laggy.

 

[randomkid]

How old is your HD? I would think that if it is too old, it might be causing some R/W errors that it still can recover but somehow cause it to slow down. Better back up your files now...

 

[xiongie]

My HD is about 4 years old?

Most likely software? What do you mean? I did kinda reformatted just recently, just to clean up the whole pc again to check if it helps the lag, but it didnt, that's why I thought it was more of a hardware problem. (I noticed the fan on the VGA I cleaned was kinda not as smooth as it used to be anymore, thus leading me to believe it could have overheated at some point, causing some damage on the VGA itself. But those are all speculations.

What are R/W errors? Wow.. you are really scaring me now >.<;

 

[xiongie]

Ookay.. @_@; So most likely isnt the VGA's problem?

So what are the problems in software that might be causing this? My first speculations was virus/spywares/malwares, and I tried several different antivirus to sweep but couldn't get anything, I decided to reformat after, and so far it looks kinda clean to me. Besides that? What else could it be?

 

[xiongie]

@_@; Well. Technically you are right, it was lagging before, it just got worse >.> Running on all low, 800x600 resolution for Borderlands, and it was still okay, but now, just the loading itself is real slow, and it lags. But most noticeable are the mkv video files, I used to be able to run mkv videos at 720p with no problems at all, even with a few background apps (games, firefox) but now it's just choppy.

So what are the problems that may cause the lag? and what can I do? (or should I be making a new thread for this question?)

Btw, I gave HD tune a go, and the health status for my hd is in yellow warning. @_@; Should I be really scared? and the damaged blocks are not repairable I believe?

 

[randomkid]

@_@; Well. Technically you are right, it was lagging before, it just got worse >.> Running on all low, 800x600 resolution for Borderlands, and it was still okay, but now, just the loading itself is real slow, and it lags. But most noticeable are the mkv video files, I used to be able to run mkv videos at 720p with no problems at all, even with a few background apps (games, firefox) but now it's just choppy.

So what are the problems that may cause the lag? and what can I do? (or should I be making a new thread for this question?)

Btw, I gave HD tune a go, and the health status for my hd is in yellow warning. @_@; Should I be really scared? and the damaged blocks are not repairable I believe?

That's what I meant when I advised you to back up your files. Reformatting does not help since they will be subject to the same R/W errors after the installation. 4 years on duty is already good time for a hard disk depending on your use. I suggest you back up your important files if any and try a new HD.

 

[xiongie]

Alright, so from what I get here is, that the lag is probably caused by my hdd? (But I have 2 hdd, will one yellow warning-ed hdd affect the whole pc to lag? It although, is where I installed my windows of course)

Though, whether or not the VGA is causing the lag, I think I will do the upgrade, though not to something that great, just probably a 4670 HD or a 9600 GT (Because I can't afford anything more D: )

It will go ok with my motherboard yea? What about my processor? Will only upgrading the VGA help with anything? or does the processor needs to be on par as well?

 

[randomkid]

^ With a Pentium D, I think you have to upgrade processor as well if you want to get better PC experience. But since your budget is limited, try to get the HD4670 and see how it actually plays. (Just make sure that your motherboard have a PCIe x 16 slot.)

You can always upgrade the CPU later when you save some more.

 

[xiongie]

Oh yea, speaking of which, could the Processor be the problem of the lag? Most unlikely I hope?

 

[randomkid]

Yes, it may. But you mentioned that your PC was okay before so I myself did not look a processor as the primary culprit. Your Pentium D 2.8Ghz is dual core, right? I read that it is a great overclocker. Have you tried overclocking?

 

[xiongie]

No, I don't know how to, is it safe? :O

 

[randomkid]

It is safe if you know what you are doing so try to learn it first by reading guides. But do not be discourage if those who write the Overclocking guide will tell you that it is risky. When you understand the principles and the things to watch out for, you will be safe. Here are starters:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/258573-29-black-edition-overclock-guide

It is for Core2Duo and Dual Cores but you can even search the internet for overclocking guide or discussion for your specific processor.

 

[xiongie]

Anyways, there's a new symptom (or old, since I just forgot to mention it)

Lately I decided to start work on Photoshop, and then, no surprise, it was lagging quite badly too. But what I noticed was, every time I painted a stroke, it lagged, and then there's whirring inside my cpu until the whole brush stroke is painted (lagged) out. So I decided to take out the casing and tried my best to listen closely, and it sounded like it is coming from my VGA more than it is coming from my HDD. So, is there still a possibility it's the VGA? or does the HDD usually makes whirring sound more than the VGA does? (It's really hard to tell which direction the whirring sound is really coming from >.<)

Another thing I m noticing is, the memory usage on the Task Manager has increased by quite an amount. Everything is taking up more memory than it used to.

So yea >.<; Reopening this thread and I need helps! D:

 

[randomkid]

On the task manager, check the application that eats up the most memory resource. You can do this by sorting it via ascending. Just click the "Mem Usage" column under the "Processes" Tab. Check if there is an application that eats up an unusually high Memory as it may be hugging the resources and causing it to lag. If there is, try to terminate it ( but research first what application it could be ).

 

[xiongie]

Yay, fixed!

Anyways the problem was neither the VGA nor the HDD. It ended up being a really silly problem >.<; It was because of thermal paste.

I removed the cpu's heatsink and fan for cleaning the other day, I was never aware that you needed thermal paste in between that and the processor, and I just replaced the heatsink and fan after cleaning without applying the thermal paste. Apparently Pentium D's are really famous for overheating, with or without the thermal paste, so yea, it really was the processor burning up. I got myself a thermal paste, applied it, and yea, lag is all gone. Hopefully my chip is not that badly damaged.

So yea, I have a new VGA now (yay! a 9600 gt) and a clean new install of windows on a new hdd as well! <3 Running smoother than ever!

 

[randomkid]

Yay, fixed!

Anyways the problem was neither the VGA nor the HDD. It ended up being a really silly problem >.<; It was because of thermal paste.

I removed the cpu's heatsink and fan for cleaning the other day, I was never aware that you needed thermal paste in between that and the processor, and I just replaced the heatsink and fan after cleaning without applying the thermal paste. Apparently Pentium D's are really famous for overheating, with or without the thermal paste, so yea, it really was the processor burning up. I got myself a thermal paste, applied it, and yea, lag is all gone. Hopefully my chip is not that badly damaged.

So yea, I have a new VGA now (yay! a 9600 gt) and a clean new install of windows on a new hdd as well! <3 Running smoother than ever!

Wow! A pentium D operates without a thermal paste? Really amazing...
Good that you found the main problem...

 

[xiongie]

Best answer selected by xiongie.