PC randomly slow until power supply is unplugged

[grillm4ster]

Two times in the past month, after turning on my PC the system performs slowly. Opening programs takes a bit longer than usual and animations are very slow. No specific piece of hardware appears to be under a heavy load when observing them through MSI Afterburner or Task Manager.

Following a reboot, the PC remains slow. Once the power supply is unplugged (or cycled off/on through the button on the back of the power supply), the PC returns to normal behavior with no signs of any problems. I ran a memtest which reported no problems.

I'm worried this may be a sign of my motherboard slowly dying, but unsure how to diagnose the problem. I haven't made any notable hardware changes to the PC in the past 6 months.

Specs:
CPU - i7 860 (Overclocked to 3.35 GHz)
RAM - 12 GB (4x3GB) @ 1333 MHz (2GB RamDisk for Pagefile)
GPU - MSI R7 260X
HD's - WD Velociraptor / WD Black
MB - MSI P55M-GD45
Power Supply - Corsair GS 600

 

[tsnor]

Suggest the next time the PC is slow that you re-run the Window Experience benchmark set.

If all benchmarks take a hit then look for general problems (bad multiplier on CPU, slow clocks, etc.). CPU-z displays the current clock multiple and frequency.

If just one of the benchmarks is off (video or disk or ...) then that tells you where to look.

Good idea to compare and then report the "restart" vs. "power off". Restart would have reset your software, so this is probably not a software problem. Power off resets the low level MB, MB compontents like Audio, Video card, Disk controller inside the disk drive. Memory dimms would not see any difference, so this is probably not your memory.

Sometimes there is a known issue in hardware that is fixed but not widely advertised. Suggest you also update the BIOS on your MB and see if there is any BIOS for the Velocirapter.

Some BIOS on a post fail default to slow / safe timings to allow the boot to continue. Since your CPU is OC's when the system is slow see if you are STILL OC'd.

gl

 

[grillm4ster]

Suggest the next time the PC is slow that you re-run the Window Experience benchmark set.

If all benchmarks take a hit then look for general problems (bad multiplier on CPU, slow clocks, etc.). CPU-z displays the current clock multiple and frequency.

If just one of the benchmarks is off (video or disk or ...) then that tells you where to look.

Good idea to compare and then report the "restart" vs. "power off". Restart would have reset your software, so this is probably not a software problem. Power off resets the low level MB, MB compontents like Audio, Video card, Disk controller inside the disk drive. Memory dimms would not see any difference, so this is probably not your memory.

Sometimes there is a known issue in hardware that is fixed but not widely advertised. Suggest you also update the BIOS on your MB and see if there is any BIOS for the Velocirapter.

Some BIOS on a post fail default to slow / safe timings to allow the boot to continue. Since your CPU is OC's when the system is slow see if you are STILL OC'd.

gl

Sounds like a good idea. I'll look into that next time it happens. Thanks for the reply.

As far as the bios goes, everything is up to date. I'm also fairly certain it's not a HD issue, as I was able to copy large files between both disks at normal speeds.

 

[tsnor]

Good

"... I'm also fairly certain it's not a HD issue, as I was able to copy large files between both disks at normal speeds. ..."

Did you do this test while the PC was slow, or after it was working again? You are looking for a problem that is fixed by a power on reset.

I agree with you this is unlikely to be disk. With a mechanical disk you can usually hear the drive sounding different/odd if it is has problems.

 

[logainofhades]

I would be concerned that it is cpu temp, causing the CPU to throttle. When you do a restart, the CPU doesn't really have a chance to cool off any. Shutting it down, when you unplug the PSU, gives it a chance to cool off.