Question Slow computer due to cpu.

[shamushamu]

So... this is going to be a long one, because 1. I only BELIEVE it's due to the cpu. and 2. I've done.... a lot of things.

So let's start with the basics. I have an old pc I built in 2014. It has a 4 core intel i5 4690k as it's processor. GPU is GTX 970. The cpu/gpu usage doesn't go up to high, especially since I don't use it to run any particularily intensive games. 10-20%.
I have recently completely formatted my PC, before updating it to windows 10. However, after formatting it my PC seems to be even slower than before. I guess the kicker is that it runs games faster now, but trying to open a browser can take 5-10 seconds. It even lags while using paint!

So what I know for sure is that.
One. The disk drive has no issues (viruses, anything of the sort.)
Two. The gpu works great. (Switched from cpu based streaming to gpu based streaming and it runs perfectly now.)

I had also cleaned out my PC before doing this. I had, in the past, had issues with my PC due to dust buildup, but it has since been removed. It might not have been the deepest clean, but it did the job.

So, from what I can tell, either my CPU usage is highly unoptimized for windows 10, or somehow my old CPU is just bad at running things. I guess of note is the fact that my PC boots nearly instantly, but opening stuff is where the issue lies.

I would honestly be ok just buying a new CPU if I knew for sure that the issue lied in the CPU. I'm about 90?% sure that it's the CPU, but that's not worth the hassle of updating unless I specifically need to.

So I guess my question is... is there anything I can do to either improve my CPU/know for sure what's causing these issues?

Edit: MSI Z97 GAMING 5 (MS-7917) Performance Results - UserBenchmark userbenchmark test for anyone that wants more info.

 

[alceryes]

This could be something that was loaded after you did the reinstall.
Please run a userbenchmark and post a link to the results.

Did you run the drive mfg. diagnostics on all your drives?

 

[Colif]

you sure the drive is okay? like above says, run tests on it. Drive more likely cause of slow down than CPU is.

CPU isn't going to only slow down loading things, if it were problem it wouldn't also be running things faster.
4690K isn't that slow, I had one just a few months ago. With an ssd it still felt as new as day I got it.

 

[shamushamu]

you sure the drive is okay? like above says, run tests on it. Drive more likely cause of slow down than CPU is.

CPU isn't going to only slow down loading things, if it were problem it wouldn't also be running things faster.
4690K isn't that slow, I had one just a few months ago. With an ssd it still felt as new as day I got it.

I do have an SSD, but it's possible it's not being used according to the test? I'm not entirely sure how I could load stuff onto it/not have it detected. But it seems like the issue is with both?

 

[shamushamu]

This could be something that was loaded after you did the reinstall.
Please run a userbenchmark and post a link to the results.

Did you run the drive mfg. diagnostics on all your drives?

MSI Z97 GAMING 5 (MS-7917) Performance Results - UserBenchmark
Here's a link, which I suppose is what I expected.

I'm not sure how to run drive mfg.diagnostics, I tried googling it but didn't get much in the way of what that entails. My drives should all be up to date though.

 

[alceryes]

What temp is your CPU hitting? There's definitely something wrong here.

 

[shamushamu]

What temp is your CPU hitting? There's definitely something wrong here.

Right now it's at about 25 degrees C. I'm having issues all the time, not just when I'm running games and I'm not sure what's causing it.

To add to this, I did have heat issues before, so it's possible that I've permanently damaged my cpu?

 

[alceryes]

...so it's possible that I've permanently damaged my cpu?

Yes.

Are you currently overclocking/overvolting anything?

 

[shamushamu]

Yes.

Are you currently overclocking/overvolting anything?

Not at all. From what I can tell that's the most likely scenario. Anything else I should do before I look for a new CPU?

 

[geofelt]

You have the ability to overclock your 4690K.
If you have not done so, you are leaving some 25% performance on the table.

 

[alceryes]

To make sure it's not anything getting installed, you could try a fresh Windows 10 install, without any additional drivers or programs, to see if your system crashes/freezes with a simple Prime95 blended run (with all AVX off).

 

[shamushamu]

To make sure it's not anything getting installed, you could try a fresh Windows 10 install, without any additional drivers or programs, to see if your system crashes/freezes with a simple Prime95 blended run (with all AVX off).

That was the first thing I did actually. I'm not too sure about the second option about prime 95, but I'll see if I can go about doing that. I'm leaning towards it being a hardware issue at this rate tbh.

 

[Zerk2012]

That was the first thing I did actually. I'm not too sure about the second option about prime 95, but I'll see if I can go about doing that. I'm leaning towards it being a hardware issue at this rate tbh.

Check your drive download from here.
SAMSUNG MAGICIAN

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

 

[shamushamu]

Check your drive download from here.
SAMSUNG MAGICIAN

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

www.samsung.com

Already have it haha.

 

[Colif]

Can you download and run Driverview - http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/driverview.html

All it does is looks at drivers installed; it won't install any (this is intentional as 3rd party driver installers like Driver Booster can install wrong drivers)

When you run it, go into view tab and set it to hide all Microsoft drivers, will make list shorter.

Now its up to you, you can look through the drivers and try to find old drivers, or you can take a screenshot from (and including)Driver name to (and including)Creation date.

upload it to an image sharing website and show link here

All I would do is look at driver versions (or dates if you lucky to have any) to see what might have newer versions.

Did you go to Gigabyte website after installing win 10 and make sure you have newest drivers?

just curious if it is a driver still.
not many hardware items would cause slow down entire system, apart from the storage - its why we all looked there.

your PC is what I had 4 months ago.. almost. replace the GTX 970 with a 980 and its almost same (I had Asus motherboard). Its not a slow PC, its likely just drivers.

Everything is running below expectations according to benchmark. Benchmark is reporting a missing ssd, not sure how that works.

 

[shamushamu]

Small update but I uh... bricked my PC while messing around with the insides. It no longer powers on so I think I might've seriously messed something up. So... I probably won't have anything useful worth posting for a few days.