Slow computer unknown reason?

[Ollie Hunt]

So my pc specs are

intel i5 6500
EVGA Gtx 1060 6gb
8GB corsair ddr4 2133mhz

for quite a while now ive noticed a big lack of performance from my pc whilst playing games , ive wiped my os and reinstalled it twice now over the times and it temporarily fixes the issue but after about 2 or 3 weeks the bad performance comes right back.

When im playing game like arma 3 and tab out to check my task manager i see that my memory is between 60-80 percent usage and sometimes my hard drive is at 99 percent usage, and when im just on my desktop with no major apps running my memory is about 30 percent , my best guess is that theres a problem with my RAM and its causing my CPU to use virtual memory but im not sure.

My friends play the same games as me and do the same things with 8GB of ram and there fine .

considered i have a pretty good graphics card and decent CPU i should be getting decent frames on decent settings but im simply not.

Please help me

 

[tracyfearson]

If your hard drive is at 99 percent usage, look there. Suggested steps:

1. Benchmark your hard drive - this will let you know if anything is out of expected rates
2. Look for processes that might be using your hard drive when you are gaming. Background processes don't just leach processor speed, they can leach HDD speed too. especially background bitorrents etc..
3. If you are serious about gaming, het and SSD. It makes a lot of games a lot more fun than a HDD.
4. Are you capturing video while playing?

 

[Ollie Hunt]

If your hard drive is at 99 percent usage, look there. Suggested steps:

1. Benchmark your hard drive - this will let you know if anything is out of expected rates
2. Look for processes that might be using your hard drive when you are gaming. Background processes don't just leach processor speed, they can leach HDD speed too. especially background bitorrents etc..
3. If you are serious about gaming, het and SSD. It makes a lot of games a lot more fun than a HDD.
4. Are you capturing video while playing?

How would i bench mark my HDD? and no im not capturing videos.
erm just a question do you know if my OS (Windows 8.1) be a problem as ik not many people use windows 8.1?

 

[Aeacus]

To know if you have any issues with your system, you can run the UserBenchmark test and post the results link here,
link: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Software

I use it to look out for underperforming hardware within my system.

 

[caledbwlch]

Go to userbenchmark.com and benchmark your computer and send us a link to the results page.

 

[Ollie Hunt]

Go to userbenchmark.com and benchmark your computer and send us a link to the results page.

http://www.userbenchmark.com/UserRun/8497721

 

[Aeacus]

Hardware wise, your system doesn't have major issues, except the RAM which is a bit underperforming, most likely due to the software issues you have. Adding 2nd stick of 8GB 2133 Mhz RAM would fix the RAM issues on hardware level since at that point, your RAM would run in dual-channel which is both faster and more beneficial too all programs (including games), not to mention that your system has more RAM to go by.

To see which programs hog your system resources, download and run Process Explorer,
link: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

Guide on how to understand it,
link: https://www.howtogeek.com/school/sysinternals-pro/lesson2/

Look out for any programs that have either high CPU usage and/or take up nice part of your RAM.

 

[caledbwlch]

Ok, you should look at what you are running in the background. It should be below 10% for the benchmark. You could squeeze more out of your GPU with afterburner, but overall it looks good there. You'll see a huge increase in system response with an SSD; you can get a 120GB for about $35 these days (name brand Kingston, not junk) and at least run your important stuff off that. You need to look at what is using up your disk time. Not knowing what it is, you might want to run the Windows Update repair tool. I've seen that cause high disk utilization. Here is some stuff to look at for that:
https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/100-disk-usage-windows-10-fixed/

The biggest issue I see from your benchmark is your memory. You are running a single 8GB module, and would have been better off with two 4GB modules which would double your memory bandwidth.

 

[Ollie Hunt]

Ok, you should look at what you are running in the background. It should be below 10% for the benchmark. You could squeeze more out of your GPU with afterburner, but overall it looks good there. You'll see a huge increase in system response with an SSD; you can get a 120GB for about $35 these days (name brand Kingston, not junk) and at least run your important stuff off that. You need to look at what is using up your disk time. Not knowing what it is, you might want to run the Windows Update repair tool. I've seen that cause high disk utilization. Here is some stuff to look at for that:
https://www.drivereasy.com/knowledge/100-disk-usage-windows-10-fixed/

The biggest issue I see from your benchmark is your memory. You are running a single 8GB module, and would have been better off with two 4GB modules which would double your memory bandwidth.

if i chose to purchase another stick of 8GB DDR4 corsair RAM would it work fine?is it as simple as just putting another stick in?

i will look into getting an SSD

 

[Aeacus]

For best compatibility, go with the same part number RAM that you already have.

Though, there's always a chance that two single sticks won't work together. Here's why:
When RAM DIMMs are made, they are tested with each other and those sticks that get along well are put into sets. First set to be made is the set of 8 RAM sticks and sold as 8x RAM sticks in a set. If the set of 8 doesn't work, it's divided into half which makes up two sets of 4. If the 4x RAM sticks do work together, the are sold as 4x RAM sticks in a set. But if the set of 4 doesn't work, it's again divided into half, making two sets of 2. Two RAM sticks that work well with each other are sold as 2x RAM sticks in a set. Those RAM sticks that doesn't want to work together at all are sold as single RAM sticks.
Not to discourage you but i feel it's important that you know that.

For example, in my Skylake build (full specs with pics in my sig), i 1st bought set of 2x RAM sticks and after some time (7 months), i bought the 2nd set of 2x RAM sticks. While there's always a chance that i couldn't get them all running as a set of 4, i went with the exact make, model and part number as my 1st set of 2 to minimize compatibility issues. Luckily, i got all 4x RAM sticks working together without issues and i didn't have to do nothing special to get them working. I just inserted the RAM DIMMs into their slots and all worked off the bat.

As far as SSDs go, Samsung 850 Evo is one of the best SSDs out there to go for due to it's superb performance among 2.5" SATA SSDs,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/FrH48d,3kL7YJ,RbvZxr,9Q7CmG/

I have Samsung 850 Evo (500GB) as an OS drive inside my Haswell build, while my Skylake build has Samsung 960 Evo (500GB) as an OS drive.