[SOLVED] Sudden stuttering, possible hardware issue? Need help!

[Patrick Baron]

Trying to determine if a specific piece of hardware has been causing my issues.
PC specs:

Z97MX- Gaming 5 motherboard with
Intel Core i7-4790K (motherboard is about 5-6 years old)
16gb Ram
Geforce GTX 1070 Ti (card is relatively new, a little over a year)

C: drive is Samsung SSD 850 120GB
(came with pc, 5-6 years old)

D: drive Samsung SSD 860 1TB
(had for about 4ish months)

PSU is someting like a 850W

So since I got the PC back 5-6 years ago, one recurring issue has been on powering it on, sometimes the PC will just sit powered on but not display anything and doesnt respond to any input devices/commands. I don't believe its the graphics card as it has been recurring even when I upgraded from my old card. This isnt my main issue though, as restarting the PC usually solves it and everything works as normal. However with my recent problems this issue has also gotten worse. I find myself having to restart many, many times before it will finally load to the login screen. I've also had it pop up a few times on booting up asking if I want to repair disk errors, which does nothing as it just says "can't fix error" or "error not detected"

My main recent issue (about 3-4 weeks now) is everything stuttering/functioning like its going at 10fps. Its not limited to any application, it's the whole PC. Loading in after initial login, the screen stutters as it loads icons. Web browsers take a while to open and load pages (sometimes freezes up for a period of 10 seconds or so). Sites like Netflix and Youtube have trouble loading videos, stutter trying to buffer the videos. Other applications like windows explorer, steam also stutter or momentarily freeze up when loading or going through file paths. Games that used to easily run 60fps now run anywhere between 10-40 fps (usually closer to the former). Tested on multiple games.
I've tried using some basic hardware diagnostic tools, but they don't detect any issues.

As someone who isn't particularly tech savvy, i'm at my wits end trying to figure out the issue here. Any help would be appreciated, I can provide more information if needed.

 

[Phaaze88]

1)You got the PC back 5-6 years ago, from?

2)Cpu and gpu temps?

3)Since you have 2 Samsung drives, are you using Samsung Magician? Use it to check the operating temps and the health of both drives.

 

[Patrick Baron]

1)You got the PC back 5-6 years ago, from?

2)Cpu and gpu temps?

3)Since you have 2 Samsung drives, are you using Samsung Magician? Use it to check the operating temps and the health of both drives.

• Yes, late 2014 I believe was when I got it, bought from NCIX before they shut down.
• GPU is sitting at around 40 C and CPU around 80-90 C, CPU being way hotter than it should be considering i'm not running anything.
• Magician is saying they're both normal temp and health is good.
• Don't know if its relevant, but checked with CPU being so hot, fan seems to be running fine, has a closed water cooling system or whatever you call it. Not sure if its functioning properly.

 

[Phaaze88]

Those cpu temps are beyond normal. The cooler needs to be replaced - assuming the pump was mounted properly. The pumps in these devices are good from like 2-7 years depending.
Now, whether you want to replace the cooler with another liquid model, or go air instead...

 

[Patrick Baron]

Those cpu temps are beyond normal. The cooler needs to be replaced - assuming the pump was mounted properly. The pumps in these devices are good from like 2-7 years depending.
Now, whether you want to replace the cooler with another liquid model, or go air instead...

I've heard air is far less effective than liquid, assuming the liquid cooler is properly maintained, how true is that?
Also i'm wondering, if the CPU is getting that hot shortly after booting up, is the issue just with the cooling or the CPU itself. I'm definitely not doing anything that should be heating it up like that, and looking through task manager there isn't anything running that would be working it to that degree.

 

[Phaaze88]

I've heard air is far less effective than liquid, assuming the liquid cooler is properly maintained, how true is that?

As a thermal medium, liquid is superior and does transfer more efficiently than air.
As for the coolers themselves, it's not so cut and dry; they both have their pros and cons.

Also i'm wondering, if the CPU is getting that hot shortly after booting up, is the issue just with the cooling or the CPU itself. I'm definitely not doing anything that should be heating it up like that, and looking through task manager there isn't anything running that would be working it to that degree.

If you didn't do ANYTHING to the cpu - whether in bios or whatever - then it's not the cpu.
Again, assuming the cooler is properly mounted, and you already removed the old thermal paste and applied new:
-a clogged pump traps heat in the cpu block because the liquid flow is being restricted. They get clogged over time - most were not designed to be cleaned out. You keep the fans and toss the rest out.
-the pump isn't invulnerable. It breaks down over time, shatters/breaks, and the liquid can no longer move. Keep the fans and toss the rest out.

 

[Patrick Baron]

As a thermal medium, liquid is superior and does transfer more efficiently than air.
As for the coolers themselves, it's not so cut and dry; they both have their pros and cons.


If you didn't do ANYTHING to the cpu - whether in bios or whatever - then it's not the cpu.
Again, assuming the cooler is properly mounted, and you already removed the old thermal paste and applied new:
-a clogged pump traps heat in the cpu block because the liquid flow is being restricted. They get clogged over time - most were not designed to be cleaned out. You keep the fans and toss the rest out.
-the pump isn't invulnerable. It breaks down over time, shatters/breaks, and the liquid can no longer move. Keep the fans and toss the rest out.

Yep, you nailed it. Got a new cooler, temperature is sitting around 30-40 again and everything is running great. Didn't realize how big an impact cooling can have, learned something new.
Thank you for the replies and advice!

 

[Phaaze88]

Nice! Have fun!