Moved PC and now Performance Drop

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Hi Guys... Hope you can help.

I recently moved my Computer from my apartment to my parents house for winter break and now my performance has dropped. Started a week ago on the 27th after the move.
I'll be able to play a game (Trainz, Skyrim, GTA, etc) for about a few minutes before the frame-rate starts to drop significantly. I have no problems doing anything else (Internet, Youtube, Netflix, AutoCAD, Photoshop, etc).

From the research I've done online, it sounded primarily like the RAM or GPU came out of alignment and is causing this performance drop.
I have re-seated both the RAM and GPU to which there was no change.
Could it be the CPU is out of alignment as well? Or is there something else I'm overlooking?

I've gone through ~11 similar moves in the past (since 2011) and have never had problems like this.

Specs:
Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3-B3 Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz
Liquid CPU Cooling System
8 GB [4 GB X2] DDR3-1600 RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GTX560 - 2GB
1TB HDD [32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s] - Primary Drive
1TB HDD [32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s] - Dedicated Trainz Drive
Windows 7 Home Premium, SP1 [64 Bit]
1920x1080 24" Monitor

Build is from back in September 2011, so hopefully she's not showing her age!

Best,
~James

 

[JCitron]

I would still investigate something loose and squish all the socketed components into the motherboard carefully.

In addition is your machine near the heat or is there anything blocking the vents? Additional heat can cause machines to slow down.

John

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Hi John.

I double checked and re-squished everything into the motherboard. It seems to have improved it a little, but the lagging issue hasn't fully gone away.

My machine is kept nowhere close to any heat source and nothing is blocking the vents (I learned that one the hard way on an old laptop of mine).

Any other ideas? Could the GPU itself be on it's way out?

Thanks for your help!

~James

 

[itareus]

I'm wondering if it's the RAM 'playing up' - have you tried checking the % of physical memory being used at first and then when things have slowed down ? Task Manager has the physical memory count at the bottom or you could use one of the many utilities.

Chris

 

[Driver_Col]

Any chance that your parents internet service level is less than yours? i.e. slower? Background programs may be taking longer to run and therefore draining resources to TS12?

 

[clam1952]

Liquid cooling........ I'd look at that and check that moving it hasn't perhaps created an airlock, also check it's seated properly on the processor.

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

I'm wondering if it's the RAM 'playing up' - have you tried checking the % of physical memory being used at first and then when things have slowed down ? Task Manager has the physical memory count at the bottom or you could use one of the many utilities.

Did some testing and note-taking...

Without Running Anything
CPU Usage: 0% - 1%
Physical Memory: 22% - 28%

Just Chrome (Youtube Video)
CPU Usage: 5% - 10%
Physical Memory: ~31%

Just Trainz 2012 (Build 61388)(DirectX) on a small custom route
CPU Usage: 38% - 68%
Physical Memory: 34% - 39%

Just Trainz 2012 (Build 61388)(OpenGL) on a small custom route
CPU Usage: 30% - 87%
Physical Memory: ~35%

Chrome (Youtube Video) & Trainz 2012 (Build 61388)(DirectX)
CPU Usage: 51% - 86%
Physical Memory: 38% - 41%

GTA IV (Steam)
CPU Usage: 40% - 87%
Physical Memory: 50% - 53%

AutoCAD 2013
CPU Usage: 10% - 15%
Physical Memory: 38% - 40%

The numbers don't seem too odd to me. Perhaps you see something that stands out?

Any chance that your parents internet service level is less than yours? i.e. slower? Background programs may be taking longer to run and therefore draining resources to TS12?

It's actually quite comparable. We both get about 25 Mbps down and about 5 Mbps up.

Liquid cooling........ I'd look at that and check that moving it hasn't perhaps created an airlock, also check it's seated properly on the processor.

I'll check for both those things as soon as I can.

Thank you so much for all your help guys!
~James

 

[itareus]

Assuming that when you say "Physical Memory: 22% - 28%" you mean that the memory usage is 22% when the system is running normally and 28% when it slows right down then the figures look fine.

Malc's suggestion may well be the one to follow up.

Chris

 

[LNERlover5]

May I suggest you also take a look at GPU utilisation as well as CPU and RAM. MSI Afterburner is the software you'll need to monitor it under load. This might not be the problem, however it is another variable to look at.

Jack.

 

[Thomas_The_Tank100]

Hi all, just a small update.

I ended up re-seating both the CPU and Liquid Cooling. Everything seems to work just fine now, and Trainz is running smoothly again. I guess something shifted out of alignment that I didn't catch, which was probably the Liquid Cooling.

I'm going to keep a very close eye on it over the next few days, just in case. With any hope, it all goes smoothly and nothing goes wrong (and I'll be able to finally get around to testing TANE!).

Thank you so much for all your help! It's all very deeply appreciated!

Best,
~James

 

[lewisner]

Hi all, just a small update.

I ended up re-seating both the CPU and Liquid Cooling. Everything seems to work just fine now, and Trainz is running smoothly again. I guess something shifted out of alignment that I didn't catch, which was probably the Liquid Cooling.

I'm going to keep a very close eye on it over the next few days, just in case. With any hope, it all goes smoothly and nothing goes wrong (and I'll be able to finally get around to testing TANE!).

Thank you so much for all your help! It's all very deeply appreciated!

Best,
~James

Could also be worth Defragmenting your hard drives if you haven't recently done so. I know it has been said a lot of times here but SSDs are becoming very cheap now and you can pick up a new 128Gb SSD for about £40 on Ebay. It would make your computer run lightning fast compared to those 1TB HDDs.