Stuttering speeds on Windows 7

[Trintar VIII]

Hi, I'm not quite sure if this is the right section, as I am unable to determine whether this is a Windows or a hardware problem. I have recently reformatted and re-installed Windows 7 and have noticed that my computer is very laggy or stuttery. What I mean is it will run at normal speeds, then when I try to do something very simple, like load a website or open a program, it will suddenly freeze up for anywhere from 2 - 20 seconds, sometimes longer. Then I will be able to freely do things for a while. I thought it was simply spyware or something of the sorts, but since my hard drive was cleaned before re-installing, I'm not quite sure what it could be. It is possible that my second hard drive could have something on it, I suppose, but my scanners (Vipre and Spyware Doctor) did not notice anything on either drive. I thought for a little while that it could be a hard drive problem, as my hard drive is getting fairly old.

I'm not quite sure what sort of information will be needed, but I'm more than willing to post pictures or anything of the sort that would be helpful. I appreciate any help offered!

 

[Route44]

One thing we definitely need is your hardware specs including make and model of your motherboad, make and amount of RAM installed, video card, make and wattage of your psu, etc. Include the security software as well.

 

[Trintar VIII]

Here's my hardware:

Motherboard: EVGA X58
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67 (8 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
RAM: G.Skill 4GB
Video card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 260
PSU: XClio 500w

Anti-Virus: Vipre Anti-Virus, definitions version 6346
Anti-Spyware: Spyware Doctor, database version 6.15060

Let me know of any other information you may need.

 

[Route44]

Thanks for the information. The thing that jumps out is your PSU. We have found again and again that psu's that come with a case, with a few rare exceptions, are garbage. Thus the question is is your system receiving the power it needs?

A faulty power supply can damage other hardware and with that beast of a cpu I would certainly make sure that psu delivers as advertised. Even if it didn't come with the case (those Xclio cases are decent offerings) I would want a recognized psu such as the excellent Corsairs.

Test your power supply by using a digital multimeter. I have a Craftsman that I got for $20 and it works very well. Radio Shack also has nice models.

*** Also, have you run a harddrive diagnosis.

 

[Trintar VIII]

Ah, that makes a lot of sense, thanks for your help. I will go out to the store tomorrow and pick up a digital multimeter. I had the psu from my last build and just carried it over to the new case/mobo/cpu. I knew I'd need to upgrade it, but I thought I could put it off a little longer. If power is an issue and it could damage my hardware, I will definitely have to check into that, as I spent a lot of money on that cpu . I have not run a hard drive diagnosis, though I can't say I'm sure that I know how to do that. I will poke around and figure that out until I get a chance to test my power supply. Thanks again for the help!

 

[Route44]

You're welcome. Running a harddrive diagnosis is not hard at all. Your harddrive manufacture will supply a free HD diagnostic utility. Burn it to a CD and run.

In the case of Seagate Seatools it can be used on several manufacture's drives. Beside my Seagates I've run it on Hitachi's and Toshiba's. It will NOT work on Western Digitals and WD's diagnostic utilities will only work on WD drives.

SeaTools is an ISO file. It runs like memtest in the fact that it must be present in your CD/DVD drive before booting up and it immediately engages a few seconds from a cold boot.

 

[ultragrey]

Ah, that makes a lot of sense, thanks for your help. I will go out to the store tomorrow and pick up a digital multimeter.

You can think about the ram alternatively.