[Cthulhu]

Hello all! Having some issues with my recent install so any help would be greatly appreciated. So a few weeks ago my OC geforce 8800GT failed, about 3 years of use so not bad. At the time bought a cheap downgrade Radeon, and about a week after that returned it and picked up a geforce GTS 450 - 1024 MB GDDr5 pci-e 2.0 . Had no issues with the install, removed old drivers, also used driver cleaner and sweeper to make sure i didnt miss anything. installed new card, and within the week things started to slow down. First i noticed my internet browser (Google Chrome) was suddenly lagging up, especially trying to load youtube videos taking minutes instead of a second. then my games started lagging up, getting either massive lag spikes, or just straight lag and audio issues at startup on the games. at this point the load time for most of the games im playing is too long and i close it up. I'm curious if my PSU is possibly failing, its a delta electronics 400W model #DPS-400 RB A REV 01F. Hardware monitoring in BIOS gives ok voltages (+12V =12.02V ; +5V =5.15V ; 3.3V =3.313V) Also curious if my hard drive is failing, its a 500GB Seagate serial-6VM097CX model-ST3500410AS. I've run avast and malwarebytes looking for infections and found nothing. i've defragged drive and its good. i've double checked that the GPU is seated properly and it is. I've removed and reinstalled the GPU drivers. NO loud sounds coming from the rig, no loud fans, or lack of fans either. I'm about at the end of my knowledge with computers here and not sure how to proceed. at the moment i can barely surf the net, anything involving video takes forever to load. games are a no go, though perhaps minecraft? hehe As i said before any help would be awesome, if i need to buy a new hard drive or PSU thats fine but would definitely like to make sure it isnt some conflicting drivers or something i missed first! Thanks!

Specs:

windows vista 64bit home premium
4gb ram
400w psu
geforce gts450
intel core2 quad core 2.5ghz

Edited by Cthulhu, 29 September 2011 - 03:09 AM.

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Solved. Thanks for all the help GTG

So for anyone else who may encounter the same problem as me, here's what I went through to figure out the issue.

Problem : Old GPU(graphics card) burned out, installed new GPU and suddenly computer slowed down in all facets of use.

What I Tried : Slow computers are symptomatic of many common and uncommon issues. Essentially anything that could be wrong with your computer could cause it to slow down. First thing I tried was multiple scans from Anti-Virus and Malware scanners. Made sure that my computer was Not infected, and it was not. I've had a HDD(hard drive) fail on me once and it caused Everything to slow down also, so I downloaded programs that allowed me to check my HDD, made sure it wasn't overheating, and all scans came back healthy. Downloaded programs to check that all components were not overheating and that temperatures inside my computer were nominal, they were. Tried defragging my HDD to ensure everything was tip top. Downloaded programs such as Advanced Systemcare that allowed me to perform system optimizations and registry fixes, etc. Very useful program and Free! Tried physically cleaning the interior of dust and any other build up. Tried pulling out the newly installed GPU and "reseating" it to make sure it was completely and correctly connected to my MOBO(motherboard), and it was. Tried rolling back the driver to an older version, and conversely tried updating to the newest one. Made sure anytime I installed a driver for the GPU I performed a clean install, also using Driver Cleaner / Driver Sweeper together (In Safe Mode) to make sure there was nothing left to conflict, no conflictions and neither a new or old driver solved issue. In frustration thought about scrapping computer and buying new one Wife talked me out of it. Checked with multiple forum boards, and users from tech sites to my GPU brands website, and multiple times was pointed towards my PSU(power source) as the possible source of my problem.

What Worked : After being pointed toward my PSU I did some research. My PSU is a 400W delta electronics, built into my gateway gaming rig. I learned that after a few years a PSU can output quite LESS then it's meant to, meaning after about 3.5 years my PSU was probably putting out less then 400W of power. My newly purchased GPU, though stated on the box and by the help at the local computer store, stated that a 400W PSU is sufficient to run it. I assumed since I met the minimum requirements I should be fine. Wrong. After more research on my GPU online, I found it is more like a 450W minimum requirement. So not only was I not hitting the minimum but I was outputting much less then the Minimum. I downloaded an Overclocking program that was meant for my GPU, and used it to Underclock my GPU so that it was running on specs Lower then what it was set to out of the box. Sure enough Windows sped up, internet browsers no longer lagged and amazingly all games i was playing (Dead Island, Left for Dead 2 etc) were running perfectly on balanced graphical options. In the end it was a simple issue of not pumping out enough juice to power my computer, it struggled trying to power all components and slowed drastically in response.

Conclusion : Research is the key, and don't be discouraged by hitting dead ends. There are many places to find online help, but do not settle for one site, try multiple places. Follow all leads, eventually you'll find the problem. Also keep in mind that if you Just meet the requirements to run something, that doesn't necessarily mean you CAN run it. Take the age of your computer and it's components into consideration, if ever in doubt, UPGRADE! I went out and purchased a new Corsair 600W PSU, and some more RAM just because Installed the new PSU and now everything is running smooth and perfect. Possibly even better then before! So good luck with any issues you may encounter and I hope this post can be of some use to someone else. Cheers!

[Cthulhu]

Solved. Thanks for all the help GTG

So for anyone else who may encounter the same problem as me, here's what I went through to figure out the issue.

Problem : Old GPU(graphics card) burned out, installed new GPU and suddenly computer slowed down in all facets of use.

What I Tried : Slow computers are symptomatic of many common and uncommon issues. Essentially anything that could be wrong with your computer could cause it to slow down. First thing I tried was multiple scans from Anti-Virus and Malware scanners. Made sure that my computer was Not infected, and it was not. I've had a HDD(hard drive) fail on me once and it caused Everything to slow down also, so I downloaded programs that allowed me to check my HDD, made sure it wasn't overheating, and all scans came back healthy. Downloaded programs to check that all components were not overheating and that temperatures inside my computer were nominal, they were. Tried defragging my HDD to ensure everything was tip top. Downloaded programs such as Advanced Systemcare that allowed me to perform system optimizations and registry fixes, etc. Very useful program and Free! Tried physically cleaning the interior of dust and any other build up. Tried pulling out the newly installed GPU and "reseating" it to make sure it was completely and correctly connected to my MOBO(motherboard), and it was. Tried rolling back the driver to an older version, and conversely tried updating to the newest one. Made sure anytime I installed a driver for the GPU I performed a clean install, also using Driver Cleaner / Driver Sweeper together (In Safe Mode) to make sure there was nothing left to conflict, no conflictions and neither a new or old driver solved issue. In frustration thought about scrapping computer and buying new one Wife talked me out of it. Checked with multiple forum boards, and users from tech sites to my GPU brands website, and multiple times was pointed towards my PSU(power source) as the possible source of my problem.

What Worked : After being pointed toward my PSU I did some research. My PSU is a 400W delta electronics, built into my gateway gaming rig. I learned that after a few years a PSU can output quite LESS then it's meant to, meaning after about 3.5 years my PSU was probably putting out less then 400W of power. My newly purchased GPU, though stated on the box and by the help at the local computer store, stated that a 400W PSU is sufficient to run it. I assumed since I met the minimum requirements I should be fine. Wrong. After more research on my GPU online, I found it is more like a 450W minimum requirement. So not only was I not hitting the minimum but I was outputting much less then the Minimum. I downloaded an Overclocking program that was meant for my GPU, and used it to Underclock my GPU so that it was running on specs Lower then what it was set to out of the box. Sure enough Windows sped up, internet browsers no longer lagged and amazingly all games i was playing (Dead Island, Left for Dead 2 etc) were running perfectly on balanced graphical options. In the end it was a simple issue of not pumping out enough juice to power my computer, it struggled trying to power all components and slowed drastically in response.

Conclusion : Research is the key, and don't be discouraged by hitting dead ends. There are many places to find online help, but do not settle for one site, try multiple places. Follow all leads, eventually you'll find the problem. Also keep in mind that if you Just meet the requirements to run something, that doesn't necessarily mean you CAN run it. Take the age of your computer and it's components into consideration, if ever in doubt, UPGRADE! I went out and purchased a new Corsair 600W PSU, and some more RAM just because Installed the new PSU and now everything is running smooth and perfect. Possibly even better then before! So good luck with any issues you may encounter and I hope this post can be of some use to someone else. Cheers!