I cannot figure out why my PC is so slow.

[lsquare]

I'm currently using the Core i5 750, 16GB of RAM, and Crucial M4 128GB SSD. I mainly use Adobe Lightroom and Google Chrome. About 2 weeks ago, I notice some performance issues with Chrome. I think it all started about 2 weeks ago when Google pushed an update to my computer. They've since pushed another Chrome update, but it doesn't resolve the performance issues that I'm currently experiencing. I normally have 40-60 tabs opened and I had never experienced any performance problems on my computer. So one day when Google Chrome updated, I notice some major lag on my computer. I closed all the tabs and restarted the computer. After loading up Chrome and there's only 1 tab opened, CPU utilization is in the double digits even with 1 tab opened. When I go to a website like ESPN, load up a video, and go full screen, it takes about a split second for it to go full screen instead of instantaneous like before. This had never happened before. After spending a few hours Googling the issue and going through MSCONFIG to see what's up, I couldn't find out what's causing this lag. I reformatted my computer and see if going through a clean install sorts out the problem. Nope. There is noticeable lag when using Chrome. It's like as if my computer is no longer fast enough to run Chrome. Again, this had never been a problem before. I don't know what's causing it. If it's hardware, could it be the SSD? Crucial doesn't have a tool for their SSDs so I can't try to do a force trim or any other optimization method. Although that doesn't explain why Google Chrome is causing CPU utilization to go into the high double digits (in some cases 50%) with 1-2 tabs opened. This is really frustrating and I'm hoping someone can help.

 

[lsquare]

Internet Explorer seems to be affected as well. Initially I thought this might be a Google Chrome thing, but there is noticeable lag with that browser as well. Not as bad as Chrome right now. In Chrome, I notice a half second lag when loading up a new tab. Web page loading is also slower. I don't believe it's my internet connection as my laptop and smartphone don't have any connection issues.

Adobe Lightroom seems to be running fine. I've been editing some pictures here and there and for the most part it seems fine. I am starting to suspect that this could involve hardware as it doesn't make any sense for both browsers to be showing this much lag. I've been using this machine for a while now and I've never had performance issues until about 2 weeks ago. I still can't figure out what's causing the problem. This is driving me crazy so I'm hoping someone can solve this for me!

 

[Cerb]

You have sites that use Flash loaded, right? I've been getting lags in Chrome and FF lately, and Flash being loaded seems to be the only common thread. If restart and never enable Flash, things seem to be fine, and then some time after Flash has loaded (even if it has been stopped, and not used another tab), they'll start freezing for split seconds at a time.

I've been wondering if it was just me or my Windows install, but I would say it started for me 2-3 weeks ago. My hardware newer and faster, but totally different (E3-1230V3, B85 chipset, 16GB 1600MHz, M500 480GB). You can use Resource monitor to easily check disk busy time, to see if the SSD is causing any problems.

 

[Ketchup]

I was noticing this over the weekend. Couldn't tell if it was just Flash or the laptop, but based on what you are seeing, probably Flash.

Question: what video card do you have lsquare?

 

[lsquare]

You have sites that use Flash loaded, right? I've been getting lags in Chrome and FF lately, and Flash being loaded seems to be the only common thread. If restart and never enable Flash, things seem to be fine, and then some time after Flash has loaded (even if it has been stopped, and not used another tab), they'll start freezing for split seconds at a time.

Yea because some desktop sites still require Flash. If Flash is the problem, then why didn't it affect me in the past? Keep in mind that my PC had no problem having 40-60 tabs opened. I would have ESPN on another screen showing the latest sports highlights. Now that's not feasible as Chrome is lagging.

I've been wondering if it was just me or my Windows install, but I would say it started for me 2-3 weeks ago. My hardware newer and faster, but totally different (E3-1230V3, B85 chipset, 6GB 1600MHz, M500 480GB). You can use Resource monitor to easily check disk busy time, to see if the SSD is causing any problems.

I was only speculating that it could be my SSD. I haven't see any evidence pointing to a specific component that's causing the issue.

 

[lsquare]

I was noticing this over the weekend. Couldn't tell if it was just Flash or the laptop, but based on what you are seeing, probably Flash.

Question: what video card do you have lsquare?

Radeon 6870, but I don't understand how my videocard could be part of the problem. Considering I had no problems with it prior to about 2 weeks ago.

 

[lsquare]

You have sites that use Flash loaded, right? I've been getting lags in Chrome and FF lately, and Flash being loaded seems to be the only common thread. If restart and never enable Flash, things seem to be fine, and then some time after Flash has loaded (even if it has been stopped, and not used another tab), they'll start freezing for split seconds at a time.

I've been wondering if it was just me or my Windows install, but I would say it started for me 2-3 weeks ago. My hardware newer and faster, but totally different (E3-1230V3, B85 chipset, 6GB 1600MHz, M500 480GB). You can use Resource monitor to easily check disk busy time, to see if the SSD is causing any problems.

Nope. I just tried it. I disabled Flash from within Chrome. Then restart Chrome. It attempts to reload the 15 tabs that I had opened. Massive lag and CPU utilization is 100%. I have a hard time believing that my PC is no longer able to run Chrome without lag.

 

[Cerb]

Maybe a performance regression? Chrome auto-updates in the background, and so does FF. Try a Chrome derivative, maybe, and see what happens (I like Comodo Dragon, myself). Your hardware is certainly capable.

 

[lsquare]

Maybe a performance regression? Chrome auto-updates in the background, and so does FF. Try a Chrome derivative, maybe, and see what happens (I like Comodo Dragon, myself). Your hardware is certainly capable.

No doubt. Like I said before, everything was fine up until about 2 weeks ago. I want to say this is exclusive to Chrome, but yet IE11 seems to be very slow as well too. I honestly don't know what's going on, but this is driving me crazy.

 

[lsquare]

So I downloaded FF and gave it a shot. Surprisingly, no lag. I only briefly test it so I can't say for sure it can handle 40-60 tabs without any issues. With 3-5 tabs opened, CPU utilization didn't go any higher than 40%. Even at 40%, there was no lag as the video loaded and went full screen. I would love to continue to use FF, but I want to stick with Chrome due to its tight integration with Google's services. Maybe this isn't a hardware problem, but rather Chrome. Again, I don't know why IE11 seems to lag as well. I'm surprised that no one else is really complaining of lag with Chrome.

 

[Ketchup]

If the lag comes back, completely uninstall chrome and flash and see if that solves it.

Oh, and to answer your question, Chrome and Flash can use your video card, so the better the card you have, the less you should notice it bogging things down, assuming flash didn't release a bad update. Of course, that could never happen, lol.

 

[corkyg]

. . . I want to stick with Chrome due to its tight integration with Google's services.

And therein lies the problem. That integration leads to PUPs and other malware candidates. many of which can slow your system as they take over.

 

[mfenn]

Chrome 36 enabled DirectWrite by default, which screws up font rendering pretty badly. Since it's a big change in the fundamental way that the screen is drawn, I can see how it could affect performance as well. Try disabling DirectWrite in Chrome and seeing if performance goes back to normal.