Question My computer

noscop3

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Oct 3, 2019
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So my computer is 3-4 years old,the only new part is my graphics card which is less than one year old.I would like to ask you guys what could be slowing my performance down the most.General specs below:
CPU:i5-6500 3.2Ghz
GPU:AMD Radeon rx 580 8GB
Motherboard:Z270
8GB RAM
if it's worth finding out what my SSD is I will
average 1TB HDD
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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It largely depends on what games and what resolution you play at. Some are CPU bound, others GPU bound. Being as you have a 580, and 1080p is your likely res, that places a bit more onus on the CPU than higher res. But, that is a fairly well balanced system imo. That said, an i7 would be a significant upgrade in situations where the quad core is under-performing and causing issues like stutter, due to bad frame rates and frame times. That's provided you can get the i7 at a good price. Otherwise I would just tweak game settings as needed, and save up for a new board, CPU, vid card, and 16GB of fast ram.

Some games, especially MP, are just going to perform poorly at times with a quad core. In 2015 a 6500k was being lauded as a great buy, going by average fps compared to the 7600k, particularly with overclocking involved. But some reviewers were already pointing out issues with stuttering on the i5, in some new titles of the day, that was not present on the i7.
 

noscop3

Member
Oct 3, 2019
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It largely depends on what games and what resolution you play at. Some are CPU bound, others GPU bound. Being as you have a 580, and 1080p is your likely res, that places a bit more onus on the CPU than higher res. But, that is a fairly well balanced system imo. That said, an i7 would be a significant upgrade in situations where the quad core is under-performing and causing issues like stutter, due to bad frame rates and frame times. That's provided you can get the i7 at a good price. Otherwise I would just tweak game settings as needed, and save up for a new board, CPU, vid card, and 16GB of fast ram.

Some games, especially MP, are just going to perform poorly at times with a quad core. In 2015 a 6500k was being lauded as a great buy, going by average fps compared to the 7600k, particularly with overclocking involved. But some reviewers were already pointing out issues with stuttering on the i5, in some new titles of the day, that was not present on the i7.
I'm definitely not going to replace my GPU anytime soon.I've thought about most of the things you said before,but what about my SSD?Could that be causing low performance in some cases?It's as old as my PC is,120GB and only 10GB free space.
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
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You can run utilities like crystaldiskmark and info if you are concerned the ssd has degraded significantly.
 

VirtualLarry

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Only 10GB free space could, in theory, cause stuttering, but I think that the most likely cause is that you simply don't have enough CPU cores to play modern games effectively. Consider a mobo + CPU upgrade, to maybe an i5-9400F (6C/6T Intel, 3.90Ghz all-core turbo clock), and a decent mobo.
 

noscop3

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Oct 3, 2019
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Only 10GB free space could, in theory, cause stuttering, but I think that the most likely cause is that you simply don't have enough CPU cores to play modern games effectively. Consider a mobo + CPU upgrade, to maybe an i5-9400F (6C/6T Intel, 3.90Ghz all-core turbo clock), and a decent mobo.
I looked it up and it says 2.9ghz
 

VirtualLarry

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I looked it up and it says 2.9ghz

Look on the right, under "Turbo clock".

2.90Ghz is the Base clock speed, not the all-core Turbo clock.
 

mxnerd

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Nowadays people open browser with a lot of tabs and play game at the same time, 10GB left on SSD probably will make memory swap difficult and slow down the PC when you consume a lot of memory.

Definitely a SSD upgrade to 512GB minimum.

Upgrade RAM to at least 16GB should also help.

Check your task manager's Processes & Performance & CPU usage info when you play games.
 
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noscop3

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Oct 3, 2019
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he right, under "Turbo clock".

2.90Ghz is the Base clock speed, not the all-core Turbo clock.
i'm not gonna bother overclocking things anytime soon,so if turbo clocking means overclocking nty.
Nowadays people open browser with a lot of tabs and play game at the same time, 10GB left on SSD probably will make memory swap difficult and slow down the PC when you consume a lot of memory.

Definitely a SSD upgrade to 512GB minimum.

Upgrade RAM to at least 16GB should also help.

Check your task manager's Processes & Performance & CPU usage info when you play games.
I'm definitely gonna get a new SSD,but idk about the RAM.
 

mxnerd

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I just checked my computer. Running nothing but Chrome with 12 tabs + some extensions and it already ate 6.2GB memory.

16GB RAM is absolutely minimum.
 

noscop3

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Oct 3, 2019
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I just checked my computer. Running nothing but Chrome with 12 tabs + some extensions and it already ate 6.2GB memory.

16GB RAM is absolutely minimum.
I don't know what you did,but I used to keep 10 tabs,now I do max 3,but I usually close my browser because I don't need it while gaming,I only need discord.Discord only eats 300MB,the game eats 900MB on average,1.5k MB at most,and that only gets it to 75% usage.So I think i'm good for now.
 

noscop3

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Oct 3, 2019
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I just checked my computer. Running nothing but Chrome with 12 tabs + some extensions and it already ate 6.2GB memory.

16GB RAM is absolutely minimum.
actually those are pretty cheap.Could you tell me how to check what kind of ram I have?
 

mxnerd

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actually those are pretty cheap.Could you tell me how to check what kind of ram I have?


1440384291-455993843.jpg
 

noscop3

Member
Oct 3, 2019
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1440384291-455993843.jpg
yeah idk what's wrong with that app but i tried every single slot and every single one is empty like so
1570354052559.png
 

noscop3

Member
Oct 3, 2019
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Memory tab should give you some basic info.

Try https://www.passmark.com/products/rammon/ then.

If still no info, probably there is no EEPROM chip on the memory module?

DIM_Web-top.png


Just pull the memory module out and take a look at the label.
memory tab just says 8GB
i tried rammon and it worked
1570368720887.png
so hold on a second there's 2 pieces of ram?that means I have dual channelled 8GB ram lol I had absolutely no idea it was dual channelled.Anyway what can you tell me about the clock speed?Is it decent for 2019?
 

mxnerd

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memory tab just says 8GB
i tried rammon and it worked
View attachment 11660
so hold on a second there's 2 pieces of ram?that means I have dual channelled 8GB ram lol I had absolutely no idea it was dual channelled.Anyway what can you tell me about the clock speed?Is it decent for 2019?
CPU-Z Memory tab should give you whether memory is running in dual channel mode.

Motherboard layout can be different.

Slot #1 & #2 (or #3 & #4) can be dual channel or slot #1 & #3 (or #2 & #4) can be dual channel. Your motherboard manual will tell you.

untitled.jpg

Unfortunately I'm not memory expert and I don't play games. If you want further help, you should ask the question in memory and storage subforum. :p
 
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Markfw

Moderator Emeritus, Elite Member
May 16, 2002
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it doesn't but I tried rammon and that told me.I posted a screenshot 2 posts above.What's your opinion on my ram?
You need to move into todays world... The Only CPU's that support DDR3 are very old. YOu will have to get (regardless of Intel/AMD) DDR4 memory. Then pick a CPU/motherboard that fits the budget.
 

mxnerd

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Jul 6, 2007
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You need to move into todays world... The Only CPU's that support DDR3 are very old. YOu will have to get (regardless of Intel/AMD) DDR4 memory. Then pick a CPU/motherboard that fits the budget.

He is using DDR4 for his PC. He just did not click memory tab to look at the info if it's running in dual channel mode, he only clicked on the SPD tab.