Need help with my brother's CPU

[Eon the Wolf]

I really can't find any specific spot. My brother has 4 GB DDR2 Ram, a Pentium D, And a NVidia GeForce 9600 GT. I don't know the mobo. The issue is his computer lags with games he should have no lag with. L4D2...L4D1...Mass effect 1 (a bad port, sure....but it still shouldn't be that bad). He passes recommended of all of em, and tons of other games. We have no idea what could be causing it...IE Is the processor half dead like what happened to my celeron D? Is there some connection issue between the CPU n Mobo (FSB or w/e) or is it something else? If there's a program we could use to test, or something we could do, I would be very appreciated....My brother's PC REALLY shouldn't be lagging on Half Life 2 with medium/low settings with those specs -.-

 

[Asylum]

What kind of FPS is he getting with that setup?
Has he updated his graphic and mobo drivers to the latest for his hardware?

 

[Fourstaff]

Maybe the harddisk is full of junk? too many applications running in the background? Plenty of plossibilities.

 

[Eon the Wolf]

Nah. It lagged with 20% free, 40% free, even 60% free. Its a 300 GB HD. Yes he has the latest graphics card drivers. I actually didn't know mobo's got continuously updated drivers, and his response is 'Dunno...'....And we can't remember/dont remember what his mobo was ^^;. Any way we can check?
The fps was in the range of 5-15 or maybe 20 when standing still/walking inside Normandy on Mass effect. 20, MAYBE 30 FPS on L4D2....even worse on L4D1 until ive been on it n playing for bout 20-40 minutes...Occasionally, the game will freeze or drop REALLY low for a few seconds, or it'll just drop to id say 3-7 FPS or so if more than 10 zombies show up in some/most levels beyond Dead Center x.x
Checkin somethin now to see if it found what his mobo was...(xfire rig upload xD) it didn't work lol....

 

[dark2099]

download CPU-Z from cpuid.org and it will have a tab that should tell you the info for the mother board.

 

[Goodman]

1-Pentium D as far as i know Pentium D were cpu's with high temps maybe yours is over heat?

2-Virus or spyware? (Ccleaner won't be a bad idea as well)
Install Avast & SuperAntispywares free & scan the drives if you don't already have one?

3-Your HD may be dying?

4-Drivers or softwares that causing this? (i doubt it)

5-when was the last time you did an defrag?

For how long that your bro got this computer?

 

[Eon the Wolf]

1. I can check the temp later, but I don't think so.
2. We have Norton 360.
3. 2 years old. Possibly...He has a spare 300, but games seemed to run as slow, if not a lil slower on the secondary 300 gb one.
4. Dunno. Haven't looked much, but I do know the latest nvidia cards caused issues with bioshock n I suppose a few other games.
5. He says he defrags it every month.

 

[Goodman]

1. I can check the temp later, but I don't think so.
2. We have Norton 360.
3. 2 years old. Possibly...He has a spare 300, but games seemed to run as slow, if not a lil slower on the secondary 300 gb one.
4. Dunno. Haven't looked much, but I do know the latest nvidia cards caused issues with bioshock n I suppose a few other games.
5. He says he defrags it every month.

Uninstall Norton crap & go get the free version of Avast & also superantispywares

Defrag once a month that's good , keep it up

Does your 9600 overheat?
install GPU-z to see if it does (you can monitor temps all the time during windows or games)
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

If your bro have this computer for a long time 1 year or more & been never cleanup?
Then there is a chance that it's full of dust bunny's & overheat?
You can buy an can of compress air & cleanup the inside case (even if not overheating it wont be a bad idea to clean it free of dust)

I usely clean my inside case once every 3 months (every seasons change) 4 times a year

 

[Eon the Wolf]

We have a can of air, so I might try that.
I'll have him check the temperatures later.
He refuses to use free stuff, as to quote, "Unlike free stuff, Norton hasn't tried to eat my hard drive." He hasn't used Avast specifically, but out of all the bad experiences, he refuses.

 

[Goodman]

We have a can of air, so I might try that.
I'll have him check the temperatures later.
He refuses to use free stuff, as to quote, "Unlike free stuff, Norton hasn't tried to eat my hard drive." He hasn't used Avast specifically, but out of all the bad experiences, he refuses.

The problem with Norton crap is that it takes to many resources (heavy on Ram ,etc...) it always works in the background & most of the time it will still miss a virus or two ...


As for free anti-virus they are good enough to protect you the only thing is that some free version doesn't do auto updates or scan email or you got to manualy scan you HD from time to time (once a week) but other then that they'll take care of the virus in the same way as the paid version.
http://freebies.about.com/od/securityfreebies/tp/best-antivirus.htm

But one thing you & your bro should get is SuperAntiSpyware the best one out there i did some test with lots of other anti-spywares... & superantispyware caught all spywares that other miss & that was with the free version.

http://www.superantispyware.com/

 

[Eon the Wolf]

Told you he won't use any free stuff.
Also,he has 4 gb of DDR2 ram...even with XP, that shouldn't be a drain on memory. And Norton wouldn't cause 5 year old games to lag as if I was trying to run them on a 2.4 ghz singlecore...

 

[Goodman]

Told you he won't use any free stuff.

To bad for him he's missing on a lot here.. & the way you wrote it that sound rude..?

Also,he has 4 gb of DDR2 ram...even with XP, that shouldn't be a drain on memory. And Norton wouldn't cause 5 year old games to lag as if I was trying to run them on a 2.4 ghz singlecore...

That can still happen even more with an single core , imagine Norton or other background services using 50% or more of the CPU (for what ever reason) then that doesn't let you much for the game...

Anyhow i believe more on heat issues then anything else but will see as soon as your bro will monitor temps

BTWentium D is for dual core , is it not?
I didn't know there were Pentium D single core...

 

[Eon the Wolf]

K I've got CPU-z ready....anything specific I might need to list?

Also, Mobo Model is NF570_SLIT-A

 

[Eon the Wolf]

Yeah, it is dualcore. I meant his CPU is that bad. To explain to you....My Celeron D 3.33 GHz Singlecore ran TF2 n just bout every game better than his Pentium D, and I don't care how bad of a dualcore it is....it shouldn't be outperformed by a singlecore on something like HL2....
EDIT: Ack, sorry for the double post. Meant to edit. And sorry if it sounded rude. Its just he won't use free stuff, same as me. We get our comps screwed up n require reformats more often than we have with Norton....

 

[Goodman]

Also, Mobo Model is NF570_SLIT-A

Got the last nforce driver from nvidia site?

Yeah, it is dualcore. I meant his CPU is that bad. To explain to you....My Celeron D 3.33 GHz Singlecore ran TF2 n just bout every game better than his Pentium D, and I don't care how bad of a dualcore it is....it shouldn't be outperformed by a singlecore on something like HL2....
EDIT: Ack, sorry for the double post. Meant to edit. And sorry if it sounded rude. Its just he won't use free stuff, same as me. We get our comps screwed up n require reformats more often than we have with Norton....

you got a single core 3.33 ghz & your bro an dual at 2.4 ghz?
you're still faster even if he got an dual core he would need about 2.8/3.0 ghz to "equal" your cpu (although you dont really compare single vs dual core but..)

Cpu-z was to get all the infos cpu, board , ram ,etc...
What you need is GPU-z to monitor graphic card temps

As for your CPU & board you can use Asus Probe that would tell you temps of cpu & chipset also volatges you can d/l at Asus site or you may have it on your cd that came with your board

It's really a shame that you & your bro think that bad of free stuff i guess no Ccleaner or defragler for you guys...

 

[Eon the Wolf]

No o.o.
He's a Pentium D 2.8 Ghz. I just said that. I said the 2.4 GHz single core would run better than his Pentium D right now....as an EXAMPLE. He has a 2.8 Pentium D dualcore.
And the Celeron D fried half way. So now I have the Pentium E6300, but im gettin a complete upgrade (hopefully to a quadcore) in feb.

Well, I opened up CPU-z I was just curious if it listed any info that might identify if it was a CPU, mobo, or connection issue between CPU & something else or w/e....
EDIT: Nope. I'll try that now. I honestly didn't know mobos had to be updated. Lets see if that works.
EDITEDIT: So Im guessing nForce 5 series, nForce 570 SLI AMD, download type = driver?

 

[neoreif]

I think you should download CCleaner(Free) or TuneUp Utilities2010(Paid) to clean your system of unwanted/unneeded programs or registry keys. I use both of these to speed up aging pentium 4 rigs and they do work as far as I'm concerned! And I also use them to maintain the orderliness of my new system! Here are the links if you need them:

CCleaner: http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/
TuneUp Utilities 2010: http://www.tune-up.com/products/tuneup-utilities/

Hope this helps Bro!

 

[Eon the Wolf]

Personally, I don't like CCleaner. Didn't work too well for me, and If I remember right, it was actually pointed out to be a virus not only by windows, but by Mcafee AND Norton...Whether or not it's true, my comp screwed up a few times, and Norton 360 can clean registries, I can scour the list for unneeded programs, and 360 can help with registry files as well.

 

[Nick89]

disable norton antivirus and then run the games. See if the FPS change, And use GPUz to see if the video card is overheating.....

Its just he won't use free stuff, same as me. We get our comps screwed up n require reformats more often than we have with Norton....

facepalm.jpeg

 

[Eon the Wolf]

So wait....you're facepalming because me and my brother have both used free programs and been burned? HEAVEN FORBID DIFFERENT PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT PC'S HAVE DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES. I'm not here to ask if Norton is the cause, or what you think is the best anti virus. I'm asking what I can do to check what the cause is. I'll see if he's willing to try disabling it without internet on later. I'll check GPU temps later, and I've got CPU-z ready for whatever info, if any, is useful. I'm not here to argue on what's the best option.

 

[Goodman]

Personally, I don't like CCleaner. Didn't work too well for me, and If I remember right, it was actually pointed out to be a virus not only by windows, but by Mcafee AND Norton...Whether or not it's true, my comp screwed up a few times, and Norton 360 can clean registries, I can scour the list for unneeded programs, and 360 can help with registry files as well.

You probably download the wrong files you shopuld try once more & get the good files this time
Ccleaner & superantispyware

What about those temps i ask for... comming soon?
You got Asus Probe & GPU-z already? (NOT CPU-z)

BTW:Your board use Intel cpu not AMD so d/l nforce 570 sli intel

 

[Eon the Wolf]

Ah crap. Didn't even notice. Just installed the AMD one x.x. Installing Intel now....That wrong install won't cause issues, will it? >.>
I'll go for temps now.

 

[Goodman]

Ah crap. Didn't even notice. Just installed the AMD one x.x. Installing Intel now....That wrong install won't cause issues, will it? >.>
I'll go for temps now.

Uninstall the nforce/amd driver first & then install the new one (better to restart after an uninstall)

EDIT:Reread your post about what type of mobo you got & i have no idea why i was thinking that was an Asus board?
Now star CPU-z once more & check in mainboard & see if you can find who makes that board ,asus , gigabyte, etc..?
Can't find the maker of that board with google on 570_slit-a...

 

[neoreif]

disable norton antivirus and then run the games. See if the FPS change, And use GPUz to see if the video card is overheating.....



facepalm.jpeg

360 is a scam and kills computers.

I tend to agree with your point Bro that it kills computers! Seen it happen on several of my friends' laptops that came preinstalled with Norton 360. Was'nt sure at first with the cause of hang ups and lagging till I saw that Norton eats up a lot of CPU and Memory resources in the Task manager! What I did was uninstalled Norton and installed Kaspersky IS instead! Problem fixed for my friend and laptop runs faster! Im just not quite sure why Norton runs that way though!

 

[Eon the Wolf]

The driver isn't listed in Add/remove programs...How would I go bout remove it?