waht have i done to my Pc... big performance loss !

[R B Customs]

guys... last couple days i notcied a loss in performance with my PC, HL2 was playing VERY choppy averaging 20 FPs, and DoD"S was just terrible.
everyhtign seems slower than normal

to put it tot he test i dug out the scraps of paper with my sandrea benchmarks on and ran some select ones...

CPU arithmatic test:
before: dhry - 16161 / whet - 7605
now: dhry - 5909 / whet - 2816


CPU multimedia:
before: integer - 33711 / floating - 39978
after : integer - 12294 / floating - 12702


even the memory has been effected:
before: int buff'd - 4961 / float - 4962
after : int buff'd - 1945 / float - 1941
what could ahve happened to my PC to cause this ? i havnt changed any jhardware except a soundcard, and im running the benchmarks in the same environment ( the scores are pretty much the same when i have apps runnign too though )

the only significant changes ive made are :
new X-fi soundcard
uninstalled CSS:S
installed swat 4

ive allready give my discs a defrag and thats made no difference.
thankls in advance
Rick

Edit: guys it gets worse...just ran PCmark 04
before:5925
now : 2407

 

[R B Customs]

epoxy i was thinking the same. about the temps... my dual core naturaly gets hot. but i dont think this is the cause... ive even cranked every fan up including the radiator fan upto full now, and i ran the benchmarks when my CPU speed was around 45C ( it normaly idles around 41C )

edit:
by the way im using the official intel heatpads they suply ( just to keep my waranty all huny dory if my ... ahem retail heatsink and fan fail )
these are all ive ever used and a new one was applied just after christmas with my mobo / ram upgrade

temps at the moment ( baring inmind benches were done only a few mins ago are : ( according to PC wizzard 05)
cpu: 38C
mobo: 34C
power:27C
GPU : 49C
HDD 1: 36C
HDD 2:28C

 

[R B Customs]

guys ive just thought !
on saturday mornig ( 25th) there was a power cut... everything went off for say a second, then back on... ofcourse my PC turned off !
a that point i said "im glad i have that surge protector"

its a masterplug unlimited claim one btw

could this be a cause ? then again id think that resulting damage of any power thing if any would be either fatal or none at all.

 

[R B Customs]

thats plucking the battery out for 30 seconds right :S
does that mean i ahve to re-install the bios... sorry i fold when it comes to bios's lol

 

[R B Customs]

so ... when i restart... i wont need to do anything right ? it should just start up as normal ?
what does this acctually do ? may aswell learn a few things while im going lol
thanks a lot for taking the time to produce that picture too mate. your too kind !

ive got the latest bios too i think.
just cant understand why this has happened ... 'random' comes to mind
thanks again ill wait a bit before i try it for a reply then ill post back !!
Rick

oh by the way just noticed ** from darlo ! , i live in sunderland

 

[R B Customs]

okie dokey
ill give it a bash
throttleing.. theres a new word i learnt yesterday. still have no idea what it means though
im gonna do the cmos NOW... im still puzzled about how this has happened if i havnt changed anything
yuo think it could be anythign to do with that powercut ?

Thanks
Rick
... i divent be not no commoner like man !

 

[R B Customs]

well would you look at that !!
its worked !
so what have i done to my Pc lol to make me fear the worst ! ... maybe ill just forget it happened

thanks a bunch ghuys !! really appriciate it !
basmic ill send you a 2 litre bottle of sunderlands finest white cider lol

all scores are back to normal guys !
thanks a lot !
oh... didnt check the temp in bios but now it is... 43C ( ive finaly found the best balance on the fancontrol between cooling and noise
thanks again !
Rick

im off to celebrate with some pancakes now !!! just realied its that day of the year again ... could it get any better !

edit:
FPS in games is still a little to be desired :S unless it was always like that.

 

[R B Customs]

NOOOOOO!
its gone back !
after i reset the CMOS, i didnt chnage anything on the bios, started PC done the tests and the sores were back to normal, i then restarted my PC , gone into the bios and disabled the CPU fan alert( it beeps on startup cos theres nothing plugged into it )
started PC, noticed games were no different, made an edit to last post, and ive just done the test again now and the scores are back to the LOWER scores !
dont believe it !

 

[R B Customs]

done a thourough test with NOD 32 on everything... not a sausage !
and im VERY careful with trogans ( i know you can never be sure... but i try )
zone alarm just gives me the usual suspects as far as spyware goes (gamespy etc)

im baffled... this seems to be way beyond my knowledge of PCs
my mind is still drifting toward that power cut !
Rick

 

[R B Customs]

47 proceesses
but again... nothing out of the ordinary. nothings changed over the last few days... just uninstalled a game, and installed one, and ofcourse the powercut.

skype, xfire,, ts nod32, zone alarm, steam, nothing that i dont usualy have running.
but even so im doing the benches with as little running as possible AND when i have my normal apps running.
Rick

 

[R B Customs]

ill reset the cmos again and not change ANTYTHING... i can put up with the fan warnign for a few days im sure... but thats all i changed tonight ( its all ive ever chaged in the bios acctually)

im encoding atm, but when its done ill restart and bench bench bench.

 

[R B Customs]

right this is truly bizzare...
i didnt bother doing anything else to it last night after encoding that dvd, and i just turned it off... came back from school today, turned it on ( forgettign i was meant to dot he scmos again) and thought what the hey, ill do the becncjies again, ... sandra and PC mark are now back to normal and my game FPS is now between 80 and 130 FPS !! i even aseen it at 170 in tunnels etc !

ive sdont nothuign since last night and its sorted its self out :S
durch guy... does this happen ? ive only had the mainboard since january . bought it brand new... i suppose it makes sense >?

again everyone thanks for all the kind help. but soemtimes... computers really do seem asif they have a mind of their own !

i will make an edit later on tonight on this post juist to confirm that all is back to normal ... hope thats wehat im going to be able to post at least !
Rick

ZG002... sunny ... your having a laught right lol... welcome none the less

 

[R B Customs]

as i said. when ive been running the becnhes, ive been doign them with MINIMAL apps open / processes, AND been doing them wirth everything that runs at start up.
as im typing this with music playing and loads of windows etc open my CPU is ticking at around 2-7% overall

im very confident it has nothign to do with any programs that are or are not runnign in the background. ive never changed the way i use my PC for months, the programsthat are open are msot of the time the same old same old.

oh and a note about the fan warnings... its juist to tell me my cpu fan has died.. its just a warning and doesnt affect performance. it comes up cos theres nothing plugged into it as a result of water cooling
so i dont see why it woudl affect anything wether its left on or disabled ( liek it is now )

 

[R B Customs]

CPU Internal Thermal Monitor Control : auto
limit CPUID MaxVal : disabled
Ecectute Disable Bit : enabled

i dont know what the settigns were before it went wrong... i presume they were the same as ive never chnaged them before

 

[R B Customs]

well i said id post back...
its gone BACK to the low scores agaion... ive been playing HL@ for a bit tonight, then talkin on skype, then joined a frind in D0D:s... noticed my FPS was about 15 again, came off done a couple benchmarks and sure enough im back to the low scores again !!!

the high and low scores are consistant though. when low the scores are always around about the same give or take a couple units,
and when high they are all the same give or take a few.
this suggests to me that its being consistantly decreased... underclocked ?

the copper block on my CPU doesnt feel what id describe as hot, just warm.
sysetem temps at the moment are
CPU: 50C ( fan on raditor is on lower )
mobo : 40C

i dont understand what is happening... could soemone explain this throttling thing to me ?

 

[R B Customs]

choki ill give it a try !
i have noticed a pattern though...
few hours ago i returned my PC off and ive just returned to it, started it,done 2 of the benchmarks - back to high scores again. started DoD:S up and wham ! 60-100 FPS !

im curious how long it will take for my system to go slow again. i think i will run the benchmarks every half hour from now.
i think it may be overheating and seems to be automatically underclocking its self maybe ? i dont know if it can do that or not... but thats what it seems like.
and when i ssaid my comps never been running as cold as this before... maybe thats becuase the CPU isnt doing the work it usualy does ! ?

choki i will try the safeboot when i have some time on my hands maybe tomorrow
Rick

 

[R B Customs]

that was after playing a game though.
lol it is an intel pentium dual core too... theyre known for being HOT
im gonna get some arctic silver off a mate tonight hopefully and try that.
after a few hours of use, then leaving it idle, i dont really see it sink below 48
its always been the same
just to check
i still have the original HSF, and it still has most of the heat pad stuck to it from when i removed it... if in the event that i need to RMA it and take adantage of the 3 yr waranty... will they know ive chnaged the cooler / thermal pad ? aslong as i clean all the A-S off prior to sending it ? im quite scared of voiding my waranty.

im at college at the moment but when i 'return to base' ill double check mounting of the waterblock. and apply some arctic silver if i can get ahold of any.

is that bios information correct by the way ?
cheers
Rick

 

[R B Customs]

yea i rang intel up and they sent me 4 pads for free. next day delivery now thats what i call service.
i only got them sent out to put on my new watercooling system cos i didnt weant to use anythign but the intel heat pads... again waranty reasons.
im getting some arctivc silver tonight from a friend ( or some other type of heat paste ) so cant really give any updates as yet. seems okay though, had an hour on HL2 with no slowing down.
it was a very sudden change though. nothing gradual about it at all, one day it was fine, next it was dying
ill keep you guys updated !
Rick

 

[R B Customs]

right guys im hoping this will be one of the last posts in this thread
but my PC seems to be fine now !
i got soem * ahem* 'arctic silver' from a mate but it turned out to be one of those cheap single packs of thermal grease... so i popped out to the shops and found some akasa silver paste for 3.50, applied it etc started in bios and 68C !!! ohhh dear lol... so i swithcedd off... re done the thermal paste ( dont think i had enough on )and started again... it was sittign at 29 degrees for a while i was amazed !
even under load im getting no more than my usual idle speed... i really didnt expect a bit of paste to make the difference it has... highest temp so far is 49 i think... but thats with *** fan so that i can only just bare the noise lol

so it must have been throttling of some kind... im just still mythed abotu how it got to the stage where it had to throttle ... gravity or elves in the night tinkering with it... i dont know ?
and with these all new cool temps i may be able to try a bit of OCing
but anyway,, thank you all for your time ! ! !

btw synergy... no fan on my 6600gt lol... its the asus silent one none on the chipsets either... although the heatsink on the northbruidge is annoyingly directly under my waterblock and that thing gets HOT !

thanks again everyone !!
Rick B