CPU getting slower

I've recently noticed that my Mega Drive emulator (Kega Fusion) image filters are slower than before, seeing that as a wierd thing I thought it had something to do with the 'new' version (3.51) but no, testing with 3.3 and 3.0 I still get 40 FPS with Scale2x and 2xSaI. I used to get 60 FPS with these two so I was like "WTF?!?" and FYI these filters are completely CPU dependent, no work is done by the graphic card.

Then I remembered that sometime ago (6 months to a year, can't remember) I used Winrar to benchmark my CPU (yeah I know it's a lousy way to do a bench but whatever) because I was testing ClockGen (a FSBus software for overclock) and I got 117kb/s of processing power with the FSB set to 100MHz and 126kb/s with 107 MHz.

So I went to check if it was the emulator at fault or my CPU was losing processing power and to my amazement it's my CPU fault! Now with 100MHz FSB I get 105 kb/s on Winrar!!
2xWTF?

Can a CPU loose processing power? Is it dying or something? Or maybe it's related to the power suply? It's a really wierd problem, also from time to time in completely random basis my computer will simply freeze. Everything just freezes, all the apps, the mouse pointer, everything is like fronzen in time.
Do you guys have any idea of what might be the problem or for what should I check? BTW the CPU is a AMD Duron 1.3Ghz on a ECS K7S5A motherboard.

Yes it's a old PC.

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It doesn't help that your CPU sucks terribly.

But what about the software? Have you update the versions of software you're using (WinRAR, Kega) Have you installed ANY programs recently?

You should get a real benchmark program and post real results.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Render

It doesn't help that your CPU sucks terribly.

Yeah I know that... NOW! This computer has a massive rip off, then again it was the first computer I bought and I was really a n00b when comes to PC shopping. Now because of that and a scanner rip off (HP Scanjet 3970) I've become a terribly agressive shopper, it's either my way and my price OR DIE!
Blame it on ratailer assholes.

Originally Posted by Render

But what about the software? Have you update the versions of software you're using (WinRAR, Kega) Have you installed ANY programs recently?

You should get a real benchmark program and post real results.

Hard to awnser but I've done this instead, me and my father have separate partitions, and we don't share any common software except for the antivirus (avast!) and base operating system (he was Win XP regular, I have SP2) and the results are the same both on Winrar and Kega.

As for real benchmark, do you any bench that doesn't require installation. I'm fond of uncompress and run apps that save the settings on a text file.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Clean out the fans first. This advice comes from me dealing with my laptop, however if the inside of the computer is dusty, the processor could be throttling itself.

Of course, before this, do all the normal software checks (spyware, etc).

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Adamgian

Clean out the fans first. This advice comes from me dealing with my laptop, however if the inside of the computer is dusty, the processor could be throttling itself.

Of course, before this, do all the normal software checks (spyware, etc).

When cleaning fans, I suggest not only removing the dust, but removing the little sticker on the back carefully. Sewing oil works wonders to re-lube the insides. In fact, some CPUs will slow down to prevent overheating if the fault may lie with the fan. Being old, this is a very possible center of your problem.

How ya doing, buddy?

Ok, I'll do some fan cleaning since I haven't done it in a while.
But I have 2 questions then:
1. Do I remove the CPU fan to clean it? I've done it only once and it was hard to remove so do you guys think it's necessary?
2. Can I open the power source? I've never cleaned it inside since I dunno if it can shock you even if unpluged from the power source.

EDIT: I got the voltages from the BIOS, I dunno if there's something wrong with them but I'll compare it with the values I'll get after cleaning the fans. Also I've installed sometime ago a USB 2.0 PCI card, maybe it's draining more power than what my power suply can generate? I'll post the voltage values here:

Vcore: 1.774 v
Vcc2.5V: 2.464 v
Vcc3.3V: 3.152 v
Vcc5V: 4.784 v
+12V: 12.608 v
SB3V: 3.328 v
-12V: -12.295 v
SB5V: 4.919 v
VBAT: 3.328 v

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

NEVER OPEN YOUR POWER SOURCE. EVER. I CAN NOT EMPHASIZE THIS ENOUGH. DO. NOT. OPEN. YOUR. POWER. SOURCE. EVER!

Look at it this way: The power source is designed to sacrifice itself in case of a power surge. It carries an electrical charge at all times, and opening it can potentially be deadly. If your power source goes bad, you NEVER try to fix it. Just replace it. The same goes for CRT monitors.

And all you need to clean your CPU fan is a can of compressed air. 5 bucks at CompUSA/Circuit City.

FELIPE NO

Hi there Griffin! BTW I've opened my power source... O___________O
Yes for real, I've done it.

I've read over at wikipedia that I could do it if I unpluged it from the power and pressed the PC power button to discharge the condensators. I guess it worked since I'm still alive but then again I didn't touch anything inside except for the fan. I've unscrewed the power source fan and cleaned it but I've stayed clear from those funny looking pieces of shiny metal.


Asides that funny (glup...) trick of mine I've cleaned all the dust and even removed the CPU cooler but no luck, the CPU is still a slow ass. I guess the only way to 'fix' this is with a new PC.
If I had the money I'd just a Intel Core 2 Duo PC to blow off all your base!!!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

You're still alive, but that doesn't mean you'll be if you try again. Pretty much anything that uses large capacitors plugged on relatively high voltage can be extremely dangerous, even if you supposedly discharged the capacitors first. I've seen some CRTs (old TVs actually) where there's a switch that's supposed to discharge capacitors when someone's doing maintenance, and it doesn't always work. I've been messing around electricity since I was 6, and I'm still quite reluctant to open anything that could kill me unless I really have to, so it's really not a good idea to do so unless you know what you're doing.

As for your actual problem, I wouldn't blame hardware immediately. Start by looking at the process list in the task manager to see if there isn't something that's always using part of your CPU. Usually it's spyware or some borderline spyware piece of software. Then it's also possible that Windows itself is taking more of your CPU than it should, and this doesn't always get reported in the task manager which can be annoying. I know it happened to me once for pretty much no reason at all, I guess Windows just broke. There wasn't much I could do other than reinstalling Windows.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

You're still alive, but that doesn't mean you'll be if you try again. Pretty much anything that uses large capacitors plugged on relatively high voltage can be extremely dangerous, even if you supposedly discharged the capacitors first. I've seen some CRTs (old TVs actually) where there's a switch that's supposed to discharge capacitors when someone's doing maintenance, and it doesn't always work. I've been messing around electricity since I was 6, and I'm still quite reluctant to open anything that could kill me unless I really have to, so it's really not a good idea to do so unless you know what you're doing.

Yeah I better leave it alone, I overheard it hasn't the safest thing to do but I didn't really had the notion... then again I once opened a CRT monitor O___________o
Really one of this days I'm gonna get killed.

Originally Posted by YeOldeButchere

As for your actual problem, I wouldn't blame hardware immediately. Start by looking at the process list in the task manager to see if there isn't something that's always using part of your CPU. Usually it's spyware or some borderline spyware piece of software. Then it's also possible that Windows itself is taking more of your CPU than it should, and this doesn't always get reported in the task manager which can be annoying. I know it happened to me once for pretty much no reason at all, I guess Windows just broke. There wasn't much I could do other than reinstalling Windows.

I dare to say I'm good enough at software to know it' isn't any software issue. The only software issue I can remember that could get passed by my is a rootkit, but Rootkit Reavealer shows nothing and I doubt the same Rootkit would be in the 2 partitions. It must be hardware but since I'm not good at it I can't find the problem, plus I'm kinda broke so if it's a expensive thing it'll stay like that until I get a Core 2

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I was an assistant manager at an arcade, replacing monitor boards daily. If you don't discharge, you're in for a world of hurt. I was discharging using a fat screwdrivers and touching the prongs that plugged into the CRT itself.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Yeah, that's good except when you stumble upon a particularly beefy capacitor and end up with your screwdriver welded to it.

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Ok I've got PC Wizard 2006 1.691 and did some benchmarks, I dunno if this app is any good but it's free and doesn't require instalation.

Processor Benchmark
Whetstone (FPU) : 1914 MFlops
Dhrystone (ALU) : 5039 Mips


RAM Benchmark
Bandwidth (Write Float) : 772.69 MB/s
Bandwidth (Write Int.) : 264.73 MB/s
Latency : 176 ns (228 cycles)
Memory Bandwidth (max. estimated) : 666 MB/s
Bandwidth Efficiency Float : 802%
Bandwidth Efficiency Int. : 1458%


Videio/DirectX 3D Benchmark
Texture : 128 FPS
Texture (Fullscreen) : 81 FPS
Particles 3D : 8 FPS
Vertex : 79 FPS
Billboard : 39 FPS


Video Benchmark
Raster Lines (800 x 600 - 16-bit) : 43 FPS
Random Pixels (800 x 600 - 32-bit) : 3 FPS
Random Lines (800 x 600 - 32-bit) : 15 FPS
Random Circles (800 x 600 - 32-bit) : 14 FPS
Random Rectangles (800 x 600 - 32-bit) : 17 FPS
Random Text (800 x 600 - 32-bit) : 15 FPS


Multi-Thread Benchmark
Execution : 1 Thread : 120.814 sec.
Execution : 2 Parallel Threads : 120.925 sec.
Exécution : 4 Parallel Threads : 120.808 sec.


So... is my CPU slower than what it should be? (AMD Duron 1300MHz)

Double Post:
BTW I've checked my CPU temperature and it's at 52ºC (dunno about ºF), could that be the problem?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Render

It doesn't help that your CPU sucks terribly.

1.3GHz Duron is not that bad at all, unless it's used for gaming, or mp3/video/file encoding is done frequently.

As for you, devilmaycry: Sometimes, the slowdown is caused by crap that happens in Windows after installing/uninstalling programs.
The typical "solution" is to clean up the hard drive (formatting) and installing Windows and its updates from scratch.

Also, defragment hard drive(s) - the disc head doesn't exactly like to dance samba when reading files.

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Originally Posted by x86

unless it's used for gaming

That's what I do.

Originally Posted by x86

As for you, devilmaycry: Sometimes, the slowdown is caused by crap that happens in Windows after installing/uninstalling programs.
The typical "solution" is to clean up the hard drive (formatting) and installing Windows and its updates from scratch.

I normally don't install stuff, and it would be pretty wierd for the same problem to happen in the 2 partitions, Windows might be cause (I doubt) but I don't feel like creating another partition and go through the slow process that is install Windows XP

Originally Posted by x86

Also, defragment hard drive(s) - the disc head doesn't exactly like to dance samba when reading files.

Dude!!! Both Kega and it's image filters rely only on the CPU and the RAM, if you could run windows without everything else it would still run. The ROMs are loaded into RAM and the CPU does everything else including image filtering, the graphic card only displays the results then.

Double Post:
HOLY CRAP!
After spending one entire morning hunting down for the problem I finally found it, it's not the CPU it's the fucking NVidia drivers. I've installed a whole new Windows XP in a new partition and tested more and more until I found this out. Just BLEH!!!!

I dunno what was wrong with the drivers but after doing a full cleanup Kega is back to it's 150-FPS-while-doing-filters self. And nasty 400 FPS without filters!
But the question kinda remains... why did WinRAR reported 117Kb/s last year? And what setting could possibly be bottlenecking Kega that does software render?

....

It's one of the misteries of TheComputers™



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Anyway I wanna thank everybody who tryed to help me! Thanks dudes.

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