My PC Specs, Where should I improve my box.

Hello UE Forums. So, recently I reformatted my kind of budget gaming PC and reinstalled all of my dev-related software onto it as well as a fresh windows 7 install. I have been having allot of trouble running Unreal Engine as well as basic windows functionality recently, and am wondering where the problem may lay as I have completely redone everything. My drivers seem to check out as up-to-date, all of my video card drivers are up to date, I am starting to think it may be a heating issue, or a RAM issue, or maybe even a HDD Speed issue, although it’s odd it would really be apparent this late into the PC’s lifespan (Around 1.3 years now)

So, my current PC specs are… (( Temps are with NO programs actively running, other than windows processes, fire-fox, and speccy.))

Operating System –
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU –
AMD FX-8350 48 °C
Vishera 32nm Technology
RAM –
16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard –
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. CROSSHAIR V FORMULA-Z (Socket 942) 31 °C
Graphics –
SE20HS04 (1920x1080@60Hz)
2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series (ASUStek Computer Inc) 34 °C
Storage –
465GB Seagate ST500DM0 02-1BD142 SATA Disk Device (SATA) 30 °C
Optical Drives –
ASUS DRW-24B1ST i SATA CdRom Device
Audio –
AMD High Definition Audio Device
**Power – **
Cooler Master 550 W

Now, my cooling situation is fairly basic. All of the above is cased in a NZXT Phantom and I have not upgraded the basic CPU fan that comes with my AMD Processor. My cleaning habits are not religious, but I dust around once a week, and I do a full clean once a month for all the computers in the house.

So, I am unsure of what part to look at first, I am not as knowledgeable as I would like to be, and am a bit lost on where to go from here. Any advice or tips are helpful and thank you all for your time.

EDIT: So on top of this, recently both myself and my wife have had random power downs, at times it seems heat-realted, but most testing shows it’s not heat related or shows it barely reaching temps of 50c before powering off, (I am unsure of how damaging 50c can be to a machine honestly.)

If it is not heat, then your PSU may not be providing a stable enough power supply. Or it could be one of a million other things. Unfortunately, it can be very hard to track random power-downs (not a BSOD, I presume).

You have a good brand of PSU, but that is the first place I would look at.

Thanks for the reply, I will probally up the PSU by 100-150 wattage, and I will likely stay with the brand too. I am also looking into a liquid cooled CPU fan, or something fancy to help really bring the heat signature of the machine down.

However, aside from random power downs what could I expect performance wise with doubling up on the HD 7770 I have currently, as well has upgrading to faster ram or a SSD? I hear SSD’s can actually be more trouble than they are worth, as far as re-writes or using editors due to the limited write space.

If you are talking about Unreal development, Crossfire well not help as the engine did not currently support more than one card. Faster RAM will only help a negligible amount, so not with the cost there either (although yours seems very low speed. Are you sure that is the correct spec. It is usually a multiple of 333). SSDs are great, get one! :slight_smile:

If you are liking to upgrade, then a better GPU would be my first concern. Not that yours is that old.

He probably forgot to double RAM speed. His speed would be ~1333mhz.

No. That’s normal. Yes, you’re right. He IS running @ 1333mhz it’s just that software (CPU-Z) shows only the single data rate.

Definitely change that PSU. Cooler Master makes terrible PSUs, they’re pretty much a taboo on most tech sites / forums. Higher end models of Cooler Master are viable BUT for that price there’re already much better option.

Get an Enermax 650w 80+ if you’re tight on budget, or go for a Corsair / Seasonic if you’ve got more to spend.
As for GPU, don’t settle for anything less than a 7950 or a 280.

I think this will be the FIRST thing I replace, the Enermax seems very promising so I will likely go with that. I think I can also spend some extra on a 290 or something nice I deserve an upgrade haha!

Your temps look fine, I’d say more cooling is always better but 50c is not close to being ‘hot’.

I don’t have any ideas about the stability issues but I would personally go for a GPU upgrade after you replace the PSU.
Currently I’m watching as waiting as new shiny things will arrive soon (hopefully along with price drops for cards already out).

See if you can stretch to the 290X, rather than the 290, if possible.

Most restart issues are related to heat in some way. But you said you just formatted your PC. That makes me think something went wrong. but just in case, are you absolutely certain that your processor is not getting too hot? AMD’s are know for running hot. You’re not overclocking it are you?

Changing the entire PSU seems kind of drastic until you have ruled out everything.

First, boot up safe mode and restore your system to the earliest time possible, then restart normally into Windows and install all the mandatory and recommended updates. Then start installing all your hardware drivers.

If you are using a surge protector, try a direct wall outlet and see what happens. Your surge protector could be failing.

Have you recently installed new hardware? If so remove it and see what happens.

Go in the BIOS and monitor the temp and fan RPms

If you had a RAM issue you would likely be receiving “page fault” errors.

Humidity could also cause issues with restarts. Do you have a humidifier, or just really hot roo in general?

I really don’t think the PSU is the problem here. If all this fails, reinstall Windows again. Something may have went wrong. If these things do not work, then start to worry aout hardware failure.