Well, based on my current readings with 4GB I'd be using 75% of my RAM at any point in time.

bump

So did you try Taro's recommendation?

If you think it's a memory issue your options are basically try some different sticks at this point. There's no point matching the sticks you have because you need to operate under the assumption they are bad since the issue persisted when you tried each stick by itself.

I'm still not sure why you wouldn't be pursuing other troubleshooting routes in the meantime, but you seem convinced it's a memory issue so hopefully some new sticks fix your issue. (ideally you can borrow some to test, otherwise $$).

Don't mix a new stick with your existing ones, just treat the existing ones you have as bad and don't use them.

Well, I still want to explore the CAS latency values. I can't find them anywhere but I still feel like that has something to do with it.

I have no dosh at this time, Christmas drained me :(

here's your 2 GB stick:
http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KVR16N11_2.pdf

Yeah, I looked at that. Everything is set to auto though so I don't know what my CAS latencies are inside the bios. CPUID just gave me the CAS latencies of each of the sticks rather than what my system is actually set on.

Bump; this is getting worse, getting massive stuttering whenever I start up a game server and fps drops--a comp restart usually fixes this slightly though.

http://66.226.78.22/downloadsite/manual/H61M-HVS.pdf

Page 34 is beginning of bios section

Goto Page 37

Goto the OC Tweaker screen.
You May try disabling SpeedStep technology, just because.

To look at DRAM can you goto
OC Tweaker -> Load XMP setting -> Profile 1

If you select Profile 1 does it then let you see and set the timing? (as seen on page 38).

Other random shit to try:
Look at windows event viewer for anything unusual
http://www.computerperformance.co.uk/win8/windows8-event-viewer.htm

Check for previously mentioned driver conflicts
edit: one way is to check DPC latency on your system: http://blog.tune-up.com/windows-insights/title-poor-jerky-performance-fixing-unacceptably-high-dpc-latency-issues/
http://www.thesycon.de/deu/latency_check.shtml

I'm assuming all malware scans come up empty since you blanked your hard drive. May want to check for a rootkit anyway http://www.malwarebytes.org/antirootkit/

Update: starting to get screen tearing in YouTube videos (or any non-twitch player) and other stuff. Just saw your post; I'll look at those tomorrow.

I just updated my drivers as well

aaaaaaaaaaaafuckmeaaaaaaaaaaa

EDIT: No rootkits found. Going to try the XMP profile (as soon as lan is over)

Update: there is no XMP profile on my UEFI but disabling SpeedStep seems to have made it a bit faster.

Ack! Driver Sweeper has been replaced with a new utility. Seems like it only cleans up graphics card drivers. I'll take a look at it.

edit: all right, finished reinstalling my amd driver and still no luck; I don't think we can entirely rule out driver conflicts though considering only my graphics card driver was uninstalled.

At least it fixed my resolution errors in TF2 and CSGO though. :)
Still having screen tearing issues though.

after you wiped your graphics drivers and then restarted I'm assuming windows automatically installed a driver upon startup (unless you booted into safe mode).

Did you then manually install your ATI driver after that occurred? Have you tested the performance before manually installing the ATI driver?

In my situation the act of installing the ATI catalyst driver after the automatically installed windows driver caused issues. I had to run driver sweeper a few times and reboot into safe mode...I finally discovered that not manually installing ATI catalyst driver at ALL was the only way I avoided issues. For me the driver windows automatically installed was sufficient and was the only thing that didn't cause video playback to be so laggy and to have tons of artifacts and hitching in games. (i tested each time with a benchmark...I think 3D mark, certain video tests would lag like crazy)

If you have not used safe mode I would recommend repeating the process but booting into safe mode after you run driver sweeper. This will prevent windows from automatically installing a display driver...then you can try to install the ATI driver from safe mode.

If that doesn't work you could try to go with only the automatically installed windows driver for your card (after wiping all drivers just boot normally).

I booted into safe mode, but I didn't test the default driver. I'll do that soon.

Default driver tested. Nothing.

I earlier linked a DPC latency checker but apparently that has bugs and doesn't work in windows 8.

Looks like the below supports windows 8:
http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon_whatsnew
Download and run that

Did the problems occur back on windows 7 as well?

Yeah, they actually started once I switched. I switched to Windows 7 to fix a minor bug I thought was caused by Win 8 (TURNS OUT I HAD TO FUCKING VERIFY MY GAME CACHE) and ever since it's just been on a downward slope.

Are you using a CM storm spawn mouse by chance?

I've been avoiding this thread because you have been ignoring people who can legitimately help you find out if it's even a RAM problem to begin with. Pheesh knows what he's talking about and you should have started back with what he told you to do from the start.

Now, if you DO NOT have a spawn mouse (known to cause the issues you're having) then follow these steps before you do anything else.

1. Make sure the ram you test with is listed in the motherboard manual of approved vendors for RAM, it should be there. Provide me the exact model of your MB and RAM and I'll do it for you if you're too lazy or can't google the pdf yourself.

2. remove everything you can until you only have a motherboard, hard drive and 1 stick of RAM in the primary slot 1. If your motherboard doesn't have an on board graphics card then try to use a card you KNOW works.

3. Restore BIOS defaults but make sure you're using the latest version of the BIOS.

See if you still have the issue. From there you can start trading out parts 1 at a time to rule those out for being the issue. I think you've already switched the motherboard out, so that's not likely the issue, however BIOS levels might. I would try multiple different RAM if you have them available, you can also borrow parts from a friend or relative to do this testing.

No, I don't.

I religiously studied the Approved RAM list for my motherboard back when I was shopping. It should be on there.

Ugh, I really don't want to tear this thing apart. Every time I mess with the hardware its performance just gets worse. I guess I'll look into it though

What worries me is it might be the CPU itself that's broken, and there's only one way to figure that out, and that's a bare bones system.

for the love of god, replace your crappy hitachi drive and reinstall windows already

I guess I can see where you're coming from--I'm not too sure though considering I've done extensive scans on every component on my comp, That would only leave software, but I've already blanked my HDD twice now, so I guess that has to leave the hardware. I've already replaced the mobo and the PSU so that leaves the CPU, graphics card, HDD, RAM, and probably something else I'm missing.

I don't trust myself messing with this comp though. I live really close to Lange-perhaps miracles could be made? :v

edit: oh hi smaka

I can't tell you how many times I've seen a computer go on the fritz (read: sluggish/random choppiness) even when doing simple things in Windows and it ends up being a hard drive with crashing heads or just generally being crappy. Hitachi drives are not known for longevity, and you can get a replacement drive for only a few dollars. Hell, I have a million that I don't need and you can have one if you cover the cost of shipping.

An SSD makes a crappy computer a ton better. A mechanical drive is fine as long as it's not trashed. Obviously I can't guarantee this will fix the problem, but there's no reason to not try it.

When you reinstall windows, the ideal driver installation order is:
motherboard chipset drivers
reboot
network drivers
reboot
other drivers
reboot
video drivers
reboot
windows updates (skip over any windows update drivers that will replace your existing good ones)

Some of the reboots aren't absolutely necessary, but do them anyway.

I don't know how old your CPU is, but CPUs do absolutely degrade over time. If it's not 3+ years old, and it's not been overclocked a ton, it's probably not the problem. It may be beneficial to play around with the fresh install (not games) for a while before installing video drivers to see if performance suddenly degrades once the video drivers are installed.

win8 pcs wouldnt have backwards compatible drivers for win7, i'd reinstall 8 and see if it fixes it

This computer is barely a year old.

I've already reinstalled and refreshed win8 a couple times now

hitachi is pretty bad

i would recommend WD

Okay, to be sure I'm interpreting your response correctly: The issue started once you initially switched from WIN8 to WIN7? How did you do this switch? Full formatting of hard drive in between so that none of your files were preserved, right?

And now you are back on windows 8, I'm assuming after once again formatting of your hard drive which completely wiped every single file on it?

Sorry I just want to make sure I'm on the same page. You've ignored some questions in the past, which I am not sure whether to take as confirmation or not.

Regarding your hard drive: Hitachi actually has above industry average for reliability...unlikely that is the issue right now. Rule out other basic driver related stuff first.

Can you please run latencyMon, and then while it is running play a game or do something where you experience the issue (watch a video?)?
It can indicate a specific driver that could be causing issues.

If it shows something, that's a possible lead.

Whether it shows something or not, goto Device manager...I will quote the following:

If there is a device that you disable and it fixes the performance issue...well obviously that's the culprit.

ALSO: Please ensure your power settings are set to 'high performance' in windows.
In Windows 8 search for 'choose a power plan' -> Change advanced power settings -> and then change the dropdown to 'high performance' if it is not already.
In your bios under ' CPU configuration' you can also change 'enhanced Halt State(C1E)' to disabled. You already disabled speedstep which you mentioned seem to improve things a little.

When I downgraded to Win7 I did a partial downgrade (meaning I kept all my files on there). I moved back to Win8 thinking it would solve these issues (I didn't know that driver conflicts would be a problem at this time). When I learned about driver conflicts, I wiped my HDD and then re-installed Win8. Sorry, it's a really complex system.

Ah, sorry about missing the latencymon question. There's been a lot of stuff on my slate concerning this and I must have missed it. I ran latencymon when I fixed my DPC latency and everything checked out (although I didn't have it on when I was gaming, I'll do that + post results).

After I run latencymon I'll work on the device manager stuff.
EDIT: Here's latencymon: http://puu.sh/6FjND.png
This was during tf2 surfing

Also: my power settings have been on both high performance and balanced. I haven't noticed a difference between the two.

I'm also working to compile a timeline and a list of stuff I've already done to give myself a little head room.

@smaka: I could possibly be interested in one of those drives. What shipping costs are we looking at?

Cool, thanks that clears up some questions.
Yeah it will be much easier to help if the baseline for what has already been done is clear and up to date.

Sorry that you are still having problems, but there's still some low hanging fruit to go through that I think could help.

Edit: on your Latencymon can you look at the Drivers Tab and sort by 'Highest execution (ms)'

Shit, I already closed the window. I'll run another 10-minute test and get the data from that. Sorry :(

edit: main test http://puu.sh/6Fm7L.png (was playing on a foggy map so i was probably using a bit more cpu than usual)
Drivers page: http://puu.sh/6Fmbr.png