ever since my RMA'd seagate barracuda failed again, i've been using a 640gb caviar green as my primary drive. what i've noticed are these strange "stuttering" issues that crops up in my games. the game would be running steadily, and then for no apparent reason, start to stutter like mad.
i've done some monitoring on this issue. here's what i've found:
-when my games stutter, hard drive indicator are always lit
-my GPU utilization drops to 0% during the stuttering
by the looks of it, it's almost like my hard drive cannot keep up, and the rest of my system has to wait for it to provide the texture loads. there's also the possibility that my southbridge is overheating, but i'm not completely sure on this one.
so, is it my hard drive? or is it something else entirely?
relevant specs:
core 2 duo E7200 @ 3.2ghz
asus p5k-vm motherboard (G33 chipset)
WD caviar green 640gb
harddrive thrashing and stuttering
moriz
Tarun
Check the SMART using HDTune.
Elder III
Got a spare hard drive you could try running some games off of? Simple, and sure-fire way to find out if the hdd is the culprit. 
DarkCloud Of God
I would scan your hard drive with seatools see if it finds any problems http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/sup...loads/seatools
Even though you are using a western digital HD now it should still scan it and let you know if something is wrong with your HD.
Even though you are using a western digital HD now it should still scan it and let you know if something is wrong with your HD.
Quaker
This could be many things. Bad drivers, bad mobo, bad power supply, bad cables, etc. It's a bit suspicious that you RMA'd two hard drives and now have problems with yet another. If I was repairing your computer, I would put the HD into my test rig to see if it's ok, and then check things like the power supply voltages and perhaps try a better (quality/power) power supply to eliminate voltage spikes.
But that could be just for starters.
(It could also be that your power supply is too small to handle the load)
But that could be just for starters.
(It could also be that your power supply is too small to handle the load)
rick1027
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Quaker
This could be many things. Bad drivers, bad mobo, bad power supply, bad cables, etc. It's a bit suspicious that you RMA'd two hard drives and now have problems with yet another. If I was repairing your computer, I would put the HD into my test rig to see if it's ok, and then check things like the power supply voltages and perhaps try a better (quality/power) power supply to eliminate voltage spikes.
But that could be just for starters. (It could also be that your power supply is too small to handle the load) |
Lord Sojar
Hard to say really moriz, but there are a few possibilities. If your GPU utilization is dropping to zero, that means it isn't receiving texture files to process. This leads me to believe it is more likely your motherboard's SATA/EIDE controller. While it could be the HDD, you would normally hear a sound if it was a hardware issue (platter vibration, spindle grind, etc)
I would run HDD stress tests and see if that is the problem or not.
I would run HDD stress tests and see if that is the problem or not.
moriz
the caviar green is a ridiculously quiet drive, so i won't be able to hear actual harddisk thrashing even if i tried. however, the drive indicator light was lit every time this happened, which means that the disk was spinning/being accessed when this was happening.
i'm also leaning towards something to do with the southbridge also. HDTune indicated that my disk is fine (no errors, not even warnings).
i don't think it's my PSU. it's been fine for a year now, and it's not stressed anywhere near its maximum load the entire time. the first hard drive was one of those self-bricking seagate barracudas (failed after 9 months). the second drive was the one i received back from seagate, which began to fail after one month.
i'm also leaning towards something to do with the southbridge also. HDTune indicated that my disk is fine (no errors, not even warnings).
i don't think it's my PSU. it's been fine for a year now, and it's not stressed anywhere near its maximum load the entire time. the first hard drive was one of those self-bricking seagate barracudas (failed after 9 months). the second drive was the one i received back from seagate, which began to fail after one month.
Tarun
Considering how it's happened with more than one drive, I'd first try another cable. If that doesn't solve it it might be the motherboard. Especially from how fast the drive's have been dying.
moriz
just done the benchmark, here are the results:
doesn't look too fast to me. don't know if this is typical or not though.
doesn't look too fast to me. don't know if this is typical or not though.
moriz
an update on my situation:
got my barracuda back from RMA. it's noticeably louder; in fact, it's prone to emit a ton of noise at times (maybe i need to secure it better, who knows). however, that stuttering problem is now completely gone, after i've reinstalled everything on it. here's hoping it actually lasts.
got my barracuda back from RMA. it's noticeably louder; in fact, it's prone to emit a ton of noise at times (maybe i need to secure it better, who knows). however, that stuttering problem is now completely gone, after i've reinstalled everything on it. here's hoping it actually lasts.
Tarun
Seagate can't use AAM due to a lawsuit which is why it's so much louder. Western Digital drives are awesome though.
moriz
this isn't just ordinary "loud" though. it can be a faint high pitched whine, a rapid clicking, or relative silence.
why can't seagate make a harddrive that doesn't suck... grrr. looks like i'll make a backup system image in case this one dies also.
why can't seagate make a harddrive that doesn't suck... grrr. looks like i'll make a backup system image in case this one dies also.
Tarun
Quote:
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Originally Posted by moriz
this isn't just ordinary "loud" though. it can be a faint high pitched whine
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by moriz
why can't seagate make a harddrive that doesn't suck... grrr. looks like i'll make a backup system image in case this one dies also.
|
Elder III
Well, I might as well add my 2 cents - I put 5-6 PCs together over the past winter (friends and family). I used a Seagate HDD for one of the computers. WD or Hitachi for the others. Guess which one is the noisiest? The Seagate is the only one of them that is audible above the rest of the system (with ear next to case). I've been a WD fan since I started being interested in computers, and thus far nothing has happened to change my mind either. Anyways, glad it's workiing better now, and good luck with your hard drives Moriz.