Suddenly Slow at Everything

ICIT2LOL · 05 Nov 2016

Just my two cents worth again if it is hardware that is dying then the very first thing I would be checking the PSU then the RAM and hard drive (already linked for that) then the CPU

To check the PSU I use this
Using HW Info
PART A:
You can test the volts on the PSU with HW Info HWiNFO, HWiNFO32/64 - Download < download the right bit version and close the right hand window select Sensors and scroll down to the power section where you will see what the volts are doing see my pic. In my pic the section (Nuvoton) with VBATT as a dead give away you are in the section for the rail voltages. There are other section titles and one that pops up often is ITE (sometimes the usual one for Gigabyte boards)
Now the voltage on the different rails have to be within 5% =+/- of what is required or the machine will not work properly if at all.
Limits +/-
12v = 11.4 – 12.6v
5v = 4.74 – 5.25v
3.3v = 3.135 – 3.465v
The Power good signal voltage at pin 8 on the 24 pin plug (grey cable) should be the same as the 5v rail reading/s
See this for the rail voltage info
PSUs 101: A Detailed Look Into Power Supplies (Section 2.)
The original right hand window shows the machine running and is handy for that but for looking at the components in some detail close it and use the main left hand side panel
FOR OTHER COMPONENTS
PART B:
Open each small square with + in it on the section the components are in and then click on the individual component/s (it will highlight in blue) - in the right hand side will appear all sorts of details including brands speeds and other essential info that particular device. See pic for example.

Use PART A: for starters lets see what the PSU is up to

Win7 WINNN · 05 Nov 2016

ICIT2LOL said:

Just my two cents worth again if it is hardware that is dying then the very first thing I would be checking the PSU then the RAM and hard drive (already linked for that) then the CPU

Those are the very last things that I would do. I can't imagine any type of PSU, RAM or HDD fault that could cause an instant ultra high grade general system slowdown. Faulting PSU, RAM and HDD can be the cause of operating system's and/or programs crashes, various instabilities or the reason why operating system won't boot at all. HDD might cause some sort of general system slowdown, but not instant, not ultra high grade and mostly due to fragmentation. Checking those would be a time waste in your case.

In the case of CPU then yes, as I already said, this is the one! I personally don't know any programs that could test for that type of CPU faults and it's not really necessary, just do what I said and you'll solve your problem (or find a cause of it) in a matter of minutes if not less.

Win7 WINNN · 05 Nov 2016

Now that I think, there is a slim chance that your motherboard is failing, but even in that case it would be the part of motherboard related to CPU. In that case, if you have same type PCs, a switch up of CPUs would be a good idea to check whether it's really a CPU that's causing the problems.