Ok, so I picked out my parts, and my uncle (big with computers) helped me put it together (intel i7 2600K, GTX 570, 8 gig RAM, 2 HDDs @ 7200rpm and one 64 gig SSD).

Well, then it was fine. I was able to play StarCraft 2 with all settings maxed, basically do everything at blazing speeds. Only issue I had was that whenever I closed StarCraft it said I had a corrupted installation,but I uninstalled it. Since I've taken the PC home (from my uncle's), it's horrible. I can't even start to play a game, and even opening "my computer" is a chore that takes 1-3 minutes and brings my computer to a crawl. I couldn't even post from it since no browsers would open, and sometimes a program will take 15 minutes to open (even if it's just Windows Explorer!).

Please help. I saved my money for this for a long time, and now it seems like it's all gone to waste. :sadvaultboy:

It might be good to check if all the components are still seated well & the wiring is still in place

Open your side panel and make sure your heatsink hasn't fallen off of your CPU. After that, smell for burning circuitry. If nothing smells bad, ensure everything is plugged in correctly. Run heat tests on all of your hardware and post your results.

Also boot into safe mode. If it's faster like that, run some malware scans.

I would, but I'm not with it right now. Thanks for the advice, I'll try this (it did get rattled around a bit in the car, and it was slow from the moment I got home).

I wouldn't boot into anything until he knows for sure that his processor isn't frying.

Called someone at home, and they looked through the side panel and said my CPU cooler is still on.

1. I'd assume he'd be smart enough to do a visual inspection first.
2. If it is really the processor, one more boot isn't going to kill it.
3. If it's the heat sink missing, I'd be pretty surprised that it isn't shutting down due to heat. That's usually the big indicator of a heat problem.

More likely than not, it is a hardware issue. Software is never out of the question, though.

I had a similar problem happen while in the middle of a game - the thin metal on my stock AMD heatsink actually warped under the heat of my processor and fell on my GPU. My FPS plummeted from 60 to ~1, and opening the start menu to boot down took hours. I ended up just pulling the plug to prevent further damage.

Once you are near the computer, make sure you check every detail of the build. Then, with the side panel open, turn your computer on and if you smell anything burning, turn it off immediately and recheck. If nothing is burning, run some heat tests. If everything looks alright, and you still smell nothing burning, run malware tests.

I recommend Avast! and Malwarebytes.



1 + 2 are absolutely true. It wasn't meant as an insult to you, I was just making sure OP didn't make any mistakes that cost him his computer.

About #3, though, you'd be really, really surprised. Of course it depends a lot on the system hardware and varies from system-to-system, a friend of mine actually ran a computer of his for something stupid like 20 minutes until he smelled that his processor was hot. Then again, he had the heatsink on; the fan was just off.

I'm going to ask my uncle about it tomorrow, but I'll be sure to try all of this as well when I get home.

Considering the fact that our car ride was exactly smooth, something coming loose is likely.