Your system seems to have issues with both the CPU and power supply. It's unclear what exactly is wrong.
Your system seems to have issues with both the CPU and power supply. It's unclear what exactly is wrong.
System details: 12th gen Intel i7 12700kf processor, ASRock B660M pro board, 32GB XPG Spectra D35 RAM, 512GB plus a 1TB SATA hard drive, Gigabyte P650G power supply, and a GeForce GTX 1650 GPU. Both the PSU and GPU were installed on an older pre-built system I previously owned, which ran a 10th gen i3. All remaining components were purchased from Newegg. During startup it frequently stalls at the RAM indicator and sometimes shuts down before the screen activates. Once logged in, loading takes comically slow—about two minutes for wallpaper and ten minutes to reach the taskbar or icons. The desktop occasionally highlights white even though Windows reports it’s unresponsive, but this only lasts a few seconds. There’s a small amount of thermal paste dripping onto the CPU heatsink, though it should be cleanable in roughly five minutes. I’ve replaced the RAM module after finding a bent pin on the motherboard, but the issue remains unchanged. Each RAM stick was tested individually with no improvement beyond marginally slower loading. The new CPU fan hasn’t arrived yet, so the existing one is too small and the bottom two corners aren’t fully secured.
Unless your thermal paste is conductive, that's fine, but I'd clean that off just so you don't have to deal with the consequences of it drying up. I hope you didn't douse the CPU pins and socket in thermal paste? I'd say this is probably the issue, long load times would suggest a problem with the hard drives, have you had them for a while? If so, I'd suggest a fresh SSD with a windows install on it, since I doubt you'll be able to clone it from the HDD.
The 1TB storage device resembles an old iMac model and isn’t compatible with your current cases rack, so it’s installed at an angle. I only realized this issue now because there’s no visible damage, and the other drive functioned properly a few weeks prior—this might be my next priority to address.
What a question! Your drive is probably as old as you think. The slow startup and lagging performance are often signs of a failing HDD. If you open the command prompt, run wmic diskdrive get status – it might reveal the issue. You could also try chkdsk to check for errors, though it may not help much. Using Event Viewer and looking for event IDs like 5, 7, 9, 11, or 15 can point to bad storage. Alternatively, installing Crystal Disk Info will give you a detailed breakdown of any problems with your drives.
I didn’t verify the manufacturing date, but it arrived ready-made when I purchased it around 2022, which suggests it’s not very recent. The main reason for its age is that I borrowed it from my grandmother’s house—she claimed she never used it, but Windows blocked me from seeing its contents until I cleared it in the command prompt, possibly erasing family photos permanently.
A 15-year-old mechanical HDD is tough, but it’s still subject to wear and eventual failure. Checking with Crystaldiskinfo gives you its health status, runtime usage, and any error codes. Any red flags or warnings should be taken seriously—they often mean it’s time to replace it. Improper installation can lead to problems, as these drives need precise mounting to avoid vibration and internal damage. Turning it off usually restarts the system and boosts performance if the faulty drive is the issue.
The drive appears empty, but I removed the other one and it worked fine during BIOS startup. The CPU also reached the maximum temperature reading at 100°C, which hadn’t occurred before.