Quote (PooLRockWiLdeR @ Aug 6 2016 07:17am)

No re-brands for the GPU, it is the reference edition that you might have seen on YouTube:

http://images.hardwarecanucks.com/image//skymtl/GPU/RX-480/RX480-7.jpg

Using it with the HDMI slot.

I am playing a bit of MC Story mode today, and once it freezes, the audio seems to also loop/repeat/or totally blank out for 1-2 seconds, then returns to normal. Temp of the GPU Core is at around 50-75 C stable.

I'm starting to think it's an HDD problem...

Quote (King Atrhur @ Aug 6 2016 03:59pm)

Looping sound is indicative of bad drivers.

If the drive was the issue it would not be isolated to games i'm sure.
While I'll agree those drives had a high failure rate it does not mean his is.
In any case test it with HD Tune if you like.
Run a deep scan and a benchmark. post a screen shot of bench mark and if no errors on scan your good.

Quote (Z97 @ Aug 6 2016 10:44pm)

That's why I asked about the audio. Sounds like a bad drive card sounds fine.

Quote (King Atrhur @ Aug 7 2016 04:20pm)

Well its not good, but not terrible.

First screen shot shows a bad sector. This does not mean your drives bad but its a sign it may be going bad.
I'd run a chkdisk to remap the sector to a good one if there is one. after that if you still show a red block when
scanning, immediately stop using the drive. Buy a new one and clone it before you wear it down more.
(the more you use a dying drive the faster it'll die, also these scans are kinda stressful to drives.)

The second screen shot actually looks fine which is your data transfer rates.

Running CHKDSK:
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ee872425.aspx

Giving what you have said so far it can now either be a dying drive or drivers.

Quote (PooLRockWiLdeR @ Aug 8 2016 04:33am)

You guys are very helpful, thank you! :hail:

Couple of things I should mention on the GPU:

Yesterday evening I got a mouse graphics glitch in Windows, where the pointer appeared like this:

http://i.stack.imgur.com/2qxZj.jpg

Immediately I DDU'ed the older driver of the RX480 and I installed the latest one: Crimson Edition 16.7.3

http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows%207%20-%2064

That fixed the mouse pointer, but after the new driver install, I noticed last evening, that while watching YouTube in full screen, my mouse froze a couple of times, then resumed after some seconds. Once I even heard the USB sound of disconnecting and reconnecting (the mouse is a standard USB - nothing special).

On the HDD:

I will try 2 things today, before considering a new HDD;

- Will run chkdsk today, test the WD Black 2 and performance afterwards;
- And will also try out running my old PC's HDD which I still have - Seagate Barracuda 500 GB, which is a SATA2 7200 RPM druve, to see how the rest of the hardware will run games off of it (without the WD Black plugged in) - I still have a Win7 Enterprise installed there and games installed.

Will come back after I test the HDDs later today.