[level]

I have built a new system:

- CPU: Intel P4 2.80Ghz HT
- Mobo: Asus P5ND2-Sli (latest stable bios)
- RAM: 768MB RAM
- HD: Samsung HD 80GB SATA
- GPU: GCube Nvidia 7900GTX (latest stable drivers)
- Case: Arctic Cooling T2 Silentium
- PSU: Seasonic/ARCTIC, active PFC 450 Watt max.

To my surprise and joy, and against all odds, I had no difficulties building the system. I am now using it on a daily basis and it has replaced my previous computer (a Compaq D510 SFF).

However, I can tell something is wrong with it: I wish I knew WHAT and HOW to fix it, but I don't. The "symptoms" are that it usually takes ages for programs to run (this includes games); i.e. I click on an icon to start a program and it takes "ages" before the program reacts. The same with games: they take a lot of time to load, and the often run with errors or don't run at all.

I have tried installing the latest GPU drivers from Nvidia, and it did not help. I am reluctant to update the bios yet, just in case the beta one is worse than the one I have (which is the most recent one which is stable).

Therefore, I need your help or else my investment would be a waste of money (as it seems that my old computer perfromed better than the present one).

Please let me know what do you think I should to.

Thanks,

LVL

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well one thing that i did notice is that you have an "odd" amount of RAM this can slow the system down a bit
your motherboard supports dual channel RAM the best thing to do with dual channel ram is to have them the same chips that is same speed same type (brand) and same size.

the best thing is to have say 2X256Mb or 2X512Mb not 1 of each.
also have you installed the ram in slots 1 & 3 NOT 1 & 2
to run dual channel they need to be in slots 1 and 3 in order for it to work it dual channel mode that could speed up the loading times a little bit.

but before you update the bios there are a few things that you can do to spped it up a lil

download this
http://www.softpedia...load-16369.html
this will tell you everything about your computer its speeds its tempreature and about everything connected to the pc

see what the clocks are and how hot it is running also cheack the voltages and see if they are stable.

there a many things that could be a factor of a slow machine like hard drive cache what size is that?
also have you played around with the bios are you sure everything is running at the right speeds and it is configured for the best performance?

it seems strange to have a pc like that runnig noticably slow anyway try a few of those things and see what happens then post back goodluck,
troppo

[troppo]

well one thing that i did notice is that you have an "odd" amount of RAM this can slow the system down a bit
your motherboard supports dual channel RAM the best thing to do with dual channel ram is to have them the same chips that is same speed same type (brand) and same size.

the best thing is to have say 2X256Mb or 2X512Mb not 1 of each.
also have you installed the ram in slots 1 & 3 NOT 1 & 2
to run dual channel they need to be in slots 1 and 3 in order for it to work it dual channel mode that could speed up the loading times a little bit.

but before you update the bios there are a few things that you can do to spped it up a lil

download this
http://www.softpedia...load-16369.html
this will tell you everything about your computer its speeds its tempreature and about everything connected to the pc

see what the clocks are and how hot it is running also cheack the voltages and see if they are stable.

there a many things that could be a factor of a slow machine like hard drive cache what size is that?
also have you played around with the bios are you sure everything is running at the right speeds and it is configured for the best performance?

it seems strange to have a pc like that runnig noticably slow anyway try a few of those things and see what happens then post back goodluck,
troppo

[level]

Hi Troppo,

Many thanks for your suggestions (just a quick answer to one of yoru questions: yes, the memory is in slot 1 and 3). Everest Home looks like a very similar (probably slightly improved) version of Aida32. I downloaded it a got the attached report (if you can't open it or want me to post specific bits of it, let me know). Unfortunately, I don't know how to interpret this information: for example the temperature levels look good (mobo: 36, CPU 31, GPU 43, HD 38...). I don't know whether the voltage values are ok, as I don't know much about voltage: CPU core: between 1.38V and 1.42V, +2.5V: 3.31V, +5V: 4.97V, +12V: 11.84V, etc, etc. I could really do with some hlp here. Similarly, I could do with as much help as you could give me when it comes to playing with the Bios.

There is one more thing which surprises me: my HD appears as a removable piece of hardware. In other words, there is an icon in the notification area of the Windows taskbar according to which I can "safely remove Samsung HD080 Drive C"!!! This is a SATA internal HD, so how come it can be removed? I mean, I have another external HD, a Western Digital 250GB, which connects to the PC via USB - now that one I agree, can be removed, but why does the internal SATA HD show as being removable?

I hope you can help me...

Thanks,

LVL

Attached Files

•  Report1.txt   311.2KB   687 downloads

[level]

I have noticed that the layout of the report attached to my previous mesage is not very user friendly, so here's a RFT verion of it...

Attached Files

•  Report1.rtf   332.69KB   226 downloads

[troppo]

well i extracted this from your post which seems weird to me
its saying that there is no hard drive present i think:

[ Port Connectors / SATA1 ]

Port Connector Properties:
Internal Reference Designator SATA1
Internal Connector Type On-Board IDE
External Connector Type None

[ Port Connectors / SATA2 ]

Port Connector Properties:
Internal Reference Designator SATA2
Internal Connector Type On-Board IDE
External Connector Type None

[ Port Connectors / SATA3 ]

Port Connector Properties:
Internal Reference Designator SATA3
Internal Connector Type On-Board IDE
External Connector Type None

it seems strange and i dont have a clue why that would be showing up as a removable drive in the task bar i think i have come across a few posts with the same problem maybe its something to do with sata hard drives (sorry i dont have one so i wouldnt no)

and i understand that you want help with the bios but its really hard from here lol the thing is as i said they are so varied in the way they function and the words they use

the only thing that i can say look for would be some thing to do with "hard drive auto detect" usually in onboard perhipheals or some thing similar the best thing to do would be to just have a look through the bios and get familiar with it but dont change anything yet just get used to it and look for the thing i was telling you about.

as long as you dont save anything to the cmos then your computer will still boot up fine there will be no problems there and if you do accidentally chnage something and it doesnt boot then that can be fixed by clearing the cmos by using the jumper or removing the battery.

also i noticed that your CPU temp was high what were you runing at the time when you generated the report it said that the CPu tmp was 52 degress thast pretty high for a non loading state if thats when you took it. but if that was under full load then thast about a right temp can i have a little insight on this matter?

also getting back to the memory they are different brands and different sizes thats not good for dual channel i would change them as soon as you can they would be slowing down the pc quite a bit get two the same (same brand same speed and same maker)

when the system is booting press delete or usually on of the f.... buttons it should tell you on the screen then navigate your way around and see what you can find out
goodluck,
troppo

Edited by troppo, 04 June 2006 - 06:07 PM.