Can any of you hardware expert please tell me whats wrong with my computer. I have just bought some gear which I have listed below, but am quite dissapointed about the performance.

I used to have:
AMD X2 4200+
AUS A8NE Ultra
ATI X800XT PE
OCZ 1GB PC2 5400 DDR533 PLATINUM
2 x Seagate 250GB SATAII

But I have recently bought the following:
INTEL E6600
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 775
XFX 7950GX2
OCZ 2GB PC2 6400 DDR2 800 PLATINUM XTC
1 x Seagate 250GB SATAII (My OS & All the Programs)
3 x Seagate 320GB SATAII (For all my porn.. LOL)

The problems Im having are;
1. The computer takes over 1min to start up
2. The applications + games dont open up as quickly as it used to with the AMD
3. Even general exploring sometimes takes long (eg.when I right click on a folder, explore HDD)

Mind you the games like FEAR never lags on the highest settings anymore and .AVIs convert the .iso much faster than before.

I have taken every precaution to minimise HDD fragmentation. I have done a defrag straight after intall of OS using Diskeeper, and probably after every app --- so that leave defrag out!

Can you please suggest what would fix this problem? Hopefully its not switch back to AMD! LOL

Thanks in advance!

what are the temps for everything u have?
if temps are not an issue then do a memtest and a hddtest.

There's another way. Google a program called bootvis. It is, or was, a microsoft created utility to arrange the boot order. So the drivers that take the longest would be loaded last. You'd get into your system faster. With that said, you wont find it on the MS site since they don't support it anymore. BTW, you got a lot of money to throw around like that.

Here's another piece of general housekeeping advice:

Under the WINDOWS folder is a folder called PREFETCH. Delete all entries in that folder and reboot.

Prefetch entries are created as the system is used and help determine load order and defragmentation placement.

For better general performance, do what I do:

Place your TEMP folders and swapfiles on a seperate physical drive from the boot/system drive for best performance.

Be certain to use a swapfile/virtual memory, even with 2GB of some kickass-fast DDR2 RAM. Consider setting the swapfile to a Fixed Size (for you I'd use 4096MB, or 4GB).

As mentioned, BootVis is a good tool to use when optimizing performance is your priority.

Be sure that your mobo BIOS settings are conducive to the kinda speed you're seeking. Memory timing, SMART settings, latency controls and many more will dictate how fast you can go.

I'm assuming you're using all the latest drivers for the mobo/chipset, videocard, soundcard, disk controller, etc. The Order you install these things has a LOT to do with how well the system performs.

I like to use Nuhi's nLite program to slim down the XP installation, integrate the latest fixes and drivers, and turn off services and apps I will never use. Maybe it's time to rethink the whole idea of another clean install, this time:

1. Make all hardware/BIOS settings first; this can be Very Important!

2. Then install a lean and mean OS (nLited XP Pro SP2 with latest DirectX 9.0c and all updates included; I like to integrate all my drivers in my nLite XP CD, including Bashrat's wonderful Driver Packs))

3. Install all mobo drivers (chipset, controllers, etc.)

4. Defrag and reboot several times for good measure, cleaning out the PREFETCH folder when complete.

5. NOW begin to add apps and install oldest apps First, newest apps Last, and defrag with DiskKeeper to suit.

I know I'm leaving stuff out, but it's late and I gotta hit the rack soon.

Best wishes on your quest for best performance - I've been on that path for about twenty years now....

Let us know how it goes!

Install CCleaner and clean out your system.
Start > Run > msconfig and disable anything you don't use on a frequent basis (stuff you don't want loading in the background because you can just open it when you need it).
Prefetch won't be as big a deal on faster systems.
Install jv16 PowerTools, clean out your registry and defragment it, then reboot.
Defragment with Diskeeper.
Disable unnecessary Services (Start > Run > services.msc (performance increase is slight)

Instead of using msconfig, get a program called startup cpl. It's an advanced way to see what programs are starting up at bootup.

Not this again... *shakes head*

So... if the prefetch entries are used to determine the optimum order of files to be loaded, why would you want to remove them?

Or this (what I use).

If I read your post correctly, you went from Two hard drives in RAID for your windows to a Single hard drive?

That proggy is not bad, but starupcpl seperates the loading programs via tabs. http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

No, it tabs the start-up types and where the information is within the registry. AutoRuns does the same thing and shows even more. You don't need all that to control what start-up and what doesn't. It's a nice program, though.

Thanks for everyone's input on the subject, specially to "mark strelecki" for taking the time..
I will post on how it goes. Will make another Unattended CD and strip it to bits and leave only the essentials.

BTW I downloaded the program "Bootvis".. still trying to make sense of how to use it! LOL

You can just use the following command instead of BootVis:

rundll32.exe advapi32.dll,ProcessIdleTasks

This is from the tools of the excellent Dial-a-fix utility.

http://wiki.djlizard.net/Dial-a-fix

get a raptor instead of seagate drive

seagate's are nice and quiet, but they're not the fastest..

http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchmark...13&devCnt=2

getting a raptor has nothing to do with it tho, his comp should not be lagging with or without the seagate.

Have you checked task manger to see if any processes are using more CPU than they should?

I think what he meant by that, was a one time thing. Clean it out, and start using the computer a bit more so it makes up fresh ones, then defrag. Don't hold me to this, I'm just trying to help (I've never noticed a difference in speed when defragging though, then again I keep my system pretty clean anyway)

My statement was referring to the fact that doing so would make no difference whatsoever. The prefetch files are only accessed when the program is loaded. If the program is removed, but the prefetch file is still there, it won't do anything (aside from taking a couple of KB of hard drive space). There's no difference between a "new" prefetch file, and an "old" one. Chances are, they'll hold the same information - more or less. Old prefetch items are automatically cleaned out to allow for new ones (a maximum of 127 items IIRC), so there's no need to do any manual adjustment of the prefetch files. My recommendation to everyone is to never touch the prefetch folder or anything inside it. It's one of the parts of Windows that takes care of itself well.

I agree with you, but I don't like it when things just create useless files (thats my opinion because I myself have never had a performance increase because of where the stuff is on my hard disk.). I clear out the prefetch folder all the time, and my system has never slowed down. Nor has it sped up when the files are there. So, when I do my maintenance on the system, I clear that folder out.

Just me and my personal experience.

If you continuously clear out the prefetch folder, your system won't have enough time to organize the files in the order they're listed - where the real system performance boost comes in.

If you haven't noticed a difference one way or the other - why bother clearing it out? It's one more thing that you have to do... for no benefit either way (according to you).

I don't even have a Prefetch folder.

i tried letting it go for about a month and a half and i didnt notice a difference. so i cleared it, and have been doing so since. i dont like stuff like that getting left behind (i clear temp internet files impulsively, ie-minutes apart ) i just dont like logs/temp files/backup files (largely depends), or anything like that being left behind, so i do a clean up every day.

a lot of people at school wonder why my pii 366 runs xp so well (might be because of other stuff too, i know)

cygnus-im pretty sure my dads pii 350 is faster than most of the comps at my school, even the ones that are 2.8ghz w/ HT. of coarse an nlited windows helps alot too.

Yah same here lol

Our school comps suck! PIII / Celerons at about 800mhz with Windows 98

well my school at least upgraded to xp and most of the comps are p4 2.8, but too bad that only 1 guy there knows 'something' about xp.

lol, my school has a few XP machines, but they are for the "privileged and gifted" children. Makes me sick to be honest. Us average people should be allowed to use them.

Just because I get a %85 in science and the gifted kid gets %90, that makes him a better candidate to use an XP based machine?