Let's Play find the Bottleneck

[silvere]

I have a pretty good system and it's still bogging down when I open apps or have too much going on. I did a fresh install of xp and that helped a bit, but still having the bottleneck. Can anyone give me some insight? Specs are below.

Thanks
Andy

Windows XP Pro
EPoX 8RDA+
AMD XP 2100+ @ 2326.70 AIUHB 0302
TTGI TT-420W
Thermalright SLK -800 HS
Vantec 80mm Stealth Fan
2 x 256 Corsair XMS3200
Highpoint RocketRaid 1540
2 Maxtor SATA 7200 80 GB 8mb cache Hard Drives @ raid 0
ATI Radeon 8500 - Dual Monitors
Sony DVD RW+- DRU-500A
Lite-on 52x24x52
Canon N650U Scanner
HP deskjet 940c

 

[edemiere]

Well, at first glance I would wonder if running two monitors is causing a burden since that is an awful lot on the output end of things.

Try disabling one or just unhooking one and see if that speeds things up.

Aside from that the rest of the hardware looks pretty good.

Cheers!

 

[attrofy]

Any particular apps that this bottleneck is more prone to occur then with others?

What are your temps? Those Vantec Stealth fans are nice and quiet, but pretty low volume for acting as a CPU fan.

Can you explain a little more about this "bottleneck"? What exactly is happening when you open your apps?

One thing to consider is doing some more research on your RocketRAID controller. From what I understand, they use the Parallel-ATA (PATA) controller, and just use a SATA connector to allow SATA drives to work. However, having said all of that, I understand it is still a reasonably fast card. But the problem may come in your expectations of what you are expecting this controller/RAID set up to do. The bottleneck may be typical for a stndard PATA setup - just something to consider.

More details might help eliminate the problems.

 

[silvere]

kazaa lite kills the machine...really boggs it down after running for awhile. just now I burned a dvd and when I came back the pc was really slow for awhile then became quicker. I was wondering if I need more memory...would that help speed things up when I am multitasking?

My cpu temps run 40c and system runs 35c...I forgot to update the fans you are right about the vantec fans. I now have 3 smartfan II's

Not sure about the raid controller or the dual monitors...I'll have to look into those more in a bit. For now I have to study

Thanks
Andy

 

[cdogg]

silvere,
You mention that a "clean install" helped slightly, but did you try benchmarking your PC before installing all the extra crap like Kazaa Lite and other software apps?

Remember, the more internet utilities, P2P sharing, and other internet software you install, chances are some spyware may come packaged with it. Kazaa Lite isn't bad, but it all depends on what else we're talking about.

512MB of memory is just right for XP. Anything more will only benefit you in severe multi-tasking situations or on certain apps that are memory intensive. Things like DVD burning or working in office apps won't benefit much from more memory.


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein

 

[silvere]

well I haven't installed kazaa yet or anything that would come with any spyware. I do scan for spyware after installing those kinds of apps.

I can run a benchmark now...what do you suggest? sandra?

what would keep the system from getting bogged down while ripping and burning a dvd for example. faster cpu?

Thanks

 

[cdogg]

Well, if you're copying from HD to CD, then it just depends. Even on fast systems, you are limited to what you can do in the background. Usually web surfing or working in your typical office app should work just fine, but playing an intense 3D game, for example, shouldn't be expected.

How many IDE devices do you have? How are they connected (what channels for each)?

Your CPU is definitely fast enough and shouldn't be a bottleneck. Can you be more specific about what's happening? What kind of slowness are you seeing and during what app?


~cdogg
[tab]"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources"
[tab][tab]- A. Einstein

 

[silvere]

I have two hd's on the pci raid controller. One hd on the primary. The two burners on the Secondary.

Everything gets bogged down and it takes a few seconds for things to respond...Today I was burning a dvd, had outlook open, three i.e.'s and windows media player. When I would click to do something it would take serveral seconds to do anything. Sometimes the i.e. screen would go blank like it stopped responding then it would pop up. I know that this is a lot going on. It's not always this much. I had the same problems before I hooked up the raid and reformated. If I had kazaa open for awhile and nothing else, then open i.e. it would do the same.

 

[johnsje]

you could always try and use the performance log to try and figure out where your bottleneck is. It can tell you where the problem may be, such as in the memory, or processor or the hard drive and others. There are many options for you to choose from. Every counter you choose will give you an explanation of what it does.

Jeff
Apexx Technical Consulting

http://www.apexxconsulting.com

 

[silvere]

do you mean the performance in the task manager or is there something else I don't know about?

 

[ceh4702]

Hope you updated windows, and internet explorer through the windows update site. Anyone using Kaza has an open window for virus attacks. I think this is primarlily a flaw in IE or outlook express.

I would recommend an active virus scanner that scans every file you download before you open it.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.

 

[johnsje]

If you right click on my computer and go to manage you will see performance logs and alerts. Click on that and go to counter logs. There will be a default counter in there called system overview. If you right click in any open space in this box you will be able to create a new counter and add objects. With every object you can add it will give you an explanation of them. If you do a little reading you will be able to figure out how everything works. This will help narrow down your problem. It not the best tool in the world, but it beats guessing what the problem is.



Jeff
Apexx Technical Consulting

http://www.apexxconsulting.com

 

[iSeriesCodePoet]

Try defraging (even on a clean install). Add more memory, 512 is a lot, but with XP the more the better. And try monitoring the task manager for a while to see where the culprit is.

iSeriesCodePoet
iSeries Programmer/Lawson Software Administrator

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