My custom build computer seems to boot/run/shutdown quite slow. I have a 2.9 GHz dual core AMD running with 8Gb of Ram. (See System Specs under my post)
The performance index within windows indicates that the hard drive has the lowest number, a 4.5. The hard drive is a previously used 200Gb Seagate which may be a couple years old.
The computer boot/shutdown speed rivals my almost 4 year old laptop which has only 2Gb ram and a single core processor when on battery power. All of my other newer computers, which run Vista, and have at most 4Gb ram performs faster.