Windows 7 is so slow on a somewhat old computer

[McDougal]

I got an old desktop for free, its a nice computer considering how old it is, a Compaq Presario 5000. The specs are as follows:

Intel Pentium 4 @ 1.7GHz
1.25GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 with 256MB RAM
80GB HDD
CD/DVD drive along with a CD/RW drive

The system came with Windows XP Professional on it, and had that OS until I recently upgraded it to Windows7 Professional 32-bit. After I installed it I followed the optimize tutorial on this site, the computer runs okay with just normal usage. However...I like to play Combat Arms with my friends and we often used this computer back when it had XP on it. When XP was installed, the game ran perfectly. Now, while Windows7 is on, it runs incredibly slow. There's never-ending lags, etc. I don't know why its doing this, the CPU usage is at 100% most of the time, I have all visual effects disabled/classic theme. I don't have a crapload of software on there, only security (MSE) and Office (2010).

Is there any way to speed this up, or should I just revert it back to XP?

 

[yowanvista]

I got an old desktop for free, its a nice computer considering how old it is, a Compaq Presario 5000. The specs are as follows:

Intel Pentium 4 @ 1.7GHz
1.25GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 with 256MB RAM
80GB HDD
CD/DVD drive along with a CD/RW drive

The system came with Windows XP Professional on it, and had that OS until I recently upgraded it to Windows7 Professional 32-bit. After I installed it I followed the optimize tutorial on this site, the computer runs okay with just normal usage. However...I like to play Combat Arms with my friends and we often used this computer back when it had XP on it. When XP was installed, the game ran perfectly. Now, while Windows7 is on, it runs incredibly slow. There's never-ending lags, etc. I don't know why its doing this, the CPU usage is at 100% most of the time, I have all visual effects disabled/classic theme. I don't have a crapload of software on there, only security (MSE) and Office (2010).

Is there any way to speed this up, or should I just revert it back to XP?

This is because the FX5500 was discontinued and Nvidia no longer provides any new drivers for it, but you can install the Vista driver instead for a smoother performance
ForceWare Release 95

 

[Sik00]

Intel Pentium 4 @ 1.7GHz
1.25GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 with 256MB RAM
80GB HDD

Is there any way to speed this up, or should I just revert it back to XP?

Your hardware is just about at the minimum for 7..If I remember it right, the 32 bit recommends at the bare minimum 1 GB for 32 bit. I had the FX500, and while it was a good card for its time, it's outdated.

Windows 7 System Requirements

At idle, my memory usage sits at anywhere from 1.1GB to 1.3GB, depending on what I've got open.

You said your processor is at 100% most of the time..is that when playing the game, or even if you're idle? Try sorting the CPU column in the Processes tab of Task Manager and see which process is taking up the most of your CPU.

If it were me..I'd run XP on the machine until you can upgrade a little further. You have plenty of memory for XP.

Windows XP Professional System Requirements

 

[McDougal]

This is because the FX5500 was discontinued and Nvidia no longer provides any new drivers for it, but you can install the Vista driver instead for a smoother performance
ForceWare Release 95

That's what I figured, I already have the Vista 32-bit driver installed that I downloaded directly from the Nvidia site.

Intel Pentium 4 @ 1.7GHz
1.25GB RAM
Nvidia GeForce FX 5500 with 256MB RAM
80GB HDD

Is there any way to speed this up, or should I just revert it back to XP?

Your hardware is just about at the minimum for 7..If I remember it right, the 32 bit recommends at the bare minimum 1 GB for 32 bit. I had the FX500, and while it was a good card for its time, it's outdated.

Windows 7 System Requirements

At idle, my memory usage sits at anywhere from 1.1GB to 1.3GB, depending on what I've got open.

You said your processor is at 100% most of the time..is that when playing the game, or even if you're idle? Try sorting the CPU column in the Processes tab of Task Manager and see which process is taking up the most of your CPU.

If it were me..I'd run XP on the machine until you can upgrade a little further. You have plenty of memory for XP.

Windows XP Professional System Requirements

I unfortunately don't have the $$$$ to upgrade any hardware on this system . And yes, the processor is at 100% most of the time when playing the game, on idle or normal usage its at a reasonable precentage.

So I guess I should revert it back to XP then.....oh well, Windows7 can't run on everything.

 

[DocBrown]

Have you checked to see what is the maximum memory the MB can take ?

 

[wds7]

You better off downgrade it back to Xp .. until you have money for more mem "say 4GB or so" and new bigger/faster "say al least 7200RPM" HDD ..IMO ..

BTW .. Intel Pentium 4 CPU is good enough to handle wds7 ...

 

[Sik00]

I unfortunately don't have the $$$$ to upgrade any hardware on this system . And yes, the processor is at 100% most of the time when playing the game, on idle or normal usage its at a reasonable precentage.

So I guess I should revert it back to XP then.....oh well, Windows7 can't run on everything.

The processor will more than likely be near 100% with a game running. That's its job

Unfortunately it can't run on everything. If you've heard of http://www.newegg.com I would check them out when you're ready for an upgrade. I build mine piece by piece, but they do have "System builder" bundles that come with almost everything you need at a reasonable price. My mother does transcription work, and I upgraded her old Gateway ( 2.4 Ghz, 768 MB RAM), to a dual-core Athlon II with 2 GB of RAM, new HDD, case, etc. for a little over $300. That didn't include Windows 7 (which I got for $99 for Home Premium) or a monitor, as she already had a 22 inch widescreen.

 

[McDougal]

Yes, I've heard of Newegg......haven't heard of System Builder bundles though. But for now, I think I'll put XP back on it, while its got boring interface, and not as many cool features as Win7, it definitely runs a lot faster.

 

[gregrocker]

To check for a memory upgrade, Google your model + RAM upgrade.

What you find after reading the results is that the mainline version 5000 only supports 750mb RAM, so it's possible the rest of your RAM isn't even being used.

You can run the Crucial memory Upgrade tool to make sure, but I think you've found the weakness.

 

[McDougal]

Huh that's weird, it seems to be using the extra RAM, I got rid of Win7 though, and am in the process of installing XP Pro.

I've used Crucial before for memory upgrades, and IMO it's the easiest way. I'll run their online utility after I'm finished installing to see what options are available.

And I also forgot to add it's the 50000US, and it came with 512MB, the previous owner upgraded it to what it is now.

 

[McDougal]

Oops sorry for the mistake guys, my system model number is 5330US lol.

Anyways XP is running great so far....

 

[pantsaregood]

It's probably a driver problem more than anything.

Install your chipset drivers and video card drivers. Aero will run on an FX5500, since it runs on an FX5200 without a hitch.

You have plenty of RAM. Windows 7 dynamically allocates RAM. The more RAM you have, the more it will constantly use. I've put Windows 7 on my aunt's computer, and it only has 768 MB of PC3200. It runs perfectly fine. I've never tried less.

 

[gregrocker]

Oops sorry for the mistake guys, my system model number is 5330US lol.

Anyways XP is running great so far....

5330US supports 1.5gb RAM with Intel 845 chipset which should run Win7 without Aero.

I ran 528mb on my HP 510 beach lappy but couldn't run an AV or use gadgets. Replacing it with a gigstick made all the difference.

 

[McDougal]

So that means that I only need to upgrade 256MB, which should be relatively cheap ....I probably won't do it for a while though....I finished installing XP Pro SP3 w/Office 2007 Ultimate SP2 and its running incredibly well now....

 

[MrC4]

Firstly, You should have installed WIndows 7 Home Premium, because professional will slightly use more ram. Secondly, you should try to find it's proper driver, either for windows xp or vista. For vista, you could just install it like that. But if you have xp drivers, then you have to use in compability mode.
Try not to install junk on your computer becuase it will make it slower.

 

[XSaenen]

Most likely a driver problem indeed. I'm running Vista on a lower-spec netbook (1.6GHz Intel Atom singlecore without hyperthreading, 1.5GB DDR2 533 RAM) and that's quite zippy. So Win7 should run more than fast enough on yours.

I must admit that I spent weeks looking for all the correct drivers because even the netbook's manufacturer (Packard Bell) said that there were no drivers and that it would never run on Vista.
Sometimes the same components are used in machines from other brands, and they also can have working drivers. In my case that did the trick for the GFX driver and Wi-Fi driver.

As for gaming, 100% CPU when gaming on a single or dual core PC is normal. Some games easily max out quadcores as well.