poor performance on good hardware -- why?

hoozey said:

Yeah, I just have windows on the SSD, and install most of my programs on my larger drive.

but then it still takes a while to start large applications (CAD, Photoshop etc.)? If a 32 GB SDD could help me a lot I'd consider one (more than I consider a 128 GB HDD right now). Maybe I wait till SATA 3.0 SSDs come out...

Muad Dib: Ram disk became obsolete with pre-fetch right? now Windows automatically uses all the RAM, correct?
I agree, plenty of RAM is essential to a fast computer (and cheaper than adding an SSD). hoozey definitely has a good PC that potentially could be as fast as the wind.

hoozey said:

Hello guys!

I just bought a new computer the other week:

i7 920
12GB DDR3 RAM
EVGA X58 mobo
EVGA GTX285

I have Windows 7 (x64) build 7264 installed and encrypted on a 32GB SSD.
(I also have a 1TB drive for storage.)

I installed it about a week ago and lately it has been becoming sluggish and unresponsive at times. Mostly when loading webpages with lots of pictures or videos. I've tried 3 different browsers with the same result. When watching streaming video, it freezes randomly for a few seconds at a time when playing (but the video play bar shows that it's loaded way past the point where it freezes). I don't think it's my internet connection, because it's pretty fast (university) and I don't have these problems in ubuntu. Also, iTunes sometimes takes 5-10 seconds to gain window focus when I click on it.

I'm having trouble pinpointing where the problem lies. It's obviously not the memory. The processor does't seem to be under a heavy load (and it has 4 cores). Could it be the SSD somehow? It is one of the cheaper ones. My ubuntu installation is on the regular hd and works fine.

Thoughts/ideas/suggestions appreciated. :)

Thanks,
hoozey

does this sound familiar: Inactive taskbar & icons

Vipermk2 said:

Free up some space.

* Drive indexing: disabled (my computer, right click on the Core SSD drive, properties, uncheck Drive indexing...follow the small wizard guide and wait for it to finish.)

* Prefetch: disabled (Start add search entry regedit then hit regedit.exe. Goto...Hkey_local_machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters...right click Enableprefetcher...hit modify and change 3 to 0 and hit OK)

* Superfetch: disabled (start...add search entry regedit then hit regedit.exe. Goto...Hkey_local_machine\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet \Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters...rightclick EnableSuperfetch...hit modify and change 3 to 0 and hit OK) and (Start...control panel...classic view...administrative tools...services...scroll down to superfetch and right click...properties...change startup type to disabled)

* Defrag: disabled (my computer, right click on the Core drive, properties, tools, defragment...uncheck schedule defragment this drive)



=> Search Indexing: disabled (Start...control panel...classic view...administrative tools...services...scroll down to windows search and right click...properties...change startup type to disabled)

=> System Restore: disabled (Right click my computer...properties...advanced system settings...system protection tab...un check C drive and follow on screen instructions)

=> Hibernation: disabled
(1. Click Start, and then type cmd in the Start Search box.
2. In the search results list, right-click Command Prompt or Cmd, and then click Run as Administrator on the pop up contextual menu.
3. If you are prompted by User Account Control for permission, click Continue.
4. At the command prompt, type the following command, and then press ENTER: powercfg.exe -h off
5. Type exit, and then press ENTER.)

What for he'll use the RAM when he'll disable SuperFetch by following your guide??

I don't see where you listed the brand and model of your SSD but you said one of the cheaper ones and I suspect that is exactly where the problem lies.
The less expensive and older SSD's suffer from a severe stuttering problem when writing to small files which is exactly what you describe. This gets much worse when the drive approaches capacity.

This can be helped by getting page files and Browser cache off the SSD. There are a number of other recommended tweaks - google ssd tweaks and you will find a wealth of information.

The only real solution is to get one of the better SSDs like the Intel X25-M or the OCZ Vertex. The good news is that SSD prices are rapidly dropping.