My new PC that was supposed to be super fast is not that impressive...

[Fking]

Well i got a i7, 3.3ghz, 500gb black western digitals on mirror raid, top shelf video card and 4GB of ram since i'm stuck with 32 bit windows 7 because of some software i need to use.

I was expecting it to be blazing fast, especially considering that I come from dual core 2ghz laptop.

It's nothing special and lately (the OS install is few months old now) is infact being pretty slow. (no viruses or stuff like that)

Is there a way to analyze and find the bottle neck in the system? I guess most will say is the RAM but i'm using it mostly for web development, and none of the software is too heavy. Residently open apps are stuff like Chrome, Thunderbird and few other light ones.
The ram usage is at about 70% and the cpu clock is jumping from 1 to 3 ghz with load most of the times at few %.
When occasionally i need to open MS word, excel photoshop or dreamweaver they really take their time to load. And often even jumping between programs is laggish.

Any advice?

 

[vaidas3]

mirror raid is for protection from HDD failure.. only reading speed increases a bit.. i dont know why you are running a RAID1 on home pc maybe it has some very important data and only backup is not enough..
the best way to improve your system speed, is to install SSD for your OS and most uses software.
the other is to look for software/hardware problems. because your specs seems ok.

When occasionally i need to open MS word, excel photoshop or dreamweaver they really take their time to load. And often even jumping between programs is laggish.

SSD greatly improves loading times.

 

[windude99]

Well i got a i7, 3.3ghz, 500gb black western digitals on mirror raid, top shelf video card and 4GB of ram since i'm stuck with 32 bit windows 7 because of some software i need to use.

I was expecting it to be blazing fast, especially considering that I come from dual core 2ghz laptop.

It's nothing special and lately (the OS install is few months old now) is infact being pretty slow. (no viruses or stuff like that)

Is there a way to analyze and find the bottle neck in the system? I guess most will say is the RAM but i'm using it mostly for web development, and none of the software is too heavy. Residently open apps are stuff like Chrome, Thunderbird and few other light ones.
The ram usage is at about 70% and the cpu clock is jumping from 1 to 3 ghz with load most of the times at few %.
When occasionally i need to open MS word, excel photoshop or dreamweaver they really take their time to load. And often even jumping between programs is laggish.

Any advice?

Please fill in your system specs so we can better assist you:http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/180324-system-info-see-your-system-specs.html

 

[rraod]

Check your Windows Experience Index. This will show where your computer is lagging.

 

[James7679]

and 4GB of ram since i'm stuck with 32 bit windows 7 because of some software i need to use

FYI, In general most 32-bit applications will work just fine in a 64-biit operating system, but there are some exceptions. One easy way to check if your applications will work would be to check the Windows 7 compatibility center: Windows 7 Compatibility: Software Programs & Hardware Devices: Find Updates, Drivers, & Downloads
From the compatibility center you can search for your hardware and applications by name and check both 32-bit and 64-bit compatibility.

Windows 7x64 and a few other x64 Windows OS use a feature called WoW64. WoW64 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Applications that most commonly have compatibility issues are what are referred to as kernal mode applications and old 16-bit applications. Examples might include old versions of DOS-based applications, anti-virus applications, old hardware which may not support 64-bit, etc.

As previously requested, please completely fill in your system specs and we will be able to help you with much more informed advice.

 

[pparks1]

It could just be that your CPU was never really a bottleneck and you aren't really taking advantage of the new CPU with the software and such that you run.

Having 4 GB of RAM is not going to really be a bottleneck, without running very heavy apps that need more. So, going from 4GB to 8GB isn't going to make the machine super fast all by itself. In fact,it's most likely the case that you wouldn't notice a difference.

a RAID 1 mirror is going to provide some protection of a hard drive failure allowing you to boot. But it's not going to really improve your hard drive performance. Not sure if you were hoping for an improvement with this setup.

Others have mentioned an SSD drive, and for the biggest bang for the buck upgrade, I cannot disagree with that. It will be far more noticeable then a RAM upgrade.

 

[ROCcomputerguy]

Well, to tell you the truth, after you buy any pc (mac users should better know this too), the computer does not become impressive after a period of time. Wires start to tear apart, and soon you will find yourself outdated (more pc or mac shopping!)

 

[ROCcomputerguy]

Grab windows 7 64 bit, since you pc is awesome and you can run Adobe full suites and many softwares that require 64 bit.

 

[ReviverSoft]

Is there a way to analyze and find the bottle neck in the system? I guess most will say is the RAM but i'm using it mostly for web development, and none of the software is too heavy

Well, 4GB is sufficient for your kind of usage. In fact, most apps. don't use more than 3GB of ram. While people say more RAM is always better, it is only the case when you're working with memory intensive tasks and apps., which isn't the case here.

Onto some suggestions:

-Start off by uninstalling bloatware and other programs you don't need
-Disable programs/services you don't need running at every startup
-Hard drive defragmentation maybe
-Use a program like HWMonitor to see if your CPU/GPU is overheating
-Ensure that you have a well-specc'd PSU for your system (i7 + top of the line gfx card = consumes more power)

I can't imagine anything else slowing down that hardware.

As for the SSD, while it may help with boot times and file transfers, it isn't really going to fix all your problems.

after you buy any pc (mac users should better know this too), the computer does not become impressive after a period of time

By the looks of it, I think he just got the system.

 

[ROCcomputerguy]

Mmm, can't disagree. You can use ccleaner, coretemp, and stuff like that. You can also check if the applications are running from the correct location, because if they cannot do so, then the application will slow down. Another good suggestion is to clean your fans once in a while because dust adds 20 degrees C of heat

I have no other suggestions, so play with different combinations! I have done this and my pc is running pretty well since 2008

 

[pparks1]

It sounds like his PC is new, so it's probably not dust or cruft slowing his box down.

the OP didn't say, but did you build the machine yourself, or did you buy from somewhere? If you built yourself, I doubt you have a ton of bloatware to get rid of.

 

[MagusMagnus]

I strongly suspect the CPU is at fault here. It could be experiencing erratic voltages (swinging around from high to low or could just be a lemon. Or, it could even be that the thermal paste is not applied properly and is prohibiting the heat sink from doing its job, and this can definitely KO it altogether but first present with poor performance slowing the entire system down. And if this is an OEM purchased machine, that's likely what's going on because they literally just glob it on and mash the heat sink down without bothering to evenly distribute it (I re-apply it myself, warranty be damned. I remove the old paste completely, then I take some Arctic Silver 5 and apply a liberal amount in a line and then I take a razor blade and use it as you would a butter knife, gently spreading that paste over the entire surface of the CPU until I get a thin, uniform film of it - shouldn't be more than 1mm thick).

So go check these things out and let us know what you find, if anything. However, I'll caution you if this is an OEM built system under warranty, they could give you crap about opening the case (they put a tamper-sticker on there which tells them) and doing anything with the hardware (it voids the warranty, typically). So, if this is an OEM built system, call technical support and have them deal with the problem in the CPU if your tests and observations glean any results.


I also agree with everyone else's suggestions, get rid of bloat ware if there is any and also utilize apps and utilities like CCleaner to frequently rid the system of junk files, manage start-up applications (only letting crucial system services to load but dumping the rest) and also be sure to perform a regular defrag of the HDD, it helps heaps.

 

[gregrocker]

Clean Up Factory Bloatware - Windows 7 Forums

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[Fking]

Thanks for all the feedback guys
I just filled all my system details

here is a benchmark as well:
https://novabench.com/view/251998

and screenshot from Windows Performance tool


p.s.
the cpu temperature is 32-40C

p.p.s
i have bloatware stuff as XfastUSB, XfastLan and PowerNap
not even sure what they are supposed to do except for PowerNap, which is something to stand by the monitors better (i suppose)

 

[gregrocker]

With 4gb I would run 32 bit Win7 since some memory is reserved for hardware - you can check how much by typing Resource Monitor in Start Search box, look at Memory tab for a chart.

Establish a clean boot as shown in Clean Up Factory Bloatware to see if performance improves with no freeloaders. Allow only a lightweight AV like Microsoft Security Essentials to start up with Windows.

If it's still slow edit Video Effects at Control Panel>System>Advanced Settings>Performance>Settings to uncheck all fading, sliding, dragging intact, Selection Rectangle.

If this improves things then I'd definitely try a test install of 32 bit by shrinking your existing installation and booting the 32 bit installer for your licensed version to install to the shrink space and configure a Dual Boot for testing: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[FliGi7]

That machine should be pretty blazing fast. Which particular memory do you have? You don't list the specs.

 

[Seeliewight]

Wait, your RAM score is pretty low - I got 7.5+ scores with 2x2GB 1333 MHz RAM on a similar configuration.

What is the specification (speed, manufacturer, number of DIMMs)? Did you install it correctly? The motherboard manual lists the correct slots to put RAM in depending on the number of DIMMs.