CPU performance
 

Hey guys, just a little help with pushing the performance of my machine.

I built a brand new machine a few months ago, and it runs pretty good but it doesnt run as fast as i would have hoped. I was wondering if it was because of the way i had things setup. I have built plenty of machines, but this is never set one up with XP and nothing this new. Here are my specs, any ideas?

Athlon 2.35 ghz
Asus a7n8x deluxe mother board
512 mbs of nice ram, i cant remember what but it was expensive
i think it was 333 corsair or something
Radeon 9600 pro, which i have had some problems with
Soundblaster Audigy2 which i have had problems with squealing and teamspeak interference

I know thats kind of a broad question, but any help is good help... and if you need anymore info i can probably answer the question iam pretty literate.

What do you mean by "it doesn't run as fast as you would have hoped?" Do ya mean games? Benchmarking programs?

That overclocked Athlon is as powerful as a 3.06 HT P4 if you really have it at 2.35 GHz. There is definitely nothing wrong with the processor!

If games don't run as good as you like, I'd suggest an upgrade. The Radeon 9600 Pro is a midrange card, and a simple GF4 TI4200 outperforms it in some tests. You'll only get average marks in benchmarking programs unless you get a better video card.

Games are the same way. You can probably run them damn good with the 9600 Pro, but after 800*600 with high detail, it probably slows down.

Tell us what you mean about how it isn't performing as well as you hoped, and we can give ya some more pointers!

-Lasereth

A couple of things come to mind.

1) Make sure you're at running 2.35 at post. The A7N8X Deluxe BIOS presets the CPU to run at a lower frequency. Or better yet tell us what you have it set at.

2) Run dual channel if your memory is capable of it. Set-up the Memory in BIOS correctly, or better yet tell us what you have it set at.

3) Laserth is right, with a killer setup and a mediocre video card you have a what's called a bottleneck.

4) What hard drive (s) are you running. That MOBO is capable of 166 hardrives and two SATA drives.

5) 1gig is better than 512 ;)


Run 3DMark2001SE benchmark and post the results. It's free to download, but 40megs big.

Well it is kind of sluggish when running games, and even when opening explorer windows to the internet or just to the explore the internet. I know what i said was kind of vague. I will check what my Bios settings are set to, and run that test and get back to you guys, thanks for the help.

Also, make sure you are using the most current ATI drivers and that "SmartGART" is set to on in driver setup.

If I were you I would get rid of the ATI card and get a Nvidia card. I have had nothing but problems with ATI cards. Like Wyodiver said, make sure you have the latest drivers. Plus if games are running sluggish you may have to much junk in the background causing that. I am sure your smart enough to check your winipcfg setup.

bonehead that is just "your" personal opinion. No need to start another ATI vs Nvidia war. They both make great AND crappy cards.

Yeah, it's not NVIDIA or ATI's fault if the card is giving people trouble. NVIDIA doesn't even make videocards, they only make the chipset. The company that produced the card is who you need to be concerned with. ATI does make videocards, however. If it's an ATI videocard, then you can consult with them. Just because one is broke doesn't mean the entire chipset is bad.

I bought two eVGA GeForce FX 5900 Ultras this past summer for $500 each. Both of them came fucked up...I sent both back and got my money refunded from NewEgg. Would I buy a GeForce FX 5900 Ultra again? Hell yeah, and I plan to as soon as I get money. :)

-Lasereth

You didn't mention hard drive. Are you using one from a previous system? Your descriptions of typical apps not running well could mean that initial reads of the apps off of your HD are not up to speed. See if your mono supports SATA and grab one. Mine runs like the wind!

Dick: Still kinda curious on what part of your system's performance you feel is sub-par? What other apps (besides IE) seems to be lagging?