Quad core lag/long load times

[Wutan]

I upgraded my computer a few days ago and now everything is working slowly, from the operating system (XP) to the games, most notably Bad company 2 and it has a very long load time up to 2 min per game round. I tried other games, Arcania gothic 4, Darksiders... all take too long to start the game. When it finally gets ingame it works okay for the most part.

Someone please help me...

Previous settings:
2Gb ram ddr2
Geforce 8800 Gt 512 Mb ram
Motherboard Abit IP 35 pro
Windows XP
Wolfdale e8200 processor 2.66 Ghz dual core
PSU - GP 2.3 600Watt

New settings
A-Data PC3-12800 "XPG™" KIT 4096MB 1600 MHz DDR III - new
Geforce 8800 Gt 512 Mb ram
Motherboard ASUS M4A785T-M - new
AMD Athlon™ II X4 640 quad core 300 Mhz - new
PSU - GP 2.3 600Watt
Windows Xp


What do i have to do to have a functional computer that will work normally. Do i have to activate something or what?

The windows Xp installed here is completely fresh, reinstalled windows a day ago.

P.S. thank your for any info given.

 

[saint19]

Hi Wutan and welcome to Tom's forum.

When u change all the components you need do a Windows clean instalation since all the components of the new mobo are different, if u don't did that do it, that could be the problem of your slow system.

 

[Twoboxer]

First, did you reinstall Windows before or after installing the new cpu/mobo?

Second, are you sure you actually upgraded your cpu? Dunno the AMD cpus all that well, but is this comparison close enough?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/188?vs=58

or this comparison that shows some gaming benches:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/122?vs=58

 

[Wutan]

Ty twoboxer. According to the graph my 2 year old CPU is better then my new one. So there is not a programs error or anything just my CPU is not all that good, despite paying 90 € for it ( still not a lot in CPU circles but thought at would be at least comparable to the old one. I changed parts then installed windows xp all over again.


Again thank you for the info.

 

[Twoboxer]

OK, so its not chip sets - and no, I wasn't suggesting that the cpu was the sole cause - just that its going to game slower, or at least not faster.

Games use 2 or 3 cores, so often a faster dual core will outperform a quad. And AMD and Intel clock rates are not the same; AMD cpus need higher clock rates to equal Intel cpus.

So the next questions: what hard drive are you using (make model and size)? How full is it (percent)? Have you defragged it recently?

 

[Wutan]

Well the system partition is 99 Gb, 465 is for miscellanious things (games, photos, movies)


HDD properties photo
http://www.shrani.si/f/1B/13E/3zKzHqON/untitled.png

The system HDD's size is almost completely empty because it's a fresh install of windows xp.

Intalled Bad company 2 again and it took more than 30 min, whereas with the e8200 cpu i had before did that in 2-5 minutes.

All of the HDD on my system
http://www.shrani.si/f/v/ji/1VqgF9Fb/untitled.png

C: disk

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB Hard Drive Specifications
Part # 6Y160P0
Average Seek Time
9 ms
Spindle Speed
7200 rpm
Cylinders
16383
Heads (Physical)
16
Buffer Size
8 MB
Manufacturer Warranty
1 year warranty
Type
Hard drive - internal
Form Factor
3.5" x 1/3H
Dimensions (WxDxH)
4 in x 5.7 in x 1 in
Weight
1.3 lbs
Capacity
160 GB
Interface Type
DMA/ATA-133 (Ultra) Fast Drives
Connector
40 pin IDC
Data Transfer Rate
133 MBps
Manufacturer
Maxtor

SAMSUNG HD642JJ

E: (<-- the one that has the windows xp installed) and F: partitions

General
Packaging Bulk
Specification
Capacity 640GB
External Interface SATA 3.0Gb/s
Rotation speed 7200 RPM
Buffer size 16MB
Form factor 3.5"
Avg Seek Time 8.9ms
Avg Latency 4.17ms
Power Consumption (Avg Seek) 6.9w
Power Consumption (Read/Write) 7.4w
Power Consumption (Avg Idle) 5.7w

D: drive

Model

Brand
Seagate

Series
Barracuda 7200.10

Model
ST3500630A

Packaging
Bare Drive

Performance

Interface
IDE Ultra ATA100 / ATA-6

Capacity
500GB

RPM
7200 RPM

Cache
16MB

Average Seek Time
11ms

Average Write Time
12ms

Average Latency
4.16ms

I haven't defragged any of the drives because the problems occured only after got the new CPU. Before it worked fine.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/58?vs=122 did you look into your new purchase at all? Your new CPU is actually slower for gaming. But still not the cause of slow load times. Maybe you have dud ram or something. Also 4gb ram is useless with xp as it will only use 3gb. I dont know if this may actually cause a slowdown, maybe try removing a stick of ram and see how it goes.
I just noticed....remove that maxtor hard drive. they are horrible and is most likely the cause of the problems. Also you should have the os installed on C:, you have things set up very oddly with your hard drives. Use your largest drive for c: and reinstall windows on it and install any software/games on it. Leave the maxtor as a secondary drive used for storing unimportant data, not for running programs from.

 

[Raidur]

Your CPU is a downgrade for most games (I wouldn't worry though, you're set up for better component upgrades and with only an 8800GT you shouldn't notice too much of a difference in games), however your CPU/mobo/RAM is not going to significantly effect the rate Bad Company 2 installs, this is up to the hard drive. I'm smelling a hard drive issue.

 

[Twoboxer]

You say "E" is pretty much empty, a fresh install of WinXP. How about "F"?

[strike]Is your E/F drive on the same color SATA connector on the mobo as your other disks? (Different color ports on mobo are connected to different controllers; different performance, or maybe broken/driver missing.)[/strike]OK, this disk is SATA, and all ports on this mobo are the same.

How did your OS install wind up on "E" . . . dual boot?

Assuming "C" & "D" are not needed for the OS/game, what happens if you disconnect them? Same slow stuff or not?

You might try to install/run the game to a drive other than E/F.

IOW, maybe there's a disk issue somewhere here.

 

[Wutan]

I agree with the odd windows folders placement, but i reinstalled windows xp on such a regular basis that it was bound to happen one day or another. I'll try disconnecting the non essential HDD's. No dual boot or anything. I know that windows xp uses only 3Gb of ram (have 4Gb but for 0,75 Gb of RAM didn't install a 64bit version, not worth it for the minimal spike in performance).

I hope it is a hard drive issue, because replacing them is fairly cheap compared to the other components. When performing operations, like said game installs, or anything else the CPU reaches 100% usage in an instant.

P.S. The upgrade CPU was recommended to me from the computer store guy.

I'm thinking of choosing the AMD Phenom™ II X4 965 "Black Edition" and giving this CPU back.

RAM, CPU, and motherboard are all new. Possibility of a bottleneck because of the graphics card?

C: is empty, D: games, E: windows partition, F: games, movies, misc. stuff

 

[Twoboxer]

Working backwards:

ATM, I'm not worried about slow gaming - the change in install speed is ridiculous. The graphics card isn't connected with that.

You might want to consider the slightly cheaper 955 - read about both cpus here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-overclock,2772-3.html

The computer store guy [strike]is an idiot[/strike] was wrong. Probably well intentioned. But wrong. If he had to travel 100 miles in an hour, he'd probably drive two cars at 50mph and wonder why he didn't get there in time.

[Given your computer store guy, should it turn out you need a new HD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 either 500GB or 1TB. If not available to you, try a WD 640gb (not 500GB) Black.)

Assuming you're load time comparison is correct, I'd speculate you have a disk or a mobo issue. But I'd love to see the OS on "C" and no IDE used to eliminate them as issues.

 

[iam2thecrowe]

just take the motherboard cpu and ram back as the salesperson misinformed you and stick with what you had, it was a pretty good setup and just a video card upgrade would have been better.

 

[Twoboxer]

^ or that lol

 

[Wutan]

Actually i tried twoboxer's recommendation and reinstalled windows on a C: disk and i disconnected other HDD's. On closer observation i saw that one of them had a broken prong (the little fork that connects the cable and HDD). Now everything works fine. The broken HDD had nothing to do with the games or the windows partition but, hey it works i won't question it.


Load times are back to normal and install times are back to their good times. So thank you for all your help in this matter. Nice too see people willing to help.

Ty again.

 

[Twoboxer]

The HD was probably stuck doing I/O error recovery because of that connection, slowing it down considerably.

Nice work, detective - enjoy your rig!

 

[iam2thecrowe]

id still be returning the new board cpu and ram and trade it in for a better vid card and keep your old setup.