Can my CPU be the bootleneck?

[m3gapl3x]

Hi all,

I hope I am posting this on the correct forum.

I have the following custom built PC that was built around 2011. The specs are:

CPU: AMD Phenon II X4 945
RAM: 6 GB DDR3 667 Mhz
Video Card: Radeon HD 6670
Motherboard: 790X-G45
Hard Drive: WD3200AAKS 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

I am running Windows 7 OS. I have no spyware / viruses on the system as I am very careful about that.

Anyways, the system boots up fine. However, after bootup and when trying to load my first application - usually Chrome - it hangs for about 15-20 seconds and finally loads. It just feels as if its sluggish on bootup. After bootup, I don't see any latency issues unless I am running a Newleecher and trying to get a list of all available headers.

Compared to my i7 ivy bridge laptop, this thing is slow. My laptop doesn't hang at all, even when using Newsleecher. I am sure there is some bottleneck on my system that is causing this. This has happened before too, even after reformatting my hard drive.

Is my RAM too slow? Should I add more RAM? My motherboard only supports 8GB. I am also thinking about getting a SSD hard drive in the future.

Also, is it time to upgrade my processor to maybe a Phenom 965?

I mainly do programming on this machine and hardly any gaming. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I know this question might be a little open ended.

 

[sheepsnowadays]

Slow on boot up is your hard drive, no your CPU is not bottlenecking, and going from a 945 to 965 is not much of an upgrade at all.

 

[Brett928S2]

Hi

Run a hard drive test in DOS...HIRENS CD etc, it sounds like a failing hard drive...

All the best Brett

 

[rds1220]

Slow on boot up is your hard drive, no your CPU is not bottlenecking, and going from a 945 to 965 is not much of an upgrade at all.

Yes it is more than likely a HDD problem.

 

[HVDynamo]

Yup, buy yourself an SSD and see what happens.

 

[mlcaouette]

Windows 8 was a huge improvement for both boot times and first program launch for me. Just something to consider since it is a fairly cheap fix to your problem.

 

[geofelt]

Since your system boots up fine, I doubt that you have a hard drive problem.


As soon as you boot, start the task manager and select the performance tab.
If something is using resources, you should be able to identify it.

As to a SSD, it will be magic for your purposes.
I would put a ssd at the top of my performance enhancement list.

 

[mlcaouette]

You can also use msconfig to disable unnecessary start up programs and services which should improve start-up times.

 

[m3gapl3x]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll go ahead and do the hard drive diagnostic and check my startup programs again. I am happy that it is not the processor.

Also, what about the RAM and mobo? My motherboard only supports 8GB of ram and I wouldn't mind upgrading it to 12 or GB with a new motherboard? Is my current RAM too slow at 667 MHz?

Thanks all!

 

[m3gapl3x]

Best answer selected by m3gapl3x.

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll go ahead and do the hard drive diagnostic and check my startup programs again. I am happy that it is not the processor.

Also, what about the RAM and mobo? My motherboard only supports 8GB of ram and I wouldn't mind upgrading it to 12 or GB with a new motherboard? Is my current RAM too slow at 667 MHz?

Thanks all!

As a rule, ram speed is not very important.
It has a minor effect on cpu power. It is not important with intel cpu's, and a bit more important for amd.
The amount of ram helps, usually more is better than faster.

I would not change out a motherboard just to add ram.
If you change out the motherboard, it should be to change to a Intel sandy/ivy bridge cpu. They are faster on a clock for clock basis.

Check the task manager performance tab and look for the hard fault rate, It should be low or nonexistent..