Why does my computer suck?

[TBMBucket]

I have an asus a7n8x rev 2.0 mobo, 512mb pc3200 corsair xms memory, barton xp2800, ATI Radeon 9600 pro, and win xp pro. I have all updated drivers. DX 9. newest bios
newest nforce drivers. It just doesnt compare to my old dell with 512 pc100 and a gforce 2 mx 1.5ghz? I cant figure it out? Can someone help me. By the way i have a new abit kf7-s mobo on the way. I think its the mobo but help please?

 

[Matthias99]

Describe "just doesn't compare".

Is Windows sluggish?

Does it take a long time to boot?

Does it take a long time to open/save files?

Does it read slowly from CD-ROMs?

Are your benchmark scores subpar?

Is your gaming performance subpar?

Is your network performance subpar?

Give us something to go on here.

 

[TBMBucket]

sorry about the lack of info.

Well the write time to the hard disk seems slow.

The gaming performance is not constant. It jumps around. Take BF1942 for example. I use Desert Combat mod and set settings at medium. It will run choppy for about 15 mins then will smooth out a bit. Also I cant even run Halo. After your comment about the file system, Im thinking that may be my problem. I hae a seagate 80gb it is supposed to be ATA 133 but when the PC boots it shows it at 100.

3DMark03 = 3250 or around there

PcMark04 = 3217

I do not remember 3dmark2001 score but i think it was about 14000

I always thought the numbers were ok but when i actually run stuff, it just doesnt seem right.

 

[Zepper]

An excess of exhaust capacity relative to intake capacity? ...couldn'r resist.
.bh.

 

[TBMBucket]

I just took my 9600 pro and put it in my 2 year old dell 1.5ghz 512mb pc100 and Halo ran fine. Halo will not run on my asus a7n8x barton xp2800. The dell does have a SB live 5.1 rather and the asus has an on board sound. I have a SB audigy 2 zs platinum on the way though. I hope I can figure this out. Damned computers.

 

[jmagg]

Did you install the OS on a fresh, formatted harddrive on the new machine?

 

[Lawranch]

You may have overloaded your power supply, that will make it run slow.

 

[pyrojunkie]

Originally posted by: Lawranch
You may have overloaded your power supply, that will make it run slow.

Overloaded PSU's will cause problems, but not a slowdown.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Looking at the specs of the nF2 system vs the Dell's I can conclude with absolute certainty that the problem is between the chair and keyboard Since your complaints are based on performance and not stability issues I doubt it's hardware related. Did you have AF/AA turned off? Even though you are running in asynch mode it shouldn't be impacting performance to the degree you are reporting. Do some homework by reading posts here and ask for help there if you can't find an answer to your performance issues.

 

[TBMBucket]

I started with a fresh install of xp pro

Created new partition then formatted?

Same copy of xp pro on my dell as well as others in my home.

The performance level in games is so significantly different it is rediculous, when i compare my dell to the comp in question.

Frustrating to put all this money out and recieve crap. Everything i have is name brand. Corsair xms. ATI.

????????

Newest drivers.

Properties for vid card are set at mid level.

?????????????????

 

[PCHPlayer]

Have you downloaded SiSandra and compared your system to the database to be sure you are getting reasonable performance? You may find one subsystem has been screwed up for some reason. My vote is for the disk drive being the problem, but download SiSandra, run the benchmarks and get back to us.

Edit: Oops, missed the post with the benchmarks. But I did not see any disk benchmarks in there.

 

[Kappo]

I can tell you that I have a machine with the same video card and a much slower processor (athlon 1.4 gig) with 512 megs 2100 generic and an ATA/100 40 gig IBM GXP and I get just under 4000 on 3dMark03. Ill try PCMark03 when I get home tonite to see what I get on that.

I would download SiSoft and find out exactly what is your bottleneck. If it is your disks like some here think, the first thing I would check is in device manager under your HD controller and make sure it didnt go to into PIO mode or something other than the UDMA appropriate for it.

I will say that your computer doesnt suck. There is just a configuration problem somewhere

 

[TBMBucket]

Well it says DMA if avaliable but it says current mode PIO. That sounds like bad news from what you said. What do i do?

 

[Kappo]

Is that the one for your HD? If so, then you MOST likely need to either check the BIOS to make sure it hasnt stuck it to PIO Only (or user defined in the HD detection), or install the motherboard chipset drivers for that controller. Additionally, you may need to check the drive itself and make sure there isnt a jumper doing somthing funky.

Also, check the driver in Device Manager...make sure it is the newest one...your Nforce one. If it isnt...download the drivers again and unpack them somewhere. Then manually update the driver in Device Manager. If it is the newest one I am pretty sure something got confused in the BIOS.

 

[Kappo]

And FYI PIO mode is MUCH MUCH MUCH slower than UDMA5 (which is probably what your drive supports). It made a big difference when I was SMOKING on my ATA/66 card, so now it is just that much more.

 

[TBMBucket]

I have the newest drivers for nforce 2 chipsets

3.13

I checked in the bios and you cant disable PIO you can only change it from mode 0-4 and i can disable DMA as well but thats it.

I have a samsung sp0802n 80gb that is supposed to be an ata 133 but only reads as ata100 when it boots? This happend with my prvious mobo as well?

Damn whats wrong

 

[Mnementh]

The problem is definitely PIO mode I have just suffered from the same issue.

Has the problem been occuring since the install of XP or did it start after installing some piece of software?

There are only two ways to fix this, the first is to do a fresh reinstall of XP (not an upgrade or a repair), the second is to go into device manager and remove Microsoft ACPI-compliant system and any references to Plug and Play from system devices.

Then reboot your PC and it will redetect all of your hardware and reinstall the drivers for everything. This should fix the PIO problem. If it doesn't then it would appear to be an issue with the HDD itself or the controller on the mobo, but we can cross those bridges when we come to them.

Mnementh

 

[PCHPlayer]

Originally posted by: Mnementh
The problem is definitely PIO mode I have just suffered from the same issue.

Has the problem been occuring since the install of XP or did it start after installing some piece of software?

There are only two ways to fix this, the first is to do a fresh reinstall of XP (not an upgrade or a repair), the second is to go into device manager and remove Microsoft ACPI-compliant system and any references to Plug and Play from system devices.

Then reboot your PC and it will redetect all of your hardware and reinstall the drivers for everything. This should fix the PIO problem. If it doesn't then it would appear to be an issue with the HDD itself or the controller on the mobo, but we can cross those bridges when we come to them.

Mnementh

You do not have to go through all of this. Just remove the hard drive and IDE controller from device manager and reboot. When windows redetects the devices it will put the drive back into DMA mode. This can occur when windows detects errors on the drive. It could have just been a hiccup, but it could also be a sign of a drive beginning to go bad. You may want to get the drive manufacturers testing software and check out the drive.