shadeflayer :
Hey folks. Just got in three brand new Dell Precision Tower 5810 workstations. We customized them at the Dell store when we ordered them to upgrade the CPU to the XEON E5, upgraded the memory to 32gb, and added a second HD (2tb sata). Nice rigs that "should" be screaming fast. Sadly that's not the case.
Tttttttthhhhheeeeeyyyyyy... rrrrrrruuuuuunnnn..... sssssllllooooowwwww.....
I keep looking for the turbo button but have yet to find it.
Anyway, we just got them yesterday, unboxed them and powered them up. That's when we noticed the slow performance. We left all the default Dell software install because that's just how we roll. We then patched the systems (Win7 Ent.). We tweaked the BIOS settings to put the CPU in high performance mode full time. Still no change... We then uninstalled all the Dell software. Still no change...
I ran a NovaCore performance test and it came back at 1991. OK. That really sucks!
Does anyone have any ideas?
shadeflyer,
I'm going to make a first wild guess and suggest checking the BIOS setting for hyperthreading. Change to "Enabled",
If this is not the problem, if you would, install and run the free trial of Passmark Performance Test as it's possible to analyze results by each component. Also, please list the Xeon E5 model, GPU, and drives.
For example, in Passmark, the top- rated T5810 is:
Xeon E5-1650 v3 / 32GB RAM / Quadro K4200 / LSI M9361-8i (that's the RAID controller)
with the following results:
Rating = 5656
CPU=
13906 (The average for the E5-1650 v3 is 13528)
2D = 845
3D = 4576
Mem = 2618
Disk = 22329 (Extremely healthy and must be a RAID 0 of very fast SSD's)
However, an Advanced Search: "T5810 / E5-1650 v3 / Quadro K4200 / sort by CPU ascending" shows the T5810 with the lowest E5-1650 v3 CPU score- only
6514. Because that result is half of the top score it's almost certain that the hyperthreading is turned off, thereby promoting general suckosity.
The only other setting that can cause a substantial performance drop is the power option. Although it sounds as though you may have already checked it, verify in Control Panel > Power Options that the power saving plan is set to "High Performance" and not "Balanced." Windows updates have been known to reset it without approval and it can cut the CPU performance in half.
You mention ( if I'm reading it correctly) the systems having a pair of 2TB SATA hard drives. If you are running mechanical drives in RAID 1,and are using large files /datasets, or 3D models, the disk speed may be contributing to a sensation of slow running. In Passmark, the disk speed is one of the test parameters that is heavily weighted towards the overall system rating- the CPU and 3D being the other two influential ones. If there is no SSD, you might buy a $50 Silicon Power or other budget SSD and, migrate - clone- the current drive to it as a test. It might make the transformation. Personally, if there is no SSD, I'd order a Samsung 850 EVO 250GB ($90) to use as the OS /Applications drive for each system in the next hour and wait by the mailbox until they arrive.
On a general note, the Windows Aero themes and especially transparency and all the menu animation /effects can drop the GPU results by 20%. I run the ugly baby blue Basic Theme designed to punish those that defy Aero and in msconfig, turn off
all the display effects that have fluffy kittens dance when a dialog box is closed.
Hibernation seems to be surprisingly difficult and many people have systems that don't wake up properly. On a Dell E520 that I use to run a TV monitor, coming out of hibernation, the icons are sometimes rearranged haphazardly on the left side vertically.
I also substantially reduce the background programs and block startup of non-essentials including many scheduled tasks and updaters. I once casually pressed OK to an Adobe update (CS6) popup that halted a live recording on my dedicated audio system - it was ruined anyway- and it was 980MBs that stopped work for an hour. If Linux Wine would run all my programs I'd be drinking that,..
Here's hoping it's the simple thing!
Cheers,
BambiBoom
1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 (6-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz) > 32GB DDR3 1866 ECC RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> > Windows 7 Professional 64-bit > Logitech z2300 speakers > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440)>
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15
Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)
2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > 2X Xeon X5680 (6 -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz), 48GB DDR3 1333 ECC Reg. > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > PERC H310 / Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card > 875W PSU > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (27", 1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3844 / CPU = 15047 / 2D= 662 / 3D= 3500 / Mem= 1785 / Disk= 2649] (12.30.15)
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