help: Vista painfully slow on "fast" machine

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kastraelie

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Nov 6, 2006
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Hey guys, I have been building computers for a while but just now started getting orders for Vista.

So here is the deal--

Bought two identical PCs:

2GB Corsair DDR2 533
GIGABYTE GA-8I945GZME-RH
EVGA 6600 GT
Thermaltake 550W PSU
Pentium D 805 running at 2.66GHz

One of these computers has Windows XP Professional with the only software installed AVG Anti-Virus. The other has Windows Vista with Office 2007. Both have all the available Windows Updates, drivers, bios, ect.

I would assume that this PC would be able to run Vista no problem for basic web browsing/office work but the thing CRAWLS. The XP machine has no problem, runs perfect but as I stated the Vista machine just hangs and stutters and lags-- in regular Office applications and IE7

I have checked the Hard Drive for any errors as well as the memory with memtest--it comes up clean.

So now I turn to you guys: What could be causing this PC to run like CRAP.

Thanks
 
Solution
G
Vista will be slow on any pc for the first few days due to superfetch I think it is. After awhile, it will start to load your commonly used applications only and speed up.

After the first week it seemed must more responsive on my pc.
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Derek1387

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Apr 30, 2006
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the word Vista comes to mind...

Just kidding. If you check the TH review of vista, you will see that it is VERY slow compared to similarly equipped XP. I know you have probably already heard that... but that is about the only thing i cna think of 4 ya.
 
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darious00777

darious00777

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Dec 15, 2006
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When I first got this PC there was quickness too it, but a little bit of stuttering here and there. Turning up the RAM speed from 533 mhz to 667 mhz with timings from 4-4-4-12 to 5-4-4-12 has made things move along very nicely. If at all possible increase the speed of your RAM. Could remove a bottleneck that XP doesn't push.



"If you check the TH review of vista, you will see that it is VERY slow compared to similarly equipped XP."

Derek,

2-4% difference between Vista and XP for most things. About the same that I had moving from Win98 to XP. Yes, there are certain applications that have a bit of difficulty, or certain settings that don't work as well, BUT, you have to realize that some of these things are due to drivers at this time. I'd like Tom's Hardware to retry their XP vs Vista comparison using the same hardware in a couple of months with fresh drivers. Odds are there's going to be a bit more linear comparison then their first couple runs.
 
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Derek1387

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ya, i am hoping it will speed up considerably when the new drivers coem out. I just put Business on my backup drive, and when i boot to Vista, it wont let me do any updates, saying there is a firewall in place. Yet my laptop with Home premium updates just fine on the same network, same settings, and same virus stuff...
 
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briank

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Jun 7, 2004
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If you can spare the time. Install XP and Vista on the opposite machines that you have them installed on now.

Just see if the slowness follows the machine or the OS.

I have a hard time believing Vista is the cause of your system being that much slower (based on your description). Vista is faster for me than XP (except for boot up).
 
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mpjesse

mpjesse

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Dec 31, 2007
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turned it off. Lol.... still wont let me update.
Click to expand...

i hate to point this out, but a Pentium D is not an ideal processor for Vista. The Pentium D 805 is among the worst performing processors on THG's CPU Charts. See for yourself:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=449&model2=476&chart=192

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu.html?modelx=33&model1=449&model2=476&chart=181

I would suggest overclocking your Pentium D if you're unwilling or unable to buy a faster processor. But please do so with caution (if you do).
 
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dsharp9000

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Feb 27, 2007
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Ive heard that the following can help to speed up a vista machine:

Turn off superfetch
Turn off search/indexing feature
Turn off UAC

Turning off the uac may pose a security risk so may not be option????

General comment --- why cant microsoft just give a basic good working os --- think a lot of this has to do with all of the drm stuff --- if not for all of this --- think it would run as fast as xp and would be kick ass os
 
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frenchsquared

frenchsquared

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May 14, 2007
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pentium d 945 3.4 overclocked to 3.9 2gb of ram, 4 in few days.

Vista is on 1 half of 180gb hd XP on the other half
all programs are on a 250 gb hd

Both os fully updated and all current drivers, no problems loading.

Vista is slower in everything including Office 2007, and CS3.
Ive tried Vista Home (basic and Premium) and Ultimate

I will keep Vista, have had the Beta for a year, but

I promise Vista is slower at everything on this computer, with or without aero. I use Vista for a few of its features but I am staying with XP for now.
 
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Z

Zoron

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Jan 11, 2002
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Not the case at all. Vista runs fine on my Athlon64 3800+, 1GB RAM and Radeon 9700 Pro video card. And if I don't notice enough slow-down to be concerned about, I have to wonder exactly what the original poster's problem is...

Make sure your drivers are all up-to-date... make sure Vista is completely up-to-date. It also wouldn't hurt to update your motherboard's BIOS; if an update is available. Leave no stone unturned when it comes to updating your system and the components within it.
 
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G

Guest

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Vista will be slow on any pc for the first few days due to superfetch I think it is. After awhile, it will start to load your commonly used applications only and speed up.

After the first week it seemed must more responsive on my pc.
 
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Solution
Eurasianman

Eurasianman

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Jul 20, 2006
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Ive heard that the following can help to speed up a vista machine:

Turn off superfetch
Turn off search/indexing feature
Turn off UAC

Turning off the uac may pose a security risk so may not be option????

General comment --- why cant microsoft just give a basic good working os --- think a lot of this has to do with all of the drm stuff --- if not for all of this --- think it would run as fast as xp and would be kick ass os
Click to expand...

As soon as I turned this off (UAC), within a week, I had to reinstall Vista because nothing would work. Still don't quite understand why. I had virus detection installed.

Btw, Windows Defender = P.O.S.F.M.

I'd use SpyBot, but I can't even do a simple install for my Logitech G15 without getting 5 pop ups about registry changes. But I mean, that's what Spybot is for... just wish it could detect the difference between software and spyware better :?
 
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P

plop

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Apr 4, 2005
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Bulshit to that, vista is running extremly slow and i got a quad core 2.4ghz proccesor BFS OK BFS

My vista is unusable at this stage and im returning the ram to check if it was the problem because windows xp is giving me blue screens

I have done the memtest for 2 BLOODY HOURS, and it passed, but i still think its the fn ram

if you want to read my post here

Windows Killed My Inner Child
 
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psiboy

psiboy

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Jun 8, 2007
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I have multi boot xp64 xp pro & vista home premium (x86). Both XP installs fly... Vista worked fine until I installed the radeon drivers, now it crawls and hangs if i try to enable Aero 3d desktop! Exactly same machine! Athlon x2 4600+ 2gb corsair (Dual Channel) x1950pro 256mb... I've taken this up with ATI/AMD but thay are hopeless so far they and I hoped the 7.5 catalyst drivers would fix the problem but they haven't! :cry: :evil:
 
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dblD

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May 20, 2007
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My vista is unusable at this stage and im returning the ram to check if it was the problem because windows xp is giving me blue screens

I have done the memtest for 2 BLOODY HOURS, and it passed, but i still think its the fn ram
Click to expand...

I do not have any performance problems with Vista.

What 'memtest' are you running? The built-in Vista memory tester is VERY slow and 2 hours isn't enough time for a thorough test.

There are two versions of "memtest" that I know about:

one is memtest86 from memtest86.com, and it did miss a probley I had with my memory (I do not recommend).

The other one, which actually works quite well is memtest86+ from memtest.org. I have found that this one is a much better tester than any other 'mem checkers' I have found. ymmv

--DD
 
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A

amaynez

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Jun 12, 2009
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It is VISTA!!!! The worst pile of crap I have ever had in the 25 years or so that I have been running computers. Nothing is going to help you and if you bought this garbage at Best Buy, the help is worse. Don't even try to get help from best buy. They do not speak the english language!!!!!!!!!!

Junk your vista and keep with the XP or go with apple.

AM
 
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R

rasmasyean

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Mar 15, 2008
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I don't recommend running Vista on that machine. It may have been "fast" when you got it with XP, but it's a pretty weak system by today's standard. Many mainsteam machines (and some budget) have 2x your bus and 4x your CPU speeds. And that Video card is nothing to brag about either.
 
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