System going too slow ...HELP

[SPEED94]

Hi guys,
Starting with ...my uncle has a old PC in my office which he uses only for MS office 07 / Printing / Web browsing. No video editing - no 3d rendering - no video converting and no games at all. The system uses Intel 2.4 Ghz CPU and 1 gb RAM and on-board 64 mb VRAM. I do not think that for these basic tasks one need to upgrade to a dual/tri/quad/hex/octa core and 1 gb ram is enough for all these. The machine runs on a Win Xp sp2 PRo platform.The only heavy task that goes around is a Kaspersky 2012 antivirus which is full updated . And for web browsing google chrome. You can not imagine how slow the system becomes when one uses chrome. Does chrome requires multi cores or HT or more than 1 gb RAM ? The HDD is a PATA 80 GB. the average Vcore voltage is 1.42 and temperature is well below 60 degrees.

pLEASE HELP.

 

[darth pravus]

You have a very slow CPU, 2gb of ram is pretty standard now, your hard drive is very slow and the AV will be killing that old Pentium which I'm guessing that's what it is.

 

[SPEED94]

You have a very slow CPU, 2gb of ram is pretty standard now, your hard drive is very slow and the AV will be killing that old Pentium which I'm guessing that's what it is.

So are you asking me to increase more ram just to browse net and do office jobs ? And what is av ?

 

[chugot9218]

AV is your antivirus, I would say you definitely need more RAM, your CPU probably isn't maxing out on those simple tasks but you are likely to be using that much RAM, the OS is going to take up some/most of it just to run.

 

[Ikmalhidayat]

i believe that the processor is old intel pentium 4, right? this one kinda familiar with the computer at my school library, including the speed.

if it is really old pc, the slowness might be the architecture of the processor and L1 + L2 cache too.

like, why single core intel atom n450, 1.66GHz is faster than Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz? because of architecture differences, intel pentium 4 which i believe, the L1 cache is about 8KB while for an atom is about 32KB.

the same thing for most competative one, Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz vs AMD Sempron 140 2.7GHz. even though Pentium 4 has more speed but in fact, Sempron 140 is faster than it because sempron 140 has L1 of 128KB in total, even though it has L2 of 1024KB.

i learned this mostly form L1 vs L2 vs L3 and that they difference. in the theory (or maybe the real thing), Larger L1 may skip steps to L2 , causing iit to be more faster.

[additional info] almost forgot. the ram also might affect the speed. i believe the ram is ddr type, right? ddr3>ddr2>ddr

 

[SPEED94]

yEAH , OF course it is pentium 4 and ddr.though i do not know about the cache..at least machines of that age even used a cache.... 😀 in bios it shows only one cache maybe with 1 mb... I am asking it because in this setup the machine once performed brilliant for this basic tasks. The computers were bought in a lot for the office in 2005 and never updated because it never felt necessary (its another fact that some secretly changed thier inner parts to play COD 4 in lan 😀 ) )

Anyway, the system has gone extremely slow all of a sudden...the my computer window takes 5 secs to open up ...this is ridiculous for a pentiem 4 2.4 ghz....and that too with no additional software or hardware involvement. I used tune up utilities 2012 to check but after all cleaning and defrag stuffs its just the same. The machines will be changed to i3 2100 in june 2013...but thats a heck lot of time.

 

[darth pravus]

Reinstalling the machines with a fresh image is the best speed boost. They will be pretty slow. We have some in our IT suites and they are extremely slow.

Even the core2quad in my work machine doesn't feel as snappy as an i3.

 

[SPEED94]

Well I want all of you to know that although computers has come too far with a i5 or i7 (i PERSONALLY use a 2500k O clocked @ 4.5 Ghz) everywhere around..... there is nothing to be underestimated about pentium 4 as far as basic tasks are concerned. Some even do gaming till the cod 6/farcry 2/... with pentium 4 with a suitable GPU.Don't believe me ? Well check out the minimum requirements...Like todays modern 4.0+ shader games like Battlefield 3/Prototype 2/Farcry 3 still recommend a core 2 duo as standard minimum Pentium 4 was prescribed for games of 08-09 that used 1/2 gb ram. And as far as I know , Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 is not that type that kills a Pentium 4 with a 1 gb. Cmon guys,not to be rude..... I want solutions not critisicm.

 

[lilotimz]

Well I want all of you to know that although computers has come too far with a i5 or i7 (i PERSONALLY use a 2500k O clocked @ 4.5 Ghz) everywhere around..... there is nothing to be underestimated about pentium 4 as far as basic tasks are concerned. Some even do gaming till the cod 6/farcry 2/... with pentium 4 with a suitable GPU.Don't believe me ? Well check out the minimum requirements...Like todays modern 4.0+ shader games like Battlefield 3/Prototype 2/Farcry 3 still recommend a core 2 duo as standard minimum Pentium 4 was prescribed for games of 08-09 that used 1/2 gb ram. And as far as I know , Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 is not that type that kills a Pentium 4 with a 1 gb. Cmon guys,not to be rude..... I want solutions not critisicm.

You are getting a healthy discussion and criticism is always part of a healthy discussion. What people are suggesting and discussing here are all legitimate pertaining to your question regarding such an old PC with limited information given to us.

First off, the computer, though capable of running basic tasks, are still significantly slow. Back in september, i replaced my fathers old computer [ pentium 4 netburst 2.8ghz w/ 1.5gb ram / win xp sp3/ 80gb pata hdd/ radeon 9250 agp) with a modern budget non gaming system (under $400 including windows 7 HP) and the difference was extreme. Programs opened faster, web pages loaded faster, etc all thanks to faster connections and hardware (Sata 3 HDD + 8gb of ram + pentium dual core g850).

Chrome is programmed to take advantage of multiple cores along with the fact that tab browsing also puts a heavy demand on your computer. Each tab utilizes its own resources and can easily take a good chunk of memory with multiple tabs open. Right now for me, there are 8 instances of chrome on my Task manager each utilizing a decent chunk of memory. With just 1gb of memory, chrome may easily use a significant chunk of it and cause slowness when you're using it.

So the solutions are here.
1. Get more memory (expensive endeavour as DDR ram is not produced anymore and fetches a high price)
2. Reformat and reinstall windows to clear out the gunk from over the years
3. Build a new budget PC for under $400 bucks

 

[netcommercial]

Its your firewall and or anti virus. I use Comodo (free) for Fire wall and Clamwin for virus. Both are small and swift. Usually slow browsing is caused by Firewall.
Oh lose the Chrome and go with FireFox

 

[SPEED94]

You are getting a healthy discussion and criticism is always part of a healthy discussion. What people are suggesting and discussing here are all legitimate pertaining to your question regarding such an old PC with limited information given to us.

First off, the computer, though capable of running basic tasks, are still significantly slow. Back in september, i replaced my fathers old computer [ pentium 4 netburst 2.8ghz w/ 1.5gb ram / win xp sp3/ 80gb pata hdd/ radeon 9250 agp) with a modern budget non gaming system (under $400 including windows 7 HP) and the difference was extreme. Programs opened faster, web pages loaded faster, etc all thanks to faster connections and hardware (Sata 3 HDD + 8gb of ram + pentium dual core g850).

Chrome is programmed to take advantage of multiple cores along with the fact that tab browsing also puts a heavy demand on your computer. Each tab utilizes its own resources and can easily take a good chunk of memory with multiple tabs open. Right now for me, there are 8 instances of chrome on my Task manager each utilizing a decent chunk of memory. With just 1gb of memory, chrome may easily use a significant chunk of it and cause slowness when you're using it.

So the solutions are here.
1. Get more memory (expensive endeavour as DDR ram is not produced anymore and fetches a high price)
2. Reformat and reinstall windows to clear out the gunk from over the years
3. Build a new budget PC for under $400 bucks

Thats quite a sensible answer at last 😉 ....but you are wrong about changing the system. That is a pc in my uncle's office...I mentioned....and i have no control over that system. All i can do is get the best of the cpu. I had a P4 2.4 Ghz 2 months ago and i reinstalled with a i5 2500k and if course it was a remarkable difference as you suggested. But it is not fair to compare p4 with even a dual core..i3 duals and i5 quads are out of the topic. Plus it cost me about 600$ for the cpu , mobo, 4 gb ram and the 2 gb 7850 hd.I do not think my uncle has or rather has the intention to spend that amount (seriously saying, forget 600$..not a penny 😀 ) on something thats not his.

 

[blackhawk1928]

As the internet becomes more and more interactive with scripts, add-ons, and other stuff you need more and more hardware power to browse. Internet speed from your ISP isn't enough anymore these days with all the flash and JAVA based web applications emerging. That computer is ancient and its weak.

Well I want all of you to know that although computers has come too far with a i5 or i7 (i PERSONALLY use a 2500k O clocked @ 4.5 Ghz) everywhere around..... there is nothing to be underestimated about pentium 4 as far as basic tasks are concerned. Some even do gaming till the cod 6/farcry 2/... with pentium 4 with a suitable GPU.Don't believe me ? Well check out the minimum requirements...Like todays modern 4.0+ shader games like Battlefield 3/Prototype 2/Farcry 3 still recommend a core 2 duo as standard minimum Pentium 4 was prescribed for games of 08-09 that used 1/2 gb ram. And as far as I know , Kaspersky Antivirus 2012 is not that type that kills a Pentium 4 with a 1 gb. Cmon guys,not to be rude..... I want solutions not critisicm.

I know you want solutions, but those solutions aren't free. I'm sure you can even play Crysis with a pentium 4, but the settings will be on the lowest and the resolution couldn't be more than 640x480 even if you were running quad SLI GTX680's. Your anti-virus is also killing your CPU. Background scanning is just too much load.

I would be willing to put down $100 via wire transfer that a pentium 4 2.4Ghz cannot run BF3, P2 and ESPECIALLY Farcry 3 at anything more then a 100x100 resolution. Most phones have faster CPU's then a P4 these days.

I would check if your motherboard supports later version of LGA775 CPU's like Core 2 Quad or Core 2 Duo which are much faster. They should be dirt cheap by now. You can also try installing a Linux with a light GUI version and see if it can run it. These days, a P4 belongs in a Museum on stand along with the Ford Model T and the first radio ever made.

 

[netcommercial]

These days, a P4 belongs in a Museum on a stand along with the Ford Model T and the first radio ever made.

AHHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! LOL ROFLMAO :lol:


No Offense O.P. But that was funny!

 

[cmi86]

More RAM or buy a new system.

 

[SPEED94]

I would be willing to put down $100 via wire transfer that a pentium 4 2.4Ghz cannot run BF3, P2 and ESPECIALLY Farcry 3 at anything more then a 100x100 resolution. Most phones have faster CPU's then a P4 these days.

wHO TOLD YOU That a P4 can by the way :lol: ? Invest that 100$ on something necessary 😛

 

[SPEED94]

Well guys the first questions i asked was is chrome is hyper threaded based program .However the answer came after a long time 😴 ....

However I TRIED to test the P4 cpu by non-graphics card games alike Halflife 2 / Farcry / COD 2. Since the computer takes 5 secs to open my computer window it should be very slow in games. But no...It works fine and smooth at all resolutions.

Next, I tried deactivating the chrome in idle by Tune up utilities ( as someone said here and I noticed too ...that chrome runs multi processes in background)...
This however had no noticable use. 🙁

Now ,the antivirus is one big fat cow... It automatically gets into update and rootkit scan whenever given chance. I have to deactivate the update every time or disconnect the internet to keep the system stable. Whenever system goes in update it becomes *@#!ing slow. Rootkit scan is not a bit of problem with a setting change.But there is no way to stop the update....

And, one more thing...I CAN not afford to format at least for the time being.

 

[SPEED94]

I would check if your motherboard supports later version of LGA775 CPU's like Core 2 Quad or Core 2 Duo which are much faster. They should be dirt cheap by now.

What .............................?
Now, seriously dude , you need to come out of the world of 3rd gens i5s and i7s and check the market :lol:

The core 2 quads are still more expensive than a i3 2100... 😀 and that about amd the 6 core AMD FX6300 too is cheaper.... :lol: I better not talk about the core2duos..... 😗

And, one more thing....not every lga775 supports a quad or a dual core.... note my words....fits right does not mean supports right.Its another fact that you can go against the manufacturer and fit a core2quad at your own risk and end up blowing all ICs in your mobo... 😀

 

[netcommercial]

Hi Speed glad you figured out your problem. Check my first post to your question

 

[blackhawk1928]

wHO TOLD YOU That a P4 can by the way :lol: ? Invest that 100$ on something necessary 😛

Uhm, that who would be you...did not see your previous post? I'm confused.

Now ,the antivirus is one big fat cow... It automatically gets into update and rootkit scan whenever given chance. I have to deactivate the update every time or disconnect the internet to keep the system stable. Whenever system goes in update it becomes *@#!ing slow. Rootkit scan is not a bit of problem with a setting change.But there is no way to stop the update....

And, one more thing...I CAN not afford to format at least for the time being.

I actually have a long time secret to confess. I have a special anti-virus that I am the only one in the world that has. It is so good, that I literally cannot get a virus. Its called MY BRAIN. If you don't download shady software or go to unreliable websites then you don't get viruses. You don't even need an application.

What .............................?
Now, seriously dude , you need to come out of the world of 3rd gens i5s and i7s and check the market :lol:

The core 2 quads are still more expensive than a i3 2100... 😀 and that about amd the 6 core AMD FX6300 too is cheaper.... :lol: I better not talk about the core2duos..... 😗

And, one more thing....not every lga775 supports a quad or a dual core.... note my words....fits right does not mean supports right.Its another fact that you can go against the manufacturer and fit a core2quad at your own risk and end up blowing all ICs in your mobo... 😀

Did you even read what I said..., because I'm pretty sure I said to "check" the motherboard. I never said it automatically supports it.

 

[netcommercial]

except for malware hidden in html pages on Yahoo splash page. Yet I guess that is a shady site... LOL!

 

[blackhawk1928]

If yahoo allowed that to happen then they are therefore an unreliable website.

On a more serious note, such occurrence is very rare.

 

[netcommercial]

If yahoo allowed that to happen then they are therefore an unreliable website.

On a more serious note, such occurrence is very rare.

The fact is it does and they are an unreliable "website/ Search engine" I practice safe computer too. Always protected, always scan before open. But running with your mind as software is pretty risky. I would suggest you at least get Clamwin. Yahoo is nothing more then a 'rag/blog'. They publish anybody who pays them. Heck not to get political but did you notice their coverage on the last election? Or the 2nd and 4th amendments? Like Fox news LOL!
Peace,
NetCommercial

 

[SPEED94]

Uhm, that who would be you...did not see your previous post? I'm confused.

My dear friend (maybe without specs 😀 ) , Let me quote my message once again... I clearly said

Like todays modern 4.0+ shader games like Battlefield 3/Prototype 2/Farcry 3 still recommend a core 2 duo as standard minimum Pentium 4 was prescribed for games of 08-09 that used 1/2 gb ram

I never mentioned that P4 can run these games...

 

[SPEED94]

No my friend....I also had this notion that if one take some notice on safe computing then one don't need a reliable antivirus. but last year some emails send with malwares damaged my entire system...otherwise who spends money on a antivirus ?

And yeah, windows and companies like dell or hp recommend a strong antivirus.....

 

[SPEED94]

Yes maybe you are right. But you did'nt tell me the exact problem about the antivirus. I have found the problem not the solution...