[SOLVED] Why so slow? 8th gen I5, 16Gb Ram

[okrobie]

Hi All, I'm not very active as a PC hobbyist anymore. I just want to use my PC for surfing and watching YouTubes, but this computer I'm using is as slow as a pig. Are there any diagnostics I could use to help me find out why it is slow? Considering the hardware, I would have expected not a speed demon, but a moderately brisk PC. Thanks, Jim

 

[COLGeek]

What are the complete specs for the system (make/model of all installed components)? Lets start there.

 

[Lafong]

When....if ever......was it "fast" or at least faster than now?

Or have you been disappointed since day 1?

 

[okrobie]

lafong: - it has gradually slowed down


COLgeek:
Dell Optiplex 3060

 

[Lafong]

That's a decent CPU. More than decent.

And plenty of RAM for a typical user.

Do you have an SSD or a spinning hard drive?

 

[okrobie]

Thanks, that's why I'm disappointed.

spinner

 

[Lafong]

Hmmmm...............

You say gradual decline.

A spinner would never be "fast" by most definitions.

That could be due to unknown and unexplained processes occupying the CPU.

Or failing hardware

Or unexplained high disk activity.

How much free space on the drive and has it been defragged recently?

Tempted to say "get an SSD", but the fact is you may have slowness reasons unrelated to the disk....particularly since you say slowness has been coming on gradually.

I'd start with a full virus scan, some poking around in Task Manager, and possibly RAM/hard drive tests.

Is the slowness most evident in a particular situation?

 

[okrobie]

Drive specs above

 

[Lafong]

It's only about 20% full.

Defragging might help a bit, but most likely it's being defragged automatically. Check on that.

You could do the stuff mentioned in post 7.

 

[mdd1963]

Dell tends to shoe-horn in a bunch of crap with their installs...

Is it at least running at Intel spec? ( which is quite probable (Dell was never known for being aggressive in attempting any 'factory overclocking', or running a CPU beyond it's Intel-intended workload, which would likely mean the CPU might jump to 4.10 GHz for a fraction of a second when opening an application, etc., and might even run at 3.7 GHz for 30-60 seconds under multicore workloads, but, the TDP limits should have this clocking itself down to closer to 3.0-3.2 GHz, as it is bu a 65W CPU....)

If a few minutes after bootup, you install HWMonitor and observe the clock speeds (and core temps!)achieved while opening/closing assorted applications, observe what clock speeds and temps are shown. (You should see speeds fluctuate as low as 800 MHz while just staring at a desktop in an idle condition, with instantaneous jumps to as high as 4.1 GHz, back to 1000-2000 MHz, etc., as you open/close apps and use the computer. If stuck at 800 MHz, something is indeed wrong...

I'd also consider a full fresh install of newest WIn10, installing only the apps you use/need, and leaving all of Dell's junk off of it. Better yet, grab an SSD first, and install fresh to that. (Not sure if your mainboard supports NVME/M.2 drives, but, even an 860/870 EVO or Crucial MX500 would make a night /day difference in bootup speed to the desktop)

 

[Bob.B]

Hi All, I'm not very active as a PC hobbyist anymore. I just want to use my PC for surfing and watching YouTubes, but this computer I'm using is as slow as a pig. Are there any diagnostics I could use to help me find out why it is slow? Considering the hardware, I would have expected not a speed demon, but a moderately brisk PC. Thanks, Jim

Down load this.
PC Benchmark

Reboot and wait a few mins then run UBM with the browser closed.
Post a link to the results page.

 

[watzupken]

Thanks, that's why I'm disappointed.

spinner

I think you found the reason. The unfortunate fact is that mechanical drives are slow and the problem is made worst by the increasing number of tasks running in the background in Win 10 itself. The more apps you install, the worst it becomes. I did not noticed how bad it was until my sister once complained to me that something is wrong with their laptop because everything is so sluggish. So I tried to figure out the problem and was shocked that from the point I get past the Windows loading screen, it took the system close to 10 minutes before it became responsive. I cloned the drive to a 256GB SSD, swapped the mechanical drive out, and everything is “fine” again. There are too many tasks in the background hitting the drive, which is why it is extremely slow. For example, if you have any anti virus in the background, any active applications running in the background, Windows downloading updates, etc, you will immediately feel the slowdown effects.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

Download and run WhySoSlow and report back what it says

https://www.resplendence.com/whysoslow

 

[okrobie]

I

 

[okrobie]

Looks like I'll be shopping for an SSD real soon.

Thanks for all the help guys and gals?

 

[okrobie]

Hi All, I haven't yet acquired my SSD for this rig, but I ran another benchmark today and it was markedly inferior to the one I ran last week. At that time, I published the results as a QR code but I don't know how to open it so I'll repost it as a graphic Then the next graphic is the benchmark I ran today. No changes have been made to the rig since the first one. Very discouraging... I'll have to improve the graphics later because I run some very demanding programs such as Photoshop, Quark Express, and AutoCad. I may have to scrap the whole rig and start from scratch because it's in a Small Form Factor box and doesn't have room for a real graphics card.

 

[Bob.B]

Hi All, I haven't yet acquired my SSD for this rig, but I ran another benchmark today and it was markedly inferior to the one I ran last week. At that time, I published the results as a QR code but I don't know how to open it so I'll repost it as a graphic Then the next graphic is the benchmark I ran today. No changes have been made to the rig since the first one. Very discouraging... I'll have to improve the graphics later because I run some very demanding programs such as Photoshop, Quark Express, and AutoCad. I may have to scrap the whole rig and start from scratch because it's in a Small Form Factor box and doesn't have room for a real graphics card.

Post a LINK to the UBM results page.

 

[okrobie]

Good advice. That's what I thought I was doing when I posted the QR code. 🙄

 

[Bob.B]

Good advice. That's what I thought I was doing when I posted the QR code. 🙄

Copy and paste the address of the results page.

 

[okrobie]

I understand what you are suggesting, but I don't have a copy of that link anymore. Please study the copies of the results page that I have posted. Thanks for your help.

 

[Bob.B]

I understand what you are suggesting, but I don't have a copy of that link anymore. Please study the copies of the results page that I have posted. Thanks for your help.

The pages you posted are just a part of the results and don't really tell much.
We need to see the complete results page.
Run UBM again but reboot and wait a few mins then run UBM with the browser closed.

Post a link to the results page.

 

[okrobie]

Thanks Bob. I'm starting to get it🙂 The results are way better than yesterday.

Here's the link:

My Benchmark

 

[okrobie]

With regard to the SSD, I do have one, but it is only 120Gb. That would probably be big enough for just the operating system, but the apps would have to be installed on a mechanical drive. As I mentioned before I have some whopper programs. My present HDD contains 183 Gb. of OS and apps.

Would installing that SSD for just Windows, improve my performance? Thanks, Jim

 

[Bob.B]

Thanks Bob. I'm starting to get it The results are way better than yesterday.

Here's the link:

My Benchmark

That looks pretty good.
The trick to running UBM is you don't want background stuff running while UBM is running.

The easy way is to reboot and wait a few mins then run UBM with the browser closed.

You might want to visit the dell site and let it run it's driver scan just to see what it has to offer.

 

[Bob.B]

With regard to the SSD, I do have one, but it is only 120Gb. That would probably be big enough for just the operating system, but the apps would have to be installed on a mechanical drive. As I mentioned before I have some whopper programs. My present HDD contains 183 Gb. of OS and apps.

Would installing that SSD for just Windows, improve my performance? Thanks, Jim

Most folks will install the OS and apps on a ssd and then use a hdd for bulk storage.

As for just putting the OS on a sdd it would certainly boot faster.