n00b question: Why does my comp run slow?

[th0mas__]

Ive searched for a forum that i could post this question cause i cannot figure out why after i purchase a $2500CDN tower w/ nice options, and it seems to run slower than my mothers older computer. I know a little bit about computers and consider myself a gamer.

I do not know the "easy way" to posting computer specs but heres what i know:

AMD 64 Athalon 3700+ (Says its running @ 2.21GHZ... isnt that slow??? )
2GB OCZ Platinum Ram
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard
ATI Radeon x1900xt gfx card
300GB HD
Sound Blaster Audigy2
Aspire Casing
Windows XP SP2
Thermaltake 400w Power supply
Hooked up to a BenQ 17" LCD w/ DVI input

Games seem to run fine, but just using basic windows seems to run slow?

Also, my internet seems to run ALOT slower on my computer than my Mothers computer. I am recieving the WIRED cable internet connection from my mothers router (which is a WIRELESS router) but since my computer (from what i can determine) does not pick up wireless connections cause i dont have a wireless card.
It is a Linksys BEFW11S4 2.4GHZ 802.11B

Do i need to provide more specs?
Can anyone determine problem for me?

 

[Nitestick]

AMD 64 Athalon 3700+ (Says its running @ 2.21GHZ... isnt that slow??? )
2GB OCZ Platinum Ram

god no, maybe if it were a Pentium 4 at 2.2ghz it would be slow. as simple as i can put it: high frequency for high power processors is a myth. they don't need to be 3+ghz to be effective, in fact that is rather ineffective because they use a lot of power and generate a lot of heat. the Athlon just does more work at a lower frequency.

as for why it may seem slower, perhaps you are trying to multi-task a lot and are comparing this to a P4 with Hyper Threading......which would probably have better multitasking ability.

400w for the power supply seems a little on the low side for a machine with an X1900XT.

perhaps the internet is slower because bandwidth is being used on your mothers computer as well?

 

[th0mas__]

hey thanks alot for the quick reply.

now that i think of it, i do alot of multi-tasking and now that ive switched from a 2.8GHZ P4 to a 3700+ 2.2GHZ AMD64, it would make sense that it seems to be a little slower in that area.

is there anything i could improve upon as far as general performance, gaming and internet?

 

[Nitestick]

well you could overclock but that's a reasonable little learning curve and there are risks involved.

is there anything wrong with gaming performance i.e what settings are you using and what performance do they provide?

 

[RhythmMgmnt]

First thing that came to my head is run some utilities. Do a Sys Cleanup, Defrag it, CCleaner, run Spybot, Adaware.

Check the other section for a list of tons of good apps.

RM

 

[th0mas__]

Thanks RM.

And NiteStick, my games run perfect. I guess im just greedy for performance? lol

 

[iamchel]

Dont look at porn, that seems to help jk

Your proc is a good one, you probably just need to do some maintenance. Defraging will probably help out.

 

[Nitestick]

if this is a brand new system you really shouldn't have too many issues like these guys are saying unless like iamchel said you are looking at porn

well there really can't be any extra performance where it runs perfect.

 

[NosBoost300]

one thing you may wanna try is going to run and typing in msconfig, that could boost your start up. Just turn off every program you don't really need to start when window's starts... if your unsure of a program, be sure to google them and make sure if its okay to turn it off

oh and i didnt mention, click on the very right tab "startup"