What makes a computer "slow"?

[akasixcon]

I have two computers, one is spec-wise faster than the other.

Computer A:
Pentium 4 HT
2 gb ram
512mb video ram

Computer B:
Pentium 4
512mb
64mb video ram

Computer B can play 720p movies (1280x720 videos) smoothly without any frame skips. Computer A is very slow and frame skips every few seconds or so on 720 p movies.

Both computers are manufactured by the same OEM, Sony VAIO. The only thing that I could think of on what makes Computer B faster is that it has less stuff.

Will creating a new User Account on Computer A (which will have less programs in stalled) make computer A faster? Or will I need to reformat the computer?

What are some other factors that can come into play that makes a computer slower than it should perform? Hardware problems? etc..?

 

[KSoD]

No creating a new accoutn will not make it faster. Cause that stuff is still "there" as you put it. The stuff is still on the machine. It just doesnt go away when you create a new account. Almost all that stuff will be there when you create it to be used by that account.

Reformat will make it faster but once you put all that stuff back on it, then you will be right where you are now.

Other factors? Spyware, malware, driver conflict, dying drives the list is endless. Everything and anything that is on your PC cause cause a problem.

 

[mattew]

well seems ur computer A has got lot of junkies i guess......
if u format computer A i guess it will work faster than B cuz the memory matters the most in this case since both have same motherboard famliy

 

[KSoD]

Wrong. That statement is so wrong. You can have a machine with 32GB of RAM run slower than a machine with 512MB of RAM. If you have 500GB of applications installed and running all at the same time it will slow the machine with more RAM down dramatically compared to that of a machine that has 2 applications installed and running at all times.

Memory does not matter the most. It helps but the amount of applications installed and running has more of a effect than just saying the RAM. Please do not state that kinda stuff. That puts false ideas into people's minds that they can run everything under the sun software wise and it wouldn't slow down their PC. Which is totally false.

 

[Preacher]

The User.

 

[superdave1984]

I am guessing you use the same program to play the movies? Is it the same version? Are the movies on disk or over the 'net? Perhaps you need a different video driver or your graphics acceleration settings are incorrect. What OS are you using?

 

[alexsabree]

Press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and tell use how many processes is running on your computer.

 

[akasixcon]

There are 51 processes running.

And I use the same software for both to run movies (VLC).

 

[immy3]

Holy ****. When I used to run XP on a gig of ram I made sure I had no more than around 22 processes running.

Now with Vista on 4 gigs of ram I'm running no more than 39 right now with firefox open.

51 is way too much even with 2 gigs of ram.

 

[KSoD]

51 is not that many. I have roughly 63 going right now. I also have at least 20 applications going. It is only your preference to run so few. It is not necessary to run with so few. By default Vista runs with roughly 50 processes.