Windows 7 runs slowly on new system

V96GLF · 24 Feb 2011 at 12:48

Here is the spec of my newly-built system:

Asus Crosshair IV Extreme AMD 890FX (Socket AM3) DDR3 Motherboard
HIS ATI Radeon HD 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
AMD Phenom II X6 Six Core 1100T Black Edition 3.30GHz (Socket AM3)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail (Full Version)
Samsung SpinPoint F4 EcoGreen 2TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD204UI)
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Blacj
Cooler Master GX 650W Power Supply
OCZ Gold 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-10666C9 1333MHz Low-Voltage Dual Channel Kit (OCZ3G1333LV4GK)
Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card with built in Headphone Amp
LG GH24NS50 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - Retail

My expectation is that should be blisteringly fast, but the experience is that it is moderately or very slow. In particular, Windows is slow to load, log-in, and programs are slow to load. Way slower than the single-core XP system that this was supposed to be replacing!

I haven't yet started trying to overclock it - everything is set to default at the moment. All drivers have been updated.

The Windows Experience Index scores are:

Processor AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1100T Processor 7.5
Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB 7.5
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series 7.3
Gaming graphics 3839 MB Total available graphics memory 7.3
Primary hard disk 1350GB Free (1863GB Total) 5.9

So my questions are:

Am I right to be concerned, or is this normal?
Where should I start looking to improve it?

Any hints or tips gratefully received!

saintdefender · 24 Feb 2011 at 12:59

It isn't normal, try a different sata cable and port and if windows installed on your SSD make sure your running in ACHI which can be turned on in your bios : )

Kanpai · 24 Feb 2011 at 13:03

saintdefender said:
It isn't normal, try a different sata cable and port and if windows installed on your SSD make sure your running in ACHI which can be turned on in your bios : )

Primary hard disk 1350GB Free (1863GB Total) 5.9

I doubt he's running SSD for OS

I'd recommend running some hdd tests with HDTune just to make sure the drive isn't faulty.

http://www.hdtune.com/

saintdefender · 24 Feb 2011 at 13:11

nayan89 said:
Primary hard disk 1350GB Free (1863GB Total) 5.9

I doubt he's running SSD for OS

I'd recommend running some hdd tests with HDTune just to make sure the drive isn't faulty.

http://www.hdtune.com/

Ah my mistake, I thought I read OCZ vertex in there somewhere.

V96GLF · 24 Feb 2011 at 18:06

Thanks for that suggestion. HDTune seems to give good scores and no errors.

Perhaps this is a Win7 config problem rather than hardware?

pcAnywhere · 24 Feb 2011 at 18:13

The HDD is a 5400RPM model, that would limit boot times

Geckovich · 24 Feb 2011 at 18:15

Regardless of the rest of your spec a 5400 RPM HDD is likely to be increasing load times and reducing snappiness.

Maybe pick up a cheap 7200 RPM drive for your OS and use the 2TB drive for data?

1Day · 24 Feb 2011 at 18:20

The F4 hard drive is not recommended as a primary or OS drive. It is a very good bulk storage drive with a claim to being Eco friendly. Now when you see that claim in PC land or anything similar just think - slow very very slow.

V96GLF · 24 Feb 2011 at 19:55

Interesting -thanks

macfanuk · 24 Feb 2011 at 20:00

Hi mate. Bit of a long shot but if you go in your Bios, does it list a Floppy drive? Try disabling that and see if that improves things. I had a similar problem a while ago and that solved it.

V96GLF · 4 Mar 2011 at 13:44

Success! I bought a new HD (Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB) and did a clean install of Win7. It is now running very smoothly.

Which of the two actions (HD or reinstall) really did the trick I'm not certain, but I'm now a happy bunny and the family are no longer giving me grief :-)

Alasdairhurst · 4 Mar 2011 at 15:32

some of the the scores seem a little low though -
i have:
HIS 6950 (unlocked) = 7.9 (7.8 locked) (both)
- though does have onboard graphics and shows up as 5gb of shared graphics memory
phenom II x4 965 = 7.4 (stock)

and a lot worse mobo - m4a785tdm-evo

Rroff · 4 Mar 2011 at 15:37

Just to add something in here - won't help with application performance - but if your getting very slow login with windows 7 this can be due to a rather bizarre bug if you use a plain 1 color desktop background.

cammy5477 · 4 Mar 2011 at 15:48

V96GLF said:
Success! I bought a new HD (Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB) and did a clean install of Win7. It is now running very smoothly.

Which of the two actions (HD or reinstall) really did the trick I'm not certain, but I'm now a happy bunny and the family are no longer giving me grief

if you already have a 2tb drive why would you not go ssd for windows 7?
then it would have been super snappy

biuro74 · 4 Mar 2011 at 16:15

1Day said:
The F4 hard drive is not recommended as a primary or OS drive. It is a very good bulk storage drive with a claim to being Eco friendly. Now when you see that claim in PC land or anything similar just think - slow very very slow.

LOL, what an indolence

Samsung's F2/3/4 EcoGreen series is as much quick as 7200 counterparts (like WD Blue). Speed examples:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=263374

Windows 7 might be slow at the beginnig due to many reasons:
* drive in IDE mode in BIOS
* latest BIOS not updated
* latest drivers not installed
* too much components installed (msconfig ammendments needed)
* some apps with autostart flags,
* startup partition fragmented
* swap file and TEMP caches located at the end of drive (lower speed)
* bad blocks
* Windows indexing mechanism still working

But of course change any of above will NOT speed up system as much as buying SSD does