Slow PC : HDD / GFX ?

Dolby

Dolby

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I bought a PC about 4 or 5 years ago which was a beast back then - Q9300 Quad Core 2.5ghz, Asus P5QC board, Seagate 7200rpm drive and 4GB RAM. I bought the cheapest GFX card (9400GT 512MB) as I don't do gaming - email, browsing, music and a few mundane tasks. The PC was awesome and I never felt the need for an upgrade.

About 5 months ago it died (PSU probably) and I thought it would be easier to simply get a new one. So - 5 years later - I bought an i5 3570k 3.4ghz and 8GB RAM -but left out the GFX card as everyone said it wouldn't really help. I *think* my HDD is also a 5200rpm.

Here's the issue : after 4+ years, I expected a decent upgrade over my old system ... but never really felt it. In fact, a few months down the line it seems slower than the old PC!

Could the issue be :

I do need a cheap GFX card for general working around the PC?
If the issue is in fact the 7200rpm vs 5200rpm - would be a large difference?
Is there anything else that could do it?

This PC should be better in just about everyway

EDIT : I notice that the drive is Seagate ... but when I go to device driver or properties on the local disk - it lists it as Samsung? Guessing I may have an issue right here?
 
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could have to do with the 5400rpm. i have 2 biggish hdd that run along my 80gb, one is 7200rpm and the other 5400rpm, and i once made the error of installing some of my games on the 5400rpm, and the games were actually unplayable.

thus even though it's not the same thing, it really might have to do with the slower 5400rpm drive
 
I'm not actually sure if it is a 5400rpm ... this is what Windows says - but I checekd out the physical drive and the label is Seagate ...

HDD.jpg

I downloaded the SeaTools for Windows from the Seagate drive and even it is giving me a Samsung model. That's fscked up :/
 
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Well the mundane tasks you speak fo require very little to run well, so i doubt you would notice any difference, if you really want to notice a difference get a ssd.

You will go from wow this slow to omg this is fking fast. You could have saved plenty money rather choosing a dual core cpu and ssd combo considering you don't game. You are basically running a high end system on a storage drive. Bottleneck of note.
 
That 1TB drive should still be reasonably fast.

I'd suggest that you run a HDD test utility and if that showed no issues, that you run a defrag.

If it still remains slow, then I'd highly recommend that you get a 120GB or 128GB SSD!
 
Pada said:
That 1TB drive should still be reasonably fast.

I'd suggest that you run a HDD test utility and if that showed no issues, that you run a defrag.

If it still remains slow, then I'd highly recommend that you get a 120GB or 128GB SSD!
Click to expand...

A ssd will make most computers faster.even old ones.best upgrade possible
 
Dolby said:
I bought a PC about 4 or 5 years ago which was a beast back then - Q9300 Quad Core 2.5ghz, Asus P5QC board, Seagate 7200rpm drive and 4GB RAM. I bought the cheapest GFX card (9400GT 512MB) as I don't do gaming - email, browsing, music and a few mundane tasks. The PC was awesome and I never felt the need for an upgrade.

About 5 months ago it died (PSU probably) and I thought it would be easier to simply get a new one. So - 5 years later - I bought an i5 3570k 3.4ghz and 8GB RAM -but left out the GFX card as everyone said it wouldn't really help. I *think* my HDD is also a 5200rpm.

Here's the issue : after 4+ years, I expected a decent upgrade over my old system ... but never really felt it. In fact, a few months down the line it seems slower than the old PC!

Could the issue be :

I do need a cheap GFX card for general working around the PC?
If the issue is in fact the 7200rpm vs 5200rpm - would be a large difference?
Is there anything else that could do it?

This PC should be better in just about everyway

EDIT : I notice that the drive is Seagate ... but when I go to device driver or properties on the local disk - it lists it as Samsung? Guessing I may have an issue right here?
Click to expand...

It's your hard drive that's holding you back.

If you want to really feel the difference in a PC upgrade, the only thing that will get you that now is an SSD.

Get this:
http://www.prophecy.co.za/intel-120....html?osCsid=50a0ba2741656bb2e6d2fcaea978b858
 
koeksGHT said:
A ssd will make most computers faster.even old ones.best upgrade possible
Click to expand...

This is true. Would probably have made the old PC feel brand new and saved the OP thousands of rands.
 
THanks guys.

So a cheap GFX card will do nothing from within Windows?
Only games ?
 
Dolby said:
THanks guys.

So a cheap GFX card will do nothing from within Windows?
Only games ?
Click to expand...

Yes because the built in graphics on your CPU is more than enough to handle graphics of Windows and videos, you only need a graphics card for games.
 
I would recommend you get yourself a 64GB or 128GB SSD (depending on how many programs and space you require) for your Windows and programs and use your current hard drive to store your documents and extras.
 
Dolby said:
I'm not actually sure if it is a 5400rpm ... this is what Windows says - but I checekd out the physical drive and the label is Seagate ...
Click to expand...

That's a Samsung Spinpoint F2 EcoGreen 1 TB 5400rpm drive.
 
NomNom said:
I would recommend you get yourself a 64GB or 128GB SSD (depending on how many programs and space you require) for your Windows and programs and use your current hard drive to store your documents and extras.
Click to expand...

64GB is way too small.

120GB should be the minimum.
 
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