Custom Build

[studio]

Hi guys,

I have acquired a custom built computer and it is sluggish and lags a bit when using it.

The specs are:
Intel Celeron (Northwood) Processor 2.6GHz
ASRock P4V88 Motherboard
1536mb DDR Ram @ 113MHz (1 x 1gb PC3200) (2 x 256mb PC3200)
Radeon 9550 Graphics Card

Cheers.

[Michael]

Is it sluggish in general or only when using particular applications or doing certain tasks?

[CPLTD]

Hi guys,

I have acquired a custom built computer and it is sluggish and lags a bit when using it.

The specs are:
Intel Celeron (Northwood) Processor 2.6GHz
ASRock P4V88 Motherboard
1536mb DDR Ram @ 113MHz (1 x 1gb PC3200) (2 x 256mb PC3200)
Radeon 9550 Graphics Card

Cheers.

gotta be honest fella its abit of a older boner, mabye a re-installation would help,

[studio]

It doesn't have many programs installed so I can't really say, but it is sluggish when running Office 2007, and I've also noticed when dragging windows around the screen. Btw, it's running XP Pro.

[Michael]

Admittedly it is fairly old now based on the Northwood core, but it should still be an OK speed for Office 2007 and XP. Is the computer low on disk space? What's memory use like in Task Manager?

[studio]

I understand it is a little outdated, but it's only going to be used for running Office anyway...

Here's a screenshot of task manager:

[Michael]

Looks absolutely fine to me. You could try running Scandisk to check for any errors.

If you still don't have any joy, formatting and starting again can sometimes make a big difference. It really depends how heavily used the machine is/was.

[studio]

Ok thanks

If I don't have much look I'll open it up and see if it's worth buying any new parts .

[sparkeh]

Also worth checking physical things like whether the CPU is overheating.

Had a few machines recently at one school that were sluggish until I opened them up and removed the carpet of dust from inside. CPUs were overheating as heatsink and fan were clogged up. Not enough to cause major damage, CPU temp was at the upper end of what was acceptable, but enough to cause performance issues.

Once cleaned they were zippy again.

[john]

Must admit I have a load of PCs that are clearly overheating, needless to say I am at war with the manufacturer of them as IMHO they are not fit for purpose, I expect 5 years from a PC and these have not made it to 2 years yet and are suffering failure rates higher than anything we have that are 5+ years old! Even teachers laptops are lasting better!

The problem with the PCs are slimline desktop cases so they are like ovens inside, and then some custom built PC system that will remain nameless but they are in very slim trays and have fairly beefy Intel C2Ds in them and they are flippin burning hot to touch once they have been on for a couple of hours so clearly I put the problems down to them being too hot.

[linkazoid]

If its sluggish when moving windows around, it could be down to old or lack of video drivers.

Michael