The strange tale of the computer that Edd built...

Edd · #1 11th Jul 2007, 02:48

Hi everyone,

I have an odd story to tell, and I am wondering whether any of you out there can give me a hand in providing a solution. (If you are not interested in back story you can skip my long, work avoiding ramblings, and head to "Anyway" paragraph!)
I purchased a rather clumsily small computer shop built computer 5 or so years ago, and everything was fine, I slowly upgraded it over the years until one day it blue screened on me, which, as always, was rather upsetting. I re-installed windows and started everything again however this time round it was much slower and more unreliable. What used to be able to run Half-Life 2 rather handsomely, now was a wreck, clogging along at only a few fps. Windows itself was also considerably slower. I eventually gave up and bought a new motherboard and processor and that now seems to work fine... (though that has died on me a few times but seems ok... but that is another story...)...
Anyway, recently I remembered I had this old motherboard, and a friend has gifted me a case, powersupply, and a hard drive, so I decided to test my computer skills and build a machine from scratch for my girlfriend who is still living off a 700Mhz all in one I-friend PC... It all seems to be working fine... except it is still alot slower than it should be, applications it should easily run move like a slug. However my problem is I do not know of a way of testing the hardware to see why? Can a motherboard or processor or graphics card (these are the only pieces that remain the same) run slower than it should and still work? What would be the cause of this slowness? Can this be fixed without purchasing new kit?
I can provide as much information as I can remember (it is not here with me at work) about the computer:
Matsonic MS8157E motherboard
AMD 1800+ athlon processor
Radeon 9600 Pro graphics card
1gb of cheapish ram
A rather dodgy harddrive that my friend seems to think was dead but seems to be running ok? (I don't think this can be the problem since it had the problem before I even had this)

If there is any more information that might help diagnosis, I can try to remember more? But all help is very much appreciated! I apologise for the long winded story!
Thanks in advance,
Edd

~~Wolfeymole~~ · #2 11th Jul 2007, 02:59

Hi Edd

Welcome to TCF

I'm presupposing that your running XP, would this be correct?
Your not running Norton or McAfee as AV's are you?
Also could you give me a rough guide as to what other programs you have.

Edd · #3 11th Jul 2007, 03:06

I'm not sure it can be a software problem since it is literally a completely clean install of Windows XP. However I'm not an expert in the slightest. So far the computer is a complete clean install of Windows XP Pro (I've not activated it yet), and I've installed Catalyst ATI drivers and the Matsonic Motherboard drivers for audio.
The only other thing installed is the game I'm trying to play which I figure should run fine is a game called Sacred, which has the recommended spec of:
Windows XP, a processor with 1.3Ghz, 256 MB RAM and a video
card with 64MB RAM... which should run confortably?

Hope that helps?

Edd · #4 11th Jul 2007, 03:07

Also, Hi, My names Edd!

~~Wolfeymole~~ · #5 11th Jul 2007, 03:19

If you installed XP on the original machine and have re-installed it on the same pc but with system hardware changes you may find you have difficulty activating it with MS.

This is not the answer to your question I know but just a pointer.

Edd · #6 11th Jul 2007, 03:24

I know activating will be annoying. Luckily, I am a software compliance officer by trade, so I know licensing! However since I'm only testing this PC to see if it works well and is suitable as my girlfriends replacement, I'm using the 30 days gratis that is supplied by Microsoft. I'll then speak to my Microsoft buddies to see what they can do later on! But thanks for the concern!

~~Wolfeymole~~ · #7 11th Jul 2007, 03:56

Ok

Well as you and I know the game should run perfectly but I would suggest calling back when Alex is online as mobos and gpu's are his ballgame.

Edd · #8 11th Jul 2007, 04:02

Cheers Wolfey! I'll check back later! If anyone ever has any odd licensing queries I can probably provide answers!

**grush** · #9 11th Jul 2007, 22:49

Did you clear CMOS before you did the install and if you're using 2 sticks of ram try with 1 alternate them see if there's any difference.

Edd · #10 12th Jul 2007, 02:59

Thanks again for all responses... I've just installed a 6600gt graphics card and it is now running slightly better, but still slower than one would expect. Are old motherboards/processors just slower because they are old? The bus speeds all seem to be correct, except the memory bus speed is 133mhz, does that seem right or slow? There is only 1 chip of memory, and I know it is fine because it was working fine in my other computer, and it definately is suitable for the board because I bought it for this motherboard originally.
How do you clear CMOS, I understand that it is diferent for each motherboard, but in general what is the process? I think I can dig up the manual for the motherboard so it should not be too hard? Can doing this cause serious problems? I presume it cannot damage your hard drive for instance, but can it cause boot failures? I'm just wary of doing drastic changes when the computer is working already, just being slow.