new computer question

[erikjg63]

Hello,
I originally posted this in the Technical Support forum, but didn't get much response. I hope no one minds if I repost it here (sorry for the length).

Hello, I’m brand new here, but have already learned quite a bit just browsing the forums. This is a great resource and I’m thankful to have stumbled across it. I’m having a curious problem and although I tried the search function, I was unable to find anything of assistance.

I just got a new workstation at work. The old one is a Dell Precision 340 (Win2K Pro, SP4, P4@2G, 512MB RDRAM) and the new one is a Dell Dimension XPS (WinXP Pro, SP1, P4@3.2G, 2GB DDR SDRAM at 400MHZ). By all measures, the new unit should be faster than the old one, right? Well, that doesn’t appear to be the case. I use mainly MS Office apps and Quickbooks. It seems like everything takes longer on the new machine. Saving files to our server used to happen in the blink of an eye, whereas now it takes 2 or 3 seconds to save even a 1-page Word file. Posting a transaction in Quickbooks used to be instantaneous and now, once again, it takes 2 or 3 seconds. It occurred to me that it may be a network connectivity issue, but it's no faster when I move the data to the local hard drive and access it directly.

If anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them. The system resouces are barely tapped. Over 75% of the 2 GB of RAM is available and the CPU loafs along between 5% and 10%. I've tried it with and without hyperthreading enabled and it makes no noticeable difference.

Thanks in advance,

Erik

[f1oored]

If you still have the old computer you could run some benchmarks to see how the two compare. I would try something like PCMark02 by futuremark. This will break down your CPU, Mem, and HDD scores so you can see how everything is running. Just a suggestion.

[erikjg63]

fioored,
As a matter of fact, I do still have the old unit. It's connected under my desk via a KVM switch. I've done some informal comparisons and it simply does everything faster. It just doesn't make any sense. At first I was sure it was a network connectivity issue, but I think I ruled that out via the local access test I described above. If anyone thinks that test may not be conclusive, I'm open to trying something else. In the meantime, I'll try the benchmarking just to make sure the new one actually is faster than the old one.

Erik

[The Real Bingo]

Could be spyware or viruses on your new one. Maybe you could check on that. Also Dell probably installs a lot of crappy, useless programs which by uninstalling may speed things up.

[f1oored]

I just noticed that you are running a different OS on both machines. This could make a significant difference in apparent speed. In order to really look at apples and apples you would need to be on the same OS. But, give us your benchmarks and we will move forward from there.

[erikjg63]

I'm working on the benchmarking right now. I'll report back when I have both sets of results.

Erik

[blubomber]

Are you running an antivirus program? I have seen alot of cases on my network that if a user's computer is setup to scan the network drives, saving files is slow because the anti virus program is constantly scanning alot of files.

That may also have an affect on your local drive but is unlikely. What are the harddrive specs on the old and new computer? Check to see if your new computer needs to be defragged. You could also check the task manager and services to see what is running in the background and maybe get rid of some stuff you dont need.

[erikjg63]

Here are the benchmark results from PCMark02:

New Workstation:
CPU: 7802
Memory: 9102
HDD: 1184

Old Workstation:
CPU: 4759
Memory: 5056
HDD: 699

It seems the new one handily whips the old one.

blubomber,

NAV Corporate Edition is installed on both machines and managed by the server. Both are configured identically, with a daily scan set to begin about 3 AM. I'll dig a little deeper into the settings to make sure some sort of network scan is not occuring.

I've monitored CPU usage in the task manager while using my apps just to see if anything else is sapping processing power, but nothing is jumping out at me. The CPU usage is at 2 or 3 percent before and after I post a transaction in Quickbooks or save a document in Word. It jumps up a bit during processing (a couple of peaks around 15% or 20%) and then settle back down.

I'll certainly look at the services in TM, but if any of them were placing a significant demand on resources, wouldn't it show up as greater usage when viewing the "Processes" tab sorted by CPU usage?

You know, I saw this same phenomenon several years ago when upgrading to a newer machine at a prior job I had. That's why I hoped this must be something others have encountered and would know how to address it. Anyway, if anyone has more hints or tips, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks,

Erik