Slow Desktop

H

HybridXSV

New Member
Hey guys, this is my first on this forum so if this isn't the correct section, feel free to move it, just let me know so I know for future cases.

My problem is that my desktop is pretty darn slow and I'm unable to figure out which component I need to replace/add/upgrade to get it to work better. Unfortunately, I don't really know which information you guys will need to help me out so let's start there. I've posted the basic information, let me know if you need anything else to help me which the case.

And a brief description of my problem is just that it takes forever. I only have 1Gig of RAM so I initially thought that was the case but my other desktop with the same amount of RAM seems to be working much faster so hence the confusion.

Anyhow, thanks in advance!


Some easy details I found from the computer:
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz
Installed memory (RAM): 1.00 GB
System type: 32-bit Operating System
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium (x32)

Tried looking for what my motherboard is, couldn't find it and my graphics card is kinda unknown haha, here's what it says (more like I'm confused once again): Generic PnP Monitor on Standard VGA Graphics Adapter.

I'm confused because there is a video card separate from the motherboard, which is the one I'm using.
 
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Thanks, I will try that and let you know how that works.

Just thought I should mention this: It's not that its been getting slower, it was slow to begin with.
On top of that, I had the hard drive wiped out. I used some option inside "MyComputer" had the partitions wiped, not sure if this completely wipes it out but I believe it does?

On the other note, I just changed my resolution and it seems to be a BIT faster. Keep in mind that most of my desktop components are.... let's just say olddddddd (anywhere between like 8 years old to 2 years old).

And also, I'm pretty sure there's no viruses on the computer. Malware and such, I can't be too sure about I guess but it is my belief that my computer is not infected in any way. I have both Internet Security and Malware protection software installed. (Avast and Malwarebytes, both premium versions)
 
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With only 1gb of ram and running windows 7 with anti virus and other programs, it will be slow. Upgrade the ram to 4gb if you can and you will notice a big difference.

Also don't follow the previous posters advice he is a spammer.
 
Yeah, I figured much but I just needed to make sure other people with more experience agree.

I have a question about graphics card but I kinda have to go at the moment, will be posting the question with specs later

Thanks a lot!
 
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I would not run any OS newer than XP on 1gb RAM, I had 1.25GB on my old PC and XP was kind slow. and if the question about the graphics card is how to find which one do you have, here is the answer:
Download CPU-z and go on the Graphics tab of CPU-z.
 
Thanks for all the replies, so I did download that CPU-z software, and I gotta say that's a pretty neat software :D

So the current graphics card I have installed is: Generic PnP Monitor on Standard VGA Graphics Adapter.
And the 2 other spare ones I have are:
1) ATI 9550 AGP8X 256MB
2) GeForce FX5500 D256M

I realize that none of these are even decent of a graphics card but I was wondering if someone knew which of the three would be the best to use, the movies/videos I watch with the current one just don't seem to able to go above like 360p quality (if that....). I'm just not sure what "Generic Standard VGA Graphics" is so I can't even begin to compare it to the others...

And I will be getting more RAM but surprisingly enough, with only 1 GB of RAM, Windows 7 runs very smooth (given how much RAM I have that is) but yeah, 1 GB.... that feels like ancient history haha. Anyhow, thanks again.
 
Sounds like you don't have a video driver installed, that's why it says standard vga. Go into device manager, click the plus sign next to the video controller, right click on standard vga and click on properties, then click on the details tab. Give me the 4 digit vendor and device Id numbers. It will look like this. Ven_xxxx and dev_yyyy. Where X and y are 4 digit alphanumeric digits.
 
Look id like to try and update everything if possible... Download PC Wizard from my sig, and install it, run it and go to FILE, SAVE AS and click OK. Copy the contents out of that file into this thread.

In the meantime, you're a classic candidate for ReadyBoost. If you have a spare empty USB (4GB is ideal), insert it into a USB2 slot and right click on it in Computer, select properties, and select the Readyboost tab - dedicate it to the job.

This will cache information similarly to RAM and will be much faster than the HDD, speeding up the whole machine.

Then post your hardware report from PC Wizard and we will in order:

1. Update the chipset drivers
2. Update motherboard hardwre
3. Update Windows
4. Update the graphics subsystem
5. Ensure you have correct settings for the pagefile.
6. Defrag the HDD
 
I ran the PC wizard and it gave me this (I did look under VGA properties to make sure numbers matched):
Few things I thought might as well mention (though I don't believe either of them really is of importance):

1) For me, there was no "Video Controller", mine was listed under "Display Adapters" (yeah... old machine...)
2) Under the property "Parent", it showed a different numbers: VEN_8086 & DEV_2571. All other properties showed what I listed below, which are VEN_10DE & DEV_0326.

Display adapter 0
Name: Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Board Manufacturer: 0x0000 (0x0000)
Revision: B1
Codename: NV34
Technology: 0.15 um
Memory size: 128 MB
PCI device: bus 1 (0x1), device 0 (0x0), function 0 (0x0)
Vendor ID: 0x10DE (0x0000)
Model ID: 0x0326 (0x0000)
Performance Level: 0

I specially like the performance level "0", whoo go my desktop! :rolleyes:

For the second post, first of all, ReadyBoost is purely GENIUS, can't believe I haven't heard of it yet. Unfortunately, the 3 keys I have for windows 7 is apparently not usable more than once and it seemed stupid to just keep buying keys if I'm re-formatting my computer all the time.... so I kind of used a pirating software... just a heads up in case someone's super against it. And so I couldn't download ReadyBoost without downloading Microsoft Silverlight.

But I found this software called "eBoostr" which seems to do the same thing? Let me know what you think of this product (using a trial version at the moment but if it does the same thing as Microsoft's version, I'll gladly get the full version and yes I will pay for this :P)
Here's a screenshot of it just to get the general picture but I feel like you guys are already know this but nonetheless (and I just found a 8 GB flash drive so I'm going to replace the 2 GB with a 8GB later today):

33o5frl.jpg


Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer Inc. P5P800
Chipset : Intel i865PE
Processor : Intel Pentium 4 530J @ 3000 MHz
Physical Memory : 1024 MB (2 x 512 DDR-SDRAM )
Video Card : Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Hard Disk : Seagate ST3120827AS ATA Device (120GB)
Monitor Type : WXGA TV -
Network Card : Marvell Semiconductor (Was: Galileo Technology Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Copper)
Operating System : Windows 7 Home Premium Home Edition Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (32-bit)
DirectX : Version 11.00
Windows Performance Index : 1.0 on 7.9 (1 out of 8, AWESOME! :rolleyes:)

Below, I list 2 links to my google drive (apparently my text file is too large...). I made them public files so you should be able to look and download or whatever.

PC Wizard System Full Summary:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By9uL4_pQ8RgLUUwbTh5ZGdwMDg/edit?usp=sharing

CPU-z Full Summary:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0By9uL4_pQ8RgVEFlUjVxc0N6ZzQ/edit?usp=sharing

And also, you guys have been more than SUPER helpful already, thanks a lot guys! My first time even using a forum really, good experience so far :)
 
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you dont download readyboost.you insert your usb and right click and go to properties.there will be an option to dedicate this device to readyboost.i would,however,add more ram as readyboost doesnt live up to its hype and is in no way as good an option as adding more ram.i used it on an several older machines and didnt notice much of a boost compared to adding ram.on machines with 2 or more gb of ram i noticed no difference at all.get 4gb of ram into your machine and see how you like it then.
 
haha wow, didn't realize all I had to do was right click my USB drive, I will be getting rid of the eboostr right away.

And as for those softwares, I'll try those out and let you know how it turns out.
I'm just so confused as to why my computer just tells me "Standard Video Card" when I have a video card plugged in, leads me to believe that it's just a default video card that comes with the motherboard... anyhow, thanks again!
 
HybridXSV said:
haha wow, didn't realize all I had to do was right click my USB drive, I will be getting rid of the eboostr right away.

And as for those softwares, I'll try those out and let you know how it turns out.
I'm just so confused as to why my computer just tells me "Standard Video Card" when I have a video card plugged in, leads me to believe that it's just a default video card that comes with the motherboard... anyhow, thanks again!
Click to expand...

no, you just don't have the driver installed. its an nvidia card (probably FX). Go to the link and click on graphics drivers scan or whatever and it will tell you what to download.
 
wow, you can look up the manufacturer and all that just with those numbers? where have I been last few years......

anyhow, everything worked out, computer's bit faster (noticeable though) thanks to readyboost and I'll be getting more ram this weekend.

the graphics card worked out as well, the resolution now is much much better (before it was just zoomed out and out of scale)

thanks so much guys, thumbs up for everyone! :D
 
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Yeah something don't jive here. The hardware ID says 550 ti but the motherboard only supports AGP. What does it say under display adapter in device manager?
 
It just says what I've stated before, "Standard VGA". I finally decided to just take out the video card and replace it and apparently there's a sticker on the card which I couldn't see before... maybe this will help to clarify the leftover confusion.

On the sticker it says: FX5500 128MB/128Bit CRT/TV/DVI (and sorry for not taking it out sooner to at least see if there's any information on it... that was my bad)

So I guess the other guy was right? I don't even know...

Anyhow, I decided that this was way too old of a graphics card and so I switched it out with a new one. I'm using now: ATI Radeon 9550 / X1050 Series(Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)

Only issue is I still can't watch videos at a great quality but whatever, at least the graphics itself is better and it actually has a name with it.
 
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johnb35 said:
According to the hardware ID numbers he has 550 ti.

http://www.pcidatabase.com/search.php?device_search_str=0326&device_search=Search
Click to expand...

Dude, your link says FX5500, im not sure what you're looking at. Secondly it cannot possible be a 550ti given the age of the motherboard, and the fact that its an NV34 with 128mb of vram.

Anyway, its cleared up but the OP should still do this if he hasn't already...

Hybrid, if you've replaced the graphics card then you have to do this (in ORDER):

1. Download and install this https://downloadcenter.intel.com/co....3.1.1009_PV_Intel.exe&lang=eng&Dwnldid=14713
2. Restart
3. Set a restore point and then uninstall all nvidia and AMD/ATi software for graphics in Add and Remove Programs (in Windows)
4. Download and install Display Driver Uninstaller http://www.guru3d.com/files_get/driver_sweeper_download,4.html



5. Run it for both nvidia and AMD graphics and make sure you select remove AMD and nvidia folders - we want a fresh install of the graphics (see highlighted changes)
6. Restart
7. Download and install this:http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop/legacy?product=Legacy1&os=Windows 7 - 32
8. Restart.
 
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