Athlon 64X2 5200+

[LiquorDealer]

I have a HP that is running an Athlon 64X2 5200+. For some reason, it is terribly slow. We are on a rural internet provider so it probably isn't the greatest either.Can I improve the performance of this machine by changing the cpu? If so - what would you recommend?

Thanks

 

[Ksyder]

Sounds like you have some other problems other than the cpu speed that is causing that system to be slow. What operating system are you using? How much RAM do you have?

 

[LiquorDealer]

Sounds like you have some other problems other than the cpu speed that is causing that system to be slow. What operating system are you using? How much RAM do you have?

Vista Premium Home
3.00 Gig RAM

 

[Ksyder]

that system should be plenty fast... something is going on there. The first thing I'd do is go over to the search bar in the start menu and type "msconfig"

a dialog box will pop up and click the tab called "startup"

if you have lots and lots of items in that list with a check mark next to them that can eat quite a bit of system performance. That is the first place I'd start looking.

Did you ever any virus or spyware problems with that computer?

is the computer only slow when browsing the web or is it sluggish all around? In other words, do you think the problem lies solely with the internet speed?

 

[LiquorDealer]

that system should be plenty fast... something is going on there. The first thing I'd do is go over to the search bar in the start menu and type "msconfig"

a dialog box will pop up and click the tab called "startup"

if you have lots and lots of items in that list with a check mark next to them that can eat quite a bit of system performance. That is the first place I'd start looking.

Did you ever any virus or spyware problems with that computer?

is the computer only slow when browsing the web or is it sluggish all around? In other words, do you think the problem lies solely with the internet speed?

That's kind of hard to answer since all we use our computers for involves the internet. I guess I'd have to answer when on the internet.

 

[Ksyder]

It would also be a good idea to head over to Windows Update and ensure you are up to date- Service Pack 2 is available for Vista which likely has some fixes that should increase performance. You should do any updates and patches, and additionally, also go to the optional updates section and install any updated drivers.

 

[JFAMD]

What do you mean by "running slow"? It might be your internet connection as well. If all you use is the intenet, you may want to start by clearing you cache and cookies.

 

[evolucion8]

That Athlon is still powerful today.

 

[tcsenter]

I recently worked on an HP Media Center tower with good specs that shipped with Vista preinstalled (Athlon X2 6000+, 3GB RAM, GeForce 8500GT, 2 x 500GB SATA 3.0 Gbps drives).

I previously did all the maintenance that could be done; ran disk check with surface scan and file system repair, defragged, cleaned up all temp directories/files, removed a few unwanted programs, scanned for viruses/malware (none were found), updated drivers, patched Windows with the latest updates. It still had laggy issues when booting or launching apps. Even GUI stuff like dragging and dropping icons would have a big lag or delay.

So finally I wiped the SOB and clean installed Vista SP2 OEM from my System Builder disc (I used Vista Activation Backup and Restore to preserve the OEM activation). Installed the latest drivers, only the apps and utilities the owner actually wanted/used, updated all apps and Windows with the latest patches.

The owner said it was like a brand new computer - it runs better now than it ever has including the day they bought it (two years ago). I've seen this dozens and dozens of times. I'm not certain how the OEMs build their factory install images, but whatever they do, it can leave the software environment hopelessly dysfunctional. Sometimes, you just have to wipe the drive and start clean.

 

[Ksyder]

I recently worked on an HP Media Center tower with good specs that shipped with Vista preinstalled (Athlon X2 6000+, 3GB RAM, GeForce 8500GT, 2 x 500GB SATA 3.0 Gbps drives).

I previously did all the maintenance that could be done; ran disk check with surface scan and file system repair, defragged, cleaned up all temp directories/files, removed a few unwanted programs, scanned for viruses/malware (none were found), updated drivers, patched Windows with the latest updates. It still had laggy issues when booting or launching apps. Even GUI stuff like dragging and dropping icons would have a big lag or delay.

So finally I wiped the SOB and clean installed Vista SP2 OEM from my System Builder disc (I used Vista Activation Backup and Restore to preserve the OEM activation). Installed the latest drivers, only the apps and utilities the owner actually wanted/used, updated all apps and Windows with the latest patches.

The owner said it was like a brand new computer - it runs better now than it ever has including the day they bought it (two years ago). I've seen this dozens and dozens of times. I'm not certain how the OEMs build their factory install images, but whatever they do, it can leave the software environment hopelessly dysfunctional. Sometimes, you just have to wipe the drive and start clean.

that is a good point, without the benefit of something like http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/ there is no easy way to remove all of the crapware that is installed on those systems. Not to mention these systems are usually out of date because the owners don't know to keep up with patches, and finally "often" they include the bare minimum of ram.

tcsenter, thanks for the link to the activation backup program. I'll have to try it.

 

[Zstream]

I have a HP that is running an Athlon 64X2 5200+. For some reason, it is terribly slow. We are on a rural internet provider so it probably isn't the greatest either.Can I improve the performance of this machine by changing the cpu? If so - what would you recommend?

Thanks

I just had to fix a friends PC. He has a 3500+, 1gb ram, Windows XP.

It took around 10 minutes to complete the boot and splash screen. Followed by 10 minutes of sitting at the desktop waiting for applications to launch. All said and done he had a couple trojans on the PC. Apparently AVG can have a limit on how many it can quarantine.

Now it boots under two minutes.