quad core ...but where's the performance?

[suicidal_monkey]

It occurs to me that a quad core processor should result in less OS freezing and better performance when starting up more than one programme at a time, and these programmes shouldn't block eachother... why do I feel like my quad core only ever performs like a single core under windows? :sideways: Is there a special checkbox I need to check to see some tangible benefits?

[kregoron]

Well first of all, what is your specs like..

cpu, mobo, ram, gpu and so on..

depending on the situation it differs on how the cpu performs..

yeah the multiple cores gives the computer the ability to spread the load out.. but if some bit in rig is slowing it down, slow memory, a slow hdd can severely impact loading applications, causing lock ups and so forth

[delanvital]

Hmm yeah... low RAM and slow disk would make for a lot of inefficient swaps?

[kregoron]

ye low memory amount and slow memory, would cause the computer to have to access the pagefile a lot more often, and if the disk is slow that can cause small pauses for windows..

a disk with bad sectors can also be the cause of it..

It can also be because of your version of windows, windows xp had horrible multicore support, and it its load balancing had some odd ideas about moving the different processes around on cores, causing small hick ups..
It can be fixed with a little program which can lock a process to a certain core.

but i would able to help a little better if i knew the specs of the computer

[T-Bag]

You want about 5GB free on your primary partition (and a decent size page file).
A reasonable speed hard drive for your OS.
64Bit Windows Vista or 7.
4GB Ram.

If your install is a few years old you can boost it by formatting the hard drive and reinstalling windows if you know what you're doing.

If you've installed lots of programs which load when you start up your computer that's a bad idea.

[suicidal_monkey]

probably some conbination of these factors. I used to format and reinstall about once a year back in the day, it always feels like a last resort but it's probably about that time again :/

system specs...

• 64-bit OS: MicrosoftÃ,® Windows Vistaâ„¢ Home Premium 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
• Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q6600  @ 2.40GHz, 2448 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
• mobo - I think it's an abit ip35 pro or something
  
• gpu - Nvidia 8800GT
• main hdd - 320Gb Hitachi HDT725032VLA360 ATA Device
• backup hdd - 500Gb ST3500312CS ATA Device
• ram - 4Gb - I think it's pc6400?

Memory info:

• Installed Physical Memory (RAM)    4.00 GB
• Total Physical Memory    4.00 GB
• Available Physical Memory    2.42 GB
• Total Virtual Memory    8.17 GB
• Available Virtual Memory    6.14 GB
• Page File Space    4.29 GB

thanks for all the input:byebye:

[Tutonic]

Your hard-drive is the most likely bottleneck in your system.

Troubleshoot that first (defrag, page file etc) and you should see some extra performance.

You can have as many CPU cores as you like, but if everything has to load off a slow/inefficient disk then you wont see any benefits.

[suicidal_monkey]

Defrag I can handle (if the windows one in vista is considered okay these days, or do I need a 3rd party solution?)

...what would you recommend doing to the pagefile?

And I guess any clever multi-drive (not raid necessarily...) tips for spreading the load of apps commonly sun concurrently might be useful? Or does that just push the burden to the databus serving the hdds?

Your hard-drive is the most likely bottleneck in your system.

Troubleshoot that first (defrag, page file etc) and you should see some extra performance.

You can have as many CPU cores as you like, but if everything has to load off a slow/inefficient disk then you wont see any benefits.

[Tutonic]

You should configure a fixed size page-file. 4GB should be more than enough.

The built-in Windows defrag program is widely considered to be just about good enough, but the one thing it tends to miss is actually defragging your page file.

I've used PageDefrag in the past, it's a freebie from Microsoft.

Some folks like to put their page file on a seperate partition, but I'm not sure you'd see much of a performance improvement (unless you're running something like a file server).

[kregoron]

Some folks like to put their page file on a seperate partition, but I'm not sure you'd see much of a performance improvement (unless you're running something like a file server).

Whats the point you ask?

We all know what a pagefile is for, additionnal memory space, its slow yeah but needed to save other resources..

the point of having a partition on a single partition isnt just fragmentation, but performance.. Ive used a partition for pagefile for years now with great benefit i might add..
When creating such a setup you use the same principle as Shortstroking.. you create a partition in the fastest bit of the hard drive, and by that you increase the efficiency of the pagefile a lot..
one other aspect, when creating such a setup you lock the pagefile size to the size of the partition, hence saving actually large amounts of resources normally spent managing pagefile size..

[suicidal_monkey]

hmmm... the defrag programme in vista seems to never finish! and there's no pretty pictures to let you know what's going on anymore

[kregoron]

Auslogics Disk defrag is a great piece of software for defragmentation, and its free

myself i use O&O's defragmentation tool.

[delanvital]

hmmm... the defrag programme in vista seems to never finish! and there's no pretty pictures to let you know what's going on anymore

I like JKDefrag

[kregoron]

I like JKDefrag

Aka mydefrag

[suicidal_monkey]

Thanks!

I quite like mydefrag, seems to have done its work, and Auslogics looks quite decent too so I can try that next time. I couldn't see a way to defrag the mft or the pagefile with these though? I previously (some time ago...) used diskeeper to achieve that I think, not sure if it's worth it or if I just make sure I set up my pc better next time I do a full reinstall.

I guess the next step is minimising stuff that runs at startup or as a service etc. I'm sure there'll be a load of crud on here (2 year old install)