Unhappy with current performance - any ideas?

ub3r_n00b · Post by **ub3r_n00b** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:54 am

Hey guys,

Alright im running same rig as before

(Abit NF7-S v2.0, AMD athlon xp 2500+ @ stock right now, 2x256 megs of PC 3200 OCZ DDR ram, MSI geforce 4 ti 4200 128 meg edition (4x agp), 40 gig Maxtor ATA 133 HD, 400 watt antec psu (not sure what kinda, massa knows), and a 42x liteon burner.

Im not very pleased with my performance right now, I was wondering how exactly the IRQ's should look like - my Vid card shares one with the onboard ethernet, and some tips and such so for my next format my computer will be as fast as possible (i intend to OC a bit after next format).

thanks, (its been a while as you can tell lol)

-Preet

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:54 am

in what terms do you deem performance?

games?

load times?

multi-tasking??

good to see you again.

zooner · Post by **zooner** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:55 am

viagra?

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 7:15 am

What area's are you not pleased with regarding performance? Assuming it's Windows XP, but in many of todays games, 512 megs if somewhat average, you gain a lot of performance going to a gig of RAM.

As far as IRQ's...with WinXP and most motherboards supporting APIC with 24 IRQ's..those are really just a thing to fiddle with regarding legacy systems.

Since going to the 10,000 rpm WD Raptor SATA hard drive...I'd have a hard time going back to ATA hard drives....man are these Raptors incredible!

Reset BIOS to default on your next reformat, perhaps disable some onboard devices, such as that LPT parallel port, or the 9 pin serial/COM ports, if unused. I do find it unusual that the BIOS is assigning an AGP vid card the same IRQ as your onboard NIC, I'd not like that. Can that mobo support APIC? Should be an option in the BIOS.

ub3r_n00b · Post by **ub3r_n00b** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:42 am

shouldnt i disable APIC? Well it just doesnt feel like a 2500+ in like windows and stuff. I dont game much (because i dont have many games worth playing :P) and i spend like all of my time web developing (hence my new site that is up)

Thanks for the tips

Nice to see you too zooner

-Preet

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 10:46 am

Originally posted by ub3r_n00b
shouldnt i disable APIC?

I prefer APIC...spreads out the IRQ's much better, and fantastic support for it in WinXP.

A_old · Post by **A_old** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:16 am

disabling apic is one of those myth performance gains. it is more of an annoyance to get the .01 fps than anything else. it is there for a reason, use it.

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:28 am

I'd get an ethernet card and disable the onboard LAN. You'll get the video card on its own IRQ that way (hopefully). Onboard devices will usually share with tons of other stuff, and it's hard to get major components on their own IRQ.

And like YOSc said above:

- Disable any unused onboard devices (sound, etc.) in the BIOS.

- Disable unused serial and parallel ports in the BIOS.

- Disable unused USB ports and USB root hubs (through Device Manager is easiest).

- Move PCI cards around, reboot and repeat until you can get everything on its own IRQ. Check your manual for which PCI slots share with others to assist in this.

Any performance gain from doing this may be minute, but it's more about stability; I just don't trust a bunch of devices sharing IRQs, something held over from the old Audigy "Squeal of Death" days.

Post by **YeOldeStonecat** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:33 am

I've seen many motherboards where you can indeed specify the IRQ that some onboard devices use...such as the onboard NIC. Might have some luck.

Or try the method I mentioned...sometimes disabling devices in the BIOS lets the BIOS juggle other IRQ's around, letting them settle into onto separate ones. I prefer to disable items in the BIOS, over disabling them in Device Mangler. In Device Manger, Windows will still know the hardware is there. Disable in BIOS...Windows won't even see it in the first place, less to load.

Brk · Post by **Brk** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:36 am

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat
I've seen many motherboards where you can indeed specify the IRQ that some onboard devices use...such as the onboard NIC. Might have some luck.

Or try the method I mentioned...sometimes disabling devices in the BIOS lets the BIOS juggle other IRQ's around, letting them settle into onto separate ones. I prefer to disable items in the BIOS, over disabling them in Device Mangler. In Device Manger, Windows will still know the hardware is there. Disable in BIOS...Windows won't even see it in the first place, less to load.

Yeah, but sometimes there is no option to disable specific USB ports in the BIOS. In the case of USB ports and root hubs, the chipset drivers will automatically install them, so it's easier to disable them in the Device Manager. It'll still free up IRQs.

TrevGlas · Post by **TrevGlas** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:43 am

How long since last format?

Massa · Post by **Massa** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:03 pm

I'm pretty sure he is simply suffering windows performance issues. I have dealt with this on many occasions, and have found the perpetrator to be the Nvidia IDE SW driver.... my reccommendation to you is to use the morpheusware remix and say NO to the SW driver installation, this improved the feel of my computers performance more than i can describe. Also, make sure you disable system restore, indexing service and tweak your services and TSR's for optimum performance.

You can get the morpheusware remix off my site here:

http://www.daveupton.net/Download/morpheuswareremix.exe

Later Preet,

Dave

TrevGlas · Post by **TrevGlas** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:07 pm

What is morpheus ware?

Ok I stopped being lazy, found it is an Nforce driver.

Nevermind

ub3r_n00b · Post by **ub3r_n00b** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 9:17 pm

well I did all the basic tweaks and stuff, Lol, i got the nforce board to get rid of the PCI slots, i have absolutely no PCI cards installed.. i use onboard sound and onboard ethernet.. I think ill format this puppy and enabled APIC like ye said..

Spanks

-Preet

Mytflyguy · Post by **Mytflyguy** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 9:52 pm

Or you can do liek I did with the UDP package ... When it prompts you to continue with installation ( after it unpackages it ) go to %systemroot%\nvidia\nforce2kxp\3.13 and delete the folders you don't want the install to run ...

I deleted my video and Audio drivers from there before installing ... I've heard alot lf complaints about the SW Drivers ... but I haven't really expereinced them ... I also haven't run this system with anything BUT 3.13 drivers so I have no previous drivers to compare to.

deksecurity · Post by **deksecurity** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:17 pm

how about used PerfectDisk 6.0 to Defragment MFT zone ?

knightmare · Post by **knightmare** » Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:53 pm

shhh.. let me know what works for you, i got a 2500 barton -oc'ed to 3200+, with 1024mb of ram, pc-3200, a 9600 pro video card, a shuttle nforce ultra mobo and all i got was a 5697 on 3d mark, and a 14,569 on aqua mark. that wouldn't even cut it in this forum.

Mytflyguy · Post by **Mytflyguy** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:13 am

That's pretty damn good for a 9600 ... I'm only scoring 5668 with my 9800 Pro

knightmare · Post by **knightmare** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 11:19 am

ah well heck, u made me feel better fly*., but it is a 256mb 9600 pro though, if thats any consolation..

Mytflyguy · Post by **Mytflyguy** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 11:36 am

Hahah well .. yeah ... not really

... But I appreciate the attempt ... lmao

AMPLIFRIER · Post by **AMPLIFRIER** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 3:30 pm

Originally posted by YeOldeStonecat

Since going to the 10,000 rpm WD Raptor SATA hard drive...I'd have a hard time going back to ATA hard drives....man are these Raptors incredible!

yeah man!....i tell ya......my boot time is fairly long because i have 2 raid bios's that have to load a boot up but i tell ya.....the xp splash screen.....the progress bar doesnt even make 1 pass before the screen is gone and my logon interface pops up.

far cry from the ata array.

AMP