Re: Puzzled by strange behavior

Shenan Stanley wrote:
Wes Groleau wrote:
In my house now are three Pentium towers.

Comp. A: 1.5 GHz, 32 MB RAM, 40 GB HD
Comp. B: 1.5 GHz, 128 MB RAM, 40 GB HD
Comp. C: 551 MHz, 128 MB RAM, 200 GB HD

[After fresh installs of the O.S., A & B perform
>> reasonably well but C is a three-toed sloth]

What might cause this slowdown? 266 MHz machines on dialup
are faster than this thing!

I have to ask... Are you sure about those specifications?

Those are the numbers reported by Windows in the System
control panel and the C: properties.

First - the ram is crippling every one of them.

I say again: A & B both perform reasonably well.
This surprised me, too, but it's an observed fact.
They are not crippled.

Second - the slowest computer has an unusually (and likely unsupported) large hard drive.

It's _labeled_ 200 GB but Windows says it's less.
The difference is more than I would expect from
formatting overhead. But it is definitely bigger
than the 128 GB limit of older IDE controllers.

For Windows XP - I recommend 512MB+ memory. 256MB minimum really. Sure - it'll install on less, but run like a crippled wet yak.

Your recommendation is noted and is in my future plans.
But the puzzle still exists: Why, with one-third the CPU speed,
the same memory, and much more disk space, does C run at
FAR LESS than a third the speed of B? And why is A just
as fast as B with one-quarter of the memory?

Someone gave me a good idea for the first question:
SQL Express, Visual Studio Express, FireFox, Office, and Opera,
even though not _apparently_ running may have TSRs intended
to speed up their launching when they are invoked. A & B
do not have those items installed.

I still have no clue how A manages to seem normal
with only 32 Meg. Maybe the motherboard had RAM
built in?

--
Wes Groleau
-----------
I've been framed! ...
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9612.html
.

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