Fail - Phenom II x4 940

[hercules]

Was recommended to this software today, installed, really liked the layout ect, then I got my result.

854.4

Mine is not the fastest machine but I am sure it can do better than this. Would you please help me find my problem.

I submitted my test, its called - Hercules.

For the test I only ran it with one monitor running.

Thank you in advance for any and all help I may receive.



[CPU]----------[AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.01 Ghz]
[MainBoard]----[ASUS Crosshair II Formula Republic of Gamers Series nForce 780a SLI]
[Bios]---------[2607 -- Default Settings]
[GFX]----------[Nvidia 9600GT]-258.96 WHQL
[RAM]----------[x2 2GB DDR2 pc2-5300 @ 333 Mhz]
[PSU]----------[Scythe Stronger 700w]
[Cooling]------[Zalman CNPS9900A-LED]
[Display]------[Dual 20inch Acer moniters]
[HDDs]---------[x2 Western Digital]
[Case]---------[NZXT Hush Black Silent Case]
[OS]-----------[Windows 7 Ultimate]
[OC]-----------[Not Overclocked]

[David (PassMark)]

To start with check out this thread,
Causes and Solutions for a slow PC
and this one
How do I push my PC to the bleeding edge?

You hardware is fair way below the current top systems.

[hercules]

Thank you for your advice, I followed it as best I could, managed to add 3GB of ram, opted not to add a SSD just yet and got my score to,

1209.9 << Still lacking something.

I have the tweaking bug now so if you can offer additional advice I would appreciate that, with the mobo I have, I have read its easiy to OC would I benefit from doing so do you think?

[wonderwrench]

I downloaded your baseline file and the hard drive performance seems way to low. I have the same drive in my HTPC and sequential reads and writes are around 100 MBs. See screen shot below. Try testing your other drive by changing the drive under test under edit/settings. If you get way better results try a different known good SATA cable on your boot drive. If you still get low results when testing both drives is it possible you did not install the motherboard chipset drivers? Also if you can use a pressed (factory) Windows Vista or 7 disk for the CD bench test as it seems to give good repeatable results.



Bill

[hercules]

WOW,thank you..... that made all the difference. They do both use the same type of cable. Should I try a different cable? try plugging them in to a different socket on the mobo?




1520 is now my current score.

[wonderwrench]

Being that your WD green 1 TB drive seems to perform as it should I would try a different cable. Changing SATA channels should not be needed. Normally the boot drive is connected to the first SATA channel followed by any additional hard drives. Followed by any SATA optical drives. Nothing says it has to be this way it just makes it easier to keep things straight later on IMO.

Windows 7 seems to be able cover up SATA cable problems better than previous OS's. Data corruption rarely happens with a bad cable. Drive though put is just way down and momentary freezing or pausing will usually occur also. If you look in windows event logs disk errors will surely be present.

Its also possible you got a bad drive though I doubt it. You can use DiskCheckup to have a look at smart data.

Bill

[hercules]

Hi Bill, thank you for your suggestions, ran a disk check and all is in order, swopped sata ports and cables and then had a right to do with no bootable device tables, cant find bootable device, eventually got to desktop ran the tests and here they are.



I am certainly getting closer to a resonable score. Still short from your disk results though.

[wonderwrench]

If you move the boot drive to a different port you need to change the boot order in the bios in most cases. BTW you can make PT show hardware devices in the results. View, select "Device Info". So you have both drives performing correctly now? It may be a good idea to upload your results again since you fixed the poor scores. Please follow the naming guidelines when uploading results. Also please post back with the name of the new test you submit. BTW PerformanceTest has once again proven its ability to help diagnose system performance problems. I have owned PT since version 1 and could not live without it!

Your 320 gig drive is the same model as mine but the revision is different. Also you have an Nvidia chipset motherboard and I have a ATI/AMD chipset motherboard. Either could cause the difference. I would think your 320 Blue (7200 rpm) should be faster than your 1TB green (5400 rpm) drive. How full is the 320 gig drive. All magnetic drives loose performance as the drive gets full. I try to keep OS drives less than half full. If the OS drive is over half full its time to think about getting a larger drive if you care about drive performance. To get more consistent results from PT I clean up temp files using CCleaner then defrag the drive to be tested. Once complete reboot the PC and wait at least 10 minutes before running PT. Hard drive LED should also show low or no activity before running PT.

Bill

[hercules]

I would argue both drives are working correctly, looking at the overall improvance, the 320GB C:/ is less than half pull at the moment and rarely goes over a 3rd, as my libraries are held on partitioned E:/ and F:/

I think this post in its self is testiment to PT it makesfor a good read actually, I came in here with an overall score of 854.4 and currently running 1520.

I will follow your advice and look forward to my next test, currently running at 3x 2GB mem sticks as the x1 GB is causing system freezing, well, here's hoping that is the culprit.

I will sort freezing out then repost my score and upload. The test below is with the 6GB of ram. Test > BL274680

[hercules]

Apparently the freezing issues and possibly the speed issues were due to bent and broken pins on he CPU. new 965 coming tomorrow, ill re post fingers crossed.

[hercules]

Hi All,
OK my system has changed, I now have the 965 phenom, but my mobo will only recognise 2 slots, and its running in single mode not dual mode. 1x2gb in Blue, 1x2gb in the white, " any other combo seems to hang it.

Do I need some better memory do you think?

[wonderwrench]

Is the memory matching 2 gig modules. Same brand, model, part number?
If not you most likely will not get dual channel to work. The difference in performance between single and dual channel is little to none on an AMD system. Dual channel is preferred but you will never see the difference.

If you are going to buy new memory get DDR2 800 PC2 6400. If possible get ram that's on the QVL list for your board. I myself try to buy Corsair, Crucial or OCZ memory when possible. All three have good support and consistent quality.

Bill

[hercules]

I have it running in dual mode now, dont ask me why but I took out my GPU and then booted on the internal GPU and the 6gb now works, however, I keep getting freezes and also random reboots. I just cant pinpoint the hardware causing it.

I have x3 sticks of this
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT25664AA667

[wonderwrench]

I have it running in dual mode now, dont ask me why but I took out my GPU and then booted on the internal GPU and the 6gb now works, however, I keep getting freezes and also random reboots. I just cant pinpoint the hardware causing it.

I have x3 sticks of this
http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/partspecs.aspx?imodule=CT25664AA667

Try running "windows memory" diagnostic test. Go to start and type whats in the above quotes.

Bill

[hercules]

All the memory bar this 1 stick has been rma'd to ebuyer.

Crucial 4GB Kit (2x2GB) DDR2 800MHz/PC2-6400 Memory CL6 1.8V
Qty: 2 will be fitted tomorrow morning.

Once fitted I will run another test, I just hope to God there is a noticeable improvement.