why do i feel my new core 2 duo pc is slower than athlon 64 bit processor ?

Question

the processor is core2duo 6300 and with 1 GB RAm.... i feel the start up programs are loading slow....there are not many...... i was told that core 2 duo is the fastest among all at presend....other than quad core n extremes

Answer 1

Computer speed depends on allot more then just the processor, the major factors are memory size, bus speed, memory speed, cache size, bus size, hard drive speed, and which operating system and programs are running, so it is very possible that a system with a faster processor will run slower then one with a slower processor. But I don't think that is the whole story in your case.
Now here's the complicated part... the Core 2 Duo works like four computers working together (or more accurately it's like two hyperthreaded computers working together) each program will get about a quarter of the processing power, so if four programs are running at the same time they don't slow each other down very much, but if they are not multithreaded they will each use at most maybe a third of the system speed (if they are not running in a hyperthread), so the entire system works faster but each individual program might work slower.

Answer 2

It really depends on the application you use : Most Windows programs today doesn't actually use both of the processor cores, making the dual cores useless.

What's the speed of the Athlon you have before changing to the the Core 2 Duo?

Also lastly, in reality, the Core2Duo and the Athlon64 X2 doesn't really differ much in performance unless you overclock it.

Answer 3

It could be that your new system has a slower hard drive? Is it a new installation of windows?

Core 2 Duo (Conroe) have the best architecture, but appropriately clocked Athlon 64s could still be faster in theory. C2D tends to clock well too, but program startup is limited by I/O and STR of your hard drive.

Here's a comparison of the current top drives.
http://www.storagereview.com/php/benchmark/suite_v4.php?typeID=10&testbedID=4&osID=6&raidconfigID=1&numDrives=1&devID_0=309&devID_1=323&devID_2=325&devID_3=316&devID_4=304&devCnt=5

Unless you can afford the server class WD Raptor drives, Hitachi's T7K500 is the best.

There's a program called BootVis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BootVis
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=664

Answer 4

To be honest, I am an AMD fan/user myself. I have always been proud of the fact that the AMD chips were faster than their Intel counterpart. So when Intel came out with the Core Duo... I was surprised that they were able to beat the current AMD lineup. By "current" I mean what AMD has available in retail right now. So if you are planning to build your rig now or in the near future, I hate to admit it but Intel is tops right now. Me, I am waiting for what AMD is coming out with as a response to Intel's Core Duo. Basing on past trends, AMD is always able to come up with something better... (I do hope that that will still be the case this time around). At any rate, if what AMD comes up with is inferior to Intel's, then I can make the switch. So I will wait.

Answer 5

Mostly it depends on the os you use. For xp, a lot of applications tend to start up once you boot up your pc. this will inevitably cause some memory and thus slow down startup process. besides if you are using vista, here's my advice: GO get more memory for your com, Vista tend to use up A LOT A LOT of your RAM. In a pc processor speed is not much of concern but the RAM, Hard disk, and graphic card is. Btw, make sure ur hard disk speed reading speed is fast as well( 7,200rpm etc.) as this will also determine the startup process speed as well...

Answer 6

Could be a few things,

1. You could be expecting too much of it and there for are disappointed in it's performance.

2. Have you got a Norton (or other crappy anti virus) loaded as this can take up a lot of processing speed on start up.

3. Any viruses on there already? doubtful if it is a new machine but could be depending on what you install or browse on the internet.

Hope this helps

Answer 7

maybe you have some heavy startup software (or a virus)
try to scan your computer with anti-virus (tyr NOD32)

another option might be to you don't have core2duo....
maybe your seller didn't puted that configuration what you wanted... (in my town they are doing that)

if you know about hardware, open your computer and see is configuration same as it inside that computer

any way, sore2duo is faster than any processor (at this moment)
so you cannot gilty the proc...

Answer 8

Intel may show higher speeds, but they are rarely ever faster. I have seen many times when a 2.0Ghz AMD would run circles around a 2.5Ghz Intel.

Answer 9

Yes you've got a speedy processor but your hard drive could be bottlenecking it. Run msconfig and disable startups that you do not really need.