New PC well under performing!!

[smurph]

I am writing this on behalf of my father for whom I selected a new PC.
We are extremely disappointed in the speed of performance of the new PC...its an AMD Home Office type, with little change from the standard spec. (which they haven't copied me).
It is about the same speed if not slower than his old PC, same level type PC at the time, purchased from PC Specialist in 2008.
I would like to say that when changing between applications, the window of the new application is black momentarily a sure sign that there are performance issues, and takes a while upon opening each new application.

Bearing in mind that the ONLY reason to upgrade to a new PC was to improve performance we cannot understand why a PC 8 years newer is as bad as one 8 years old!!
Can anyone advise why this is so?
And also, is there anything that we can test to prove its as quick as it should be?
And further, how can we improve its speed significantly?

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Can you post the specs?

 

[Rakk]

Can you post the specs?

Noting that an account would have been created on the main PCS site for whoever actually ordered it, so if you log into the relevant PCS account on the main PCS website it will have your order in there and its specs.

 

[mantadog]

sounds like its not the components that are causing the issue, perhaps a software conflict/os installation problem. But we would need to see the specs first and perhaps a more detailed breakdown of the problems.

 

[smurph]

Spec of new PC:
Case STYLISH PIANO BLACK ENIGMA MICRO-ATX CASE + 2 FRONT USB
Processor (CPU) AMD SEMPRON 2650 Dual Core APU (1.4GHz/AM1) & Radeon™ HD8240
Motherboard ASUS® AM1M-A: (M-ATX, DDR3, USB 3.0, 6Gb/s)
Memory (RAM) 4GB Kingston DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (1 x 4GB)
Graphics Card Integrated AMD Radeon HD 8000 / R7 Series Graphics
1st Hard Disk 1TB SATA-III 3.5" HDD, 6GB/s, 7200RPM, 32MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (XD, MS, CF, SD, etc) + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Power Supply CORSAIR 350W VS SERIES™ VS-350 POWER SUPPLY
Processor Cooling STANDARD AMD CPU COOLER
Sound Card ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Wireless/Wired Networking 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT (Wi-Fi NOT INCLUDED)
USB Options 6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence


The old PC order from 2008 isn't included here, not sure if it pre-dates this system, or this was only created for new order, but I understand that makes it difficult to compare.
I have sent them an email, but depending on advice here I may start a complaint.

 

[SlimCini]

The age of a machine is not necessarily linked to how well it will perform. My four year old laptop would comfortably walk all over the one year old budget laptop my sister has. And I could dig out a 10 year old desktop computer that would perform more quickly than the you have for your father. Having said that, there may well be something not right... but you'd need to give more specifics about what applications there are issues with, how slow things are taking to open etc.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

The apu you've chosen is about the most entry level you can get and will be slow in normal usage. I'm not saying there's not some configuration problem, but your expectations may be too high on what that build will achieve.

 

[smurph]

I understand what you are saying, and its difficult to just conjure up the old PC specs, but it was the equivalent entry level home office PC 8 years ago.
Issues are changing between chrome browser and a explorer folder, its takes a few seconds, and can show a black screen in the folder for a while...and I believe this should be near instant.
So any ways I can investigate further / improve?
Should I complain/return?

 

[keynes]

I understand what you are saying, and its difficult to just conjure up the old PC specs, but it was the equivalent entry level home office PC 8 years ago.
Issues are changing between chrome browser and a explorer folder, its takes a few seconds, and can show a black screen in the folder for a while...and I believe this should be near instant.
So any ways I can investigate further / improve?
Should I complain/return?

You have 4gb ram and a standard hdd, if you have plenty of tabs open and have more than one application running/extensions it would influence the speed/performance. I don't think the comparison with your older PC is relevant in this case, as suggested before, it could be the case that there is a driver issue. You could be entitle for a refund within the grace period after purchase, don't remember whether it was 7 days or more after receipt. You should contact PCS directly for technical support in case it is a driver issue

 

[smurph]

Thanks, have started contact with PCS.
Sadly we will be well out of the grace period, as this was delivered several weeks ago, but my dad has been in/out of hospital for the last few weeks, and he has only started using it.

Another issue, why are USB ports almost impossible to use from PCS? This is the same as the old PC, so not a one off, and very different to any other PC I use where they are relatively simple. The ports take am almighty struggle and push to insert a flash drive, and you feel as if you going to damage the port?

All in all very UNIMPRESSED.

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks, have started contact with PCS.
Sadly we will be well out of the grace period, as this was delivered several weeks ago, but my dad has been in/out of hospital for the last few weeks, and he has only started using it.

Another issue, why are USB ports almost impossible to use from PCS? This is the same as the old PC, so not a one off, and very different to any other PC I use where they are relatively simple. The ports take am almighty struggle and push to insert a flash drive, and you feel as if you going to damage the port?

All in all very UNIMPRESSED.

The very first thing you should do is to do a clean reinstall of Windows and the necessary drivers. Don't install any other software at this point, just test the PC. If it's under-performing in that clean state you'll need to contact PCS because in that case there will quite possibly be a hardware issue. I think you'll find it's fine though, what you describe sounds very much like a software issue to me.

 

[smurph]

Thanks, makes feel more confident that there is an issue with the PC.
Note that upon receipt of PC, I have only installed office, but had noticed this performance issue prior to this.

 

[Spuff]

Another issue, why are USB ports almost impossible to use from PCS? This is the same as the old PC, so not a one off, and very different to any other PC I use where they are relatively simple. The ports take am almighty struggle and push to insert a flash drive, and you feel as if you going to damage the port?
.

PCS don't make the USB ports. The USB ports will either be on the case or the motherboard.
The USB ports on my PC are fine, no problems.

 

[ubuysa]

Thanks, makes feel more confident that there is an issue with the PC.
Note that upon receipt of PC, I have only installed office, but had noticed this performance issue prior to this.

It certainly doesn't sound right from what you're describing, it smells like driver problems to me but it's impossible to be sure from a distance. Sadly the only sure-fire way of testing whether it's software or hardware is a completely clean reinstallation of Windows, be sure you install all the necessary drivers and run Windows update until no more updates are found. As long as you make no changes or install any other software you'll then have the most stable operating system platform you can get. If it's sluggish then you most likely have a hardware issue.

 

[Dank1991]

I got the same thing with my usb ports aswell with my pc a few weeks ago smurph. seemed to have eased up now tho maybe they are stiff as they never been used ?

 

[smurph]

OK, PCS advise: " sorry to say that the new system is not even in the same performance league as the one from 2008. Although both have a dual core processor the new one only runs at 1.4Ghz where the old one would run at 2.2Ghz, on top of this the new one is based on AMD's APU technology and will use one of the CPU cores for the on-board graphics. So in essence you have a single core system that has a slower clock speed, as I am sure you can tell from this explanation, the system will not perform as well as the previous system.
I am more than highly annoyed and upset, as a non PC expert, that the same level of PC 8 years later is equally as bad as a previously supplied 8 year old PC (that has aged and slowed down) - this just should not be!!! This PC as supplied is in effect in my opinion useless to anyone in the UK market at this speed, and we expect better.

I have been quoted ~£200 to upgrade SSD, CPU & a new graphics card [CPU - AMD Athlon 5350 Quad Core APU, Graphics card - 2GB Nvidia Geforce GTX750Ti, SSD - 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD].
Will this improve performance significantly? How can I tell in advance of spending more money?

 

[SlimCini]

OK, PCS advise: " sorry to say that the new system is not even in the same performance league as the one from 2008. Although both have a dual core processor the new one only runs at 1.4Ghz where the old one would run at 2.2Ghz, on top of this the new one is based on AMD's APU technology and will use one of the CPU cores for the on-board graphics. So in essence you have a single core system that has a slower clock speed, as I am sure you can tell from this explanation, the system will not perform as well as the previous system.
I am more than highly annoyed and upset, as a non PC expert, that the same level of PC 8 years later is equally as bad as a previously supplied 8 year old PC (that has aged and slowed down) - this just should not be!!! This PC as supplied is in effect in my opinion useless to anyone in the UK market at this speed, and we expect better.

I have been quoted ~£200 to upgrade SSD, CPU & a new graphics card [CPU - AMD Athlon 5350 Quad Core APU, Graphics card - 2GB Nvidia Geforce GTX750Ti, SSD - 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD].
Will this improve performance significantly? How can I tell in advance of spending more money?

They've given you a reasoned and logical explanation as to why it's slower though... it's already been explained that the age of a PC is irrelevant, it's what on the inside that matters. PC components aren't organic and don't simply get slower with age. 'Slowness' of PCs as they get older is almost always down to two things: (1) You might simply think your PC is slower even when it isn't because you replace other things in your life more quickly that get faster and faster (smart phones, tablets etc). or (2) The components are actually slowing down because of either software bloating them, or due to hardware being exposed to mechanical damage, heat (these will affect near enough all components) or by filling up with data (mechanical hard drives). Most of those can be remedied up to a certain extent... and failing that, replaced by better components (which is what PCS are suggesting).

But it's been clearly explained that you've purchased components that are weaker than your older PC and therefore I don't how you can you can get angry and expect them to perform faster. You've just got to take it on the chin and next time you'll know to spend more time researching the components you need to match your expectations of performance.

That said... there STILL might be an underlying issue. Or have PCS got your PC and are fiddling with it to reinstall OS and drivers?

Anyway regarding those upgrades. Yes, the CPU has more cores and presumably has a higher clock speed = faster. The SSD will boot OS and load software signifantly faster than a cheap mechanical drive = faster experience. 750ti - depends if it is used to play games really. Might be unnecessary if it's just used for browsing and internet.

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

I'm afraid you get what you pay for. The components you ordered were from the bottom of the barrel and not designed for the usage you expect. This is a clear example of getting advice before ordering.

 

[smurph]

Thanks for the feedback and advice, yes getting better advice or more likely buying local is the future.
I still disagree, as per my original post, that the spec of a PC 8 years later is no better, surely we have moved on! I picked the Home Office system, and only changed from Intel to AMD.

Anyway, I will check with PCS re system check and reinstall, as it will likely need returned and tweaked by them to retain warranty, won't it?

Do i really need SSD & graphics card for word docs and internet browsing?

 

[BlessedSquirrel]

Thanks for the feedback and advice, yes getting better advice or more likely buying local is the future.
I still disagree, as per my original post, that the spec of a PC 8 years later is no better, surely we have moved on! I picked the Home Office system, and only changed from Intel to AMD.

Anyway, I will check with PCS re system check and reinstall, as it will likely need returned and tweaked by them to retain warranty, won't it?

Do i really need SSD & graphics card for word docs and internet browsing?

Specs have of course moved on, but so has IT. There is now huge demand for low power systems like nas drives and media servers which are the kinds of systems those components you selected are designed for. No one in their right mind would choose them for a user pc.

PCS cater for all areas of custom computing including low power systems.

I'm afraid it's simply a case of ignorance designing a custom pc when you have no idea about the components you're ordering.