irritating slow HD access

[FatRakoon]

Ok, Im toying about with an older PC here.

The PC is :-

Asus A8N-SLI
Opteron 175 @ Stock
4 x 1GB Corsair 4400
2 x 7900GT ( SLI )
XFI Gamer
2xSeagate 160GB ( Striped Raid on Sata Ports 0 + 1 )
NB Cooler with a Zalman Fanless
PSU is a Huntkey 450w - not high end but is giving a perfect output

Anyway, I installed Win7 ( 64Bit ) onto it for a laugh and for a couple of days its been hammering the HD and so I have not expected too much in the performance stakes just yet, but yesterday, the trashing stopped and its fully up to date ( Except the Video & Audio also want updates and I have ignored them for now )


So, I ran the Windows Experience index to have a look at what numbers I get, and the HD gives me a stonking 7.1 and I suppose Im happy with that.

On my 2 best PCs Im only gettign 5.3 and 5.9, so 7.1 on the old Opteron is great.

However the PC as a whole is dog-slow!

Ok, dont get me wrong here, I know the Opteron is going to be slower than my main PCs, thats a given, but I mean things like WinAmp loading up is near to instant on other PCs but it is something like 6 or 7 seconds on the Opteron!

Its kind of making the whole idea of RAID a total waste of time on that PC.

So, is there anything that I need to consider, or am I to just accept that this is never going to be a hot mover?

Its a shame cos its my only SLI PC and I love it to bits.

[perkam]

Is it possible for you to remove the raid setup temporarily to test the HD with the Windows install by itself?

If you can, you'll know if its the HDD or not.

However, I would google some W7 tweaks to turn off unnecessary start up and background programs as what you are describing can happen for a number of reasons.

Oh, and btw, lose those 7900GTs and grab a HD 5700/5800 or something, we're in 2010 now

Perkam