i3-2350M feels so slow compared to i5-2410M

I had a look and their specs are exactly the same (but the i5 has turbo boost to 2.9GHz) but the i3 just feels so sluggish, and every so often Firefox/other apps will just hang, and it will take a few seconds to load up task manager/switch to another app

I have Windows 7 x64 with 4GB RAM (upgraded to 8GB today) and an SSD. I have the paging file disabled too (it only hit 4GB when playing games sometimes)

I had the exact same setup before, but a 7200RPM HDD instead of an SSD (this was the i5 system) and it never seemed this sluggish at all. Would an extra 600MHz on each core make that much of a difference? It seriously feels like I'm using a Celeron sometimes...

Sometimes it will hang, and when I check task manager it's using 2-3% CPU and 1-2 of the cores aren't being used but it's still sluggish

I reinstalled Windows 7 as soon as I got it, and the only thing running in the background is MSE antivirus.

I need to do a Memtest later on, but is there any other reason why it would be hanging like this? Does the i3 just suck?

Edit: I have high performance enabled

 

I agree that TB makes a big difference in 'feel' - contrary to what others here think. The i3 is a dog.


But, let's check everything else out:

You haven't done any SSD optimizations, have you? What SSD are you using? How full is it? What are your usage scenarios (and % in each...)?

Are the proper drivers installed? Do you have Intel RST 11.6 running?

4GB RAM is 1990's - you NEED 8GB RAM or more on a modern system to let it fly.

An upgrade (clean install, of course) to Win8 is highly recommended, btw.

 

Nope it's not a processor story. Problem is somewhere else. I tried a B960 and a core i7 2720qm in the same lap and i couldn't feel the difference in everyday use.

Probably a ssd or ram issue.

 

Nope, didn't know there was SSD optimisation. I have a Verbatim SSD, and the speeds seem to be good enough. 64GB with about 30GB free at the moment (was <5GB yesterday though but I have moved some things over to my external HDD)

> Disk Sequential 64.0 Read 238.95 MB/s 7.5
> Disk Random 16.0 Read 91.08 MB/s 7.1
> Responsiveness: Average IO Rate 0.75 ms/IO 7.9
> Responsiveness: Grouped IOs 8.26 units 7.5
> Responsiveness: Long IOs 1.76 units 7.9
> Responsiveness: Overall 14.51 units 7.9
> Responsiveness: PenaltyFactor 0.0
> Disk Sequential 64.0 Write 200.81 MB/s 7.3
> Average Read Time with Sequential Writes 0.255 ms 7.9
> Latency: 95th Percentile 0.385 ms 7.9
> Latency: Maximum 7.901 ms 7.9
> Average Read Time with Random Writes 0.234 ms 7.9
> Total Run Time 00:01:04.65

I didn't get any drivers, except AMD drivers for the GFX card. Don't have Intel RST either, and I have just installed an extra 4GB so I have 8GB now (will run Memtest later)

I could try an upgrade to Windows 8 - is it still £15?

One other thing to mention, it seems to hang a lot when doing something like unraring files, but when I check the task manager it's only using 3-4% CPU - I was unraring from the SSD to the SSD. It's DDR PC12800 RAM as well, so I can't see why Firefox wouldn't load almost instantly (earlier, it took about 10 seconds just to load the ctrl+alt+del screen (I've never seen Windows 7 say, "loading security options" for a few seconds before loading the screen)

Thanks for the help

 

See:
Windows 8 $15 Upgrade Offer: FAQs for Recent PC Buyers | PCWorld


You should still be eligible for the $15 upgrade.

The 'hanging' that you mention is almost certainly a driver issue - you need to install chipset, AHCI and sound/video/mouse drivers as a minimum.

The Verbatim SSD you have seems to be based on a SandForce controller: seems like Dura Write is kicking in... Especially on the small capacity you have.

You can try to use this unpark core utility and see if the system responds any better:

See:
Coder Bag: Disable CPU Core Parking Utility


The above utility made a big difference in almost all the machines I've tried it on (re: responsiveness).

 

This is the problem...

 

I'm thinking it's the SSD, too. Perhaps you can post a CrystalDiskInfo screenshot?

 

Hi, tried this. It was set to park, so unparked all 3 (from Google looks like there's 3, meaning 1 core on all 3 battery mode settings?) and restarted

Just after that, I was extracting a RAR file (USB connected external 5400RPM extracting to the same drive) and it hung again. I opened task manager, 10-15 seconds later it opened, but was blank, then 5 seconds later it showed the figures on there - again, only using very little CPU and RAM

Hi, what I meant is my old laptop (i5) had a 7200 RPM drive, my new one has an SSD

Not sure if you wanted anything else?

Thanks

 

Sounds to me like an SSD flailing it's arms uncontrollably - in other words: Dura Write 'technology' has determined that too much was written too quickly and it will throttle all future storage subsystem requests.

Either: do a Secure Erase (not always a guarantee that performance will return) or get another (larger capacity) SSD and leave as much space as you can 'unallocated' to prevent this very issue.

 

Doesn't look like it's a SandForce drive. From what I can tell from Google search, that's a SATA2 model with Phison controller which I'm not at all familiar with. I guess given the OP's experience, it's one controller to steer clear of.

 

The SSD could be near full capacity too which wouldn't help.

 

OP said 30GB free currently (was 5GB free yesterday). Found an SSD with a similar controller and from the CrystalDiskMark screenshots, it looks like it's just not a good SSD.
MyDigitalSSD mSATA, Half Slim, and 2.5 Inch SATA SSD Firmware Update | My Digital Discount (Page 2)

@LooieENG
Just put the HDD back in your laptop. Looks like the SSD you have doesn't do any better (and from your experiences, seems like it performs a lot worse).

 

I guess.. I got it from PCWorld and it was like £30 so I thought may as well

The thing is it's great when booting up/shutting down and moving/copying files on the same drive is almost instant. What would be causing it to just hang (which aspect of the drive)?

Any way to find out if my mobo supports SATA-III before I purchase another (would you all recommend something from the Samsung range, or Crucial)?

Thanks

Edit: how about this?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-128...4?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1353674814&sr=1-274

 

To understand why it hangs:

See:
AnandTech - The Intel SSD DC S3700 (200GB) Review


I've been saying for years that SSD's are MORE inconsistent storage subsystems in my use (performance-wise) and the link above explains it better and with more authority than I could muster since 2009.

Going forward this will be the 'go-to' metric, imo... not benchmarks, not maximums, not up-to's... no: the only metric that matters: performance over time (no matter how the drive is used).

 

just dont upgrade to windows 8. it will be useless. update drivers as mentioned before like IRS and chipset.
just curious. could you pot a screenshot of cpuz memory screenshot.

 

I don't recommend that one. I'd go with an OCZ Agility 3 (SandForce with async ONFi NAND) before I'd go with that.For SanDisk, you want to get the SanDisk Extreme (SandForce with Toggle NAND). It doesn't matter if your mobo supports SATA3 or not. SATA3 SSDs are backwards compatible with SATA2 anyway. Since you have a Sandy Bridge CPU, though, it's highly likely that it does have a SATA3 port.

I'd look for one of the following in your price range:
Plextor M3/M3P/M5S/M5P
Samsung 830
Crucial m4
SanDisk Extreme
Intel 330/335/520

If those are too expensive, then you could go with cheaper SandForce drives. Sync NAND is preferred over async.
Sync: OCZ Vertex 3, Corsair Force GT, Mushkin Chronos MX, etc
Async: OCZ Agility 3, Corsair Force 3, Mushkin Chronos, etc

 

sure

Thanks, was just wondering about the SATA type to see if it's worth paying more for SATA III

Is the Crucial v4 much worse than the M4?

Thanks

 

If you want to find the reason of you sluggish computer download DPC Latency checker. If you see there big yellow or red spikes when you do nothing then it is problem with older drivers like for the Wi-Fi or else. If you don't see spikes and after 5 minutes of monitoring there will be nothing then your problem is in hardware.

Not that it is the reason of your problems but your I3 downclocks your RAM to 1333 Mhz instead of 1600Mhz. So as we can see the difference between I5 and I3 is bigger than just TurboBoost. However TurboBoost is the most important reason.

About your RAM. I bet that Memtest will not find any problems with your RAM. So if you don't want to spoil your time on it then don't. Samsung RAM is THE BEST SO-Dimm RAM you can find, trust me. This is one of the reason. Second reason is that it is working on slower speed than it should so even bigger chance that it can handle its work.

You always should buy SATAIII SSDs even if you have SATA 2 port. They are better and that's it. M4 or Samsung 830. I do NOT suggest you to buy Samsung 840 with triple level chips. They are not that reliable.

Again it must be a driver problem or a virus etc. As I said try to reinstall OS (its free, just takes your time), do not install bloatware. After First boot install chipset diver, reboot, IRST drivers, reboot, video drivers.

 

Nope. Dual-core Sandy Bridge only supports DDR3 1333 stock. Ivy Bridge is the one that adds support for DDR3 1600. For example, the i3-3110M supports DDR3 1600 but the i5-2450M only supports DDR3-1333. You'd have to go up to the quad-core i7 Sandy to get DDR3-1600 support.

 

The Crucial v4 uses a Phison controller. You're already having issues with your current SSD. You sure you want to try your luck with another Phison?

 

Well thanks for teaching me bro How did you find that? Maybe through official Intel site? LOL

It is giving wrong information. Not sure about that exact Sandy Bridge I5 but as I know I5 do support 1600 RAM at full speed. And I7 higher than 26X0qm processors support up to 2133MHZ RAM.

 

I have no idea what the controllers do and what the difference is but I guess not

I'll look at the 830 or M4 then

However...

Yeah, I came to that conclusion in another thread (i3 only supports 1333MHz but the laptop came with 1600MHz for some reason)

Anyway, I have reformatted, reinstalled Windows and only installed 2 drivers (Radeon and Wi-Fi) but this time I did it by extracting them and letting Windows "find" them, as opposed to actually installing them with the set up

I enabled Windows update this time too (usually I disable it straight away as it's already used 20GB up...)

I'll see how I get on

Thanks for the help everyone

 

I have an i5-2450M and it downclocks DDR3-1600 RAM to 1333MHz by default. There might be an option to change the memory multiplier to support 1600MHz in the BIOS but stock, i5 Sandy Bridge only supports up to 1333 MHz without tweaking.

 

it is possible that thin portable laptops have such a bios. or that low end i5 sandies really work at 1333.

But I know that some I5 sandies work at 1600.
Also some people told me the same about 920XM. While on some systems it works on 1333 only... :sad.