2 xp2500s, Please help me figure this out

I have two XP2500+ machines I built, one for me and one for my son. His is
faster, and I'd like some help identifying the variables that are causing
this. His is snappier on startup, loading/unloading programs, browsing, and
especially getting in and out of games. For example, completely exiting
BF1942 on my machine takes about 30 seconds, while on his it's almost
immediate. The specs a

Mine:
XP2500+ mobile, barely oc'ed to 1.92ghz
Abit NF7 mobo (nforce2)
512mb pc3500 RAM
Radeon 9800 Pro
Creative Labs SB 5.1 gamer
40gb 7200rpm Seagate HD
Windows XP Pro

His:
XP2500+, stock speed
Biostar M7NCD mobo (nforce2)
512mb pc2700 RAM
Radeon 9800SE (soft-modded to Pro, still benchmarks a little lower than my
Pro)
Onboard sound
80gb 7200rpm WD
Windows XP Home

Obviously, if anything mine specs out just a little higher. Prior to
upgrading our hardware his was faster, too, so I'm wondering if the
difference is Windows XP Pro vs Home. We're carrying similar software,
similar processes running in the background, the same page-file settings,
same user accounts, etc.
What might be going on? I'd love to have his speed getting in and out of
games. I have to take a coffee break when I exit Far Cry. He just hits the
next game icon and away goes. Maybe I'll just take his machine!!

Input appreciated.

jakesnake

"jakesnake66" wrote in message
...
I have two XP2500+ machines I built, one for me and one for my son. His
is
faster, and I'd like some help identifying the variables that are causing
this. His is snappier on startup, loading/unloading programs, browsing,
and
especially getting in and out of games. For example, completely exiting
BF1942 on my machine takes about 30 seconds, while on his it's almost
immediate.

There's a number of things that might be factors.....XP Pro loads more
services on startup, and although you don't state it in the specs, his 80gig
HDD may have an 8Mb cache while yours likely has a 2 Mb cache. Those won't
affect startup times, but definitely will show up a "snappier" response
times when opening programs. Excessive fragmentation has an impact on these
things too. The BF1942 exit time is baffling. Disabling the services not
needed makes a big difference on boot speeds.

On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 22:35:24 +0000, jakesnake66 wrote:

I have two XP2500+ machines I built, one for me and one for my son. His is
faster, and I'd like some help identifying the variables that are causing
this. His is snappier on startup, loading/unloading programs, browsing, and
especially getting in and out of games. For example, completely exiting
BF1942 on my machine takes about 30 seconds, while on his it's almost
immediate. The specs a
[snip]

the difference is WinXp Pro versus Home, IMHO. WinXP Home usually starts
up quicker. Try disabling unused services in WinXP Pro. You can do a
search about this.

Larry

Larry Gagnon wrote:
On Sun, 01 Aug 2004 22:35:24 +0000, jakesnake66 wrote:

I have two XP2500+ machines I built, one for me and one for my son.
His is faster, and I'd like some help identifying the variables that
are causing this. His is snappier on startup, loading/unloading
programs, browsing, and especially getting in and out of games. For
example, completely exiting BF1942 on my machine takes about 30
seconds, while on his it's almost immediate. The specs a
[snip]

the difference is WinXp Pro versus Home, IMHO. WinXP Home usually
starts up quicker. Try disabling unused services in WinXP Pro. You
can do a search about this.


I agree with Larry, have a look through this;
http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm
and disable / set to manual start the services that aren't required, you'll
be surprised by the amount of services that get loaded automatically.

If you need reassurance about disabling certain services just post back, we
may need more info about what you do though, so it may be a good idea to
list what you use your pooter for.

I'm sure you could get your XP pro machine outperforming the Home machine
;-)

As always, create a working backup before messing with your system at this
level, I have followed the guide and had zero problems. But there are one
or two services (with big warnings in the guide) that will render your
system unaccessable / dead.

--
Apollo