why does my computer still feel "sluggish"

[alphaace]

Ever since I upgraded from PCLOS 2009 to 2010 my computer has felt sluggish. At first, I thought it was the amount of RAM (512MB) so I upgraded that and now have 2GB worth. This has helped a bit but there is still a delay when I click things. It's not brutal but it's not exactly smooth either, just enough to get me irritated. I tried some other desktops such as E17 and LXDE and it's the same problem. Right now I'm using KDE. 

Here's a cutout of the hardinfo results (with confidential stuff replaced with *********). Any help would be greatly appreciated!


Computer

Summary
Computer
Processor   Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.26GHz
Memory   2073MB (765MB used)
Operating System   PCLinuxOS
User Name   **************
Date/Time   Fri 10 Dec 2010 08:28:17 PM EST
Display
Resolution   1920x1200 pixels
OpenGL Renderer   GeForce 6200/AGP/SSE2
X11 Vendor   The X.Org Foundation
Multimedia
Audio Adapter   EMU10K1 - SB Live! Value [CT4780]
Audio Adapter   USB-Audio - USB Device 0x46d
Input Devices
AT Translated Set 2 keyboard   
USB Optical Mouse   
Sleep Button   
Power Button   
Logitech Logitech Cordless RumblePad 2   
PWC snapshot button   
Printers (CUPS)
HPDesJet720C   
HPPhotos4200   Default
SCSI Disks
TOSHIBA DVD-ROM SD-M1502   
SONY DVD RW DRU-530A   
ATA WDC WD800JB-00ET   
ATA WDC WD1600JB-00G   
HP Photosmart C4280   
Operating System
Version
Kernel   Linux 2.6.32.12-pclos1.bfs (i686)
Compiled   #1 SMP PREEMPT Sat May 1 08:22:13 CDT 2010
C Library   GNU C Library version 2.10.1 (stable)
Default C Compiler   GNU C Compiler version 4.4.1 (GCC)
Distribution   PCLinuxOS

[mikkl]

My first reaction is video card related.  I have this same card on a slower AMD system and the performance was OK, though not stellar.

Are you using the nvidia driver?  The xorg nvidia driver is sluggish on that card.

Do you have desktop effects enabled?  How does it feel with the effects turned off?

If you have effects enabled, do you have blur enabled?  Is it better with the desktop effects disabled?

If you read /var/log/Xorg.0.log do you see any errors?

Are there bios settings associated with the video card that you could adjust?

mikkl

[alphaace]

I have the Nvidia X server settings program installed and it says NVIDIA driver Version 256.53. I think that's the correct one.

I have desktop effects disabled (although in 2009 I had then enabled and it worked fine).

Looking at Xorg.0.log the only error I get is that it couldn't find some Freetype fonts 'iso8859-14', but I don't think that wold cause the slowdown I'm seeing.

Do you have any recommendations for a video card that would work better? It has to be AGP due to my old mobo.

I just remember that in 2009 my machine was flying and now it's kind of limping along which is upsetting....

What is odd is that it is just as slow on the LXDE setting or E17...Particulary when opening a window or switching to it...

[alphaace]

anyone? Anyone have an idea of a video card I can use to help speed things up?

[T6]

i'm not sure if that is the right driver for that video card

are you using compiz or kde desktop effects?

i have fund that sometimes oxygen theme is harmful for speed, on other situations is qtcurve

certain effects will consume lots of resources at the resolution you are running kde4, it is very high, 1080p for that video card could be too much

have you tested a more recent kernel?  you are using the oldest available for pclinux

[alphaace]

Hi,

I'm using the latest nvidia driver available in the repos (the one for Geforece 6 and later). Is there another way to upgrade? I can download the driver directly from nvidia and compile if you think that will work better?

I'm not using compiz or kde desktop effects.

I tried both the oxygen theme and qtcurve with no difference.

How would I upgrade the kernel? According to synaptic package manager I'm fully updated....

[T6]

"I'm using the latest nvidia driver available in the repos (the one for Geforece 6 and later). Is there another way to upgrade?"

i'm not sure that the latest driver is the right one for this older video card, i hope i'm wrong but you could need a older version

when you download a driver from nvidia it is not necessary to compile it but it can give you problems that this version of driver doesn't have

"How would I upgrade the kernel? According to synaptic package manager I'm fully updated...."

the kernel is not updated by synaptic, you have to search the newest one in synaptic and install it

sometimes a new kernel is harmful for some people so this is a security measure

all you have to do is open synaptic and press search button, write kernel and press enter, the list of results will have many, scroll down to see kernel 2.6.33.7, your cpu should work well with bfs or normal kernel

this won't remove the older kernel but will add a new option to your boot menu, the new kernel will be listed, select it and let it load for the first time, it can take up to 5 minutes, but only the first time

compare results with older and newer kernel to see if does something for you

do you have to run at this very high resolutions?

sometimes is helpful to use compiz on this situation, it forces the video card to work more and leaves cpu with less load

[Was_Just19]

Have a look at the CPU and how it is running ......  is it going at full speed?

Command

cat /proc/cpuinfo

If it has hyperthreading available turn that on to see if there is any difference in 'feel' ....

Also run in a teminal, the command

top

and see what if anything is using most of the resources of the PC.

[alphaace]

yah, it is running in full speed when i switch applications (minimize, maximize, alt-tab..etc). However, when i just have them open its at about 20%...

The thing is, before with pclos 2009 that was not the case...perhaps the new kernel would fix it? And if so, shouldn't synaptic automatically update my kernel?

[Was_Just19]

yah, it is running in full speed when i switch applications (minimize, maximize, alt-tab..etc). However, when i just have them open its at about 20%...

The thing is, before with pclos 2009 that was not the case...perhaps the new kernel would fix it? And if so, shouldn't synaptic automatically update my kernel?

If you are speaking about the CPU running at slower speed when it is not required then that is a desirable situation for most.

[CaptainSarcastic]

do you have to run at this very high resolutions?

That was the first thing I thought, too.

A GeForce 6200 is pretty much the lowest end of that series of cards, but I believe the driver you are running is appropriate for it.  Most of the 6200 cards used what Nvidia called "turbo cache," which is basically their way of saying that the card co-opts some of the system memory for its own use.  A good portion of the 6200 cards I've run across will only have 256MB of onboard memory, for instance, but take another 256MB from system RAM and report as 512MB cards to the OS.  Not sure if this could be a factor in what you describe.

A Pentium 4 clocked at 2.26ghz is not a terribly powerful CPU, and most likely isn't a hyperthreader.  Aside from running at a lower resolution, I'd also suggest minimizing the number of processes running at any given time.  Only run the applications you want, and don't have a number of things running in the background.

When you tried the other desktops did you install them to your base KDE installation, or did you try running them as standalone installs?  If you can, I'd suggest trying the other desktops as full installs, or at least running them from live media, rather than testing them as secondary desktop environments on a KDE install.  You might see a significant difference running a fresh Gnome, XFCE, or LXDE install versus running those environments on a full KDE install.

[Dragynn]

I run a Geforce 6200, the only difference is that mine's Pcie instead of agp, and the latest drivers run fine, i'm still using the 256 driver, but I noticed Tex just updated to the 260 series, I used it for a while on another distro and it works for the 6200 card as well. I believe anything from the 6100 series up works with the latest drivers.

+1 to T6's suggestions about updating the kernel.

Looks like you're using a lot of ram, mine idles on about 145 mb when I first turn it on before it starts caching and buffering.

[Dragynn]

do you have to run at this very high resolutions?

That was the first thing I thought, too.

A GeForce 6200 is pretty much the lowest end of that series of cards, but I believe the driver you are running is appropriate for it.  Most of the 6200 cards used what Nvidia called "turbo cache," which is basically their way of saying that the card co-opts some of the system memory for its own use.  A good portion of the 6200 cards I've run across will only have 256MB of onboard memory, for instance, but take another 256MB from system RAM and report as 512MB cards to the OS.  Not sure if this could be a factor in what you describe.

+1 Captain, mine is a turbo-cache model. Some of them actually have as low as 16 mb of onboard memory, and make up the rest from system ram. I thought I remember mine as having only 32 mb onboard and supporting 128 total, but various programs always report that I have 256 mb..gave up trying to figure it out , it's a great little card though, only paid about 40.00 bucks for it back in 2005 or so, still running great with stock heatsink and no fan.

Here is more data on the 6200's and others:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_6_Series

[alphaace]

So after your recommendations, I tried using some of the other desktops that I left a while back. Specifically, I found that E17 works quite well! The slowdowns are barely noticeable and it's quite smooth.

If only I could get a pc status monitor on there that would be great but it looks like that there is no gadget like that is built in. Oh well, can't win them all.

[T6]

there is so many system monitors, if you could be more specific on what you need we could help you