I built my own machine a few months ago. At first, I was happy with the performance, relative to what I was used to, but the more I use it, the more I feel it isn't living up to its potential.

Specs:
Intel Core 2 Duo CPU E8400 (x2)
6GB 1333 RAM (System Properties shows 2.99)
Windows XP Professional, SP3

Do I need to do anything to capitalize on dual processors? Is there a way of gauging how fast my system really is? Why is Adobe Premiere CS4 so bloody slow (Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT)?  Am I wrong to think that this hardware should have me zipping along without feeling like I'm waiting for the computer to think about it?

Thanks!

Hi kMOW,
As far as I know, and I stand to be corrected here by the more technical folk on this forum, but my understanding is that XP cannot use more than about 3 1/2 GB of RAM. I recently ran into a problem when I got a new machine with Vista. I didn't know that my Vista was the 64 bit version and it caused an install problem with a couple of programs. While investigating the problem I came across several posts on Vista forums that referred to RAM limitations. Any 32 bit system, XP and Vista, is unable to use more than about that 3 1/2 GB limit. Only a 64 bit OS can use more.

With the limit, it's possible you are short on RAM, and this is slowing you down. So try to slim down the running processes and try out a RAM defragger/recovery program such as the one from http://www.abexo.com.
Cheers,
Dickiesam

Windows XP  will not give you anymore than 2Gigs Ram Maximum! I know this because I use Inventor 3D modelling software. Fortunately IT's at Autodesk has come up with whats called a "3Gig Switch & this will enable you to force windows to give you 3Gigs. To do this you have to modify the "Boot.ini" file with a line of code which forces the 3Gig switch. Ofcourse I'm talking about Win XP Pro 32 bit systems. Wins Vista allows you to stick in a USB memory chip to use as ram but I've not tried that yet. I do wonder if there is a way to configure the Dual Core to work more efficienlty with programs like Photoshop CSV!
Paul