Slow computation with Lenovo Z61p

[a_yalci]

Hello all,

I am using a Lenovo Z61p for my engineering calculations when I am away from the office. It has Intel core duo processors (2 x 2.33 GHz) and 2 GB of RAM. I did some benchmarking with my friends' laptops and PCs with similar properties when I've suspected its computation performance. It runs a MATLAB code at about 320 seconds where another laptop, with a processor of 2.26 GHz (Intel) and 1 GB of RAM, runs the same code at 210 seconds. I've checked all the performance parameters that I know but nothing changed. I will appreciate recommendations and shared experiences. Thank you.

Alpin Yalçı

[GomJabbar]

Check in Power Manager (click on the battery icon in the notificaion area) that the power scheme you are using has the CPU speed set to Maximum for whatever form of power you are using (i.e. AC power or battery power).

[jkahng]

in addition to the cpu settings, you should make sure that your drive has enough space and is defraged. this makes a big difference on performance.
hope this helps
John

[a_yalci]

Hi again,

Thanks alot. But, unfortunately, switching to maximum power setting didn't solve the problem. It still runs slow. Also, my harddrive has enough space and is defraged.

[GomJabbar]

Try the following hotfix from Microsoft:
Computers that are running Windows XP Service Pack 2 and that are equipped with multiple processors that support processor power management features may experience decreased performance

In the following thread, other users report success with the above hotfix:
http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=37877

[chaukap]

If you are using MATLAB, why dont you try the inbuilt benchmark code. Its called 'bench', you will find more about it from MATLAB help. Run it on both machines as from command line for multiple loops

Is the code you are running for comparison any way graphics intensive, in that case the GPU might slow you down too. I am also assuming the number of background program running on your and your friends laptop are the same.

[a_yalci]

Hello all again,

Thank you so much for the recommendations. But, again, nothing changed... I installed the hotfix (thank you GomJabbar). The computation time is the same. Also, I ran the bench code (thank you chaukap). It says my computer has the best computation performance against the others in MATLAB's memory (I will run it on my friend's PCs next monday). For now, I don't have any idea about the programmes running at the background if they are useful or not. I am still trying to overcome the problem...