New computer keeps experiencing lag

Question

I have a brand new machine (I7-2600k) with 8GB RAM. However, I find the computer very sluggish in general.

I believe the issue to be with the hard drive – is there any software I can download that will tell me how close to the maximum read/write speed I am for my hard drive?

Answer 1

Resource Monitor is a very helpful tool already built into the OS and can display HD read/write info. Run it by typing 'Resource Monitor' from the start menu search (you will need admin rights)

Answer 2

Bart's stuff test should be able to tell you.

How big/What type of hard drive do you have?

Answer 3

You can try Crystal Benchmark, to test your hard drive's speed.

Answer 4

you might give spinrite a try

I thought newer drives didn't need SpinRite?

Not at all. We sell many copies of SpinRite every single day to the many people who are having serious trouble with their modern drives. SpinRite is every bit as necessary today as it ever was — maybe even more so since people store so much valuable personal "media" data on today's massive drives.

The problem is economics: Drive manufacturers only make hard drives that are "reliable enough" to work "most of the time". It's just like with Microsoft and Windows. Windows is good enough that we put up with the annoyances when it breaks. SpinRite is here to be your tool to pull today's modern drives back from the brink when they are beginning to misbehave.