Increasingly Sluggish HTPC Performance - Options Needed (1 Viewer)

[vppkj1]

I have a Windows 7 MCE 32 bit HTPC that I built in 2008. It has performed solidly. However, in the last few months, it has become very sluggish in its UI and switching between MCE and a Browser. Playback is still great - but navigating is painful.

If I restart the HTPC, it fixes the problem. But after a week, the performance degrades again. Like some other program is hanging things up - even though I can't see any processes are doing it (memory usage and CPU is fine)


I am primarily an Over The Air (HD Homerun) TV and Netflix user.


I am considering options and I would like your input


1) Reinstall/rebuild with Windows 7 MCE 32 bit - basically wipe and reinstall OS and programs. Might clear away junk accumulated since 2008


2) Rebuild with Windows 8 64 bit + MCE option


3) Wait for Windows 10


4) Rebuild with a new program - e.g. XBMC. I am a little leery of this. I have use XMBC but its DVR and OTA seems does not seem as solid as MCE


5) Other options? New machine?


My current config is

Windows 7 Enterprise MCE

AMD Athlon 2.8 Ghz

2 GB of RAM

4 drives - c: Boot and Recorded TV, D: Movies: E: Pictures and Music

2x HDHomeRun Receivers

Optical out to Yamaha RX-V800

Philips 37" display via DVI

 

[Rick Shepherd]

Your main issue would appear to be hardware related. That processor and amount of RAM are likely to be holding things up.

Buy or build a new HTPC. There's nothing wrong with your OS.

 

[DaiTengu]

I disagree. I find that wiping/reinstalling can breathe some new life into an old computer. I'm running Windows 8.1 on my HTPC and it's pretty darn fast.



I switch back and forth between XBMC (Now called Kodi) and WMC. WMC is used strictly for watching TV. XBMC (Kodi) is used for playing video/movies/etc. I don't have any PVR capabilities set up with it. I use the native Windows 8 apps for watching Netflix, EPIX, etc, or PlayOn via XBMC

 

[Mike Veroukis]

It's really hard to say, but what you describe tells me that your hardware is probably fine but there's something messed up with the OS. You say cpu and memory are fine, but what does that mean? And how did you check? How much free space is on the drive? I have experienced degraded performance when any drive on the system approaches full capacity. Try to free up as much space as possible, purge temp files, etc.

You say restarting the OS fixes things. What about restart all the apps only. And do you use that PC for other tasks? Also, is the PC exposed to the internet - ie, any open ports that could be accessed from outside your network?

You can try re-installing but if the problem is within the latest driver for one of your devices, then the problem will come back once you run all your updates. If that's the case it'll be hard to diagnose.

One potential fix might be to have your PC schedule reboots, say, reboot every Sunday at 4am.

 

[mattCR]

Use a boot drive of a small SSD. Up ram to 4GB. It'll feel like a new machine, and you'll have spent less than $100

 

[vppkj1]

I ended up rebuilding the OS on a separate, new Hard drive. DVR running on a secondary drive. No SSD,but it did the trick. All running smooth now.