2GB of RAM running at 800Mhz (Corsair TWINX 2048MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz E.P.P.)
2x 250GB SATA HDs * see below(partitioned into the following config - HD1: <<C:\ @ 30GB>>, <<X:\ @50 GB>>, <<D:\ @75GB>>, <<Y:\ @ ~84GB>> HD2: <<F:\ @ 75 GB>>, <<G:\ @75 GB>>, <<Z:\ @ ~82GB>>, <<Q:\ @ 6 GB (runs antivirus, spyware, firewall, etc.)>>. Half of them are simple, half are dynamic. I also have a 300GB Maxtor OneTouch II USB External HD. Capacity (GB): 250
*V
Interface: Serial ATA-300
Spindle Speed (RPM): 7200
Buffer Memory: 8MB
Average Seek (msec): <8.9
Average Latency (msec): 4.2
Track-to-Track Seek Time (typical read, ms): 2.0
Full Stroke Seek Time (normal seek): 21.0
Data Transfer Rate on Serial ATA: Up to 3000 Mb/sec
Bytes Per Sector: 512
Video card is Radeon X1650 512MB with resolution 1280x1024x75Hz @ 32 bits (what is up with the secondary thing with this? Im pretty sure its for a second monitor, but should I disable it, I only have one monitor.)
plus a Cooler Master AQUAGATE Mini R80 Intel/AMD CPU Fan, Cooler Master Blue Ice Pro North-Chipset Cooler , a front panel blower, a 650-watt power supply with two intake fans in it, and three 80mm case fans blowing in.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
So that is whats in my house right now. I got on it Win XP Pro SP2, and the mobo came with an integrated Intel(R) 82566DC-2 Gigabit Network Connection LAN Ethernet port.
So now, here's my problems:
1) The USB ports are very convoluted and most of my USB components, though on a USB 2.0 port, make windows show a pop-up saying that "this device could work faster if you connected it o a USB 2.0 blah blah". I have made sure that all of my USB ports are 2.0, and I have a few internal ones, 4 ports in the rear, and two in the front. Whats up with that?
2) I know its not the most impressive rig ever, but it should not be so weak. I am currently into Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance, and while I might expect that I can't run it at the highest settings and have perfect performance, I am running it at the lowest video settings, and I can still see the frames changing. Its a game optimized for multi-core CPUs, so whats up with that?
3) I have Verizon Fios, at a 5Mbps down/5Mbps up connection. I have a wireless Netgear router ...... lemme check its stats....Netgear 108Mbps, 2.4Ghz 802.11 G, WGT624 v3. Im at a desktop, and as crazy as it sounds, the signal strength fluctuates between Excellent 54Mbps and no signal whatsoever. And when I do get a signal, like I currently have, I run speed tests and they come back with a dl speed of ~510Kbps, and an up speed of ~1400Kbps. I have ran the Verizon "Internet optimizer" thing, which didn't work, I worked around with the MTU settings, and everything, and I can't understand why I have such congestion (Verizon provides a test analysis for checking your connection, and it said that there was congestion on the connection.) Oh, and I did this test with a Hard line, the speed is the same either with wireless or wired.
One of their test analyses I ran a few times and this is what I got (the second time I set up RIP)
Test Analysis Information
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
Requesting send buffer size be set to [65535]
SendBufferSize set to [65535]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 948.58Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 491.33kb/s
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [71.187.10.232] but Client says [192.168.1.2]
Test Analysis Information
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
Requesting send buffer size be set to [65535]
SendBufferSize set to [65535]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 996.14Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 471.95kb/s
------ Client System Details ------
OS data: Name = Windows XP, Architecture = x86, Version = 5.1
Java data: Vendor = Sun Microsystems Inc., Version = 1.6.0_03
------ Web100 Detailed Analysis ------
Client Receive Window detected at 33888 bytes.
10 Mbps Ethernet link found.
Link set to Full Duplex mode
No network congestion discovered.
Good network cable(s) found
Normal duplex operation found.
Web100 reports the Round trip time = 347.48 msec; the Packet size = 1412 Bytes; and
There were 1 packets retransmitted, 21 duplicate acks received, and 0 SACK blocks received
The connection was idle 0 seconds (0%) of the time
This connection is receiver limited 2.94% of the time.
Increasing the the client's receive buffer (33.0 KB) will improve performance
This connection is sender limited 68.87% of the time.
This connection is network limited 28.18% of the time.
Web100 reports TCP negotiated the optional Performance Settings to:
RFC 2018 Selective Acknowledgment: OFF
RFC 896 Nagle Algorithm: ON
RFC 3168 Explicit Congestion Notification: OFF
RFC 1323 Time Stamping: OFF
RFC 1323 Window Scaling: OFF
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [71.172.79.223] but Client says [192.168.1.2]
Test Analysis Information
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
Requesting send buffer size be set to [65535]
SendBufferSize set to [65535]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 904.39Kb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 498.35kb/s
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [71.172.65.165] but Client says [192.168.1.2]
Test Analysis Information
Checking for Middleboxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Done
Requesting send buffer size be set to [130680]
SendBufferSize set to [130680]
running 10s outbound test (client to server) . . . . . 1.37Mb/s
running 10s inbound test (server to client) . . . . . . 497.42kb/s
Information: Network Middlebox is modifying MSS variable
Server IP addresses are preserved End-to-End
Information: Network Address Translation (NAT) box is modifying the Client's IP address
Server says [71.172.82.122] but Client says [192.168.1.2]
4) What peice of hardware is causing a limitation in my overall performance? or at least, how can I figure that out?
1) The USB ports are very convoluted and most of my USB components, though on a USB 2.0 port, make windows show a pop-up saying that "this device could work faster if you connected it o a USB 2.0 blah blah". I have made sure that all of my USB ports are 2.0, and I have a few internal ones, 4 ports in the rear, and two in the front. Whats up with that?
This is odd, are you using SP2 and not SP1? Reason I ask is that Sp1 only has USB1 drivers where as installing SP2 should also install USB2 drivers... have you check in Device Manager under USB controller, think this is at the bottom of the list? Might be a good idea to check the USB drivers by clicking on the little + in the tiny boxes there.
I wouldn't worry too much about the Internet connection until you got the machine running reasonably well.
Best bet is to clear all the cookies and trash out in Internet Explorer Tools or in Internet Options, do a defrag of the hard drive then a scan for virus and a spyware scan.. but non of these should give the USB oddity, have you tried disconnecting them and maybe just trying one at a time?
Certain MS updates could cause havoc like this, the problem you experience sometimes build up slowly that you don't notice or they happen all at once, this may help throw some light.
Performance issues ticking me off 
Linear Mode
