What can make a 2.4GHz run like a 486?

The answer would be XP SP2!
Seriously, I just got a new cheapo hp computer from wal-mart, right? And even though I've used every trick I know of (turn off all effects, use the 'classic' windows style instead of the playskool style) the version of XP home runs like shit on it.

A great example of this is when shutting down GTA 3, the computer routinely slows to a crawl, and whatever windows I have open are painfully, slowly re-drawn.

It will take in the neighborhoood of fifteen to twenty seconds for everything to re-draw itself.

I've tried replacing the video card (with an nvidia one), installing windows 2000 isn't an option...so has anyone else had to deal with speed issues on windows? Any suggestions ("omfgbbq run linux!!!1one" isn't on the table, neither is *BSD) on what I can do to make my 2.9GHz respond like a machine which is >99mhz?

what cracks me up is how most gamer retards only focus on clock speeds

dude its 5ghz! so what.

what matters more is how much is processed per cycle, not how fast the cycles are only

this shows itself when architectures differ, its fine to compare absolute cycle speeds when you are comparing the same types of architectures but otherwise its simplistic foolery