Identical Machines, VASTLY different performance

[Basilikos]

My secondary machines are all built to the exact same specifications with the same parts, same BIOS settings, and the same software installed. There is literally no variance across these systems. My number two (three, really, but the second of the secondaries) machine gets HORRIBLE HDD performance. In the game, one everything is loaded (as much as any loading can truly be completed in WoW), the performance is the EXACT same again (with the exception of anything that involves rapidly switching continents, instancing, etc. which rules out everything but the HDD (unless I've missed something). The problem only occurs when any MASSIVE loading has to occur.

Since I'm software by profession, I don't always get to deal with as much hardware as I'd like. Has anyone else seen this sort of thing happen? If so, was there a resolution?

Thanks.

[Basilikos]

It is possible the HDD in that machine is bad / has bad sectors, causing it to be over-read.

Well, I'm not totally sure. I just got done swapping the disk with one in a good machine - the loading didn't seem to differ from one to the other. This particular machine has been experiencing quite a few more Error #132 crashes than the others, so I've pulled all the machines apart in order to re-apply proper thermal gel to the various chips (these are the ONLY machines I didn't do this for when I first bought them) and I'm looking into general system stability concerns.

But I'll keep in mind that the disk itself might be goofy anyway.

[Basilikos]

Update: The problem is solved.

Basically, there were several stability issues affecting each of these systems (some were more pronounced, obviously, on certain systems). These are fairly small systems, and it turns out that I had several things touching heaksinks (especially the northbridge) which was really slowing certain systems up. Others were getting random Error #132s. I had done everything like BIOS updates, MEMtests, etc. Still no luck (and still thinking the slow loading wasn't caused by the same issue as the 132s), I posted here about the loading problem. In the mean time, I had completely reorganized where cables and other things were inside the boxes (after checking that the cooling was up to snuff). This included taking them all apart and cleaning out the garbage thermal gel that came on the board (I did the processors as a matter of course while building the machines months ago) and replacing it with Arctic Ceramique (God, I love that stuff). I should have done this while building the machines, but I didn't even think about it.

The RAM is plenty high-grade enough (Kingston, in fact). This should never have happened, but I guess I got what I was asking for when I didn't take proper care the first time around.

Moral of the story - never underestimate how worked your northbridge can become from even a few minutes of MMO stress.