[iestynx]

Has anyone got any tips on software or things I can do to speed up my Mac Pro?

It's used for running After Effects CC(2015) on OS X 10.10.4

2 x NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2048 MB
2 x 2.4 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon
32GB RAM
512GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD (+ 3x 1TB HDD)

My main problem is that it feels sluggish, I get a lot of spinning beachballs. My 2012 Macbook Air feels faster at 90% of everything I do apart from rendering.

At the moment I don't have time to do a clean install just to see if that helps.

Is there some software I can run that will tell me if there's something wrong with certain hardware or software?

Thanks

[pkcable]

I'm MUCH newer to the Mac world, but on the windows side I could direct you to a few tools, but they are all windows only. HOWEVER you know the solution you said it in your post. You need a clean install. It certainly can't be that you need more RAM! lol

[iestynx]

But I shouldn't have to do a clean install.

[Dency JJ]

Five things you can do to speed up your mac and I though this article from CNET, you could search it yourself.

1. Replace your hard drive with an SSD
2. Add more memory
3. Clean your hard drive
4. Reduce login items
5. Keep current with OS X

[Trees]

Running Activity Monitor while the system is idle, under normal use, and running After Effects may help to get an understanding if system resources are being taxed. Under normal use like editing documents, web browser use, etc then I'd not expect to see beachballs given the current system configuration.

Console app may also reveal if there are any app crashes or similar problems that could be contributing to the beachballs.

Running Apple Diagnostics is another option to see if there is anything wrong at the hardware level.
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18765?locale=en_US

If your system is under warranty/Apple Care, then suggest asking Apple to run additional diagnostics to see if they can find out what's going on.