... but the performance speed made me very sad...
If this iMac came with the original 5400rpm, SATA 3G laptop-class hard drive that was standard then, that is the prime reason for the slowness. That is the #1 cause of "it's slow!" complaints here for 21.5-inch iMacs made between 2012 and 2019—regardless of processor or model identifier. The factory entry-level hard drives in 2011 21.5-inch iMacs were demonstrably 30-40% faster than those that came later. I've tested them.
👉🏻 However, this:

shows the computer already has a solid-state drive, likely retrofitted, so should be fast enough unless something else is at play. Even the slowest SSD option should transfer data at 6-8X what the original mech drives could. I think there is more to your "slows" that we have not yet seen.
You may want to post an Etrecheck report to help us see if something else is afoot:
https://etrecheck.com/index
The free version will do nicely for this purpose, although the app is worthy of our financial support.
With it we can see hard data about:
- drive performance
- software interference issues, and
- RAM usage.
- crashes
Hard data conquers guessing every time.
Etrecheck is the development of a long-serving and trusted contributor here expressly for displaying information in these forums to help us help you by remotely evaluating Mac issues. It will not reveal any personal or secure information.
Please see this excellent user tip on how to post long text reports like EtreCheck's into a forum response:
How to use the Add Text Feature When Post… - Apple Community