Something is obviously wrong. With this kind of hardware specs you should be able to run eZ publish without problems.
In the file settings/site.ini try turning on <b>DebugOutput</b>.
[DebugSettings]
DebugOutput=enabled
Now reload the page and you should get a table with time accumulators at the bottom of the page. Check this table to see if something is taking too much time.
Regarding permissions, the apache user must be able to atleast read all the files. You'll get more info on permissions during the setup, once you get it running :)
