Pivot Table sort by count of crashes 2008 but not 2004

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

I have a list of 5000 items (3 columns( that's in a pivot table. With one
of the columns as the row in the pivot table and count of that item as the
data, Excel 2004 sorts by count instantaneously while 2008 goes slowly and
crashes at about the 50% mark, every time. I'd rather not bounce back &
forth so if anyone has any ideas, let me know.