PC upgrade

[dinker]

Right-click My Computer, Properties, Advanced, Performance Settings and Adjust for Best Performance.

[pmeswani]

Fairly basic questions, but outside my non-techy capabilities:

I have a desktop PC that is - when compared to my Vista laptop with 4Gb Ram - running fairly slowly. I have had it a few years, so you will understand when I say that I have previously upgraded the RAM from 256mb to 512mb. I don't think I need to run to the expense of replacement, but I would likle to make it 'better'.

The machine is running XP and has onboard graphics using 128mb (I think). The processor is a 2.4Ghz P4.There are two memory slots. The image on the screen is not as clear as the laptop image. I use the PC for internet and M$ office applications, no gaming. I do intend purchasing a new screen to replace the 17" one I have.

*What is the optimum amount of RAM I should install?
*Is there a limit of the amount of RAM a machine can handle?
*Should I install a graphics card? Will I gain from this?
*If I do install a graphics card, is it easy to get the PC to recognise it?

Do I need to consider anything else?

All advice gratefully received.

Thanks

You could always consider putting Ubuntu Linux or some other Linux disty and watch the machine work a lot faster. And guess what? It will only cost you a CD. Some would tell you to get a Mac... but I am gonna tell ya that you could save yourself some money.

[Svalbaard]

Probabaly already been said but there are system tasks that can be done to improve performance such as:

1. Regularly defragmenting the hard disk.
2. Running windows in "best performance mode".
3. Clearing out the registry.
4. Use a RAM optimiser.
5. Uninstall as much junk from the hard disk as you can.
6. Disable as many startup programs as you can to free up memory - MSCONFIG can do this.

There is a great free program called Advanced System Care from IoBit. This will do all of this for you with a nice friendly user interface.

To really make the difference though you can upgrade the memory, CPU and mainboard for about £150 if it is just file/print/web/mail tasks that you want to do. Or as someone else posted, buy a complete new cheap system for a couple of hundred.

[Fred Bloggs]

You could always consider putting Ubuntu Linux or some other Linux disty and watch the machine work a lot faster. And guess what? It will only cost you a CD. Some would tell you to get a Mac... but I am gonna tell ya that you could save yourself some money.

Sorry, but my machines that have had OpenSuse and Ubuntu on recently ran no quicker than they do with Win XP. Linux distros since removed from those PC's and just stick with XP.

[b0redom]

Depends on what you're doing with them, and if you have optimised the running daemons. You'll find that by default all kinds of crap are enabled which don't need to be: Bluetooth, PCMCIA daemons etc etc etc

[Fred Bloggs]

Depends on what you're doing with them, and if you have optimised the running daemons. You'll find that by default all kinds of crap are enabled which don't need to be: Bluetooth, PCMCIA daemons etc etc etc

Bloatware just like Windoze then!

[Ken Dodd]

Update

First, thanks for all the advice!

I checked the machine last night - it is at home and I work away,hence the delay.

It is a Ei Machine 5025, which I bought from PC world about 4 years ago (ish).

It came with 256Mb of Ram, which I upgraded a couple of years ago by adding another 256Mb. The Ram is Pc2100 DDR.

when I did upgrade the RAM, it did make a noticeable difference to speed.

I am running M$ Office Enterprise 2007 and want to continue to do so - maybe that is resource-intensive?

I couldn't see anything to tell me what the motherboard details were, so no help there.

I did google RAM and put the details in the website I found. It said that the max RAM is 2Gb.

I did think that the P4 2.4Ghx was still fairly up to date - but maybe not.

[NickNick]

Start - Run - DXDIAG will help in finding out what you have on there.

[b0redom]

Never heard of the brand before, but DDR-1 memory is not available in any sort of quantity any more, and it looks like you're looking at ~ £30/gb

The raw clockspeeds may be similar to the current gen processors, but the architecture is different. It went:

P4
Netburst
Core2
Core2 Duo
Core i7 (current)

There were minor changes within these architectures, but generally speaking those were the revs. A £300 box from PC World / Dell will be in a different league performance wise over what you have now.

[gingerjedi]

Having done this recently on a similar spec XP machine, I'd say wipe the hard disk and reinstall the OS. You'd be amazed how much difference a clean install can make.

But also WTS - PCs and even laptops are so riduclously cheap now, I wouldn't bother upgrading an old one.

I did that last weekend, to make it easy follow these steps:

1. Backup My Docs, desktop and favourites to an external drive.
2. Download service pack 3 and save it to the same external drive (saves a lot of time on updates).
3. Download BackupRex, it searches and saves all IE, Firefox and Outlook settings including your pst's, make sure it saves them to the external drive again.
4. Re-install XP from disk.
5. Put everything back.

I’ve got an old P4 2.0Ghz with 768Mb of ram and it’s made a dramatic difference, so much so I don’t see why I would ever need to buy a new PC?