PC question ...

Pep

My home PC is just incredibly slow...

HP desktop bought 4(?) yr ago running Vista, 32bit.
Dunno processor but could find out ...
HD 130GB, 2/3 full
RAM originally 2x512MB, upgraded to 4x512MB
used for MS office, Skype, photos, email, web browsing, no video or music or games

Question is:
if I upgrade the RAM to something bigger do I stand chance to make it faster or am I just wasting £50ish away...?

Thanks,

Pross

I thought you were going to ask what is the correct way to address someone of [insert nationality] origin

Gizmodo

You currently have 2GB of RAM which should be plenty for what you do with it.

See this article for what you should do:
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows-vista/Optimize-Windows-Vista-for-better-performance

ooermissus

If you defrag etc and you still need speed, 4GB will help Vista run quite a lot more smoothly.

acidstrato

doubt ram will make much difference,

HDDs tend to cause bottlenecks once they have less the 40% free space and as it happens is quite an issue with Vista. You'd probably find Windows XP or 7 would be a little quicker with the exact same spec because of some of the crap vista runs in the background.

i'd say having a clear out in Disk Cleanup might make a bigger difference...atleast until you fill it up again

fossyant

Use CCleaner - clean the temp files out with it for all users and then check the registry for duff entries. Then defrag.

Also your anti-virus can be a right resource hog. Check startup programs - disable those that aren't needed.

TuckerUK

As has been said...

Bin VIsta and buy a copy of XP off eBay, I've bought about half a dozen and paid £25 each (genuine ex business OE copies unregistered).

A newer HDD will be quicker anyway, plus a larger size will help.

Pep

And if I change away from XP what should I go to, XP or 7?
Don't care about fancy things, just want it to run fast smoothly, no issue.

Bunneh

I've been using both XP and 7 on various PCs for a while now and I will say 7, to me, is smooth as silk.

I plug in an old phone, 7 pops up, says 'oh hello, sorry I was helping solve world peace. Oh you would like me to find the drivers for you? Of course, bear with me a moment' Not long after 7 runs into the room, tail wagging, with the required drivers in its mouth! 'Here you go Sir, I'm sorry for the delay but I found your internet a little too small for my butt to squeeze through, I will loose some weight and that won't be a problem next time. Now if you'll excuse me I need to go help with the cooking'.

RoadyForever

I wouldn't spend any more money on this, it's near the end of it's life. Try the defrag as others have suggested, also ran scandisk on the drive to fix any errors on the drive (which can slow things down greatly) and try and free up some space (when drives are full they slow dramatically). Or backup your stuff (you do this already right?) and restore everything.

Or get a new pc, even the cheapest in the store will easily fulfil your needs.

DIESELDOG

RoadyForever wrote:

I wouldn't spend any more money on this, it's near the end of it's life. Try the defrag as others have suggested, also ran scandisk on the drive to fix any errors on the drive (which can slow things down greatly) and try and free up some space (when drives are full they slow dramatically). Or backup your stuff (you do this already right?) and restore everything.

Or get a new pc, even the cheapest in the store will easily fulfil your needs.

This. Just don't opt for a certain day delivery with the Farce that is Parcel. We did which is why my shiny new bling is yet to be built and costing me time amongst other things. :evil:

love n hugs

DD

Cleat Eastwood

If its running slow then adding more ram will let you see a small amount of speed increase. But the speed is limited by the transfer of data from ram/cache to the cpu, the limit is set by the FSB (the front side bus), you also get a comically named back side bus, the fsb is built into your motherboard so it looks like your pc is telling you its time for a change.

Vista is terribly slow compared to xp, i've waited 20 mins for a zip file to open.

Best advice is as above, while you can back up the HD and tootle off to pcworld.

DIESELDOG

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

If its running slow then adding more ram will let you see a small amount of speed increase. But the speed is limited by the transfer of data from ram/cache to the cpu, the limit is set by the FSB (the front side bus), you also get a comically named back side bus, the fsb is built into your motherboard so it looks like your pc is telling you its time for a change.

Vista is terribly slow compared to xp, i've waited 20 mins for a zip file to open.

Best advice is as above, while you can back up the HD and tootle off to pcworld.

Bad move, by the parts and get a bespoke system built. That's what is happening in DD land. That way my system will be exact to what my requirements are and I don't have to put up with some other crap "because it comes with it"

Love n hugs

DD

Cleat Eastwood

DIESELDOG wrote:

Cleat Eastwood wrote:

If its running slow then adding more ram will let you see a small amount of speed increase. But the speed is limited by the transfer of data from ram/cache to the cpu, the limit is set by the FSB (the front side bus), you also get a comically named back side bus, the fsb is built into your motherboard so it looks like your pc is telling you its time for a change.

Vista is terribly slow compared to xp, i've waited 20 mins for a zip file to open.

Best advice is as above, while you can back up the HD and tootle off to pcworld.

Bad move, by the parts and get a bespoke system built. That's what is happening in DD land. That way my system will be exact to what my requirements are and I don't have to put up with some other crap "because it comes with it"

Love n hugs

DD

couldnt agree more DD, thats what I do. I'm currently rebuilding my old PC (with stuff from maplins & PCNext day= much cheaper), but for convenience as the OP may not be as savvy I suggested 'where in the world...."

DIESELDOG

^^ Another sensible person. I'm not rebuilding my old system though as it's a "Dell" New case has neon blue lights and everyfink too!

Sweeeeet...

Love n hugs

DD

mfin

If its getting slow and once was alright... backup all your files to an external hdd and then set about blanking and reformatting the computer. Thats the cheapest shot. It'll be like it was when new, or better if it had loads of crap on it as new that came with it like all the big manufacturers tend to do.

7 or XP will run faster... XP wont have IE upgrades anymore tho, so Firefox etc will have to be the browser of choice. Out of the 2, id go for 7 from software4students.

acidstrato

these days unless your uber 1337 G33k or just a willy waver, why wouldnt you want a dell!
They killed the market for making money off cheap pc builds back when I was at uni.
and now I fix them!

Gizmodo

acidstrato wrote:

these days unless your uber 1337 G33k or just a willy waver, why wouldnt you want a dell! They killed the market for making money off cheap pc builds back when I was at uni. and now I fix them!

Not really, Aldi have some great deals on Medion PCs and Laptops and they all come with 3 years warranty!

DIESELDOG

acidstrato wrote:

these days unless your uber 1337 G33k or just a willy waver, why wouldnt you want a dell!
They killed the market for making money off cheap pc builds back when I was at uni.
and now I fix them!

Because it's cr@p.

Keeps you in job though!!

Love n hugs

DD

Bunneh

Oi DD, shouldn't you be working and not playing on Facebook?

DIESELDOG

^^^ you owe me an apology...

L n H

DD