How to improve my desktop?

[Dinarius]

Short of replacing my desktop, which I don't want to do, what could I do to improve its performance?

It really is creaking these days. (Does the available space on the C: drive, about 50Gb, affect performance?)

I guess another 2Gb of RAM. I presume all RAM isn' the same?

What else?

Here's the spec........

Operating System System Model
Windows XP Media Center Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) Dell Inc. Dell DXP051 System Service Tag: 229692J (support for this PC) Chassis Serial Number: 229692J Enclosure Type: Tower Processor a Main Circuit Board b 3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4 16 kilobyte primary memory cache 2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: Dell Inc. 0FJ030 Serial Number: ..CN7082163EG0PZ. Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. A04 04/19/2006
Drives Memory Modules c,d
1655.23 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
737.13 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

PHILIPS DVD+-RW DVD8801 [CD-ROM drive]
SONY CD-RW CRX217E [CD-ROM drive]

MAXTOR STM3500320AS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 1 ST3500641AS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 2 ST3500641AS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 0 TEAC USB HS-CF Card USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3 TEAC USB HS-MS Card USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 5 TEAC USB HS-SD Card USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 6 TEAC USB HS-xD/SM USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4 WD 1600BEV External USB Device [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 7 2048 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM_1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM_3' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM_2' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM_4' is Empty
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 495.06 GB 59.35 GB free
e: (NTFS on drive 1) 500.11 GB 262.45 GB free
j: (NTFS on drive 2) 500.06 GB 337.88 GB free
p: (FAT32 on drive 7) 160.00 GB 77.45 GB free

Controllers Display
Primary IDE Channel [Controller] NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS [Display adapter] DELL 1907FP [Monitor] (19.1"vis, s/n 6418062Q0DZS, February 2006)


Thanks.

D.

[mahleu]

I recommend a reformat or at the very least a complete antivirus, anti spyware, remove all unneccessary software, registry clean and defrag.

2gb of ram would definately help, not all ram is the same. Fast ram (800mhz rather than 667 or 553 will make a difference but all modules need to be the same speed otherwise all will run at the slower speed).

Moving to a dual core processor will also make a huge amount of difference.

[Dinarius]

Many thanks.

Thought it was dual core! ;-) Just goes to show...........!

Will the extra RAM make a difference when I'm running only 32 bit Windows?

Probably should make more space available to CS3 in scratch disk space too?

Thanks again.

D.

[mbridgers]

Try the tips on this post:
http://dfarq.homeip.net/article/20080604160833151

Dave Farquhar literally wrote the book on Windows optimization a few years ago.  Just doing what he suggests with the free tools he links too may make a nice difference.  

As always, though, I'd backup my critical files, and suggest you do the same before you start.

[BruceHouston]

Many thanks.

Thought it was dual core! ;-) Just goes to show...........!

Will the extra RAM make a difference when I'm running only 32 bit Windows?

Probably should make more space available to CS3 in scratch disk space too?

Thanks again.

D.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=201161\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Change OS to Win XP, add 2 GB RAM and then Google "3GB switch" to learn how to get WinXP to let applications use 3 GB instead of only 2 GB.  The extra memory will then be recognized by Photoshop and will show up in Preferences---->Performance----->Memory Usage.

[BruceHouston]

Many thanks.

Thought it was dual core! ;-) Just goes to show...........!

Will the extra RAM make a difference when I'm running only 32 bit Windows?

Probably should make more space available to CS3 in scratch disk space too?

Thanks again.

D.
[a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=201161\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a]

Change OS to Win XP, add 2 GB RAM and then Google "3GB switch" to learn how to get WinXP to let applications use 3 GB instead of only 2 GB.  The extra memory will then be recognized by Photoshop and will show up in Preferences---->Performance----->Memory Usage.

I meant "Upgrade to Win XP Pro."