PC hardware: Making My PC Faster from Slow....
Making My PC Faster from Slow....
by praglen - 4/30/08 8:40 AMI have a Dell 2400 Dimension PC w/256 MB DDR SDRAM @ 333 Mhz. I need to upgrade and/or add on a module, because my PC is S-L-O-W. What do you recommend I buy and what are the prices?
The more replies I get, the less I feel that someone is pushing something his brother-in-law is selling.
Re: upgrading PC
by Kees Bakker
- 4/30/08 8:46 AM
In reply to: Making My PC Faster from Slow.... by praglen
I'd start with a new motherboard with new RAM memory and a new CPU.
Then you might need a new OS (because seeing the CPU I doubt if it's recent enough to have XP) and a new harddisk (because this new OS uses much more disk space).
And you might need a new videocard if your old one can't be used on the new motherboard.
Given the average lifetime of CD-drives it makes sense to replace that also. If you've got some money left, make it a DVD-burner.
Taken all together, your best bet is a new PC.
Kees
More Inf
by praglen - 4/30/08 10:16 AM In reply to: Re: upgrading PC by Kees Bakker
It must be fairly recent, because I DO have XP and both a CD and DVD R/RW drive.
Can I get away without replacing the motherboard?
O yes.
by Kees Bakker - 4/30/08 11:21 AM
In reply to: More Inf by praglen
I misunderstood your post. I read it as a 333 Mhz CPU, and that's slow, nowadays.
The advice to add RAM is sound, and should make a big difference. Same for removing unnecessary programs, but you've done that already.
Kees
How much do you want to spend?
by bob b - 4/30/08 10:34 AM In reply to: Making My PC Faster from Slow.... by praglenIf your a gamer....forget it...cut your losses.
I'm not a gamer.
If I had such a machine and it did what I needed but was slow.
I would work on being malware free....cost>free.
I would work on making my startup group skinny...cost>free.
I would consider adding 256>512MB ram....cost>20/40 bucks.
See Crucial.com for ram help.
I'll assume the OS is XP.
I have Windows XP
by praglen - 4/30/08 10:53 AM In reply to: How much do you want to spend? by bob b...and will opt for the additional RAM.
Thanks
your pc maxes out at 1gb
by ramarc - 4/30/08 11:02 AM In reply to: Making My PC Faster from Slow.... by praglenhere's a 1gb ddr-333 kit for $40: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820141215
you can also improve your PC's performance by removing uneeded programs and 'crapware'. it usually accumulates over time.
More Excellent Advice...
by praglen - 4/30/08 11:14 AM In reply to: your pc maxes out at 1gb by ramarcI should have added I did remove lots of unused or rarely used programs. I have Zone Alarm Pro, mainly for Firewall protection, AVG Spyware, CC Cleaner, Registry Repair and PC Tools, plus a Defrag program. But I will order the additonal RAM.
Praglen
by ice_bear_joe - 5/3/08 4:08 PM In reply to: More Excellent Advice... by praglenIf you are not a gamer just get a 1 gig ram as thats all your system can handle and you should be good.
The programs you have now are good but I would add spybot search and destroy and spywareblaster.
I use much the same programs you have, updated them and run them at least once a week and my system fast and trouble free.
Bob
Have you tried?
by lisavannote - 5/2/08 6:26 PM In reply to: Making My PC Faster from Slow.... by praglenHello,
Have you tried clearing your cookies, disc clean up, scan disc and defragmenting? Usually when your pc is full of memory somethimes you need to clean it out. If you n eed to how to do it let me know 
Hope it helps!
Lisa
Yes, I Have...
by praglen - 5/2/08 10:10 PM In reply to: Have you tried? by lisavannoteThanks, Lisa. CC Cleaner wipes out cookies and I have Disc Clean, PC Tools and Registry Repair, which remove malware and some medium to high threat HEX files, among others. I should Defrag more frequently; thanks for reminding me.
Removing cookies won't help much here as the system
by VAPCMD - 5/3/08 6:26 AM In reply to: Have you tried? by lisavannotesimply doesn't have enough system memory (256MBs) to run the OS efficiently. It's sad that Dell would even sell a system so poorly equipped.
VAPCMD
slow performance of PC
by Pushparag - 5/3/08 5:50 PM In reply to: Have you tried? by lisavannoteI read your reply given below and also complied all the formalities with CCleaner.
My PC is Pentium IV 1.50 and DDRam 256+128 - 40 GB hard disk.
Am I to add further DDram to increase the peformance pl.
It takes longer time to boot and that is my problem.
I need your guidance.
QUOTE
Have you tried clearing your cookies, disc clean up, scan disc and defragmenting? Usually when your pc is full of memory somethimes you need to clean it out. If you n eed to how to do it let me know
UNQUOTE
Available disk space?
by DOSpower - 5/2/08 10:40 PM In reply to: Making My PC Faster from Slow.... by praglenAdding more RAM is definitely to be commended but unless you have the spare disk space you could be compounding your problems. The pagefile (into which virtual memory goes) will expand and even though you have added RAM you might still get insufficient memory messages.
If you really want to go all out to get some speed into your machine, then I would recommend going to the extreme of formatting the hard drive and reinstalling the OS, drivers and all the applications. Once you have done so make an image of the hard drive and burn it onto a CD/DVD/USB drive so when things slow down again you can just 'drop' the image onto the drive again.
Making my PC faster...
by miakosan - 5/3/08 1:32 AM In reply to: Making My PC Faster from Slow.... by praglenI recommend to reinstall your Windows with formatting your hard disk (with backup important files to extern hard disk). If you don't know how to backup your e-mails, accounts, faforites etc., I can help with it.
If you have itstallation disks with your programms, you can always install it again. And number of programms will be less than now.
It always worked for me. I did it many times. Of coarse it takes a lot of your time, but result will be like you have a new PC
Advices about increasing RAM are also very good.
Good luck!
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