Slow computer suggestions wanted

[sixfeetdeep]

Hello everyone, just curious if anyone knows of any performance tweeks that i can use to speed up my P.O.S. computer.

Specs are:
Athlon Xp 1700+ (1.1 i think)
GeForce4 MX440 64MB (new omega drivers)
MSI (dont remember model but middle of the line) MOBO
1GB PC3200 Kingston RAM
40GB Hard Drive
500 Watt power
Windows XP Pro

Basically if anyone has a link to the necesarry running applications so i can remove the un-necessary ones, drivers that might speed things up etc.

Any input appreciated. ty

 

[beedubaya]

How slow is it running? What are we trying to speed up?

 

[sixfeetdeep]

uhh not sure how to specify the speed just that its slow... not sure if its hardware related of have to many app's runnin or not just looking for tips to speed any computer up basically?

edit:
So basically does system tray icons, multiple processes, too many desktop items etc. slow your comp down and is there a way to know what processes need to be running and which ones dont? i just realized this should probably be under a different section like software but ...

also can i overclock anything i have currently in my PC or would that be a bad idea. anything in bios that i may need to change? whats the max paging file size I can specify in windows?

basically trying to get the best performance for gaming not so worried about the quality of graphics just HATE the framerates.

ty

 

[TMT]

Run Ad-Aware and clean out any spyware, run some up to date Antivirus software (preferabley a good one, such as McAfee) and clean out any viruses, then defragment your hard drive.

If it doesn't speed up at least a little bit once you've done all that, then I suggest backing everything up and doing a fresh format/install.

If you're looking to upgrade your hardware, upgrade your graphics to at least 128MB DDR, and upgrade your CPU to something like an Athlon XP 2500+ [Barton Core] (check your motherboard will support this though, because it runs at an FSB of 333MHz). At least an 80GB 7200RPM hard drive wouldn't go a miss either. Your RAM is fantastic, so there's no need to worry about that.

Overclocking-wise... Read up on this subject A LOT before you even start to consider it. On the page file size front, I'd say set it at about 512MB - 1024MB, or even higher if you wish, although that should be okay.

TMT.

 

[Nubius]

a good ole format works nice =). When was the last time you've had a format? It could be to the point where its just run down and even if you do uninstall programs and whatnot 'residue' I guess you could say of them being there is still present. If you haven't formatted in a long time I'd suggest that. And yeah try and have as little things running the system tray and as little as processes. Generally I like to have no more than like 18 processes running although depending on how you use your computer you obviously might have more running. All else, run ad-aware like they already said up there in the posts and try a defrag too. That never hurts. And like TMT said, READ READ READ when it comes to overclocking. I've been reading about nothing but overclocking for about a month now and theres still quite a bit I need to learn. Put atleast 2 weeks worth of investigation into overclocking before you try it.

 

[sixfeetdeep]

I havent re-formatted in about 8-12 months so prolly gonna do that soon.

Also i am going to upgrade my CPU to AMD 3400+, vid card to at least a 5700 Ultra, And Hard Drive to about 160-200GB drive just savin the cash...

I run ad-aware and spybot weekly so i dont think thats much of a problem...

About the running processes... how do i know which ones dont need to be running? is there some sort of guide of explantion table for the names in there and what they do ??

thanks again for the help

Oh PS
Whenever i have re-formatted in the past i just run the Windows setup disk and re-format the drive but dont know how to save anything it just erases it all and re-formats, and start brand new...
Do you need a seperate hard drive to do this or do you just save it to disk?

maybe a link to a topic here i'm sure there is one ... i will keep looking ty )