[Closed] Any tips for speeding up an old PC?

The only identifiable problem there is the 1Gb RAM, that will be crippling it, especially with Windows 7

yeah, see I've got a slot free to wack in another amount of RAM, would it be safe to entirely replace the 1GB and replace with say 2 X 2GB? or would that bring issues? thanks for the reply Biscuit!

Finding a memory stick used as Speedboost very helpful. Just pop it into a usb port and look for the speedboost option.

Yep that would be fine and the best way to do it, you want 4Gb minimum really.

I wouldn't say 4Gb is a "minimum", but I'd probably want to be aiming for that.

Run this, it'll make (usually) sensible recommendations.

http://www.crucial.com/uk/systemscanner

Ideal, I presume I read a number of the existing RAM card and do a bit of googling to find a match? thanks!

Cheers for the link Cougar, on it now. Reckons I want 2 X 2GB at £70 odd quick.

Linux

Cheap memory here

http://uk.webuy.com/product.php?catid=935&category_name=memory%20-%20desktop%20ddr2?mode=buy

*quid that should be, ha. cheers Bob

RAM is fairly cheap these days and quick and easy to fix, we're at the point where you might as well fit too much. (though, I think perversely you might have to pay over the odds for yours). Try ebay/overclockers for used stuff, lots of upgraditis means lots of slightly older good quality kit for peanuts (I have 8gb of what used to be considered fast performance enthusiast's RAM which I paid £20 for, because it's the old DDR2 format)

Is it an overclockable board? I know some folks consider it somehow risky, and sometimes it's not worth the hassle but I'm still using a pretty old Q6600 processor tuned to the eyeballs and I'd have long ago replaced it without the overclock (occasionally the mobo starts up without the overclocks and it's immediately noticable just in everyday use never mind power applications). Not everything overclocks that well, but there's usually untapped performance.

Also, I'm going to just assume you've already dusted it, right?

if you cant afford the memory then theres lots of lite linux distributions that will run well on less memory than that, something that runs XFCE or linix mint or xubuntu, well theres loads to run on any spec machine you have

what ram does it take. google search for where to buy. overclockers, novatech, ccl online, scan uk and ebuyer.

Is it an overclockable board? I know some folks consider it somehow risky, and sometimes it's not worth the hassle but I'm still using a pretty old Q6600 processor tuned to the eyeballs and I'd have long ago replaced it without the overclock (occasionally the mobo starts up without the overclocks and it's immediately noticable just in everyday use never mind power applications). Not everything overclocks that well, but there's usually untapped performance.

+1, overclocking is like upgrading your PC, but for free.

Crucial tells me that I need this spec:

4GB kit (2GBx2), 240-pin DIMM, DDR2 PC2-8500 memory module

Erm, afraid I have no knowledge of overclocking chaps?! - just read up on it, cheers for the tips but sounds a bit time consuming as I need access to work at this machine most of the time

Little bit of research needed but the actual overclock can be quick, especially with user-friendly boards. Overclocking guides tend to focus on getting every last mhz out of the things and yes that's time consuming, but to get a reasonable boost is normally quick and easy. Some boards even have software to do it.

thanks for the tips everyone, got plenty to be looking into.
🙂

Depending on how much you are willing to pay to upgrade, a Solid State Drive (SSD) instead of a hard drive would be another idea. Windows 7 handles these natively (unlike XP and Vista).

If you purchase second hand memory get the seller to confirm that it has no errors when running MemTest.

Some links:

[url= http://www.dabs.com/category/components-and-storage,memory,generic-memory/11150-354710000-52280000 ]Suitable RAM[/url]

Not sure on your exact PC model number, so not sure maximum your motherboard supports. Use Crucial to find out, then buy from Dabs.

[url= http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,review-32649.html ]SSD Guide[/url]

[url= http://www.dabs.com/category/components-and-storage,hard-drives,solid-state-drives/15004 ]Dabs SSDs[/url]

Has anyone suggested reinstalling Windows? Might be worth a go.

Watch what the upgrade costs are - look at some of the barebones systems that people like Scan sell and ensure that you are not getting near those prices.

Plus you system is old, what if you spend out to upgrade it and then it dies elsewhere, you probably won't be able reuse the memory in a modern PC.

Sure, but at £20 for a memory upgrade that's not the end of the world.

Has anyone suggested reinstalling Windows? Might be worth a go.

I'd recommend this. Hardware doesn't slow down over time, but software (and windows in particular) does. Before worrying about memory, i'd try a reinstall of windows (which should be free), or Linux (which will be free).

Cougar - Moderator

I wouldn't say 4Gb is a "minimum"

Nope, I've got half a Gb in mine. 😳

That's ideal!

For Windows 98.

XP you cheeky beggar!
It's only ten years old.
Ran out of space on the original 40Gb HD so had to add a secondary 20Gb drive, which is hanging by its cables.
It's even got a 3.5" floppy drive, quite rare these days. 8)

Bootleg Win 7 is likely to be 32bit. This will only recognise and use up to 3gb of ram.
A fresh Windows install or switch to Linux is the cheapest improvement, bearing in mind what others have said about ongoing component reliability.

Don't hit with baseball bat

Bootleg Win 7 is likely to be 32bit. This will only recognise and use up to 3gb of ram.
A fresh Windows install or switch to Linux is the cheapest improvement, bearing in mind what others have said about ongoing component reliability.

Not quite true; it will most likely recognise that more than 3GB is installed and may even use up to 4GB. I've generally found about 3.3GB is actually usable when 4GB or more is installed.

To be honest 32bit is fine for most tasks, the memory footprint of 32bit OS and applications is generally smaller than 64bit. I'd go for 2GB being a nice minimum for 32bit Vista or Win7 that is only going to run a web browser and office software.

the memory footprint of 32bit OS and applications is generally smaller than 64bit

Thank you.

I nearly Hulked out then.

I was thinking of doing this. Cheers for the links!

thanks for all the info everyone, very helpful. Plenty to be going on with.
In all honesty up until a month ago the PC had performed brilliantly, with no major issues. So hopefully the memory upgrade will keep it going for a while yet , cheers all

Paddy - Im posting this from an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ and feel your pain. Mine is on XP though and is totally fine booting up (30 secs), browsing, web, etc and it's permanent job is running as a "server" for movies / music (PLEX etc).

I cant imagine it having W7 or 8 being usable. Mine has a new install of XP every 6 months, 3G ram, SATA drives. For doing real world stuff that involves "processing" (photos, handbraking a dvd) it take at least 12 times longer to complete over a newish budget laptop with an i3 processor. Basically, dont spend any cash on it. It's heading for the retirement zone.

£30 worth of RAM (4gb) made our ancient xp desktop a bit more useable. Fresh windows every 6 months helps also. And keep it clear of as much "background" stuff as you can. Use that msconfig program to see what's jumping on at start-up.

In all honesty up until a month ago the PC had performed brilliantly, with no major issues.

ah it's obvious the hardware fell off a cliff....

Reinstall (try and get a proper copy of Win 7) increase the Ram and be careful what you install.

Dual core athlon here on W7 64 bit

Was struggling a bit with video editing but stuck 8 gig of ram and now its flying

Is it an overclockable board? I know some folks consider it somehow risky, and sometimes it's not worth the hassle but I'm still using a pretty old Q6600 processor tuned to the eyeballs and I'd have long ago replaced it without the overclock (occasionally the mobo starts up without the overclocks and it's immediately noticable just in everyday use never mind power applications). Not everything overclocks that well, but there's usually untapped performance.

Yup - I bought by Q6600 based system overclocked significantly (about 50%, I think), and it's still stable about five years on. Yes, it's slow by modern standards, but would be unusable for my photo editing running at its native speed.

Sure, but at £20 for a memory upgrade that's not the end of the world.

except that the price he quoted from the link you gave was £70...

My old laptop was crawling along, I tried a few tweaks but what really improved things was removing AVG and replacing it with security essentials.