Help upgrading desktop spec

Ben:

Ben:

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Ben
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Hey
I've recently got my Dell Dimension 9200 back from a friend and intend on using it as my main pc, and the hub of my photography storage/editing.
All I have done is reinstall the OS (Vista)

I'm not particularly knowledgeable when it come to all the tech terms etc but I'll try my best...
SPEC:
Intel Core 2 CPU 6420 @ 2.13GHZ
2GB RAM
32 bit OS
500GB HD (7200 I believe)
Nvidia graphics card (how do I find out which one?)

Even though I've just reset everything to factory settings and not running any programs other than (google chrome for example) it sometimes runs slow. The mouse is jerky and sometimes freezes in one spot then continues normally. Any reason for this?

Basically I am looking for advice on how to get this machine up to date and ready for photo work :)
Thanks!
 
Budget?
 
Good question, I don't really know. I will save and buy upgrades as and when I can. :)
(hope that helps :thinking:)
 
Any idea where I might find such a thing? Can't see it on the board :(
 
I think this is it E210882

Front side bus speed - 800MHz
Socket type - Socket LGA775
Memory type - DDR2 SDRAM
 
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on that pc the first thing i would do is get rid of Vista an install XP i am sure that would speed things up ....
 
devilnev said:
on that pc the first thing i would do is get rid of Vista an install XP i am sure that would speed things up ....
Click to expand...

Hmm it was more the hardware I wanted to change, I'm more than happy with Vista
 
Right ok. Would you say the current spec isn't good enough to run PS and edit effectively?
Can anyone link me to a good site for builds?
 
Well I don't have cs3 any more, just downloaded a lightroom trial and it said around 80,000kb for lightroom.

Total: (task manager, performance tab, memory bar on the left)
800mb

If that makes sense?
 
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You shouldn't be having any problems like you've described after a fresh install, did you reformat fully?

If you can't afford a new build, IMO best bet would be to upgrade RAM, and consider upgrading to Windows 7, rather than downgrading to XP as someone suggested. I think you're pretty limited with the motherboard if you can't put in a faster processor.

PS should run ok with full function with a bit more ram, but it's not going to be as fast as on a brand new PC.

You could build or buy a decent PC for a couple of hundred pounds, don't need to get too expensive to run PS well.
 
someguy201 said:
You shouldn't be having any problems like you've described after a fresh install, did you reformat fully?

If you can't afford a new build, IMO best bet would be to upgrade RAM, and consider upgrading to Windows 7, rather than downgrading to XP as someone suggested. I think you're pretty limited with the motherboard if you can't put in a faster processor.

PS should run ok with full function with a bit more ram, but it's not going to be as fast as on a brand new PC.

You could build or buy a decent PC for a couple of hundred pounds, don't need to get too expensive to run PS well.
Click to expand...

Well all I did was insert the disk and run it. It then did it all automatically.
It did say something about old windows being stored somewhere still, could this affect performance?

I'm looking on Overclockers at prebuild, but not sure which 'category' suits best :\
 
If you download and run belarc advisor it'll give you a full breakdown of what's on your pc build. You can then look at a website like crucial (used them before and recommend them) and find out what your maximum RAM is and how much it would be to upgrade. I've also recently upgraded from vista to windows 7 and find it faster too.
 
How much free space do you have on your Hard Drive?

If you have the Windows.Old folder, you didn't reformat the hard drive. First thing I would try is reformatting the HD, and reinstalling Vista.

You get the opportunity to reformat when you are choosing which partition to install vista on, during the installation. If you click advanced options at this stage, you should have options to delete partitions, and format the disc.
 
someguy201 said:
How much free space do you have on your Hard Drive?

If you have the Windows.Old folder, you didn't reformat the hard drive. First thing I would try is reformatting the HD, and reinstalling Vista.

You get the opportunity to reformat when you are choosing which partition to install vista on, during the installation. If you click advanced options at this stage, you should have options to delete partitions, and format the disc.
Click to expand...

333GB free from 455GB.
Just found the windows.old folder.
I didn't reformat the HD :(

However, windows update has just popped up saying 102 updates available!!! 1 of which was updating NVidia Geforce 8600TGS, its now given me LOTS of different resolutions, whereas before I only had 4.
Set it to 1680x1050 and its great!
Much smoother, smaller text, sharper.
So really I think the problem is fixed. Maybe just some more RAM and a calibrator to do :D
 
You're right I didn't :\ silly me!
Is it necessary to log into Dell etc now, as they are doing them as type?
Or will there be more to download from the Dell site?
Just seen the update has given me access to the Nvidia Control panel which gives me even more options :D

Thanks for your help
 
Hmm, Windows update will give you some of the drivers. I don't think it will give you everything.

I think you will still need to download some of the drivers from Dell's site, but there shouldn't be that many drivers you need. I doubt you will need any BIOS updates, and you already have Nvidia drivers.
 
Ben: said:
333GB free from 455GB.
Just found the windows.old folder.
I didn't reformat the HD :(

...........So really I think the problem is fixed. Maybe just some more RAM and a calibrator to do :D
Click to expand...


Well if it was me I would start again and follow Will's advice and reformat etc. then get the latest drivers etc.etc.
 
Have to say with that processor, I'd go new build. Even a "lowly" current i3 will wipe the floor with that (3-4x faster). Personally, I'd reformat, reinstall and live with it until I had the money for an i3/i5 machine (one of the newer gen i3-2xxx or i5-2xxx). The second gen ix processors all have a 4 digit suffix number starting with 2.
 
shouldnt really need to format, its still a new install of windows but its left the old one behind.

personally i wouldnt use the drivers from the windows update site, always get drivers from the hardware vendor (dell).
 
Thanks for all the comments guys, over 120 updates later everything seems to be running smoothly.
I've a high resolution on the 20" monitor and looking at buying Spyder 3 soon.
Then Photoshop something...probably Elements 9.

Hopefully the system will run the software ok.
If not I could upgrade from 2GB RAM to 4gb, or look into a new build.
 
I'd definitely push the RAM to 4GB. Unfortunately it might not be economical to try and do much more with this due to the motherboard (ie buy a new proc as the ones that mobo accepts are now oldish and slowish compared to the current crop of i5s/i7s).
 
Yeah but with a 32bit os upgrading to 4 gig of memory will only give you 3.25 gig of memory.

I have that cpu and its fine for ps work. I would get windows 7 64 bit and then upgrade the memory to 4 gig.
 
Yes sorry completely forgot the whole 32bit / 4GB issue... In case you have to buy a license for Windows though + 2GB of DDR2 memory you might as well start looking on how much you can sell your current computer and get something a bit more modern.
 
The amount of ram recognized by a 32bit OS will vary, it will usually detect about 3.5-3.75gb. At max it will detect all 4gb, and it could go down to 3.25gb. However I've never seen a system detect less than 3.5gb, but it changes with different builds.

It's worth upgrading to 64bit if you run programs that need more than 2gb of ram, photoshop runs better with more ram. If you're happy with the speed of your computer, and it's able to run PS and Lightroom fine, stick with what you have. There is not an immediate need to upgrade if everything is running fine, but these programs will run faster on a newer build.
 
someguy201 said:
The amount of ram recognized by a 32bit OS will vary, it will usually detect about 3.5-3.75gb. At max it will detect all 4gb, and it could go down to 3.25gb. However I've never seen a system detect less than 3.5gb, but it changes with different builds.

It's worth upgrading to 64bit if you run programs that need more than 2gb of ram, photoshop runs better with more ram. If you're happy with the speed of your computer, and it's able to run PS and Lightroom fine, stick with what you have. There is not an immediate need to upgrade if everything is running fine, but these programs will run faster on a newer build.
Click to expand...

Newer? Or just 64bit and 4gb ram?
 
Ben: said:
Well all I did was insert the disk and run it. It then did it all automatically.
It did say something about old windows being stored somewhere still, could this affect performance?

I'm looking on Overclockers at prebuild, but not sure which 'category' suits best :\
Click to expand...

Well you havent formatted and clean installed then, all youve done is overwrite the OS which can create more trouble
 
Well, they would run faster with 4gb ram, on a 64bit build. But you might not be able to upgrade to 64bit as older processors can't use it.

It shouldn't cost much to put some more ram in, (although make sure your ram is matching pairs - 2x2gb matching, 2x1gb matching + 2x512mb matching). It would cost you at least £60-70 to upgrade to Windows 7 64bit, if your computer was capable of running 64bit.

But with your specs, it would be better to put money into a new tower with Windows 7 64bit preinstalled, rather than upgrading the OS or anything other than Ram.

You can get a good new tower for £200-300, but if you don't want to buy a new PC yet then upgrading the ram to at least 3GB should be very cheap.

Well you havent formatted and clean installed then, all youve done is overwrite the OS which can create more trouble
Click to expand...

Windows is odd, it doesn't just overwrite, it formats the partition, but it keeps a copy in the Windows.Old folder. If you're infected then it won't get rid of any malware, but otherwise it should be fine after running Disc Cleanup.

I forgot about that, but I would remove the old installation using Windows Disc Cleanup, as described by Tikus66 here.
 
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Ben: said:
Newer? Or just 64bit and 4gb ram?
Click to expand...
Unless you spend all your time paging to HDD (you'll know this as your disk will be going all the time) then newer will be faster. Whilst you can edit on it, if you are processing raw files it will struggle IMHO.

You'll probably find it better bang for buck to put the cost of memory/64 bit OS to a new build rather than trying to upgrade. In fact, I'd only advise upgrading if you can't afford a new build with better spec processor.
 
someguy201 said:
Windows is odd, it doesn't just overwrite, it formats the partition, but it keeps a copy in the Windows.Old folder. If you're infected then it won't get rid of any malware, but otherwise it should be fine after running Disc Cleanup.
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No it doesn't if you format the partition, you lose ALL the data on it. I've done countless (well, not really, but you know what I mean) reformatted installs and I've never seen a Windows.old directory. A format is just that - it erases the disk to look like it is completely empty before filling with new.
 
reformatting shouldnt keep a .old copy, if i remember rightly its just if you install to the same partition as an existing copy of windows. to be honest its been a looooong time since ive ever seen it done.
 
Hmm well it seems the best way forward is a new tower...
£45 for Dell 2gb ram to suit my current setup.

Maybe a new tower with windows7 64bit, 4gb atleast, fast hdd, good graphic card and nice processor. As mentioned, it would be better than 'wasting' money on small upgrades when for a few hundred I could have a great system.

So....any recommendations for tower setups? :P
 
arad85 said:
No it doesn't if you format the partition, you lose ALL the data on it. I've done countless (well, not really, but you know what I mean) reformatted installs and I've never seen a Windows.old directory. A format is just that - it erases the disk to look like it is completely empty before filling with new.
Click to expand...

I didn't say it stays if you format the partition. I said when you choose to install like that without reformating the drive, Windows does format the space it needs before installing, but it keeps a copy of Windows in the Windows.old folder. It doesn't keep any other data on the disc outside of the .old folder.
 
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