PC upgrade

The23rdman

The23rdman

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Dean
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Hi peeps,

My current pc is way too slow for me to efficiently run Lightroom and CS3. Okay, it's usable, but not quick enough. I'm running XP on a Pentium 4 with 2gigs of RAM. The HD isn't really big enough at 150gigs, which doesn't help as I'm always having to offload stuff to get it down to an optimum level, but the question I ask is will more RAM help significantly or do I need a faster processor?
 
Not that much, Neil. If money was no object I'd just invest in a faster unit, but it is very much so. I guess RAM is the way here then.
 
Run this Crucial memory scan, it will tell you exactly which RAM and how much your system will handle.
 
Already done that, Steve, thanks. :)
 
I dont know why people get so hung up on RAM, in my opinion (as a systems engineer) is that your P4 chip is likely the issue. 2gb of memory will run photoshop and lightroom easily if you have a decent processor. I run CS4 on 2gb of mediocre RAM (laptop) and ive never had it hang once

Its unlikely that your motherboard will take a dual core chip so you would need a new board, a dual core processor and RAM is pretty cheap these days so could stick with the 2gb youve got (as long as it will go in the new board) or buy faster ram
 
RAM is the most economical way of boosting your computers performance, it is often an underated component of the PC.

We've just used this as an upgrade method in the showroom where we are tied with the PC's, OS and bits we use in the office sue to standardisation, by upgrading the memory the machines we have upgraded have been offered a new lease of life with the users not believing just how much they have sped up...

Definately get the most RAM that is compatible with your motherboard, you will definately notice the difference, hard disks are easy to upgrade for space but won't really do much in relation to the speed of the machine...
 
It currently has 4 sticks of 512, but I do plan on buying the next lot in pairs.
 
If you suspect that its the RAM causing the issue then I would open photoshop, open a few photos and do the same with lightroom. Once open, check the task manager and see how much RAM you have available. If its less than 300mb then go for the RAM increase.

If not, check what your processor is doing under task manager and see what percentage its idling at
 
Good plan. I'll do that right now...

Okay, the problem is the processor. It's always when running a plugin or exporting from Lightroom it goes on slow down. With task manager open I can see the cpu clocking out.
 
noneforit said:
If you suspect that its the RAM causing the issue then I would open photoshop, open a few photos and do the same with lightroom. Once open, check the task manager and see how much RAM you have available. If its less than 300mb then go for the RAM increase.

If not, check what your processor is doing under task manager and see what percentage its idling at
Click to expand...

That's probably the most sensible piece of advice in this thread so far.
If RAM isn't the issue, your best option is to simply buy a new computer and leave the old one for lighter tasks or as a backup.
In case you'd decide for a new computer, consider getting a recent SSD for a boot drive. The second generation 80GB X25-M would probably serve you well as the OS drive. Look at AnandTech for reviews, the site seems to be a good starting resource if you'd like to read up on SSDs.

EDIT: I'm too slow :p
 
I have a P4 laptop with 2GB of ram - it flies, handling DPP, Photoshop, you name it, all at once with no issues.

I would recommend a ram upgrade always, simply because its reasonably cheap to do and will improve performance. The reason my lappy works so well however, is because I've cut out virtually all the rubbish from Windows XP. On startup, there are 18 processes running instead of the usual 35 or so, everything is stable and happy.

I'll dig out the instructions I found for doing this, but in the meantime here's a few things to begin with.
 
Ste Manns said:
I have a P4 laptop with 2GB of ram - it flies, handling DPP, Photoshop, you name it, all at once with no issues.

I would recommend a ram upgrade always, simply because its reasonably cheap to do and will improve performance. The reason my lappy works so well however, is because I've cut out virtually all the rubbish from Windows XP. On startup, there are 18 processes running instead of the usual 35 or so, everything is stable and happy.

I'll dig out the instructions I found for doing this, but in the meantime here's a few things to begin with.
Click to expand...


Soz for butting in - mine has 56 Processes on the go - but only 5 apps that I'm running - are you saying most of the rest is unnecessary and can be deleted/swtiched off???

Assuming you know which of course :eek:

Oh & yes it's XP too

DD
 
DiddyDave said:
Soz for butting in - mine has 56 Processes on the go - but only 5 apps that I'm running - are you saying most of the rest is unnecessary and can be deleted/swtiched off???

Assuming you know which of course :eek:

Oh & yes it's XP too

DD
Click to expand...

It depends what you have installed and your particular configuration, but yes a lot of XP processes can be switched off and your machine will love you for it. I have also completely removed IE and installed Safari for windows (don't install Firefox) and also Opera, these don't run processes when they aren't running. Also remove Messenger if you don't use it, bits of this are loaded even if you never use it, it all takes up resources.

I should add I also have a tiny XP netbook that starts in around 40 seconds flat, instead of the usual 3 minutes (if you're lucky)

For extra speed, up your virtual memory in settings to their max and store the bulk of your stuff on another drive. The more room left on your main HD the better, all these small improvements add up to a big improvement.
 
In theory you could disable ALL startup programs (maybe bar your antivirus :))

Im running Windows 7 and have 7 (weird I know) processes running when the machine is doing nothing
 
This is all good stuff, guys, simply because buying a new machine is not an option right now.

Neil, the cpu maxes out if I export from Lightroom or run a heavy plugin in ps.
 
okay just wanted to make sure it wasnt your AV doing on access scans..

you could try and find a P4 with a faster clock speed for the same socket type.. but to be honest i dont think thatll make any noticable difference
 
Thanks again. I'm going to work on those tweaks mentioned above and get some more RAM and see where that leaves me.
 
Here you go, another one for you. This one has some further tweaks in it. I wouldn't bother with any that require 'handy little applications' installing as this usually defeats the object, but the other things do work.

Wish I could find the original article I used there were about thirty or so tweaks, these two have some of them but there are more things you can do.
 
You can always go the 2nd hand route to upgrade your CPU, RAM and mobo. Upgrading to something like a C2D with 4GB would really speed things up. Bigger HDD's are very cheap these days too.
 
Thanks, Ste and Luke. Yes, I would be going second hand.

To answer an earlier question, my current cpu is a Field P4 3.00GHz, 3006 MHz.
 
I've just had a look and the fastest 478 socket processor is only about 3.4 so it's going to be a case of squeezing as much out of this then upgrading I think.
 
Doing all that has made bugger all difference. I'm still maxing out my processor way too easily. Okay, I know nothing about dual core so what am I looking at as a decent upgrade I can buy used?
 
You will have to make sure your motherboard is comaptible with the few socket 478 dual cores out there. They also run hot, are power hungry and not that much faster than a single core P4. I really would just save your money up and do the full upgrade at a later date. I know that it might be a struggle but I can't see you getting any great milage out of money spent on your current computer.
 
I was talking about a complete trade in and getting a used dual core tower instead. What processor am I looking at for a significant performance shift?
 
I would think that you would need an core 2 duo or AMD equivalent at least. How much of a budget wil you have? In all hosnesty if you don't have too much to spend dell outlet is a good place to start looking. Good value computers with a decent warantee all of the way. You should be able to spend ~£300 and get a machine that will last you quite a while.
 
About a fiver? I'll look into the Dell outlet stuff. Makes sense. Thanks. :)
 
How long is your cpu maxed out for? I have never really bothered looking at mine but just did a quick test with the portrature skin smoothing filter. I'm running a quad core 2.4GHz with 2GB memory, and this is the result on CPU use.
image1zuh.jpg


Spike up to 100% on all 4 cores for about 5 seconds but the machine remained usable. Pretty much everything will hit 100% it is just a case of for how long.
 
The23rdman said:
My current pc is way too slow for me to efficiently run Lightroom and CS3. Okay, it's usable, but not quick enough. I'm running XP on a Pentium 4 with 2gigs of RAM.
Click to expand...

How long have you had the PC? Was it slow when you 1st got it? I doubt it?

Can't understand why no one else has suggested this.....

Why don't you consider reformatting the disk, (or even better replace it with a faster disk like the Samsung 1TB Spinpoint drive or even go the Raid route)
if your system is IDE and doesn't support Sata you can get an adaptor, reload your OS and essential software only, then see how it goes, computer systems
get bogged down after just a few months use, it's not uncommon for people to format and reload everything one'ce in a while, your PC will feel like new again!

A P4 3Ghz is still a fairly powerfull processor, especially when paired up with 2 gigs of RAM, (even by todays standards)
and it shouldn't be too taxing on the hardware if you're running XP either.
 
Thats what gets me with PCs - when you buy 'em, top spec and all that. Then after a while they start getting slower and slower...yeah I know they get bogged down and you have to do some maintenance, but they never seem to be as fast as when they were new.

I'd certainly agree, a clean install will work wonders for you Dean.
 
Guys, I know this and I do a clean install every 6 months or so. I bought it used and tbh it wasn't exactly blisteringly fast then. I may just trade the bugger in.
 
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