Renewing my PC, or "How do I get back to the Glory Days?"

[rmthompson]

Dear Wonderful-people-who-are-smarter-than-I,

Hey there. How are you? I'm well thanks for asking.

However, what's not well is my computer. I mean, don't get me wrong, I still love this clunker and I am not ready to "pull the plug" so to speak, but I AM considering purchasing a Quad Core computer in the new year to take it's place.

BUT - Between now and then, I am wondering if there is anyway to regain some of this ol girl's former Glory. When I cracked it open a few years ago and pulled the stock crap and filled it with a new Power Supply, Graphics card, RAM and Sound Card, I assumed this thing would be future proof for at least... 6 months.

Well that 6 months has come and gone, and come and gone, and come and gone again, and I cannot help but notice this thing is slower than molasses pie at a diner in Alaska.

So, what can I do to fix this thing? I'll give you an idea of what I've got in it, but if I need to run specific tests or something, let me know. I am willing to do nearly anything to get this thing running faster, but I need to keep the HD intact.

Here is my system:

Windows XP sp2 (HOME EDITION)
AMD Sempron 3100+ 1.81Ghz
1.25 GB of RAM

160 GB HD w/ 9.97GB free. (I've tried so many times to delete loads of things, but I somehow cannot)

...
SO, what else do you need to know?

 

[Chuck Norris]

Your best bet is to purchase a new computer. I'm not being facetious; to buy a new computer at your current specs would cost around $200 in the US, if not less. A $350 computer from Dell will have a dual-core processor (not a stellar one but one that is easily twice as fast as what you have now), 2GB of RAM and 320GB of HDD space. A pretty good deal! (I am getting one with a Q6600 for Christmas! I can't wait to ditch this Pentium 4..)

Until you can get a new system, you could increase its memory to 2GB (likely) very cheaply, though unless you do a lot of multi-tasking on that computer it may not be necessary. Upgrading the processor is possible but we would need to know exactly what the model of your computer is and what motherboard it has to know if it will support faster processors. If it supports a fast enough processor you could possibly install an inexpensive Athlon X2 dual-core processor but you would have to install it and if you are not technically minded you would need to pay someone else to do it for you if you don't know anyone experienced and willing to do it for free.

My recommendation is to definitely wait until you can buy the new system. Even a cheap athlon X2 may cost ~$50 or so (+ shipping + thermal paste + anti-static stuff + misc ) and if you bought a cheap new computer for $350 that's almost 15% of your new computer!

 

[Ijack]

Your big problem, in my opinion, is the 9.97GB free space. Microsoft say that for NTFS to work efficiently it needs at least 20% free space. Past that point and performance starts to fall off. Also, your disk is probably fragmented to hell - I don't think you can defrag with that little free space.

One possibility (not sure if you can do this with Home Edition) would be to compress the stuff that is used less often, then defrag the disk.

 

[rmthompson]

Ijack,

I deleted a BUNCH of stuff and then defragged about a month ago. I could only get it to about 30 gigs free.

Is there a program that can help delete large files I might have lost somewhere?

Ryan

 

[rmthompson]

Here is the information on my computer:

COMPAQ PRESARIO: SR1514NX

MOTHERBOARD: K8S-LA (Salmon)

Form factor Micro-ATX form factor: 9.6 in x 9.6 in
System BIOS Supplier Award
Processor AMD Athlon 64 processor with HyperTransport support
Processor socket type Socket 754
Processor front side bus frequency 1600 MT/s @ 800 MHz
Maximum approved processor
Athlon64 3700+
AMD Athlon64 3400+
Chipset "North Bridge" SiS760
Chipset "South Bridge" SiS964
Memory type PC 2700 or PC 3200 DDR
Memory sockets 2 x 184-pin DDR DIMM
Maximum Memory 2.0 GB
Graphics None
Graphics configuration Up
Graphics connector (AGP) 1 AGP 8x
Audio Integrated AC97
AC'97 CODEC Device Realtek ALC658C 6-channel CODEC
Audio Jacks ( Legend below ) 2M (1F+1B), 2LI (1F+1B), LO, Headphone connector
Ethernet 10/100 LAN supplier Realtek® RTL8201CL LAN PHY Fast Ethernet LAN controller
Ethernet configuration Integrated, Down
IEE 1394 VIA VT6307
IEE 1394 Front/Back Options 1F + 1B
SATA connectors 2 SATA connectors (supports a total of 2 drives, 1 serial ATA-150 disk drive on each connector)
IDE UDMA modes 2 x UDMA 100/66/33
Expansion slots (AGP/PCI/Exten) 1 AGP, 3 PCI
USB ports Up to 6
USB Front/Back Options Up to 2F + 4B
Serial, parallel, floppy, PS2 keyboard and mouse 1S,1P,1F,PS2 K+M
Available manufacturing options ( Legend below ) ULE6