OS vs. Performance Issues - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Prince · 09-17-2004, 02:47 PM

I need some tips on how to maintain/improve my comp's performance at a tolerable level.

The specs are as follow:

Dell Dimension 4400 | P4 1.6 GHz | 384 MB DDR @ 266 MHz | 45 GB HDD, FDD, ZIP, DVD+/-RW | ADI 1885 | Radeon 9000 64MB DDR VIVO | Win XP Pro SP2 | DX9 | WMP10

I've considered trying Win2k again, hoping it might perform better on this Dell, but you never really know, XP has performed even better than 2k on some machines, and is more stabile.

Why not continue using XP? It's not a bad operating system, but I've used Server 2003 as a desktop OS and it performed significantly better. I'm running XP Pro, I've all the updates, I run Norton's Antivirus and firewall apps to try and keep the system secure, use AdAware regularly, defrag the drives, etc. I need a LOT of apps installed on the computer, though, and I think this is what eventually slows the system down. I really am not sure how to go about avoiding this, since not installing those apps for use is out of the question.

I've a new HD coming to me in a few days and will be reinstalling the works, once again, but this time I wanted to think ahead and consider the option of installing several operating systems on the machine, perhaps each for a different purpose? I play games that take up a lot of space and eat up a lot of RAM, but I also do a lot of multimedia authoring which does the same, and in order to do the latter I need to remove as many unnecessary processes as I can to make sure nothing messes with encoding, capturing and other 'fragile' jobs the apps perform.

I am always amazed by people who claim that they have no performance problems whatsoever with their machines. There must be something they are doing that I am not, or vice versa.

I could use more RAM, for sure, but I don't know how big of a difference another 512 mb would make.

sailor · 09-18-2004, 05:37 AM

Try disabling some of the XP eye candy--Ive seen it work wonders as far as speeding up systems.

Go to System Properties, click on the Advanced Tab, go to Performance. Under Visual Effects, change the little button to Best Performance. See if that helps the machine any.

Prince · 09-18-2004, 10:05 AM

Thanks...however that's the first thing I do whenever I install XP. I can't stand all that eye candy stuff, I prefer the classic 2k look.

09-17-2004, 02:47 PM	#1 (permalink)
Prince /nɑndəsˈkrɪpt/ Location: LV-426	OS vs. Performance Issues I need some tips on how to maintain/improve my comp's performance at a tolerable level. The specs are as follow: Dell Dimension 4400 \| P4 1.6 GHz \| 384 MB DDR @ 266 MHz \| 45 GB HDD, FDD, ZIP, DVD+/-RW \| ADI 1885 \| Radeon 9000 64MB DDR VIVO \| Win XP Pro SP2 \| DX9 \| WMP10 I've considered trying Win2k again, hoping it might perform better on this Dell, but you never really know, XP has performed even better than 2k on some machines, and is more stabile. Why not continue using XP? It's not a bad operating system, but I've used Server 2003 as a desktop OS and it performed significantly better. I'm running XP Pro, I've all the updates, I run Norton's Antivirus and firewall apps to try and keep the system secure, use AdAware regularly, defrag the drives, etc. I need a LOT of apps installed on the computer, though, and I think this is what eventually slows the system down. I really am not sure how to go about avoiding this, since not installing those apps for use is out of the question. I've a new HD coming to me in a few days and will be reinstalling the works, once again, but this time I wanted to think ahead and consider the option of installing several operating systems on the machine, perhaps each for a different purpose? I play games that take up a lot of space and eat up a lot of RAM, but I also do a lot of multimedia authoring which does the same, and in order to do the latter I need to remove as many unnecessary processes as I can to make sure nothing messes with encoding, capturing and other 'fragile' jobs the apps perform. I am always amazed by people who claim that they have no performance problems whatsoever with their machines. There must be something they are doing that I am not, or vice versa. I could use more RAM, for sure, but I don't know how big of a difference another 512 mb would make. __________________ Who is John Galt?

09-18-2004, 05:37 AM	#2 (permalink)
sailor beauty in the breakdown Location: Chapel Hill, NC	Try disabling some of the XP eye candy--Ive seen it work wonders as far as speeding up systems. Go to System Properties, click on the Advanced Tab, go to Performance. Under Visual Effects, change the little button to Best Performance. See if that helps the machine any. __________________ "Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws." --Plato

09-18-2004, 10:05 AM	#3 (permalink)
Prince /nɑndəsˈkrɪpt/ Location: LV-426	Thanks...however that's the first thing I do whenever I install XP. I can't stand all that eye candy stuff, I prefer the classic 2k look. __________________ Who is John Galt?