I have an hp pavilion 320n, with amd athlon 2800+, and 512mb of ram. I keep the hard drive pretty empty. So, my question is this- what could I do to speed up the pc, and how does my athlon compare to pentium 4 processors? Thanks for any help anyone can give me.
To keep the speed up, keep the number of running processes as low as possible. Many applications will try to start processes as soon as the computer starts. If you are running 2000 or XP do a search for a program called "reg cleaner." AMD vs. Pentium? I say Pentium runs smoother and a lot more stable. Others will disagree.
The net. It's a slick little utility that helps keep your registry free from leftover junk when you uninstall an app.
AMD vs. Pentium? Well AMD is whooping Pentium as of right now with their 64bit processors. The 64bit puts the new 3.2Ghz HT processor to shame. The stability issue...I've never had problems with AMD processors. My old 1700+ and my new 3400+ 64bit run perfectly, so does my P4 3.2 HT though. lol So I guess if its just hardware/software issues that you might have that will make your computer run unstable/slower.
Okay, so its kind of a matter of personal opinion as far as athlon vs. pentium? How do I know if mine is a 64bit processor? It says Amd Athlon Xp processor 2800+ (2.08ghz)
AMD vs. Pentium is a Ford vs. Chevy thing. They're both good, they will both do what you want and neither is leaps and bounds better than the other one's comparable chip.
I have registry cleaner, but I have never used to properly, ie. for cleaning registry and all, I guess I am a bit scared of erasing some important file.
Not a bad board, but its not a 64bit system. But don't worry about that. Something else that will help you increase a little bit of speed is to increase your Virtual memory setting for WinXP and if you want to spend money get 1Gb of Ram. But I don't think you need more ram, 512 is a lot. Ken0042, good to see you still around. Are you going to go to Computer fest Mar 26-28? Good place of cheap hardware upgrades.
Unfortunately your pc speed will be limited by your bus speed on your motherboard. HP probably used a cheaper chipset. Also, look for better ram tech such as DDR or Rambus, and higher ATA rate with the IDE hard drive, such as 133 and also 7200 over 5400 speed. These things are what really make your PC faster,not Processors (except for intense programs like high graphic games). Also, minimize the amount of programs running in the background. You can prevent some of the unnecessary programs that startup with windows by going to Start-->Run--> and typing msconfig. Choose the Startup tab and deselect the programs you don't need at startup. Don't guess though. Some of the programs are important to windows, be careful...... Depends on where your speed issues is at, opening folders, files, and basic programs, or gaming. Internet is strictly your connection (dialup, DSL, Cable, T1-3 oh yeah).
Hey Prisoner. Good to see you too. I took a bit of a break for a while, but I'm back again. I hadn't heard of that Computer Fest. Where is it being held? Just one thing to add to what fritchdog said: That only works on Windows98 or ME. 2000 and XP require you to use the Reg Cleaner utility mentioned above.
If your in the Toronto area its at Hall C at the Ex (National Trade Centre in Exhibition Place. Check out: http://www.compfest.com/
Actually I am running winXP Pro and I can use the msconfig utility by typing at the run command line.
I stand corrected. (Actually I'm sitting down.) I do know it doesn't work in 2000. However I may be one of the few people remaining who's still living in the 90's. That's what I figured, Prisoner. No plans to go to Toronto any time in the near future.
Ha... The Athlon 64's don't whip the p4 3.2's with HT... Have you had a look at Tom's Hardware Guide? P4 leads in almost every benchmark catergory, you should check your info again... The Athlon 64's are a novelty right now, because there isn't a good 64 bit desktop OS yet... Until it can get into some true 64 bit computing its like I said, a novelty.
Another place to clean out is the prefetch directory... The prefetch contains a cache of files that windows thinks that it will need... You will It is found in c:\windows\prefetch. If you go to that directory you will find things like system tray utilities, winamp, notepad (if you constantly use it to view txt files). It is safe to remove all the *.pf files from this directory (windows does not seem to remove prefetched files that is doesn't need). Windows will happily recreate the contents of this directory as it need to. Personally, I try to keep the number of files in this directory under 200... And I have also been told that if you are using NTFS and have compressed your hard drive, to uncompress this directory for just that extra bit of umph...
Oh yes, I forgot to add... if you are using an AMD 64bit processor, and you are running Windows XP, you could always try the 64bit Windows XP beta... It runs a treat...
in the 64 bit of winxp, the athlon 64 should be awesome, but I know in 32 bit xp, it isn't anything special.
Very well said. Furthermore, everyone, for some reason is so wrapt with the clock speed of their CPU -- most computer engineers will tell you that the bottleneck is the memory units! As for the AMD64 vs P4EE debate, as far as WORK applications go (everything from database processing to to video encoding) goes, if there is support for it, the AMD64s will destroy the P4EE. If there is no support then odds are that the AMD64 will win but its down to minute differences. As far as games go, for all the games that are (legally) out now, whether you have a AMD64 or P4EE thats more performance that you really need regardless. Obviously there is and advantage for the P4EE and it is not a surprise if games come out ahead -- thats because 64bit support hasnt been provided yet. Yes, bragging rights, bragging rights but do realize that most of the benchmarks out there do not test a CPU in ways that will be practical on a day to day basis (unless you do intend to run UT2004 24hours a day for the rest of your life hehe). Of course, bragging rights arent gonna pay the bills or get you more headshots either Perhaps you missed Linux? ;-) And Tom's Hardware guide is hardly the be-all end-all of reviews.You are correct in saying that the A64 does not WHIP the P43.2EE --- neither does it go the other way. Again see my comments on the above regarding work vs play. As expected, when you run 64Bit procs in a 32bit environment it introduced an increase overhead at a very low level (which is bad) for the processor; think of it as 'safe mode'. If you play in a 64bit environment then the A64 will annihilate the P4EE anyday -- if not only for then reason that the P4EE wont be able to play in the 64bit playpen. You may argue that "well we live in a 32bit world blah blah blah" -- true -- FOR NOW. But we cant (or want) to stay in a 32bit environment for the rest of our lives now do we? ;-) AMD engineers should get lots of credit for creating a FEASIBLE transition processor that competes very well (i wont pass judgement on which is better than which cuz it bloody hell doesnt matter) on the 32bit platforms but also allows you to work in a 64bit environment very well too.
