Upgrade my PC to make Vista run as good as XP did

[invader]

I want to try to regain some of the performance I lost when I upgraded to
Vista. My system has a E6300 CPU w/ 2.0 GB of RAM, RADEON X800XL, and a 3WARE
SATA hardware RAID1.

I'm giving my self a budget of about 300 bucks. Should I:

1) Upgrade my CPU from the E6300 to E6700

2) Upgrade the RAM from 2GB to 4GB (I'm running 32bit Vista, so I wouldn't
see the full 4GB)

- or -

3) Replace the 3Ware with something faster / newer [3Ware doesn't have Vista-
qualified drivers on their controllers yet]

I'm not a gamer, so I didn't put the Radeon X800XL on the list because it
should be fast enough for business computing.

The performance problems I notice are mostly application/UI related. For
example, pauses when hitting reply in windows mail, slow desktop search, slow
windows mail search (much slower than outlook express search), slow
application launching, etc.

I've tried using the performance monitor to figure out what is bogging down
the system during these tasks, but haven't been able to get a handle on it.
If I didn't know any better I'd swear the foolish OS is simply livelocked or
starving itself.

 

[Val]

Start by turning off Aero and all the other eyecandy, dump the sidebar
gadgets, and you'll gain 10% performance.

Hey, ,now it looks like XP again.

 

[invader]

Start by turning off Aero and all the other eyecandy, dump the sidebar

gadgets, and you'll gain 10% performance.

Hey, ,now it looks like XP again.

I can't believe aero and the sidebar are responsible for the slowdown. I
think it's something else buried in the OS. Maybe it's the UAC crap, or DRM,
automatic file backup, search indexer, unknown driver issues, or even my
virus checker. Something's just not right since this machine was upgraded to
Vista.

I ordered the E6700, and upgraded from 2 GB of PC5400 DDR2 to 4 GB of PC6400
DDR2. Maybe that'll make a difference. Probably not.

 

[Michael Solomon]

I can't believe aero and the sidebar are responsible for the slowdown. I
think it's something else buried in the OS. Maybe it's the UAC crap, or
DRM,
automatic file backup, search indexer, unknown driver issues, or even my
virus checker. Something's just not right since this machine was upgraded
to
Vista.

I ordered the E6700, and upgraded from 2 GB of PC5400 DDR2 to 4 GB of
PC6400
DDR2. Maybe that'll make a difference. Probably not.

Is graphics memory shared with main system ram or do you have a graphics
card with it's own onboard memory?

 

[Val]

Case in point.

Compaq Presario v5000 series laptop, Sempron 3300 (2.0GHz) , 1GB RAM,
integrated ATI video using 128MB.

Turn on all Aero features. Sidebar with a couple gadgets installed.

Run a Powerpoint show using some of the bullet animation. The animations run
jerky, like they stutter.

Turn off Sidebar, turn off all display fancy stuff. The PPT show looks the
same, but now the animations glide in as they should. Just as they do on a
lesser powered XP box.

Check Taskmanager while all the goodies are on. Just sitting there idle,
CPU usage is about 15% solid. Sidebar takes about 6-10%, Desktop Window
Manager 2-5%.

Kill Sidebar, total CPU usage goes down to 4-7% range. Set display theme to
Windows Classic, CPU usage is now in the 2% range.

Is that 10-15% CPU usage of the fancy stuff gonna kill your system? No, but
it does put a measurable, visible hit on some applications' performance.

Val

 

[Richard]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

I can't believe aero and the sidebar are responsible for the slowdown. I
think it's something else buried in the OS. Maybe it's the UAC crap, or DRM,
automatic file backup, search indexer, unknown driver issues, or even my
virus checker. Something's just not right since this machine was upgraded to
Vista.

I ordered the E6700, and upgraded from 2 GB of PC5400 DDR2 to 4 GB of PC6400
DDR2. Maybe that'll make a difference. Probably not.

I don't think you should be complaining about performance with that
machine, even before you bought the new parts,
How they arrived at a figure of 10% for the sidebar & aero is beyond me.

Sure, with the sidebar, windows takes a little longer to load, but
there's no slowdown when the system is running.
I get no slowdown from indexing either as it pauses or reduces when
there is user activity.

I think you have further problems there as you shouldn't have a slow
computer at all.


-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iD8DBQFGbwg0qDp2fu862vwRAn24AJkBW1uLyfxoO7YUiFcQdj4weJ6+2ACfbVOE
e2y4X0G43dMXNf+uFak9Trk=
=SLpb
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

 

[Doris Day - MFB]

This reply is not coming from Outhouse Express, hence not top posted ...

I can't believe aero and the sidebar are responsible for the slowdown. I
think it's something else buried in the OS. Maybe it's the UAC crap, or
DRM, automatic file backup, search indexer, unknown driver issues, or even
my virus checker. Something's just not right since this machine was
upgraded to Vista.

I ordered the E6700, and upgraded from 2 GB of PC5400 DDR2 to 4 GB of
PC6400 DDR2. Maybe that'll make a difference. Probably not.

What an idiot! You started this thread asking whether you should consider
purchasing this new hardware to speed up Vista, and now say that you've
already ordered it. Kinda late to look for confirmation.

You could have saved yourself a bunch of money by using a real operating
system like Ubuntu instead of that resource hog called Vista.

Love and Kisses,
Doris

--
My Microsoft Hero (he loves this company!) ... http://tinyurl.com/yp9cn2
Vista - easy to hack - a warning: http://tinyurl.com/2nv4yl
BallmerBumBois: Frank, Julian, Richard Urban, Jupiter Jones, Harry Krause,
Feliks Dzerzhinsky
Sorry if I missed anyone, place your name here _________________.

 

[invader]

What an idiot! You started this thread asking whether you should consider

purchasing this new hardware to speed up Vista, and now say that you've
already ordered it. Kinda late to look for confirmation.

I posted a message, waited about 12 hours and then ordered the parts. There
were no opions from anyone group during that time period (or since) that
would have affected my decision.

You could have saved yourself a bunch of money by using a real operating
system like Ubuntu instead of that resource hog called Vista.

If I could use Linux, then I would. I have other concerns that require me to
run a Windows operating system. So it's either XP or Vista. "downgrading" to
XP remains a viable alternative if the upgraded CPU and RAM don't perform
acceptably.

 

[invader]

I think you have further problems there as you shouldn't have a slow

computer at all.

I agree that I think there is something funny going on, but I try as I might,
I haven't been able to figure out what the cause is. I even went so far as to
delete the huge volumes of junkmail in my 'deleted items' folder and rebuild
the search index thinking it was something to do with too large an index
file.

I just tried it right now and got a 13 second pause between clicking "reply"
and the reply window opening up in Windows Mail. Reopening it a second time
only takes 1 second, but the first time is unacceptably slow IMO.

There's also something funny with the auto-completion when typing names in
windows mail, and the search function in Windows Mail is dreadfully slow.

 

[Lang Murphy]

What an idiot!

Nice civil reply, that...

Lang