Vista running slow

[John]

Hi

I have a 2.53 MHz Celeron PC with 1 GB RAM. Problem is that vista runs a bit
slow. Under Windows Experience Index, each component's score is as under;

Processor Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.53GHz, score = 3.5
Memory (RAM) 1.24 GB, score = 4.5
Graphics Standard VGA Graphics Adapter, score = 1.0
Gaming graphics 8 MB Total available graphics memory, score = 1.0
Primary hard disk 65GB Free (74GB Total), score = 5.6

The base score is 1.0 which seems to be derived from the graphics card. Does
it mean that graphics card is the problem or do I need to upgrade anything
else too?

Thanks

Regards

 

[Paul Riemerman]

If you can find a video card with a minimum rating of 3.5 that will fit into
your machine the rating should go up to 3.5 (the ratings kind of translate
to 1: works without aero; 2: works with aero; 3: runs pretty good; 4: runs
well; 5: runs as fast as it can on current hardware.)

Paul R

 

[Paul]

I think it is definitely your graphic card that cause the problem, can
upgrade the graphic card to the Nvidia 8 series and I think the overall
performance will be improved.

If your budget is allowed, then it is also recommend to upgrade to either
AMD or Intel Dual Core CPU. However, you should pay attention the chipset of
your motherboard that which Dual Core processor it supports (i.e. Pentium D
or the newer Core2Duo ?)

Hope this can help

 

[=?iso-8859-1?Q?JethroUK=A9?=]

I don't really know much but they have included graphics performance to give
some overall benchmark - but when 'you' say your machine 'runs a bit slow',
this would only affect gaming experience really and won't affect your
general day-2-day usage so if it is your general usage is slow i would look
elsewhere & probably consider buying an extra gigabyte of memory - although
it might not affect your score it certainly will affect your day-2-day
performance because the machine can buffer twice as much information which
is soooooooooo much faster than repeatative disc access

i also don't think you can run the 'aero' desktop unless you get a seperate
graphics card - which obviously won't improve your performance it (quite the
opposite) but it means you're also not enjoying all the benfits

p.s. i can't figure out why these days you can a gig of memory in a flash
drive for under £10 and yet bare memory for your machine costs a lot more
money

 

[Robert Martin]

2 Gigs of ram would help.
A Celeron is really not powerful enough if you want speed.
You probably have integrated grafix (UGH!!!)
A $100 video card would help a lot.

Robert

 

[Paul Randall]

p.s. i can't figure out why these days you can a gig of memory in a flash
drive for under £10 and yet bare memory for your machine costs a lot more
money

What's in a name?
Flash memory is not called Flash because it is fast as a flash -- its NOT.
It is typically slower by a factor of 10 to 100 than the main memory in your
computer and use different technology. The only reason anyone used it in
the first place is that it has one really good property -- it requires
absolutely no power to keep its data. Your main memory forgets everything a
few microseconds after it loses power. Newer flash memory is much faster
than it was just a few years ago, and Vista tries to take advantage of it
with ReadyBoost. In this case, on average, any particular spot in the flash
card memory can be accessed faster than the heads in a hard drive can be
moved from where ever it happens to be, to some new spot to get data, and
then back to where it was so it can continue what it had been doing there.

-Paul Randall

 

[dean-dean]

What is the make and model name|number of your computer? If you post that
info, someone may be able to help you find your correct display driver,
which, at the very least, you should install. You are using the Microsoft
generic driver for your graphics.

 

[Lang Murphy]

Hi

I have a 2.53 MHz Celeron PC with 1 GB RAM. Problem is that vista runs a
bit slow. Under Windows Experience Index, each component's score is as
under;

Processor Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.53GHz, score = 3.5
Memory (RAM) 1.24 GB, score = 4.5
Graphics Standard VGA Graphics Adapter, score = 1.0
Gaming graphics 8 MB Total available graphics memory, score = 1.0
Primary hard disk 65GB Free (74GB Total), score = 5.6

The base score is 1.0 which seems to be derived from the graphics card.
Does it mean that graphics card is the problem or do I need to upgrade
anything else too?

Thanks

Regards

All of your other scores look acceptable. You don't say if you -can- upgrade
your video card... is this a laptop or a desktop? If the latter, does it
have an AGP or PCI slot into which you can insert a video card? If so, does
your BIOS allow you to disable the on-board video? Most would assume Yes and
Yes... but... without knowing for sure, we're all taking a shot in the dark
here.

My personal experience is, yes, a slow video card can impact the perceived
performance of a PC, regardless of the OS running on it.

Lang

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

John

Your graphics card is not up to the job on any count, and upgrading it would
help the cause somewhat..

BUT, your processor is also as the lower end too, and while your memory may
score well, the amount of RAM installed may not be enough for what you do at
times..

Hi

I have a 2.53 MHz Celeron PC with 1 GB RAM. Problem is that vista runs a
bit slow. Under Windows Experience Index, each component's score is as
under;

Processor Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.53GHz, score = 3.5
Memory (RAM) 1.24 GB, score = 4.5
Graphics Standard VGA Graphics Adapter, score = 1.0
Gaming graphics 8 MB Total available graphics memory, score = 1.0
Primary hard disk 65GB Free (74GB Total), score = 5.6

The base score is 1.0 which seems to be derived from the graphics card.
Does it mean that graphics card is the problem or do I need to upgrade
anything else too?

Thanks

Regards

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[NT Canuck]

Hi

I have a 2.53 MHz Celeron PC with 1 GB RAM. Problem is that vista runs a
bit slow. Under Windows Experience Index, each component's score is as
under;

Try downloading a Vista compatible demo/trial of O&O version 10 defragmenter
or Ultimate defrag and check the fragmented file %, if more than 10% it
starts
to have an impact on system response. Both utilities mentioned also allow
for peeking into each cluster/block to see what files are inside, very
useful.

The video card isn't too big an issue just for running standard applications
but for newer or fast action gaming the video card can be a major item.

NT Canuck
'Seek and ye shall find'

 

[Guest]

Hi John,

Looking at your scores, I would conclude that your graphics sub-system is
the problem. I also assume that this is on-board graphics. If this is the
case, and you have an AGP or PCI-E slot, I recommend that you get a new
graphics card and try that. Make sure that the new card is compatible with
the slot. For a more responsive system, Windows Vista requires much more
memory than 8MB for its graphics. This low memory means that the main memory
will be more heavily used and, as such, will mean less memory for
applications which inturn means greater use of the page file on the hard
disk, giving rise to poor system performance. If you cannot replace your
graphics card then increasing the amount of memory in your machine should
increase its performance, although the score for your graphics will remain
the same. In fact, I would consider increasing the amount of memory anyway.
Dwarf

 

[Mats]

Hi!

I have the problem, I had my graphic score a solid 2. My graphic adapter was
a ASUS EN7300LE that proved to be broke. It finally refused to even start on
the computer.

Which graphics card are you recommending? I want at least 512 MB memory.

Thanks
Mats