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    Speed up old Alienware

    Discussion in 'Alienware' started by Packer445, Dec 23, 2009.

  1. Packer445

    Packer445 Notebook Consultant

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    I have an alienware desktop that is now almost four years old. My frames per second have decreased by about half since i first got the computer and im also able to tell certain processes are much slower than once before. What can i do besides the usual defrag and compress to speed this baby back up?
     
    Packer445, Dec 23, 2009
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  2. Wattos

    Wattos Notebook Deity

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    You could reformat the HDD and reinstall the OS. You have most likely accumulated a lot of crap-ware over the 4 years on the machine and thus it runs slow.
     
    Wattos, Dec 23, 2009
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  3. Xeneize

    Xeneize Notebook Deity

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    My Alienware desktop is 5 years old and it kicks butt !

    What I did is a fresh install, a complete clean of the inside (fans were a little dirty) and replaced my original SLI 7800 GTX for a single 8800 GTX and plays pretty much the same my M17x does just at lower FPS, but same settings.
     
    Xeneize, Dec 23, 2009
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  4. TurbodTalon

    TurbodTalon Notebook Virtuoso

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    I agree with Wattos. That alone will speed your system up. Upgrade to Windows 7 if possible.
    Minimum of 7200RPM hard drive. Solid State Disk if possible.
    Ensure you have at least 2GB of RAM. 4GB if you can.
    Newest drivers for everything.
    That thing will feel brand new! Good luck!
     
    TurbodTalon, Dec 23, 2009
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  5. Packer445

    Packer445 Notebook Consultant

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    awesome thanks alot guys. to reformat and erase everything i can just use the disks that came in the leather folder correct? also with upgrading to windows 7 do i really have to install vista first? im currently running xp
     
    Packer445, Dec 23, 2009
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  6. Wattos

    Wattos Notebook Deity

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    Hey,

    Yeah, you can just use those discs. One of them should be labeled recovery cd. You need to insert that cd and boot from it. Also, you dont need to upgrade win 7 (but if you want to, you can install win 7 without installing any other OS, just from a formatted disk). Windows Xp is however good enough.
     
    Wattos, Dec 23, 2009
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  7. AlienContact

    AlienContact Notebook Evangelist

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    Or if cost isn't a problem...you can upgrade everything in side of it to maxx it's performance....did you got the AMD version or Intel version???
     
    AlienContact, Dec 23, 2009
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  8. Wattos

    Wattos Notebook Deity

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    Upgrading an old PC is quite useless. You will most likely spend almost as much as on a new pc, but will still be stuck with older components (eg. DDR2 RAM instead of DDR3 RAM or an old chipset)

    I would instead just do a clean install and as long as you dont game, you should be fine. Even newer games should still run adequately.
     
    Wattos, Dec 24, 2009
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  9. moral hazard

    moral hazard Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    overclock it.
     
    moral hazard, Dec 24, 2009
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  10. nodeffect

    nodeffect Notebook Evangelist

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    erm, what's your specs ?
     
    nodeffect, Dec 24, 2009
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  11. AtolSammeek

    AtolSammeek Tokay Gecko

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    It sure sounds like you have not upgraded to many systems. I use to do it all the time. I would buy cpu Motherboard combo and buy ram and gpu Use older parts like hard drive and cdrom drives. Then slowly rebuild my system to what I want it to be. Everything would have a year warrintee. But the old parts.

    Books that are good are Upgrading and repairing PCs
     
    AtolSammeek, Dec 24, 2009
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  12. Packer445

    Packer445 Notebook Consultant

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    ok ive done the clean install and everything. should i stay with xp or upgrade to windows 7?
     
    Packer445, Dec 24, 2009
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  13. AtolSammeek

    AtolSammeek Tokay Gecko

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    If you want to play with windows 7 there a few ways you can do this.

    1 Just a clean install of windows 7. Which would be the hardest way to solve issues

    2 Install windows xp in two partions. Then install windows 7 to the second partion. Which give you a chance to try windows 7 and if you have issue with win 7 you can reboot and enter windows xp. When you boot up it will give you a 10 second to pick which os you want to use.

    3 Use a spare hard drive and set it to master Hard drive useing Bios and install windows 7. So you dont have the dual boot screen but if need be you can go into bios and switch hard drive and run win xp. If win 7 stable you format the win xp drive.

    As if window 7 going to run stable on your system I am not sure. But when I test a New OS for a new system I tend to try to use option 3.
     
    AtolSammeek, Dec 25, 2009
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  14. the3vilGenius

    the3vilGenius 3vil knows no fear

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    On xp systems you can download (and borrow) eboostr and use a 1 GB USB stick. The memory works alot faster thhen the old memory in xp systems. Make sure you only assign 1 GB otherwise your system might be unstable. This works like windows readyboost but on old pc systems it really boosts performance.
     
    the3vilGenius, Dec 25, 2009
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  15. Packer445

    Packer445 Notebook Consultant

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    right now it has an 8800gtx. could i add a 9400gt to speed it up? or a gtx240?
     
    Packer445, Dec 27, 2009
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  16. Packer445

    Packer445 Notebook Consultant

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    ??? Anyone?
     
    Packer445, Dec 29, 2009
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  17. Wattos

    Wattos Notebook Deity

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    The 9400gt and gtx240 will be slower than the 8800gtx.

    Hope that helps
     
    Wattos, Dec 29, 2009
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  18. Packer445

    Packer445 Notebook Consultant

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    so basically what would be a card that i could add in sli to speed things up? i know the 8800 gtx was pretty pricey when it came out but whats something that would help but not be over the top expensive?
     
    Packer445, Dec 29, 2009
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