Best bang/buck update for a sluggish system..? RAM didn't improve...

I have an Acer 5920G: 8600GT GPU, stock 2GB RAM (now 3) and the T7300 Core2Duo CPU.

I already upped the RAM to 3GB but it doesn't seem to do all THAT much.
The computer feels rather sluggish under Vista. I've taken down A LOT of software, services etc... but to no avail. That and it's pretty established that Vista's just not great.

I'm looking to get rid of the some of the lag, get a smoother system... I may need more power and therefore to upgrade the CPU but that may be expensive... :/ ?

Anyway... thanks for any tips on this one. It's a well spec'ed laptop but it gets frustrating to use.

 

Sounds like storage lag. Try a 80GB X25M G2 SSD, placing your existing HDD in an optical bay caddy. See sig. OR could go a 7k500 Hitachi 7200rpm HDD. Ensure you have AHCI selected in you bios to improve performance with your existing HDD.

The Acer 5920g has been overclocked successfully as well by tme-unlocking it. See here.

 

Thanks for the tip. SSDs are expensive but I'll look into this.

My current harddrive is a Toshiba MK1637GSX. My laptop only has space for one HDD and I'm out of USB ports though...

 

Actually I'd suggest Windows 7. This tends to make a laggy Vista system feel a bit brisker. By no means a miracle cure I thnk you would be a bit happier. The 7K500 is a great drive as well.....

 

Try backing up your data and reinstalling the OS.

 

Well, Windows 7 would probably help, I sure noticed a difference from Windows XP. But back on topic, defrag? You could even try clean install.

 

I second the clean install idea.

 

3rd on the clean install. I'd bet the registry looks like hell, but I wouldn't trust any freeware registry cleaners if you're doing anything important on the machine. Don't need to upgrade just yet. If you're considering replacing parts that would require a fresh install anyway, why not go ahead and reformat?

Also, storage lag? wat?

 

Me too I second a clean install of the OS.

If you don't want to do it then go to control panel, add remove software, and install all the apps that you don't use. Some of them might have been already there when you bought your laptop like the 60 days trial version of MS office, trail games and so on.

Also do Run --> MSconfig --> Startup (tab) --> uncheck all the apps that you don't need to start in their own (QuickTime, Adobe...).

Then use CCleaner (freeware) to delete internet and other temporary files.

Last defrag your harddrive.

If you do this you would notice a significant improvment

 

I use CCleaner, Glary Utilities for cleaning/registry solutions and I degrag weekly using Auslogic Disk Defrag.

I'd do a clean install but... I have Ubuntu on another partition and if I do a clean install I could lose all of this. I can't remember if the instal process lets you chose which partition to use... If this is the case then it's fairly easy, all I'd have to do is restore GRUB instead of MBR and it'll all be ok. If it takes over the whole HDD I'm pretty much refusing to do it until I know more about the process. I would have a lot of things that'd need re-installing but all my files are already on an external HDD so that would be ok.

 

Well, in terms of bang for buck, a clean install is definitely the best because it offers infinite bang per unit buck

 

Yes, you can choose which partition to install in clean install

 

Hello

Here are a few suggestions:
Clean up vista:
System drive (C:?) disk cleanup, set to clean everything and in the more options system files tab set to clean restore points etc. Say ok.
Run defragmentation
Restart, restart, restart.
Run defragmentation again.
If it starts slowly consider registry cleaners (ccleaner) don't bother otherwise
Uninstall/reinstall /repair your antivirus software
Ditto Audio driver (may need to use the acer version)
Ditto graphics driver (Acer or if graphic card then manufacturer if possible)
Check in device manager for device driver alerts
Go to PC pitstop.com, run the free tests (hunt around !) see what is looking below par, especially slow disk transfer rates etc, etc.
See what other updated drivers are available from Acer, windows update and PC pitstop reports.
Leave it on overnight so it can get indexing out of its system.

If still not happy backup all your mail, favourites, documents music licenses etc etc whatever and wherever. If possible now take a full system image to an external HDD using e.g. paragon backup and restore free version.
Do a factory restore. is this better ?

If yes contemplate restoring your stuff or updating to W7
If no you might as well restore that full disk image you just saved.

 

clean install of windows 7 if possible, clean install of windows vista otherwise.

 

1. Get 500GB Hitachi 7K500... will be a great upgrade and more space too...

2. Do clean install of windows 7 64bit... although u don't have more than 4GB ram , 64bit seems faster than 32bit

 

Thanks. The 320GB version would double my available disk space and it's less than 60 euros it seems! Great tip, thanks. I'm also looking into an upgrade kit to W7. Will do a clean install first and then since Ubuntu 10.04 is coming soon I'll just dual boot it from W7.

 

Try a clean install first. With your hardware, there's no way even Vista would be laggy.

 

Ok good call. I may be getting a W7 for cheap anyway and should learn soon. If I do, I'll do a clean W7 install and try to upgrade my HDD. Those Hitachi don't seem easily found in the Netherlands though so I'll need other choices.

 

Hmm, I'm surprised that the RAM upgrade didn't improve your system's performance any, my RAM upgrade certainly did? Technically speaking, it does have the greatest impact on performance as hardware item go--provided it's below sufficient to begin with.

On the other hand, your sluggish system performance could be due to all the registry altering programs (junk) you've accumulated over time. In that case, the popular vote for a clean install (hopefully to W7) stands supreme.

Please let us know how it turns out.

 

Alright I'll be doing a clean Vista install on C. I backed up all my files and I made a list of all the additional software I'll have to update.
Only thing I'm worried about is that I think I activated my MS Office 3 times already... I'll be in a bad position without office but I think I can find a way around that, worse to come.

 

it shouldn't be a problem... Office might detect that ur using same laptop... so it would only activate once..

 

Don't make up stuff.

 

Worst thing that can happen is you'll have to call to activate, it's a fairly simple process. The MS assumption is that noone ever reformats or reinstalls, so 3 activations should suffice for the desktop/laptop exemption. Oh, and I second not making stuff up.