What should I be looking for in a computer - part 2
Discussion
4 replies
Posted by Peter Cross on October 25, 2011 at 5:39 PM
I wanted to report on how things turned out after my request on this topic and all of the great feedback I got. It appeared I might be able to avoid purchasing a new computer by some selective upgrades. I know I'll have to eventually bite the bullet but this seemed like a good short term strategy. The Microsoft analysis said I could do an upgrade to my system to a 32 bit Window 7 OS. The other item was going from 2 g of RAM to 4g. So I checked out Crucial.com and found them great to deal with and the new memory was delivered in days. Ditto for Win7. I completed both upgrades. The RAM was quick and easy. The upgrade to Win7 took several hours. It's been installed now for about a week and I see a definite improvement. I have yet to have to do a control-alt-delete to a frozen program or worse shut the computer down. This was becoming tedious. Guess most sites and programs out there are geared to Win7 now. Sure beats Vista. The whole system just seems to run smoother. Can't say I've noticed anything plus that I can attribute to the RAM upgrade. PSE seems to work better but I haven't noticed any changes in speed of doing things. But the new RAM may just be helping with the general computer environment. Anyway, a big thanks to all those who provided guidance and insight. You were a big help and probably saved me a lot of money (at least for right now).
I'm happy that your upgrade went smoothly. Win 7 is a big improvement over Vista, for sure. You say things seem to run more smoothly, which I believe is due not only to a clean OS install, but also your RAM upgrade.
--P
Posted by Paul DeCesare on October 25, 2011 at 7:59 PM
Peter, Windows 7 is the operating system that Windows users have been waiting for, they got LOT right with this one. I started on it before it was released to retail in 2009 and haven't looked back.
Increasing your ram was a very good move, no question that the more ram you have, the better. PSE won't move faster, to get a noticable speed increase would take a newer faster processor (i.e., new PC), but you will still get more breathing room with more ram. One thing that can speed up your user experience a bit is a newer hard drive because the standard speed these days is 7200rpm, and chances are you have a 5400rpm drive. BUT, that's a big job and probably not worth the trouble. BTW, the System page will show that you have 4GB of ram, but any 32-bit version of Windows can only see 3.3GB, so if you ever use some other system utility and it says 3.3gb of ram, that's normal.
Enjoy your new elbow room and new OS, I'm sure you'll like it. If you ever jump up to the real Photoshop then you'll want to look at a 64-bit machine (with an i5 or i7 processor) so you can use more than 3.3GB of ram, and it'll run like a Saturn V rocket, believe me! But for now for PSE it sounds like you have a good working rig. Enjoy!
Posted by David Bostedo on October 25, 2011 at 8:01 PM
I'd agree with Preston on the clean install being responsible for a lot of the improvement. In order to keep it running that way (or probably help even more) you may want to visit Black Viper's Windows 7 Services Recommendations and turn off the unnecessary services (particularly the search indexing if you don't need it).
You should also regularly clean your registry, and scan for malware (ccleaner and malwarebytes are good freeware for these, although I use Registry Mechanic). I've found these things have kept my most recent PC running pretty much like new over the last 3 years. I don't notice any of the age-related slow down that a lot of people do.
Black Viper is a great site. Be sure to check out the forum there--lots of interesting topics. If you decide to tweak the Windows Services, be careful. I suggest you create a Restore Point before you stop any services. I'll also second David's recommendation for ccCleaner and Malwarebytes.
One hint: If you use a program like Malwarebytes, SpyBot, or AdAware, turn off active scanning if you already have an antivirus program running in the background. Not only do these apps use RAM, you may have conflicts.
Discussion
4 repliesPeter
I'm happy that your upgrade went smoothly. Win 7 is a big improvement over Vista, for sure. You say things seem to run more smoothly, which I believe is due not only to a clean OS install, but also your RAM upgrade.
--P
Increasing your ram was a very good move, no question that the more ram you have, the better. PSE won't move faster, to get a noticable speed increase would take a newer faster processor (i.e., new PC), but you will still get more breathing room with more ram. One thing that can speed up your user experience a bit is a newer hard drive because the standard speed these days is 7200rpm, and chances are you have a 5400rpm drive. BUT, that's a big job and probably not worth the trouble. BTW, the System page will show that you have 4GB of ram, but any 32-bit version of Windows can only see 3.3GB, so if you ever use some other system utility and it says 3.3gb of ram, that's normal.
Enjoy your new elbow room and new OS, I'm sure you'll like it. If you ever jump up to the real Photoshop then you'll want to look at a 64-bit machine (with an i5 or i7 processor) so you can use more than 3.3GB of ram, and it'll run like a Saturn V rocket, believe me! But for now for PSE it sounds like you have a good working rig. Enjoy!
You should also regularly clean your registry, and scan for malware (ccleaner and malwarebytes are good freeware for these, although I use Registry Mechanic). I've found these things have kept my most recent PC running pretty much like new over the last 3 years. I don't notice any of the age-related slow down that a lot of people do.
One hint: If you use a program like Malwarebytes, SpyBot, or AdAware, turn off active scanning if you already have an antivirus program running in the background. Not only do these apps use RAM, you may have conflicts.
--P