Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geek Speak => Topic started by: siochi on 21/01/2011 11:08:09

Title: How can you increase the processing power of a PC without any hardware change?
Post by: siochi on 21/01/2011 11:08:09

I think it can be done by making the operating system more efficient. Are there any other ways this could be achieved?

Title: How can you increase the processing power of a PC without any hardware change?
Post by: CliffordK on 21/01/2011 13:31:42

You will find a lot of notes on overclocking.

I suppose it all depends on your overall goal, and your current state of your computer.  Things like real-time antivirus programs can be very inefficient.  Never run two concurrent antivirus programs.

If you have a single program that you are wishing to run, then evaluate stripping out anything unnecessary to its operation.  Perhaps look at better caching.  Maybe a ram drive could help in certain situations.

If it is PC computing in general, then perhaps some of the same things apply, but it may also depend on how you use your computer.  I have a bad habit of getting 20+ windows open  [xx(]

One other thing to keep in mind.  32 bit operating systems have problems with more than 2 GB RAM.  If you have 4GB or more, you really need a 64 bit OS.

Title: How can you increase the processing power of a PC without any hardware change?
Post by: assimilated on 02/02/2011 19:53:23

You could change the performance settings and "adjust for best performance." That makes a big difference with windows 7 or vista but you will no longer get the "pretty" aero look.

I play computer games and have a separate login profile for playing which also has very few processes running in the background. By doing that it frees up a lot of memory and increases performance a great deal.

Title: How can you increase the processing power of a PC without any hardware change?
Post by: AuToFiRE on 04/02/2011 21:07:44

If you want to possibly kill your computer, you can overclock but i recommend using better cooling methods than the heatsink that came with the processor, or if you are looking just to make the computer run faster, use linux

Title: How can you increase the processing power of a PC without any hardware change?
Post by: yor_on on 24/03/2011 23:58:07

as Assimilated says.
Simple, and will give you a better 'speed'.
Otherwise, back up to XP pro, and do the same :)

Or Linux.

Title: How can you increase the processing power of a PC without any hardware change?
Post by: Daerana on 27/03/2011 11:11:39

upgrading your drivers would also help