Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Geek Speak => Topic started by: ImTr0uble on 02/04/2008 13:48:42

Title: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: ImTr0uble on 02/04/2008 13:48:42: i have wondered how to make ur computer faster without spending money like just to speed up for less lagg in games and others. so ya.
Title: Re: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: another_someone on 02/04/2008 14:18:00: I am sure there will be plenty who would suggest the best way of doing it is to replace windows with Linux (although a number of your games might not play at all after that).

Regular defragging of the hard disk is the next think commonly recommended.

It terms of hardware upgrades, the most cost effective is just to but more RAM (this now costs as little as about £12/GB) - but you have to be comfortable with messing around with your hardware to install it.
Title: Re: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: Seany on 02/04/2008 14:30:16: Quote from: g3tm3rk3d on 02/04/2008 13:48:42
i have wondered how to make ur computer faster without spending money like just to speed up for less lagg in games and others. so ya.

Remove all your softwares [:D]

Hard format your PC [:D]
Title: Re: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: ImTr0uble on 02/04/2008 14:32:35: lol i defrag my computer every week and what u mean seany?
Title: Re: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: another_someone on 02/04/2008 15:02:26: Another thing some people will sometimes try - but I do not necessarily recommend it, is to overclock their computer.

Many motherboards allow you to go into the various motherboard settings and change the clocking speeds and voltages of various components. If you get it right, you may get a little more speed out of your computer. You will certainly reduce its lifespan, and might have an adverse impact on the stability of the machine, and at worst case, simply overheat it and so destroy it (often people who do this will also add extra fans in the computer case to keep it cool - but if you are paying money for fans, I think adding more RAM is a safer way to spend the same money).
Title: Re: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: Seany on 02/04/2008 15:03:31: Quote from: g3tm3rk3d on 02/04/2008 14:32:35
lol i defrag my computer every week and what u mean seany?

Ermm get rid of all your programs on the computer.
Title: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: that mad man on 02/04/2008 16:47:39: Most important when playing games is to have a graphics card that has plenty of ram >= 256mb and its own GPU if possible. Having a decent card makes a lot of difference in frame rates.

Defrag often.

Have a decent size swap file, 2 1/2 times size of memory.

Install plenty of ram. For XP32 bit up to 2gb and XP64 bit >=2gb

If on XP turn off "eye candy" and set the graphics for "performance", that then gets rid of a lot of unnecessary menu animations and fancy graphic stuff that's not necessary when playing games.

You could set up a separate login account just for games that is performance related. If not playing on line then you could stop the IP services, stop the firewall and virus checker, turn off the fancy graphics and make sure there are few background services running.

Not sure about Vista and games but Vista itself is very processor/memory and graphics hungry before you even start a programme! I would probably recommend wiping Vista or having a dual boot in that situation.

That should speed thing up a lot.
Title: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: Seany on 02/04/2008 16:58:16: Quote from: that mad man on 02/04/2008 16:47:39
Most important when playing games is to have a graphics card that has plenty of ram >= 256mb and its own GPU if possible. Having a decent card makes a lot of difference in frame rates.

Defrag often.

Have a decent size swap file, 2 1/2 times size of memory.

Install plenty of ram. For XP32 bit up to 2gb and XP64 bit >=2gb

If on XP turn off "eye candy" and set the graphics for "performance", that then gets rid of a lot of unnecessary menu animations and fancy graphic stuff that's not necessary when playing games.

You could set up a separate login account just for games that is performance related. If not playing on line then you could stop the IP services, stop the firewall and virus checker, turn off the fancy graphics and make sure there are few background services running.

Not sure about Vista and games but Vista itself is very processor/memory and graphics hungry before you even start a programme! I would probably recommend wiping Vista or having a dual boot in that situation.

That should speed thing up a lot.

I have 2gb RAM but I have a RUBBISH graphics card! So my games are all slow anyway!
Title: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: that mad man on 02/04/2008 17:09:03: I should have mentioned that using on-board graphics makes it all slower as well.

Since I have upgraded my card I now have a Radeon 9200se 128mb agp card going for free to a TNS regular. I have no use for it but someone out there may.

If its any good to anyone then please PM me and I will post it off.
Title: How can you speed up a computer without spending money?
Post by: ImTr0uble on 02/04/2008 18:58:56: thanks alot im going to have to go home and get on my computer and do this im on schools right now =) [O8)]