Speed increase with RAM?

[SilverZx3]

Vista runs sooo slow for me with 2gb of RAM. I can go to 4 (well, 3.5 thanks to Dell). How much of a diff will that make?

 

[cpjust]

well, 3.5 thanks to Dell

What does Dell have to do with it? It's a limitation of 32-bit Windows. Windows reserves the other 0.5GB for its own internal use like keeping track of virtual address tables...
If you install 64-bit Vista, you can go past 4GB (assuming you have a 64-bit CPU).

I tried running Vista on my system with 2GB of DDR3 RAM and it was running pretty fast. What kind of system do you have? What parts of Vista are slow?
For me the shutdown was taking forever until I fixed it in the registry. I don't remember where I found the info, but just google for "Vista slow shutdown registry" and you'll probably find it.

 

[darkshadow1989]

if you feel your savy enough i use this service configuration every time i do a fresh vista install and it speeds up the computer quite a bit

http://www.blackviper.com/WinVista/servicecfg.htm

try and see if that helps



"Magic is the sole science not accepted by scientists, because they can't understand it - Houdini

 

[linney]

The PC Decrapifier (originally titled, Introducing the Dell De-Crapifier…)

http://www.pcdecrapifier.com/

Some pretty general advise follows -

FAQ779-4784 may help.

windows XP running very slow
thread779-796508

Disable, not uninstall, any unused network adapters

 

[tf1]

As the others suggest, you need to tackle the slow running issue, as throwing more RAM at it isn't necessarily going to resolve the problem. There's something else amiss.


Regards: tf1

 

[SilverZx3]

It's just the whole thing. It's a Dell 530 Q6600 with 2gb of 800mhz RAM, and it just seems sluggish. I'm comparing to my old box which was an Athlon 64 4200+ with 3gb; I assumed this Vista Q6600 would be much faster.

How hard is it to delete Vista and install XP instead?

 

[dseaver]

You need to make sure there are XP drivers for the comp before installing xp

 

[linney]

Some clues and past stories here.

How to install Windows XP over Vista
faq779-6713



How to restore a computer to a previous Windows installation after you install Windows Vista

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933168/en-us#appliesto

Downgrading from Vista to XP
thread1583-1350480

Using DBAN
thread1583-1373898


XP Drivers for a Gateway w/Vista?
thread779-1329243: XP Drivers for a Gateway w/Vista?


How can I install Win XP Pro SP2 on a Vista Pre-installed PC ?
thread779-1373663

Vista OS to xp pro OS?
thread779-1375858

 

[PRPhx]

HAve you performed any maint. on this computer? Have you run Chkdsk on it to see if there are any problems related to the hard drive? Defragged the hd? Any programs running in the background that might be hogging resources?

I just installed Vista Ultimate on an HP with a dual core AMD processor and 2GB of RAM. It's anythibng BUT slow. Seems faster than XP. Altho, I will say it was fun getting around a couple of quirks. I can't believe a MS program would have compatibility issues with an MS OS...ARGH (Visual Studio 2005 says there are comp. issues, which are fixed with SP1 and a fix for VS). Plus I had to use the XP drivers for my 3COM 3c509C NIC. Ya, I know it's an old card, but it works!

 

[SimonDavies]

You have gotten rid of all of the vendor crap off it haven't you? One of the first things I did with both my Vaio and Lenovo laptops was wipe them both and do a fresh install of what I wanted, not what Sony or Lenovo thought I should have.

I have found Vista to be pretty stable with either 2 or 4gb of ram (I have three machines running it, only my main rig has 4gb and that's a Q6600).

You may want to have a look at

http://pcdecrapifier.com/

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[firewolfrl]

what Antivirus are you running
that may slow your machine up to 40%


I run avast on all my machines
I will not run Norton or McAffees

 

[SilverZx3]

yep, used pcdecrapper and use avast

ive got to find a way to go back to XP. My prob is that it appears from what I've read I need a floppy because after I format the drive, supposedly dell doesnt have the XP drivers or something. and i dont have a floppy drive... UGH

I wish I could just format the drive, put in the XP disk, and be done with it.

 

[firewolfrl]

try nlite

http://www.nliteos.com/

you may be able to setup the drivers to be detected....

your best bet is to have a floppy for the drive detection



there are ways to work around it but are a pain

 

[SilverZx3]

i can borrow a USB floppy drive
so on that note, is there anywhere i can get a step-by-step direction on how to go about deleting vista and installing xp?

 

[linney]

You should be able to use Setup from the XP CD to Delete and Format existing Partitions if and when you boot from it. Are the drivers you require for any Sata Hard Drive that are inserted via F6, then a floppy drive becomes beneficial?


HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP (Q313348)

http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q313/3/48.asp

Read the paragraph,
"How to Partition and Format Your Hard Disk by Using Windows XP Setup."


For more help (shows enlargeable screenshots) go here.

http://www.petri.co.il/install_windows_xp_pro.htm

http://www.blackviper.com/Articles/OS/InstallXPPro/installxppro1.htm

It may pay you to ensure via Image Backups that you can get Vista back in in case you need to do so for Warranty reasons.

 

[SimonDavies]

However if you are using a slipstreamed SP2 disk then by rights you shouldn't need to worry about SATA drivers either, I have never had to worry about SATA drivers when using the latest SP2 install disk, that ranges from NV4 - NV6 boards as well as a few Intel chipsets.

As long as you have a working network card in the machine then you 'should' find that you can get online and either download the drivers from WindowsUpdate or find drivers from the original manufacturers (ie Intel\Nvidia\ATI etc). It's never that hard to find drivers for missing devices, especially if you know the chipset you're working with.

I can however say hand on heart that the issue isn't the spec's of your PC, Vista has no issues running well on lesser spec'd machines.

I am starting to think that it's a driver issue. Have you updated any drivers recently? If so then have a look for DriverSweeper from

http://www.Guru3d.com.

Before you run it ensure you have all of the drivers you need (I am talking video and chipset drivers here), download them to a folder but leave them packed up. Install DriverSweeper, uninstall all the drivers and then start in safe mode, run DriverSweeper to remove all previous drivers, reboot and install the new drivers. That may well resolve your issue.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[cdogg]

I agree with Simon and others. Vista doesn't run sluggish on PC's that have half the horsepower yours does. It could be that Dell has overloaded the system with unnecessary software (a tendency found in prebuilds).

Obviously if you go through a clean install, you're probably leaning towards XP. However, a clean install of Vista will probably work out just as well.

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[SilverZx3]

thanks. I've just always really liked XP, and in addition to how well it has run for me in the past, I know where everything is. The layout of Vista and the clunky movement between folders bothers me a bit.

thanks again for all the help!

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, I understand. It's funny a lot of people say that because for the longest time, I heard the same thing from die-hard 98 users dreading the switch to XP.

Nothing wrong with that of course!! It's just a knee-jerk reaction we tend to have...

~cdogg
"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Einstein
[tab][navy]For posting policies, click [/navy]here.

 

[SilverZx3]

I really want to go back to XP tonight, but no floppy... and I am afraid of formatting the drive, and then having no way to load XP! lol