WIndows 10 What should I buy to improve performance on an internet browsing only computer?

Dimitri

Member
I'm running:
Athlon II X2 250 3Ghz
ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 series (don't know which one exactly, that's what I get from msinfo)
MSI 760gm-p21 motherboard
4 GB DDR3 RAM
WD 640GB HDD

I only use my computer for browsing the internet and watching videos, no gaming or anything demanding like that, although I often have multiple 100s of tabs open. The computer has been very slow at times, it gets into these bouts where it just hangs when I want it to do something and HDD usage goes to 100% (I think because all RAM is taken up so it starts paging stuff out to free up RAM).

I'm very short on money and want to spend as little as possible, so, within that constraint, what do you think I should do?

Do you think an SSD for Windows and programs would help me more or an additional 4 GB of RAM?

I figure RAM would be more important, but I don't know whether I should be buying more DDR3 (rather than DDR4) or is Win10 going to become more demanding with another year's worth of updates and DDR3 isn't gonna be enough, or should I be good for many years to come with 8 GB of DDR3 (and with what I use my computer for)?

I looked up my MB on MSI website

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/760GM-P21-FX/Specification

and it seems to me from this that it doesn't support DDR4, so I assume if I wanted DDR4 that would mean a new MB too, but would that necessarily also mean I'd need a new CPU? Could I find a MB that supports both DDR4 and my CPU, if I decided to spring for a new MB?

Ideally, I'd like to buy just 4 more GB of DDR3, do you think that should be enough for the next several years?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Ram and SSD. Either find matching ram for what you have or just buy an 8gb kit and sell existing ram. You can find some decent cheap SSD's.
 

beers

Moderator
Staff member
More RAM, faster CPU. If you're just using the internet then most of your crap is stored in RAM. SSD would probably be less of a value add, and I'm a huge proponent of going all-flash. Cheap GPU if you're struggling with video playback.

4 GB DIMMs are pretty cheap to come by, I'd match specs of the one you have or find a cheap 8 GB matched, used kit. DDR standards aren't universal, your board only supports DDR3.

You can get a core-unlockable Phenom II X2 B59 for like $9 on ebay.

Alternatively just change your browsing habits. I use a lot of tabs but at a certain point it's pointless to have so many open.
 

Dimitri

Member
More RAM, faster CPU. If you're just using the internet then most of your crap is stored in RAM. SSD would probably be less of a value add, and I'm a huge proponent of going all-flash. Cheap GPU if you're struggling with video playback.

4 GB DIMMs are pretty cheap to come by, I'd match specs of the one you have or find a cheap 8 GB matched, used kit. DDR standards aren't universal, your board only supports DDR3.

You can get a core-unlockable Phenom II X2 B59 for like $9 on ebay.

Does my MB support that CPU?
 

Dimitri

Member
I've did a bit of googling and folks say core unlocking is a 50-50 proposition. Assuming it doesn't work, would I still see a performance boost of any significance if I switched to this CPU? My current CPU is 3 Ghz, this one is only 3.4.

I found this one on ebay for $14

https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom...hash=item364de09fec:m:m5t4DuDP-whJQxfSUmZOggA

it's a Chinese seller, which makes me suspicious, even tho his rating is good. Anyone have experience with buying from these kind of cheap Chinese sellers on ebay?
 
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PcExpertQ8

New Member
Hi, I see your computer is still in very good condition. If I were you I won’t change or upgrade it. However, just do a check up for Windows registry & check the startup files.
I recommend “Registry First Aid” software for Windows registry clean up, then you will notice the difference in Windows’ speed and lightness. You would need to repeat the scan even 10 times it’s ok. If you couldn’t buy it, I can provide you with cracked one. Also, Google how to clear some startups files; depends on your Windows version.

Just do those things above, then you can decide if you need a new computer.

Best wishes,


I'm running:
Athlon II X2 250 3Ghz
ATI Radeon HD 4300/4500 series (don't know which one exactly, that's what I get from msinfo)
MSI 760gm-p21 motherboard
4 GB DDR3 RAM
WD 640GB HDD

I only use my computer for browsing the internet and watching videos, no gaming or anything demanding like that, although I often have multiple 100s of tabs open. The computer has been very slow at times, it gets into these bouts where it just hangs when I want it to do something and HDD usage goes to 100% (I think because all RAM is taken up so it starts paging stuff out to free up RAM).

I'm very short on money and want to spend as little as possible, so, within that constraint, what do you think I should do?

Do you think an SSD for Windows and programs would help me more or an additional 4 GB of RAM?

I figure RAM would be more important, but I don't know whether I should be buying more DDR3 (rather than DDR4) or is Win10 going to become more demanding with another year's worth of updates and DDR3 isn't gonna be enough, or should I be good for many years to come with 8 GB of DDR3 (and with what I use my computer for)?

I looked up my MB on MSI website

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/760GM-P21-FX/Specification

and it seems to me from this that it doesn't support DDR4, so I assume if I wanted DDR4 that would mean a new MB too, but would that necessarily also mean I'd need a new CPU? Could I find a MB that supports both DDR4 and my CPU, if I decided to spring for a new MB?

Ideally, I'd like to buy just 4 more GB of DDR3, do you think that should be enough for the next several years?
 
I would avoid using any "cleaners", "boosters", etcetera they are all more snakeoil than actual help...
And if you use windows the right way, with a separate Admin account and a regular useraccount for your self you will NEVER need any snakeoil at all.. EVER..

Since you have so many tabs open you really need more RAM.. since open active tabs use memory (the inactive ones are swapped)
That is the 1:st and most important thing to do...
The next thing to do AFTER you put in more ram is to change to a SSD-drive.. that make the file handling a lot faster...

That would do it, if you only only use the computer to browse the net… IF you have Windows 10, if not then upgrading to windows 10 while shifting to your SSD, would be nice... but remember to name the 1:St account created to: PCAdmin and install updates and any software THEN create a regular user account for your self..
That way you get to keep your computers initial performance for a LONG time.. while staying much safer while browsing the net..
 

PcExpertQ8

New Member
I don't agree with you TheRealSwede because (Registry First Aid) is the most powerful software I ever tried. On other word; If you created 10 files on your Desktop, the Windows registry will create a registry path for those 10 files. But when you delete those 10 files the registry still has their path stored. Imaging you're using your computer for 5-10 years, how many files have you created and deleted; all that is stored in the registry.

I would avoid using any "cleaners", "boosters", etcetera they are all more snakeoil than actual help...
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
I don't agree with you TheRealSwede because (Registry First Aid) is the most powerful software I ever tried. On other word; If you created 10 files on your Desktop, the Windows registry will create a registry path for those 10 files. But when you delete those 10 files the registry still has their path stored. Imaging you're using your computer for 5-10 years, how many files have you created and deleted; all that is stored in the registry.
That... is not how that works. Frequently I don't really agree with Swede but he's right here.

CCleaner is fine, and yeah I'll run the registry tool when I use it, but really your registry doesn't ever need to be touched on modern Windows. I've had registry cleaner's fix issues with hung old installations and stuff like that, but it really does a good job of maintaining itself anymore. Certainly won't magically speed up your computer, and is also liable to break something. Had an instance or two of corrupted registries needing a fresh reinstall. If you do clean it, just back it up.

Now, if our computers only had a tiny amount of memory or an extremely slow hard disk, there could be some value to shrinking the registry a bit. But this will be completely unnoticeable on computers in use today. We don’t live in the days of Windows 95 anymore. The Windows registry has also become more robust as Windows itself evolved from Windows 95 to Windows 7 and 8.

Windows just isn’t getting confused and slowing down because you have a folder (known as a “key” in registry parlance) dedicated to an uninstalled program in your registry. It also isn’t getting confused because certain entries point to an outdated program.
https://www.howtogeek.com/171633/why-using-a-registry-cleaner-wont-speed-up-your-pc-or-fix-crashes/
https://www.lifewire.com/are-registry-cleaners-safe-to-use-2625126
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2015/06/digital-snake-oil/
 

PcExpertQ8

New Member
Darren, I appreciate your view and the links you provided have almost same your thoughts; or you're convinced of their opinion. Ccleaner is good in cleaning Windows temp file, etc. But not the registry; it's just a amateur in dealing with registry. I think you didn't use Registry First Aid before. Try it and read the result; you don't have to apply the changes in its result, just read and understand it, you would change your mind.

RFA is a profession application and need a little profession user. You're right about taking a registry backup before applying any changes; RFA is offering that already. Note; RFA company is not mine :)

I am not quoting from anywhere; I am writing from my true experience.


That... is not how that works. Frequently I don't really agree with Swede but he's right here.

CCleaner is fine, and yeah I'll run the registry tool when I use it, but really your registry doesn't ever need to be touched on modern Windows. I've had registry cleaner's fix issues with hung old installations and stuff like that, but it really does a good job of maintaining itself anymore. Certainly won't magically speed up your computer, and is also liable to break something. Had an instance or two of corrupted registries needing a fresh reinstall. If you do clean it, just back it up.


https://www.howtogeek.com/171633/why-using-a-registry-cleaner-wont-speed-up-your-pc-or-fix-crashes/
https://www.lifewire.com/are-registry-cleaners-safe-to-use-2625126
https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2015/06/digital-snake-oil/
 

Darren

Moderator
Staff member
Darren, I appreciate your view and the links you provided have almost same your thoughts; or you're convinced of their opinion. Ccleaner is good in cleaning Windows temp file, etc. But not the registry; it's just a amateur in dealing with registry. I think you didn't use Registry First Aid before. Try it and read the result; you don't have to apply the changes in its result, just read and understand it, you would change your mind.

RFA is a profession application and need a little profession user. You're right about taking a registry backup before applying any changes; RFA is offering that already. Note; RFA company is not mine :)

I am not quoting from anywhere; I am writing from my true experience.

I'm not gonna derail this thread into why registry cleaner's aren't useful, pretty much any brief research will confirm exactly that and my years repairing computers backs it up. Not sure your experience, I just provided several resources to back up what I said.

HowToGeek, Lifewire, and MalwareBytes are all pretty legitimate sources that have no financial interest in registry cleaners. Only sources that say they help are the ones that are trying to sell you a paid registry cleaner... I did look up the cleaner you mentioned and their website hasn't changed since 2008 it looks like. Not exactly reassuring for a paid tech product that's supposedly "better" at scanning the registry than CCleaner.
 

Dimitri

Member
That would do it, if you only only use the computer to browse the net… IF you have Windows 10, if not then upgrading to windows 10 while shifting to your SSD, would be nice... but remember to name the 1:St account created to: PCAdmin and install updates and any software THEN create a regular user account for your self..
That way you get to keep your computers initial performance for a LONG time.. while staying much safer while browsing the net..

Why does doing that help keep initial performance?
 
Why does doing that help keep initial performance?

First of all you are so much less affected by, lets say: "drive-by-downloads" and the negative effect these have on your computer..
Secondly this has, for year and years in row showed to mitigate well more than 90% of all exploits against any unpatched vulnerability.

This combined causes much less crap to run in the background, plus every IT-professional knows this reduces the amount of (even unintended) user errors that causes trouble.. and so on.. down to reducing the effect all the scripts that exist on the net has on your computer..
- With less crap in, you have less crap to remove, and that is why this also takes away any need of snakeoil-cleaners, boosters and such, who causes even more problems in the long run… All in all this KEEPS your initial performance..
Everyone who has NOT separated Admin-account from their user-accounts know their performance keeps dropping from the day they begin using their computer..
 
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