optimising performance

J

JamesBart

New Member
i need my computer to run the best it can. so what i have already done is done the whole msconfig. i have reverted to used the old taskbar the grey one and i dont have a screen saver, i went into bios and on my dell there was an option so that the Hdd would run that little quicker. ive done that and i dont have a desktop background.

i run after affects and premiere and i need my machine to run that little quicker and not have anything holding it back. what else can be done. i havent overclocked yet as im not sure if my processor can do that its a p4 2.9 and i would know what to put it up to if i could.

anymore ideas as to what i could do and how i could run it better and cleaner? im not on the net with that computer anymore and i have also removed progs that i dont need but they are replaced but after affects and prem.

thanks!!! :D
 
Uninstall any applications you don't use and also run the registry cleaner to clean out any crap that might have built up within it over time. Defrag and scandisk'ing too is a good idea, helps keep your hdd clean and makes sure that there arent any bad sectors. Another thing, check that DMA is enabled on your hard drives and other IDE components as if running in PIO (as a dell I used was) it slows down like a bugger.
 
nice one guys. thanks! and breaks whats a DMA? i defrag when possible and clean it up also. i think i may be asking a little much from my computer but i need it to run perfect! :-)
 
DMA is just the read-write mode to and from the hard disk in your computer (and other ide components such as cd/dvd roms etc). To check simply go to:

Right click 'My Computer' >> Properties >> Hardware tab >> Device Manager >> Find 'Primary IDE Channel' >> Right click then go to 'Properties' >> Click on the advanced tab... You should then be able to see what the transfer modes are. Make sure they're set to 'DMA if avaiable' and also check if the 'Current Transfer Mode' is already reading as DMA.

It should be set to this by default, but sometimes it isnt.

Definition for DMA:

DMA (Direct memory access) mode is a high performance mode for transferring data to and from devices, in particular, to CD and DVD burner devices.

The burner devices can function in either DMA or PIO modes. DMA mode allows the processor to transfer large pieces of data with very little software overhead - therefore requiring low CPU utilization. In this mode, high speed burning can be performed in background with other programs running.

PIO mode requires CPU processing for every few bytes sent to the device, so that CPU utilization becomes very high when trying to burn at high speeds.
 
Thanks

Nice on breaks! sort. primary is DMA and its starting to run better. also if you could help.

my computer is maxing out on the power that i have so if i take one of my internal Hdd and make it an external with a power supply will the fact that i haave more power then make my comp faster? or just give it more power? and its my seconf internal drive not my OS one. and is that even possible?

Thanks!!! :D
 
Bore the pistons out to .30 over, replace the cam with a short duration cam, replace the carb with a pair of Holley carbs, bolt on a Weiand dual quad tunnel ram and finish off with a Borg Warner T10 transmission with a Hurst shift kit and a Ford 9" differential.

That should take you from 0 to login in about 3.6 seconds give or take and only cost you about 10 bucks in gas.



Ok, I need more sleep. *sigh*
 
6071842 said:
Nice on breaks! sort. primary is DMA and its starting to run better. also if you could help.

my computer is maxing out on the power that i have so if i take one of my internal Hdd and make it an external with a power supply will the fact that i haave more power then make my comp faster? or just give it more power? and its my seconf internal drive not my OS one. and is that even possible?

Thanks!!! :D
Click to expand...

Yes you can place an internal drive outside of the computer, however to do this you would need to purchase an external enclosure which, usually, does come with an external power adaptor. Having more power could help but that's only if the other components are being under powered. If the other components are being powered fine then you wouldn't notice a performance increase if you took out one of the internal hard drives. What power supply do you have? (i.e. watts? make?)
 
Nice one!

i see. off the top of my head i dont know what supply i have and its from dell so i dont know. im not to up on makes yet. but i do know that when i installed and new DVD writer that when my cd writer and my DVD burner were both plugged up that i could power either of them. i think my computer is pretty low power considering this.

and what i have put in, is the 2nd int hdd and a graphics card that is better that the one that i got standard and my DVD burner. so i think it may be struggling. but is it fine in the meantime to disconnect my 2nd int hdd and just leave it in the case as i dont have an external case for it yet?

and how can i find out what power supply i have and watts etc.? do i have to look in the case or can i find this out from a prog in my comp? thanks!!! :D
 
Yes it'll be fine to leave the hard drive in if you're not using it :). As for the machine being from Dell, did they do the upgrades for you? To find the wattage of your power supply it's usually displayed on the power supply itself on the sticker either on the back near the fan or actually inside the computer under the bottom of it. But it's normally displayed on a sticker located actually on the power supply somewhere.

I wouldn't have thought that Dell would give you a really low power supply though, normally theirs are quite good. I would have thought that it could handle it but it's always nice to try.

As for an external enclosure, just incase you don't know what to look for (not trying to insult you :)), they look like the following:

IcyBox351U_B_BL.jpg


- Hot Plug & Play
- Extremely quiet without exhaust fan
- Works in both vertical and horizontal positions
- Assembly without screwdrivers
- Supports IDE ATA100/133 hard drives (not sata drives)
- USB2.0 connection (~1m cable supplied)

Just make sure that it supports the type of drive you have (for example: IDE/SATA).
 
Thats cool man! thanks for that and not insulted at all. glad of the help and its always better to see what im about to buy because sometimes i just buy the wrong thing. i check the back of me comp but not stickers. i may have taken them off but i do remember seeing some inside the case. im on a big render at the mo so check when thats done. and yeah im going to disconnect my hdd and hopefully have some case, some time soon to place it in.

thanks for you help, much appreiciated. being from the uk, where do you reckon is a good place to buy from? i feel that PC word charge way to much and can i trust indepentdant stores? any good online store? thanks!!! :D
 
These are some cool websites. and the the external enclosures are a lot cheap that i expected. so thats even better. i should be investing soon. not sure what color to go for so not to sure! but thanks again man! :D
 
6071842 said:
hey man wicked! just what i needed aswell. my comp is a lot quicker now! i need as much as i can get from xp as i only have 1gb of ram! wicked man thanks!!! :D
Click to expand...

That's an adequate amount you know. Unless the RAM itself isn't the best of RAM modules out there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top