• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

What makes a computer fast?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Red_LightRanger

Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
So ive built a couple computers...in no way am i an expert, but Ive been asked by a friend to fix his computer cuz its slow. Its an HPm7067c. Ive ran several virus scans, defrags and cleared a lot of nonsense on it, but its still slow. Granted its not the best computer out there, but if I were to upgrade some of the components in it, where should i start?

Guess i should mention that Im trying not to spend too much money as well. Its only got 1 gig of ram, so I thought of getting 2, DDR2 runs pretty cheap now. Im getting another ps cuz the old one was fried. But what else should I consider?

Specs
 
If it's a choice, reinstall the OS, that will make it as fast as new. It won't cost anything, then do your upgrades.

Add the Ram and it would be a good time to put in a new HD.
 
RAM would certainly make everything load faster and everything run smoother.
but if we're talking about games, a cpu or gpu will make games run faster (depends on screen resolution). RAM usually doesn't do much in terms of gaming performance.

new HD could decrease boot times. i'd probs go with some good cheap 4gb kits. that'll certainly spice up his PC ;)
 
RAM without a doubt. Slipstream SP3 if you can it is supposed to make a few percentage points difference in benchmarks.


The key to quickness in windows is keeping your registry clean and preventing a ton of stuff from loading at startup. Although many programs load at startup to provide "instant access" to the program when you need it, if it is not something the person uses often, check the settings of the app for "load with windows"

They used to have "uninstaller" programs which were sandboxers for testing new apps out. It monitored every change that happened when you installed a program, and when you decided to uninstall, it returned the system to the same state it was before you installed the applications (uninstallers leave a ton of crap on your system)
 
Reformat can help a ton or getting a new primary hard drive if you suspect it to be the culprit. Two gigs of ram would help, and a graphics card if budget allows (poor thing's only got 64megs integrated graphics).
 
money the more you spend the faster it goes......sorry just had to say that
____________________________________________________
Evga 790 Ultra SLI (P08) | Q9450 @ 3.68 GHZ. |Zalman CNPS 9700
4Gig Patriot G2000LLKN | X-FI Gamer | XFX 260 GTX Black Edition
1-WD VELOCIRAPTOR 300 Gig | 1-Maxtor 300 Gig | 1-WD 500 Gig
Running Raid
Enermax 850| 2-DVD Burners
OS: XP Pro 32 Bit / Win 7 Build 7127 64 Bit
 
Last edited by a moderator:
2 gigs isn't going to add much over 1 gig, if anything.

Fresh OS install might work, but by the time you do all the updates and add back all the baggage you want in there, I don't think it will help much, for what will be a pile of work.

I think the number one thing is a new sata harddrive and/or defrag regularly.

Number two is a touch of overclocking, 10% would be nice.

Three, eliminate wasteful programs using msconfig.

Four, make a permanent 1.5GB page file.

Five, check the hard drive speed using HDTach and make sure you have the speed you think you do. It's amazing how slow some mobo/drive combos are.

Six, the video on that model is integrated memory, which is usually very slow. Time to upgrade the video card to something with onboard memory.
 
Last edited:
2 gigs isn't going to add much over 1 gig, if anything.

it will if the person is using over 1G of ram, it will help alot.

HP likely wont overclock.

Fresh install i have seen make useable computers useable again, because the person had so much crap on it, start up service, bad uninstalls and so on.

making a per 1.5 page file wont increase performance much at all.

If all they do is web browse and basic stuff integrated video is perfectly fine.


i think we need to know how is this system slow specifically? WHat is it that is slow, what is the computer used for?

It may be worth it to tell the guy to save up $400 a buy a new system all together.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. Basically the comp is very slow on start up and it lags just clicking on files or opening browser etc. A lot of times he will want to listen to itunes while surfing internet and maybe working in MSoffice and the music will stutter and stop. Which is why I dont think dedicated graphics would really matter -No gaming involved- .
I need to replace the power supply for sure since its fried, but I wasnt sure how in depth I should get into replacing parts.

Just for fun I ran one of my DDR2 sticks (2gig) in his comp and it did improve the lag on opening files etc but the startup was still slow. Theres a good deal on the egg for this so i might consider.

Im def considering reinstalling windows for him now. I think Ill wait until he gives the ok for that though.

Also i might mention that he could prob save some money like you said MrGuvernment and get a pretty sweet deal on a new sys.
 
yes, from the specs of the actual system... Don't pour too much $$ into it... Graphically, it has a 64mb integrated... and it doesn't have pci-e slots, just pci. So, video upgrade is out of the question.
 
Back