Would This Be Upgradeable?

[zacdl]

I was looking at upgrading to a faster processor. It just seems this thing has been running so slow lately.

I know about spyware, etc. It isn't that.

What do you think it is? I am thinking more RAM would help, but do you think a new CPU would help as well (if it is possible)?
Below is a view of TaskManager, normally. As you can see the pagefile is used pretty much (I already know more RAM would help out there), but the CPU usage is pretty heavy as well.



I am at my wits end with this thing. I have been looking at just building a new desktop for my day-to-day stuff that is heavy, then this laptop would be fine. I just cant justify spending $1000 right now.

Any ideas on what exactly is slowing this down?
I run Yahoo, AIM, Outlook pretty much 24/7.
Thats the crazy thing. In today's modern age, running that stuff is normal. So why is it so slow?

I have tried a few registry hacks (TCP/IP Optimizer for internet speed, MS Bootvis, defrag pagefile, menu speeds, etc) but they don't help any.
I am spyware free as well (Adaware and Windows Defender).

So, what do you think of this cpu from newegg? Would it work in this laptop?
My laptop is a customized Compaq R4000. Below are screenshots of CPU/MB info.

[DanceMan]

I'd vote for more ram first and possibly a faster hard drive, but only if your current hdd is a 4200rpm. I doubt going from 5400 to 7200 would gain you much in a notebook, beyond heat. If your hdd is fairly full, I think this could also slow you down.

I'd upgrade those two components before I even thought about touching the cpu. I'd buy a new notebook before I'd replace the cpu, because you'd get improvements throughout the system. But I'm surprised you're experiencing apparent slowdowns with an A64 in the apps you mention.

[zacdl]

I really dont know what on earth is slowing this down. It makes no sense whatsoever, thats why I think it is hardware involved.

I have 512MB RAM (not much, but it should be enough to run just a few programs).

I think I have this hard drive in here (at least the device manager ID lines up with the model #) http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/sit...703e3aac4f0a0/

I am thinking now, if you are reccomending a new HDD, that buying that and new RAM (which alone is going to be $250-300) would add up to a significant cost of a new desktop.

Any other ideas what could be slowing this thing down? Any kind of performance counters I could set that tell you where the fault is at?

[Justintime]

Theres no doubt that memory is your problem, you're using over 600MB when you only have 512MB physically available, the rest of that memory is dumped to your hard drive which is many many times slower than RAM. You need more memory, either that or find a way to cut down on the memory usage by cleaning up your startup programs and using less applications at the same time etc.. a reload of windows might stave off the memory problem for awhile but 512MB is cutting it thin these days.

[DanceMan]

Your hdd is a 4200rpm 2Mb cache. And if the amt of ram in the notebook means that the OS is accessing the hdd for virtual memory frequently, it will be slow. A current 5400rpm 8Mb cache hdd would be noticably quicker.
But I'd increase the ram first. I just doubled the ram in one of my notebooks from 512Mb to 1G (thank you craigslist!). I used to get in trouble with too many tabs open in Firefox. That has disappeared.
You'll notice the difference in hdd in programs opening, on startup, anytime accessing the hdd is involved.

[zacdl]

I always thought I could do good with more memory- thanks.

[Wreckles]

Also try doing a scandisk and a disk defragmentation.