Squeezing extra performance out of...

Captain Kirk

Captain Kirk

Captain Kirk

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a Toshiba Equium A60 laptop with a P4 at 2.8Ghz?
Obviously, it already gets too hot, I have taken it apart, blown all the dust out and applied new TIM, that helped a fair bit, but I'm wondering if there are any tweaks I can do to increase performance at all.

Cheers y'all
 
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Max out the RAM maybe ?

Apart from that i can only think of trimming down your XP install. Take away some not needed processes?
 
In what way is it struggling and what are the spec's as atm it's hard to make anything more than a generalisation about what you should consider. EG a faster CPU will not help you burn a DVD faster and a Faster HD will not speed up your wifi speeds etc.
 
It's just generally slow. I realise I'm never going to get great multitasking performance out of it due to its age, but any general tips would help. I've just looked at maybe getting a slightly faster CPU. Getting a faster Hard drive might also be a good idea. Wifi speeds are fine, due to using a plug in card. mainly just trying to load up apps, like firefox and thunderbird etc.
 
I know this is going to sound mad - how about installing linux, unless you need specific windows programs, linux has some good alternatives (usually free too). Linux is generally faster than windows on the same hardware.
 
A tweaked clean XP install removing services you don't need (good opportunity to play about with nLite etc). Google indicates it has 256mb of non removable RAM and one SODIM slot for up to 1GB so i'm guessing from your post you have 256 non removable and 256 in the slot. Upgrading the RAM by itself will stop XP having to hit your page file on that nice slow 4.2k drive. Also set the page file from dynamic to fixed, nothing worse than a slow drive trying to dynamically manage a swap file on a low memory system. Bottom line I have a Inspiron 8500 of similar spec (Ram/CPU are the same) with a 5.4k HD and it's easily capable of general net/office/media playback. Ok my C2D and RAID0 10k SCSI box kills it by comparison but it still comfortably manages.
 
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Quick question, as with normal desktop computers, can you put Ram in that is rated faster than your computer can take? e.g. my laptop says it takes PC2700, can I put PC3200 in, but it will just run at 2700 speeds?
 
Right, I've gone a little crazy on this, as I haven't spent any money for a while, and so I have bought...
A cRadia Flex notebook cooler (obviously to try and keep temps low). This should also help to reduce noise.

A 3.2ghz P4, to replace the 2.8ghz currently installed.

A single stick of 1gb PC3200 Adata ram. Had a look last night and it only has a 256mb module in. So that should help considerably (as long as it is compatible)

I will install them one at a time and see which makes the biggest difference.
 
Captain Kirk said:
Sorry; 512MB PC2700 Ram (has been upgraded), P4 2.8Ghz, 40GB hard drive, which I think is only a 4200rpm, so that may need upgrading. The exact model is a Toshiba Equium A60-692.
Actually, says it all here
Click to expand...

get a HDD drive thats 7200rpm, that will speed things up no end
i replaced my 2 5400rpm drives with 7200rpm drives, its a lot nippier now, the battery will rundown alittle faster, but not by much and the speed increase is worth it
 
Was worth posting those specs after all :p RAM would have done it tbh but as long as you got the rest cheap it's going to make a good value upgrade and make a big difference :) My only concerns are power and heat. The CPU i'd imagine will kick out more heat and will draw more power as will the RAM, also adding a 7.2k HD as suggested while helping a lot in terms of speed will also add to the load placed on the PSU but tbh it shouldn't be a problem, just clean the cooler fan out while you're swapping the kit over.


It's worth a before and after benchmark to gauge performance.
 
Any suggestions on which benchmark you would like me to use?
I have received the Flex Notebook cooler. It does seem to have made some difference to my temps, but I hardly max out my laptop as I mainly use it for internet and email.
Not too worried about power problems as 90% of the time it is hooked up to the mains.
 
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