Ways to make XP Pro more responsive

[shassouneh 0]

Ok this thread should be where people give in feedback on their own strategies to imprive Windows XP Profssional's responsiveness. Of coarse, it would be great if you could keep in mind that some of us (ME especially) are running it on slow machines like dual pentium pro 200/256MB RAm. Such a "slow" configuration does miracles for Windows 2000 Professional but not XP. Oh, by the way. I have a decent enough video card (Vodoo banshee 16MB PCI), so I know responsiveness is not entirely a video card issue!

 

 

also, feel free to participate in the poll associated with this thread

[EM 0]

From all that I have read, the Voodoo chipset is NOT going to be supported in XP. With that in mind, I would definitely replace that.

 

All depends on what you want to do with your machine.

 

How much you wanna spend....?

 

Tiger MP about 200

2x1.4 Tbirds about 240

Couple of HSF's about 30

512meg Registered DDR ECC about 120

 

Total about 590 and very fast....this is what I have in my main machine.

 

Ed

[clutch 1]

"Speed is money, so how fast do you wanna go?"

[shassouneh 0]

To some extent, it may be true that speed=money. However, there must be ways to bring slower machines to do better with WinXp. I can't afford an upgrade at the moment, and I DO know my system has the gutts to at least "try" and run WinXp, so I might wanna have to deal with what I have for now. Any hints, tricks or tips everyone?

[shassouneh 0]

Of Coarse! I have two processors and 256 megs. My machine is too old to make a RAM upgrade worth the money ($75 for a 128mb dimm). Also, EVEN IF i get another 128 dimm, i'm only gonna utilize 96mb of it since it'll have to replace one of my 32mb chips

[clutch 1]

Hell, if he could use run-of-the-mill SDRAM DIMMS, I would just replace all of the memory if need be and max out the board with RAM.

[OLEerror 0]

I really wouldn't go with any of the options you gave. There are other methods of speeding up XP. The first thing you should do is turn off the Fade Effect on the menus. You'll see a significant boost in performance. Also, if you have a video card with less than 16 meg on-board, I'd suggest using the Classic theme. You can also uninstall several of the bundled programs (ex. Movie Maker) by inserting the XP CD. You have the option to add/remove just about everything. (The same thing can be done by editing the sysoc.inf file, but this is faster.) This frees up hard drive space, and XP loves hard drive space.

 

You can also disable unused services. If you are on a stand-alone computer, there is no reason to run the Server service. Set some of the services that load automatically to manual. And try reducing the number of unnecessary TSRs that load at startup (MS was nice enough to include MSCONFIG which makes this much easier.)

 

So there are a number of ways to speed up XP without purchasing new hardware. Will this make your system blindingly fast? No. But it sure helps until you have the opportunity to upgrade.

[shassouneh 0]

My motherboard supports the following type of RAM ONLY:

 

EDO BUFFERED dimm 3.3v 168 pin up to 128mb/chip

 

the motherboard itself supports up to 512MB (a maximum of 4x128).

The last time I checked online, the cheapest price i found for a 128 dimm was $76 plus shipping!

[shassouneh 0]

OLEerror, thanx for your feedback. I have a vodoo banshee 16mb video card. I also have the classical windows theme. It helps a little, but the OS still feels sluggish.

Anyways,

Quote:

So there are a number of ways to speed up XP without purchasing new hardware. Will this make your system blindingly fast? No. But it sure helps until you have the opportunity to upgrade.

That is definately true! I thank you for your advice and feedback again! :-)

[JP- 0]

It already works great but more ram is always good

[shassouneh 0]

Thanx, I'll check it out! :-)