[nicolas.pf]

Hello!

I'm a webdesigner, and I would like to ask for your help and opinion. I have an ACER 5050-4598 since 2007:

• with 130 GB of space disk,
• 1GB of DDR
• it is a AMD Turion 64 Mobile T.
• 2.2 GHz, 512 KB L2 Cache

The fact is that 6 months ago, maybe more, It has become more & more difficult to work because it seems like that the processes that I run for work: like Photoshop and other image editing/webdevelopment softwares are still too heavy for my Laptop.

It has happened that the fan is triggered by a good time, then I reset or turn off my Laptop and when I try to turn it on again it do not work. I just got to wait some minutes.

I believe that there are too many processes and the computer is getting warm easily.

Now, my question is: Should it be better to buy more RAM (to give it more space to processes) than to buy a new laptop? what are your suggestions?

Thanks for your help and opinions.

[valis]

go to www.crucial.com and see what the max memory your pc can hold, then check out the prices at your local pc shop.

For me, it's always easier to add ram than to replace a rig, and your processor, while dated, is easily stout enough to run photoshop or whatnot. I've got an ancient p4 1.something, just loaded it up with ram and it runs fine.

thanks,

v

[nicolas.pf]

Thanks for your suggestion, I will take a look then, and see how much ram it supports!

As much cheaper the solution, better! let's see!

[valis]

like I said, far easier to upgrade the ram than to run out and get the latest and greatest thing out there.

there's also a slew of apps out there to help optimize your pc for free.

As you do a lot of photoshop work, I'd highly recommend using ATF (all these are free, btw). It deletes all the temp files (hence the atf moniker) and photoshop, or any adobe product for that matter, is notorious for leaving large, abandoned files laying around.

Next, download ntregopt, run that and reboot.

Next, check to see if your page file is fragmented; if it is, just set it to run at every boot.

then check your disk for fragmentation.

Those 4 things will do wonders to a pc's performance.

hth,

v

[nicolas.pf]

Great tips Valis, thank you very much!
Exactly right now I'm working on 'em.

I was reading a little more about PageDefrag and it seems like the same developer created "Contig", a software to make defragmentations. Do you know how it works or do you recommend the defragmentation tool that is in the Accessories >> System tools?

Thank you one more time,
regards

[valis]

de nada.....sort of what we are here for.

different defrag apps use different algorithms. As you are using windows, whatever flavor, I'd recommend sticking with the built in defragger as that is the one that the OS is counting on. I've used symantec in the past as a defragger, and while it was totally clean as far as symantec was concerned, it bogged my system down as the windows system saw it as dead read, and as such, was thrashing the hard drive trying to collate data.

again, glad to help. Trust me, stick around long enough (35k posts or so) and you'll see just how addictive it is to assist others in their issues. With your knowledge you should browse the digital imaging forum and see what advice YOU can give.

thanks,

v

[nicolas.pf]

Well, I followed all of the steps, and now it seems like it's working better. I discovered taht my Hard Disk was almost full (what a shame..) and I used the defragger (the one that the OS is counting on).

Now I will research a little more about RAM memory to be sure of what to buy, until now www.crucial.com give to me all the answers about this subject. Impressive tool, how could they recognize my hardware?

I didn't know about the editing image forum, but right now I'm going to take a look and try to help a little. I'm sure it will be addictive.

Thank you and I wish you the best!

Sorry for my intermediate english.. I still learning

[valis]

glad that everything worked. there's a zillion diagnostic tools like that out there, the trick is knowing what to do and when to do it.

For instance, NEVER use a registry cleaner. The ONLY app you should use for the registry is the one I recommended, ntregopt. Too many times I've had to rebuild machines that the owners tried to run a registry cleaner on, only to have it turn the pc into a paperweight.

But those four items I mentioned, cleaning up the temp files, compacting the registry (speeds up the boot process), keeping your page file in 1 fragment, and making sure your disk is defragged, are the easiest and most common tools out there for your basic 30,000 mile tune-up.

As for crucial.com, YOU told it what system you have, and they have a database that is extremely well maintained (to such an extent I'm not entirely sure that the PC manufacturers don't work on it) and always accurate. We use it here daily at work to ascertain what ram we need to order for what system. As we operate on a 5 year life cycle management, we'll have one opco with all new rigs, and one opco running 3 year old machines. The new ones will take DDR2 or 3, but the older ones may not even take DDR2, so crucial.com is, in a word, crucial.

[nicolas.pf]

Crucial.com is really an amazing tool.

Well, I "defragged" my hard disk and I believe now everything is a little better in my Laptop.

But I want to do another question.. because I'm not sure if it is related or not to the problems I'm having here. The fact to have more or less RAM memory could be a reason for overheat my Laptop?

Actually my cooler goes to the maximum speed in just a few minutes after I turned it on.. That's why I would like to know if buying more memory will give it a rest or not.

[colinsp]

I had a similar problem on my LT and it was caused by lots of fluff and dust in the cooler. I took the LT apart and blew an enormous amount of crud from the cooler and then refitted it with new thermal paste. Now the fan barely comes on. You may have a similar problem. IMHO more ram will not turn your fan off.

[valis]

Originally Posted by nicolas.pf

Crucial.com is really an amazing tool.

Well, I "defragged" my hard disk and I believe now everything is a little better in my Laptop.

But I want to do another question.. because I'm not sure if it is related or not to the problems I'm having here. The fact to have more or less RAM memory could be a reason for overheat my Laptop?

Actually my cooler goes to the maximum speed in just a few minutes after I turned it on.. That's why I would like to know if buying more memory will give it a rest or not.

definitely. When my wife first got her laptop, it was with vista and 1 gig of ram. Vista is graphics heavy and still ran on NTFS, which was introduced in windows 2k and not really designed for all the high end graphics. As she had minimum ram, the hard drive was being used heavily for swap file usage, and as a result, the processor was being used more than it wanted to be, and the fan was on 90% of the time. Upped her to two gigs of ram, fan comes on about 10% of the time now, as it can write to the ram as opposed to the swap file on the hard drive.

As colinsp mentioned, it wouldn't hurt to get a can of compress air and make sure your fan vents are clean. And the usual stuff about not using it on a pillow, or anything else that could block the vents. IMO, I don't think you have to go to the level of detail that he did, tearing it down and putting more thermal paste on there, and regardless, that's a more advanced technique, meant for someone who is comfortable with stripping their laptop down to the processor level. No mean feat, that.


hth,

v

[nicolas.pf]

Concludign, first I'll try to clean the cooler and then I'll buy more RAM for my NB, I thought it was more expensive but it isn't.

Another thing I have been researching is about 64 or 32 bit processor, it seems like mine is a 64 compatible and I'm running Windows for 32.. I'll try to do more research here, it could be good to upgrade.

[valis]

about the only benefit from 64 bit nowadays is the ability to put a LOT of ram in....there's still a few companies that have not included 64 bit drivers with their products, which is why I stuck with 32.