How to improve my desktop's performance?

Dinarius

DELL Dimension 9150

2Gb RAM

Dual Core

500Gb HD

Windows XP Pro


My problem is that I am processing very large digital camera files (usually 220Mb) and I can only process 6-8 at a time. Otherwise, I get a "There was not enough memory" error from Adobe Camera RAW, which I am using to process the images.

What can I do to improve the situation?

Thanks.

D.

Dinarius

Here's the system in detail.

In essence, I want to know what I can do without buying a new computer!

Operating System System Model
Windows XP Media Center Edition Service Pack 2 (build 2600) Dell Inc. Dell DXP051
System Service Tag: 229692J (support for this PC)
Chassis Serial Number: 229692J
Enclosure Type: Tower
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
3.00 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
2048 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: Dell Inc. 0FJ030
Serial Number: ..CN7082163EG0PZ.
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Inc. A04 04/19/2006
Drives Memory Modules c,d
1655.23 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
737.13 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

PHILIPS DVD+-RW DVD8801 [CD-ROM drive]
SONY CD-RW CRX217E [CD-ROM drive]

MAXTOR STM3500320AS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 1
ST3500641AS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 2
ST3500641AS [Hard drive] (500.11 GB) -- drive 0
TEAC USB HS-CF Card USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 3
TEAC USB HS-MS Card USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 5
TEAC USB HS-SD Card USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 6
TEAC USB HS-xD/SM USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 4
WD 1600BEV External USB Device [Hard drive] (160.04 GB) -- drive 7 2048 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'DIMM_1' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM_3' is Empty
Slot 'DIMM_2' has 1024 MB
Slot 'DIMM_4' is Empty
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 495.06 GB 59.35 GB free
e: (NTFS on drive 1) 500.11 GB 262.45 GB free
j: (NTFS on drive 2) 500.06 GB 337.88 GB free
p: (FAT32 on drive 7) 160.00 GB 77.45 GB free

Controllers Display
Primary IDE Channel [Controller] NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS [Display adapter]
DELL 1907FP [Monitor] (19.1"vis, s/n 6418062Q0DZS, February 2006)


Thanks.

D.

dulpit

I have no idea really, but do you have a lot of programs running? Maybe stuff in the background you might be unaware of?

Capt'n Midnight

Dinarius wrote: »

2Gb RAM
My problem is that I am processing very large digital camera files (usually 220Mb) and I can only process 6-8 at a time.

Increase your swap file to 3x RAM, you won't get the error as often, but you won't process files any faster,.

figure between 3x - 10x RAM to process images, possibly less since they are raw.

get more RAM - check your mother board manual to see how much of 4GB it can recognise - maybe 3.2 or up to 3.6 depending

Ishindar

the speed at which your files are processed is determined mostly by your CPU.
if u need to process files faster then u need a faster CPU.
extra Ram might help but i doubt it will give u any significant gains.

the core two quad q6600 is the best processor out there for the price
and will process your files way faster than a p4 3.0ghz

http://www2.hardwareversand.de/2VVZnlhGMIKbp5/1/articledetail.jsp?aid=8790&agid=398

u could simply buy a new cpu and motherboard at a cost of approx 230e and upgrade.

Dinarius

Ishindar,

That does seem cheap.

Is there anyone in the Dublin area who would both sell the processor and install it?

Also, it was suggested to me that I should get either Windows 64bit or Vista 64bit and upgrade my RAM too.

a. Should it be Windows or Vista?

b. Can they really 'see' 8Gb of RAM, as I have been told?

Thanks.

D.

Capt'n Midnight

I'm guessing that XP came with the computer , in which case the license doesn't cover the new motherboard, also since it's a dell you would almost certainly need a new case and power supply. At that stage a bare bones PC with Vista pre installed starts looking good, especially since you get better video card and HDD.

Vista 64 will see more than 4GB but only if the mother board supports it. Also the extra ram may not be much use if the application can't use it - check their web site for more info

gamer

Win xp can see 3gig ,get another 1 or 2 gig ram.Download ccleaner ,use it on all the drives.defrag all drives,start with d,or e , one at a time.Run chkdisk on drive c:
Some people set 1 hd 4 winxp and a large swapfile.HD2 for program installs.HD 3 for photos,eg data files.CLOSE DOWN browsers,knock off antivirus when doing photo editing.
GO to control panel,hardware,system, performance ,click set windows for maximum performance, it knocks off animation on menus,and windows etc your pc will speed up,i cant say if it will a difference to editing large photos.MAKE sure turn back on antivirus when finished.PRESS control alt del, see task manager ,see performance ,see page file history , if its over 100meg page file ,you need more memory,ram.
PUT all your data ,photos on drive d,e,or f ,separate from c where winxp is located.
Google how to speed up windows xp.

gamer

I think winxp can only use 3.3gig ram, you might want a photo editing program that is designed for a dual core cpu,pc .if you can afford 2buy one.

Dinarius

Thanks for the replies.

I should have said I'm using Photoshop CS3 with this computer.

Interesting point about turning off AVG when editing. Will try it.

I've actually given one of my installed 500Gb drives (formatted and defragged) entirely to CS3 as a scratch disk.

I also downloaded and installed an updated driver (May 2008) for my Nvidia graphics card.

I've noticed a big improvement with just these changes.

Will probably add another gig of RAM too.

Thanks.

D.