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Argh why is my dell 530 so slow??

J

JS80

Lifer
I got the Dell inspiron 530 q6600 with 1 gig ram from a pawn shop for $399. I added the ATI 4850 and it works (even though recommended PSU is 475W...). It has Vista home basic on it.

1) Is Vista supposed to be super slow with 1 gig ram? I feel like my P4 3.2 is much faster than this.

2) Should I get aftermarket cooling contraption? Currently I have a fan (like a regular desk fan) aimed behind the rig on high.

3) Should I upgrade Vista basic to premium or business or ultimate? Is it worth it?

4) The pawn shop guy said he has two 1 gig ram sticks (2 gig total) that he'll sell for $50, good deal?

5) Can I have 2 x 512 mb ram + 2 x 1 gb ram in the system?
 
yea, 2gb is pretty much minimum recommended for Vista. just go to newegg and get any 2x1gb ddr2 for $25 after rebate (preferably ddr2-800 with heatspreaders). recently Crucial Ballistix have been about $20 after rebate.
 
1) At work, I have a Northwood 2.0G with a gig running XP that is more performant than my Prescott 3.6G with a gig running Vista...and I have the eye-candy turned off on the Vista machine.

2) ...and you use a desk fan for your cooling system because...

3) Depends on what you want your machine to do.

4) No.

5) Perhaps. Not all mobos like all four slots stuffed. Check Dell.

Which begs the question...why did you buy a box from a pawn shop for just $100 less than what a fully warrantied box would cost?
 
Originally posted by: Slugbait
1) At work, I have a Northwood 2.0G with a gig running XP that is more performant than my Prescott 3.6G with a gig running Vista...and I have the eye-candy turned off on the Vista machine.

2) ...and you use a desk fan for your cooling system because...

3) Depends on what you want your machine to do.

4) No.

5) Perhaps. Not all mobos like all four slots stuffed. Check Dell.

Which begs the question...why did you buy a box from a pawn shop for just $100 less than what a fully warrantied box would cost?
Click to expand...

1) ok

2) lol i dunno it was getting hot under my desk. my previous system kept crashing this summer...i'm suspecting bc of the heat. i just turned off the fan and the idle core temps went up by like 4 degrees.

3) gaming, surfing, home video editing

4) oh sweet. i might have to get 2 x 2gig

5) ok

It still has the warranty on it until next April. But I probably should have negotiated down $50 more dollars but I sort of wanted it right away.
 
I don't recommend putting Ballistix or OCZ memory into a Dell. Those memory modules require nonstandard voltages that could cause stability problems or even an incapability to boot because you can't adjust the voltages in a Dell BIOS.

If you're going to upgrade your memory, buy RAM that's designed for 1.8V operation to be on the safe side.
 
Originally posted by: RallyMaster
Why did you buy a computer from a pawn shop? 😕
Click to expand...

It was advertised on Craigslist and when I showed up it was a pawn shop!!

Originally posted by: DSF
I don't recommend putting Ballistix or OCZ memory into a Dell. Those memory modules require nonstandard voltages that could cause stability problems or even an incapability to boot because you can't adjust the voltages in a Dell BIOS.

If you're going to upgrade your memory, buy RAM that's designed for 1.8V operation to be on the safe side.
Click to expand...

K thx.
 
Basic has everything you need for "gaming, surfing, home video editing".

Premium is probably worth it as a $30 upgrade when configuring a new PC, but probably not a $100+ upgrade on an existing one.

Ultimate over Premium gets you: "Windows Complete PC Backup and Restore, Windows Fax and Scan, Remote Desktop Connection, Windows BitLocker Drive Encryption". I think it's not worth it, but maybe you value those features more than I do.
 
399 is kinda high for a pawn shop system

Dell has the 530 with 3gb ram and 2x 320gb HDD's and a DVDRW for 479 with Vista HP

1-Vista should have at least 2gb ram, never 1gb
2-shouldnt need aftermarket cooling
3-I wouldnt upgrade, maybe you should just reinstall with the Dell Vista DVD to get rid of all the junk (you did get the Dell OS DVD, right?)
4-NO, get some Crucial or Kingston memory from Newegg or Crucial.com
5-YES, you can have 2x 512 and 2x 1gb
 
Originally posted by: Bateluer
Just curious, when you got the system, did you do a clean format and install of Vista?
Click to expand...

it was never turned on so it had the first turn on prompt for vista basic. it came with the dell system install cd.



so i bot 2x2 gig ram from frys...great it's only showing 3.25 gb of ram in the system.

Originally posted by: DrGreen2007
399 is kinda high for a pawn shop system

Dell has the 530 with 3gb ram and 2x 320gb HDD's and a DVDRW for 479 with Vista HP

1-Vista should have at least 2gb ram, never 1gb
2-shouldnt need aftermarket cooling
3-I wouldnt upgrade, maybe you should just reinstall with the Dell Vista DVD to get rid of all the junk (you did get the Dell OS DVD, right?)
4-NO, get some Crucial or Kingston memory from Newegg or Crucial.com
5-YES, you can have 2x 512 and 2x 1gb
Click to expand...


eh, no tax, no shipping, no waiting. i thought it was worth it for my situation.
 
32 bit windows can only address 3 gb of ram. If you want more, you have to go to a 64 bit operating system. The 1gb ram was probably slowing you down. Don;t you now see an immediate increase in performance?

You could always install xp on that thang. Core 2 duo system run xp as fast as we all wanted the last genration of processors to run it. Finally, my computer waits for me and I don't have to wait for my computer (often).
 
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