Vista 64bit Newb- Performance Improvement?

[Herbo13]

Hi everyone. I just finished building a new computer from Newegg and I'm finally down to tweaking the software. I'm basically a newbie to the Vista 64 Home Premium (used to run XP 32-bit on old computer) and wanted to just ask some help cutting down Vista sluggish performance without crashing my system. I plan to do some mild OC'ing and stuff after I get Vista tamed down, but it's slower then I thought it would be and I wanted to cut out some of the unnecessary junk it runs (such as services). I Have broadband internet (FIOS), run some games and otherwise general computer use. Are there any programs or suggestions you can provide me with to speed up Vista's performance? Right now I have-

all the MS progs that came with the OEM edition (IE 8, etc.)

Enabled Aero

Haven' t disabled any windows processes/tasks yet

The sims 2, spore

Firefox

CCleaner

Gigabyte MOBO applications (ET6, etc)

Avira antivirus

ATI Catalyst 9.3 and other typical drivers

MS Office 2003

That about sums it up. Any help or pointing in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks so much in advance.

Jeff

PS I was gonna DL the Windows 7 Beta, but missed it.

HARDWARE: AMD 8450 Triple core, Gigabyte 780G Mobo, Fios Internet, DVD.RW Drive, MSI 4830 512MB GPU, Onboard Sound, Antec 300 case, 600w OCZ StelathXtreme PSU, 500GB Seagate HDD (350 used, 150 GB back up), 19" Asus monitor (DVI)

 

[lxskllr]

What makes you say it's sluggish?

The only tweak I would make is to the indexing service. Leave it on, but trim down the indexed locations so it isn't using the hd so much.

 

[KeypoX]

Yeah why is it sluggish? Aero?

Once you learn vista, your task will be completed faster. Unless of course you keep doing things the xp way.

 

[Herbo13]

I def. have to learn alot more about Vista. But possibly, the Aero? I was considering shutting down the Indexing, I didn't really need it too much in XP. A major annoyance for me is all the pop ups and permissions to perform an action, such as loading CD or running any program.

 

[lxskllr]

The popups are UAC. It's a valuable security feature, but I do have it turned off on my system. Aero shouldn't slow anything down. It leverages your gfx card for desktop rendering. Indexing's personal preference. I like it, but I cut back on the indexing locations.

 

[Herbo13]

Alright, Thanks! I'll probably look into UAC, leave the Aero (I 4GB and the 4830 should be able to handle it), and cut some indexing. I already disabled the sidebar so far and the welcome screen.

 

[CrimsonWolf]

My general advice is don't mess with it too much at first. Wait until you get things configured and you're used to the OS. Then you can better figure out what you can cut down (overall though, I find Vista to be very low maintenance).

As others mentioned the HD is "busier" at first becuase of indexing. This will go away gradually. Also, I recommend leaving UAC enabled. I imagine it's annoying as hell right now, but once you've installed and configured everything to your liking, UAC prompts should be few and far between. It's good line of defense.

You've got a nice build, Vista should run great. Enjoy :beer:

 

[Herbo13]

Ok Thank you everyone. Just one last question- For 500 GB drive, do you live 350 GB is a good size Partition for Vista? Should I make it larger or smaller or is it ok at that size? I'd only probably use the extra space for back up- is there a recommended size that might help performance (ie virus scans) yet is still practical? Thanks!

 

[lxskllr]

I like having 1 partition for everything. If you're really short on money, and can't buy a second drive, then 350gb is a good size. That should leave enough room to move data, and do a format/reinstall.

 

[Mem]

Originally posted by: Herbo13
Hi everyone. I just finished building a new computer from Newegg and I'm finally down to tweaking the software. I'm basically a newbie to the Vista 64 Home Premium (used to run XP 32-bit on old computer) and wanted to just ask some help cutting down Vista sluggish performance without crashing my system. I plan to do some mild OC'ing and stuff after I get Vista tamed down, but it's slower then I thought it would be and I wanted to cut out some of the unnecessary junk it runs (such as services). I Have broadband internet (FIOS), run some games and otherwise general computer use. Are there any programs or suggestions you can provide me with to speed up Vista's performance? Right now I have-

all the MS progs that came with the OEM edition (IE 8, etc.)

Enabled Aero

Haven' t disabled any windows processes/tasks yet

The sims 2, spore

Firefox

CCleaner

Gigabyte MOBO applications (ET6, etc)

Avira antivirus

ATI Catalyst 9.3 and other typical drivers

MS Office 2003

That about sums it up. Any help or pointing in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks so much in advance.

Jeff

PS I was gonna DL the Windows 7 Beta, but missed it.

HARDWARE: AMD 8450 Triple core, Gigabyte 780G Mobo, Fios Internet, DVD.RW Drive, MSI 4830 512MB GPU, Onboard Sound, Antec 300 case, 600w OCZ StelathXtreme PSU, 500GB Seagate HDD (350 used, 150 GB back up), 19" Asus monitor (DVI)

Don't forget to install latest DX9.0C March 2009 (for Vista as well as XP etc) from here ,TweakUAC should help with your UAC popups(don't disable UAC ,use at least quiet mode),only things I have disabled is indexing and Windows Defender real time scan(set mine to scan once a week).

Btw give Vista time(week at least) to learn your habbits,you'll find after awhile its even faster.

 

[CrimsonWolf]

Originally posted by: Herbo13
Ok Thank you everyone. Just one last question- For 500 GB drive, do you live 350 GB is a good size Partition for Vista? Should I make it larger or smaller or is it ok at that size? I'd only probably use the extra space for back up- is there a recommended size that might help performance (ie virus scans) yet is still practical? Thanks!

350 GB is plenty big for Vista. You could probably even make it smaller if you think you might want more space for backup down the road.

And ditto on installing Directx. The version on Vista is not up to speed.

 

[akugami]

Originally posted by: CrimsonWolf

Originally posted by: Herbo13
Ok Thank you everyone. Just one last question- For 500 GB drive, do you live 350 GB is a good size Partition for Vista? Should I make it larger or smaller or is it ok at that size? I'd only probably use the extra space for back up- is there a recommended size that might help performance (ie virus scans) yet is still practical? Thanks!

350 GB is plenty big for Vista. You could probably even make it smaller if you think you might want more space for backup down the road.

And ditto on installing Directx. The version on Vista is not up to speed.

I'd just have everything on one partition. Backing up to the same HD doesn't make sense after all. If the HD is hosed, it's usually hosed for the whole HD and not one particular partition. Just back up important info (pictures, personal files, etc) to DVD's.

***EDIT

Keep in mind 64 bit version of Vista is not really faster so much as it's for accessing more RAM, though I'm sure there are software that will benefit from 64 bit processing vs 32 bit. For general consumers though it won't do a thing for them.

I do love my 64 bit version of Vista because when I'm encoding video, every last bit of RAM helps.

 

[plion]

go to control panel, power options, advanced power settings, set "search and indexing" to balance.

 

[CrimsonWolf]

Originally posted by: akugami

Originally posted by: CrimsonWolf

Originally posted by: Herbo13
Ok Thank you everyone. Just one last question- For 500 GB drive, do you live 350 GB is a good size Partition for Vista? Should I make it larger or smaller or is it ok at that size? I'd only probably use the extra space for back up- is there a recommended size that might help performance (ie virus scans) yet is still practical? Thanks!

350 GB is plenty big for Vista. You could probably even make it smaller if you think you might want more space for backup down the road.

And ditto on installing Directx. The version on Vista is not up to speed.

I'd just have everything on one partition. Backing up to the same HD doesn't make sense after all. If the HD is hosed, it's usually hosed for the whole HD and not one particular partition. Just back up important info (pictures, personal files, etc) to DVD's.

***EDIT

Keep in mind 64 bit version of Vista is not really faster so much as it's for accessing more RAM, though I'm sure there are software that will benefit from 64 bit processing vs 32 bit. For general consumers though it won't do a thing for them.

I do love my 64 bit version of Vista because when I'm encoding video, every last bit of RAM helps.

It depends. Yeah, if the HD fails, it's all gone no matter how it is partitioned. But, if the HD is fine and the OS gets hosed for whatever reason, it's much easier to just blow away the OS partition and re-install everything, and not have to worry about retrieving those files. Maybe it's old advice since Vista is far far less likely to self-destruct than the Windows 9x days where I picked up the habit... but if the OP has just one drive I think it's the next best alternative.

At a minimum, DVD backups are good. OP, moral of the story, use this as an excuse to buy more hard drives.

 

[zerocool84]

OP you have a decent system. Don't see how Vista would run slow at all. It needs time to learn what programs you use then it stores them in your RAM for fast access. Vista runs awesome for me. I have sidebar with many things on it running and full Aero except the crappy translucent glass. I hate it. Also OP you didn't state how much RAM you have. It seems for everyone, 4GB RAM is the sweet spot for Vista.

 

[Herbo13]

Wow, thanks for all the advice everyone. Oh, I have 2x2GB Ram 800 Mhz (4Gb). And last night, I reinstalled Vista from scratch and I'll try letting it learn my habits as stated here. Also, I installed a 2nd interl HDD I had lying around (old Dell 160GB) and I'll be using that as backup. The main Drive (500GB) has 1 partition that will just be dedicated to Vista and whatever else. And I copied that link to the New DirectX and will install tonight. I finished all the drivers and Windows Update last night, unfortunately it put it in Live! Essentials - Does anybody even use this? Just curious- debating on whether to disable or not - I don't really IM and Windows Messenger probably would not be my first choice anyway (although I do have a Live! Account) Thanks again for all your help everyone!!!

 

[hclarkjr]

are you installing service pack 1 also? performance increase from that also

 

[Herbo13]

Yes, I believe I noticed that it in the Auto Updates last night! So hopefully, I'll be able to smooth it out! =)

 

[KeypoX]

the biggest difference to me between vista and xp is that in vista the startmenu is no longer used. I do hit hte start button (windows key) and start typing what i want to do. I very rarely muddle through the program list.

I guess its very small to me but i like it lol. There are many other changes that i am happy about but thats the biggest day to day difference... so indexing is a must for me.