VanguardLH wrote in :

J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

KenK WROTE:

Using XP Home.

I have an isolated eMachine and it performs well in normal use -
Googling, writing letters, email, news groups, etc. with 2 G RAM. I
have a Compac Presario 5000 with XP Home and 3/4G ram. Very slow.
Think upping RAM to 2 G would be worth the money? Both use the same
DSL feed.

My first reaction would be a resounding Yes. Having read the other
followups, I'll still say a _qualified_ Yes:

o check it _can_ take more RAM. (Probably can - 3/4 seems an odd
limit.)

We don't know where he is getting the information on memory capacity.
The OS will reserve some so maybe he is reporting how much user-mode
memory is available. Something simple would be to run msinfo32.exe and
remarking what it says is "Installed Physical Memory" in the "System
Summary" root tree node.

I couldn't find system specifications on that model (plus it seems the
"5000" family has prepended qualifiers on the model number, so not sure
what the OP has). Crucial said the "Compaq Presario 5000" can take a
maximum of 1 GB of system RAM. Yep, just 1 GB. Trying to use bigger
than 512 MB modules in the two RAM slots would be fruitless as they
won't support larger memory sticks. But that was for the "Compaq
Presario 5000 Series Model 5423US". We don't know what the OP has.


eMachine Celeron 2.95 GHz
Compaq Pentium 1500 MHz


o if it's an old processor, it won't _fly_ - but still faster than
disk.

Adding an SSD to Windows XP has its own problems but there are
workarounds. More memory (doesn't look possible), reducing the startup
programs count (to reduce memory use by unimportant processes), and a
faster drive would all help but, yeah, the CPU is still going to be a
bottle neck.

Overclocking might be possible (I'd have to see what were the BIOS
settings) but that rarely provides any significant speed boost. Frame
rates in video games might get higher and benchmarks look better but
actual result is dismal compared to overheating (even with more
cooling)
the CPU which shortens its lifespan.

Looks like OP has a Celeron 566 MHz Socket 370. There are faster
socket
370 Celerons (633 MHz, 800 MHz, 1.1 GHz) but if his mobo's BIOS doesn't
support the necessary clock frequency and multipliers then going to a
higher speed Celeron socket 370 is not an option. I'd have to research
the wattage of each to determine if more than the stock heatsink + fan
for the 566 MHz chip is needed for the higher speed Celerons.




--
I love a good meal! That's why I don't cook.