Has vista got rid of most of the kinks by now?

[Lani]

Thanks so much for your clarification Kym and Tony... quite elucidating in comparison to what the guy at the computer shop told me.
So If I upgrade my processor from my current 2gig AMD3200+, and add 2 gig of ram to my current 2 gig, "should" that solve my problems when running LR and CS3/4 together?

[Kym]

Ha Tony! We seem to thing alike Lani - at least the local experts agree ! Hope that makes things clearer.

Summary: Win XP (32 bit) - having 4GB (or 3GB) of memory is worth while.
Why 4? - memory sticks are often paired and it is better (more cost effective) to have the wasted 0.5 GB for performance.

EDIT: Your upgrade probably ONLY needs memory.
Once you think abut CPU upgrades ... the economics of a new box start making sense.

[Lani]

Ha Tony! We seem to thing alike Lani - at least the local experts agree ! Hope that makes things clearer.

Summary: Win XP (32 bit) - having 4GB (or 3GB) of memory is worth while.
Why 4? - memory sticks are often paired and it is better (more cost effective) to have the wasted 0.5 GB for performance.

EDIT: Your upgrade probably ONLY needs memory.
Once you think abut CPU upgrades ... the economics of a new box start making sense.

Funnily enough, that was what I thought in the first place. Well I can give it a try and if it doesn't solve the problem, I can still use it if I need a bigger upgrade.

Thanks again.

[Kym]

Thanks so much for your clarification Kym and Tony... quite elucidating in comparison to what the guy at the computer shop told me.
So If I upgrade my processor from my current 2gig AMD3200+, and add 2 gig of ram to my current 2 gig, "should" that solve my problems when running LR and CS3/4 together?

Depends on the shop If it were Tony's shop you would get good advice.
Hardly Normal etc are often worse than useless.

If you box is 3 years old (or more) be careful upgrading - the economics don't work out usually (memory being the exception).

A whole new box for $1,200...$1,500 will be 3 or 4 times faster. A CPU upgrade buys you maybe 50% - if your lucky.
Reasons:
New box = new mother board = faster bus (key to overall performance)
New box = more and faster memory
New box = fundamentally faster CPU technology
New box = faster disk technology

[Tannin]

A bit more detail on Kym's suggestion gor using 4GB rather than 3GB.

Generally, modern system use RAM sticks in pairs. It is important that these be matched pairs, not mixed brands. RAM comes in 0.5GB, 1GB, and 2GB sticks. So, to get 3GB, you need to use 2 x 1.0GB + 2 x 0.5GB. First, you have to find sticks of 512MB RAM, which isn't easy anymore, and you will pay a price premium because they are no longer mainstream products. Second, you are using 4 sticks instead of 2 sticks, and the lower the number of parts, the more reliable the system is. So, as Kym says, it's best to simply put in 2 x 2GB for 4GB in total and not worry about the small wastage.

But Lani, it sounds to me as though you are running a Socket 939 Athlon - most 3200s were Socket 939 - and they use the older DDR-1, not the current DDR-2 RAM. So you will pay quite a premium for RAM to fit your machine now. (Asuming it is indeed DDR-1.) I'm not sure that you wil get a lot of benefit from what will be, in the end, a substantial expense.

In your shoes, I'd look hard at your software setup. You should be able to get perfectly decent (not brilliant but perfectly OK) performance from an Athlon 64 3200 with 2GB RAM. If you are not, then you probably need to pay some attention to streamlining your system, in particular, paying attention to what's starting up that doesn't need to be and is, in consequnce, robbing you of the free RAM and CPU performance you need to run two very large, inefficient, and very slow programs at the same time (Lightroom and Photoslug). Any decent computer tech or a skilled home user can help you with that.

The best alternative is probably to upgrade your system to something that uses the newer, faster, cheaper DDR-2 RAM. Right now, you have a choice between very affordable and good but not mind-blowing dual core CPUs, and rather expensive quad-core ones like the X4 920 and X4 940. Quad cores are not quite ready for prime time: they perform OK but the third and fourth cores sit idle waiting for a spare task they can perform much of the time, meaning that the practical benefit of a quad is limited. The good news, however, is that the gap is narrowing fast: we are just starting to see the new generation of dual core chips based on the latest quad-core technology arrive, and over the next few months, there will be more of them and faster. Meanwhile, the quads are dropping in price.

So your best plan is probably to tweak up your software settings for the time being, and look at replacing the 2GB 3200 motherboard with a high-spec dual-core or reduced-price quad core in three to six months time, when (unless I miss my guess) the pricing will be very attractive.

[Tannin]

PS: if my guess about your motherboard is right (Socket 939 3200), you can't just upgrade the CPU. They don't make Socket 939 chips anymore. So I'm assuming that you do CPU, mainboard, and RAM in one go. Typically, that gives you 80-90% of the benefit of a new system at around 50% of the cost. If the rest of your system is ancient, then the bets are off, of course.

[Lani]

That makes perfect sense, Thanks Tony
I have looked at what stuff is running in the background, but my guess is I am missing something. Like you say, the system should be handling it better.
Good news to hear that price of something is going to be dropping.
Gives me time to save a few pennies, and just upgrade the whole lot in a little while.

Thanks again for you help.

[Kodi]

Go to start/run and type in msconfig click OK and then open the startup tab and you will see a list of all programs that are running when you start your computer.
You can turn them off here and it will improve your performance.
For example if you are running Microsoft Office you can turn it off and then when you try to open Word or Excel it will take a few seconds more as it starts the program.
Adobe and Nero are major offenders also .
If you are not sure what to turn off just post a list of your startup programs and we can advise you what to turn off at startup

[Lani]

Go to start/run and type in msconfig click OK and then open the startup tab and you will see a list of all programs that are running when you start your computer.
You can turn them off here and it will improve your performance.
For example if you are running Microsoft Office you can turn it off and then when you try to open Word or Excel it will take a few seconds more as it starts the program.
Adobe and Nero are major offenders also .
If you are not sure what to turn off just post a list of your startup programs and we can advise you what to turn off at startup

Thanks for that,
I'll have a look and see.
*edit*
Just had a look and there are quite a few programs there. The screen doesn't show the whole names, so how do I find out what they actually are....just check them individually in the locations shown or is there an easier way?

[Kodi]

If you place your cursor on the line in between where it says; start up item and manufacturer it should turn into a cross, click and hold down your left mouse button and drag to the right it should reveal more info.