A8N-SLI Deluxe and a Mix TwinX pair

[kimmetje]

Hi,

 

I've recently added two Western Digital 500GB Caviar SE16 hard disks and was warned that my current setup of 4x512 CORSAIR TWINX PC3200 would not doubt be stretched to the limits and would no doubt need a RAM upgrade. And indeed, the system is showing some considerable slow performances.

 

I was wondering if I buy a set of CORSAIR TWINX Matched DDR 2048MB (2x1024MB) 400Mhz PC3200 CAS2 HSP- would I be able to match them with a set of CORSAIR TWINX PC3200 (2x512MB)?

 

Thanks for letting me know whether this would be possible!

[DerekT]

You shouldn't need to upgrade your ram with additional hard drives. The board will drop to a command rate of 2T with the 4 X 512MB but you were there prior to hard drive additions. Possibly you just see the system as slowing down as time has gone by. You can increase system performance by setting your Windows Swap File to a different drive.

 

Here's how to move the swap file to another drive:

1. Go to Start --> Settings --> Control Panel.
   
2. Double-click the System icon and choose Performance.
   
3. Take note of the current minimum and maximum values of the swap file.
   
4. Set the initial size and maximum size to 0 --> Click Set.
   
5. Select the drive where you wish to place the swap file.
   
6. In the Initial Size text box, enter the minimum value from the original swap file.
   
7. In the Maximum Size text box, enter at least the maximum value from the original swap file. Entering a value that is too small will result in poor system performance.
   
8. Select the volume to which you would like to move the swap file --> Click Set.
   
9. Click OK and reboot the system.
   

 

This should help you with your performance issues. Otherwise you can make the move from 4 X 512 to 2 X 1024 and set your Command Rate to 1T. You will gain the extra performance of the additional GB and the Command Clock Rate. I would not go with 2 X 1024 plus 2 X 512.

[kimmetje]

Hi Derek,

 

Thanks for your quick response! Using Windows XP, I managed to get to Administrative Tools and in there I found Performance... Under my System I couldn't find anything about Performance. Once I click it, I see a whole interface with moving graphs. Is this the one you intended me to see? If so, I haven't managed to figure out what are the values and indeed how to proceed with the task list as you've shown it!

[Garvin]

Nope, DerekT's probably has his Start menu set up in classic view. In normal Xp Start menu view, so to Start, then Control Panel, then towards the bottom there should be an icon called System. Double left click the System icon and then click on the Advanced tab. Under the Advanced tab, left-click the Settings button in the Performance box and at the next "Performance Options" window left click the Advanced tab (this would be the second advanced tab clicked thus far). Left-click the Change button in the Virtual Memory section of this Advanced tab. This will bring up the "Virtual Memory" window DerekT mentions. The only thing different from what DerekT lists for a procedure that I do is to set the size of the Page File on the primary Windows operating system drive, usually the C:\ drive, to twice whatever the minimum size Windows mentions towards the bottom of that window instead of setting it to zero. Window's System Restore and the Dr. Watson utility don't work correctly if the Page File is set to zero or turned off so I just keep it small to avoid headaches later. As DerekT mentioned you should set up the bulk of the Page file on one of your alternate drives. For a size I usually just set the maximum and minimum to whatever Window's recommended for a size when you first open the "Virtual Memory" window up (1.5 times the amount of physical RAM in the system).

 

ps: don't know who told you you'd need a RAM upgrade when you added the 500gig drives but it isn't true.

[DerekT]

Nope, DerekT's probably has his Start menu set up in classic view.

 

Thanks Garvin ;):

[kimmetje]

I've managed to find the dialog you both were mentioning.

I've changed the settings - see the screenshot attached to this post.

I think it's helped a little but it still takes a rather long time for Windows to load up, and for it to just search for files. Are my settings too low / or too high?

 

Thanks for your help, it's really appreciated!

[DerekT]

Set your C Drive to no Swapfile. Set your E: Drive to hold the SwapFile and 2GB for Max/Min. If Windows needs more, it will re-allocate so do not worry with 2048MB. Dr. Watson and System Restore will reallocate the logs and set to dump on your Windows partition work fine as long as you have a working swap file and E Drive will perform the necessary function.

 

Download TuneXP:

 

DH TuneXP description

one of the best and most powerful Windows XP tweakers ever

DH TuneXP is a radical, new tool is the one of the best and most powerful Windows XP tweakers ever, supporting totally unseen tweaks, which is unique to the program.

 

Among them:

 

• Ultra-fast boot (rearrange boot files)
  
• Boot folder defragmentation
  
• Prefetch folder cleaning
  
• DNS cache optimization
  
• File allocation size tweak
  

 

But that isn't all. It includes a plethora of other performance tweaks, which will make your Windows installation run faster than ever before as well as Windows Service configuration.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/DH-TuneXP.shtml

1. Go to "Internet" and set "DNS Cache Increase" to "Enable"
   
2. Go to "Hardware" and enable all
   
3. Go to "Memory and File System" and Enable:
   

• Accelerate DLL Unloading
  
• Disable Paging Executive
  
• Faster Shutdown
  
• File Allocation Size Tweak
  
• Optimize Prefetch
  
• Increase NTFS Performance
  
• Defrag Boot Files
  
• Ultra Fast Booting
  

 

Download Microsoft BootVis:

 

BootVis description

BootVis - Microsoft tool to provide faster XP boot and resume times

BootVis is a performance trace visualization utility that you can use with Windows XP systems. Customer research shows a frequently requested feature that users want from

their PCs is fast system startup, whether from cold boot or when resuming from standby or hibernation.

 

The Windows development team at Microsoft has taken bold steps in making fast startup PCs a reality with the Microsoft Windows XP operating system.

 

Here are some key features of "BootVis":

 

• Boot to a useable state in a total of 30 seconds
  
• Resume from Hibernate (S4) in a total of 20 seconds
  
• Resume from Standby (S3) in a total of 5 seconds
  

 

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/System-Tweak/BootVis.shtml

 

This should help