Optimize My PC?

[Zando_]

I've got a halfway decent PC set up, and I'm wondering what I can do to make sure it's running as smooth as possible? 

 

Specs are as follows, and any vague details will be updated once I get home:

//UPDATED SPECS//

RAM: 8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport + 4GB OEM, Dual channel, 665MHz

CPU: Dual Core Intel Pentium G645 @ 2.9GHz, Sandy Bridge

GPU: EVGA 1050 Ti SC

HDD: 1TB WD Caviar Blue

Mobo: Intel Desktop Board DH77KC

PSU: 550W 80 Plus Bronze OEM I pulled from an old PC

Disk Drive: OEM HP pulled from another PC

Case: Corsair Spec-02

 

It's running Windows 10 Home 64-bit, and I regularly run Cleaner and Wise Registry Cleaner to keep the crap and registry clean. I've also disabled all the startup programs except the windows OS ones, Google Drive, and Sophos Home. I do know I need to switch my matching RAM to the primary slots, right now they're in slots 3 and 4. It'll run RealFlight G5 with everything maxed at around 80-120 fps. G5 is an older RC flight sim from RealFlight that's not that hard to run, but it's the only game I have installed. 

 

Is there anything I can do to make it as fast and smooth as possible? Or am I good?

 

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Cleaner and Wise Registry Cleaner to keep the crap and registry clean

cleaning the registry is kinda bs, don't do it. no reason to

 

2 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Sophos Home.

just use defender built in and don't be stupid and your fine

 

 

[Zando_]

4 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

cleaning the registry is kinda bs, don't do it. no reason to

 

just use defender built in and don't be stupid and your fine

 

 

From my experience (at work, managing the enterprise version of Sophos) it doesn't take that much to run, and I trust it more than Defender. 

 

And can you explain why not to clean the registry? My Dad is the one who showed me how, and he's been managing computers for years. It seems to help with stability, and if I clean up the 200+ errors that generally come up the first time, computers seem to run smoother. Is it just the placebo effect?

[Ausfernando]

Try to get a better cpu, something like an i3-6100 will be perfect because from a old super low range cpu to 6th gen low to middle range cpu, its a big difference, also what kind of ram do you have, if you have ddr3 or ddr4 its good, if its ddr2 or lower, change it. Also get a new PSU (Power supply) as you dont want a cheap old one (for safety issues) 

Links

CPU

7th gen: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-7100-Desktop-Processor-BX80677I37100/dp/B01NCESRJX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491336299&sr=8-1&keywords=intel+core+i3+7100

6th gen (10 dollars less and not that much performance drop)

RAM (only if the one you have is ddr2 or lower)

https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-Sport-Single-PC4-19200-288-Pin/dp/B00UFBZOVE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491336379&sr=8-2&keywords=8gb+ram+ddr4

And PSU (This for safety more than performance)

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-WHITE-Power-Supply-100-W1-0500-KR/dp/B00H33SFJU/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491336439&sr=1-1&keywords=Psu

 

Everything I just linked is about 150-200 dollars (depending if you get the ram or not), also put the Ram on the 1st and 3rd slot (thats because of thermal reasons)

 

Hope I helped

 

[Electronics Wizardy]

18 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

Is it just the placebo effect?

yep, and those errors don't cause a problem, there just unused, and if you screwup doing it, then your system has problems. Registry problems won't cause issues.

[Zando_]

Just now, Ausfernando said:

Try to get a better cpu, something like an i3-6100 will be perfect because from a old super low range cpu to 6th gen low to middle range cpu, its a big difference, also what kind of ram do you have, if you have ddr3 or ddr4 its good, if its ddr2 or lower, change it. Also get a new PSU (Power supply) as you dont want a cheap old one (for safety issues) 

Links

CPU

7th gen: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-7100-Desktop-Processor-BX80677I37100/dp/B01NCESRJX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491336299&sr=8-1&keywords=intel+core+i3+7100

6th gen (10 dollars less and not that much performance drop)

RAM (only if the one you have is ddr2 or lower)

https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-Sport-Single-PC4-19200-288-Pin/dp/B00UFBZOVE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491336379&sr=8-2&keywords=8gb+ram+ddr4

And PSU (This for safety more than performance)

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-WHITE-Power-Supply-100-W1-0500-KR/dp/B00H33SFJU/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491336439&sr=1-1&keywords=Psu

 

Everything I just linked is about 150-200 dollars (depending if you get the ram or not), also put the Ram on the 1st and 3rd slot (thats because of thermal reasons)

 

Hope O 

 

I'm planning on getting a new CPU, but I've spent all my moolah for the month on the GPU and case (my dad says I can only spend $200 a month, since otherwise I'd be rich for about 20 minutes after my paycheck, then broke again). Also, my Mobo doesn't support a 6th gen does it? It's an LGA 1155 socket. Also, I was planning on getting a used i5 K series quad core somewhere around 3.2Ghz off of eBay for about $80. Are used CPUs good? the Pentium I have is out of an old (2013) computer that was used in my Aunt's business. 

 

And the RAM is good, DDR3! 

And the PSU is on my list as well. 

[Ausfernando]

6 minutes ago, Zando Bob said:

I'm planning on getting a new CPU, but I've spent all my moolah for the month on the GPU and case (my dad says I can only spend $200 a month, since otherwise I'd be rich for about 20 minutes after my paycheck, then broke again). Also, my Mobo doesn't support a 6th gen does it? It's an LGA 1155 socket. Also, I was planning on getting a used i5 K series quad core somewhere around 3.2Ghz off of eBay for about $80. Are used CPUs good? the Pentium I have is out of an old (2013) computer that was used in my Aunt's business. 

 

And the RAM is good, DDR3! 

And the PSU is on my list as well. 

Ok, so the psu is off the list and the RAM is too, so thats 100 dollars spare that you can use for a 50-60 dollar motherboard, let me show you a good one:

 

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-LGA1151-Intel-Motherboard-GA-H110M/dp/B0165YUDTM/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491338155&sr=1-2&keywords=Motherboard

Also, its funny how you say only 200 dollars a month, I only get 29$ a month ? 

[Zando_]

6 minutes ago, Ausfernando said:

Ok, so the psu is off the list and the RAM is too, so thats 100 dollars spare that you can use for a 50-60 dollar motherboard, let me show you a good one:

 

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-LGA1151-Intel-Motherboard-GA-H110M/dp/B0165YUDTM/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491338155&sr=1-2&keywords=Motherboard

Also, its funny how you say only 200 dollars a month, I only get 29$ a month ? 

Well, my Dad is super awesome and basically gave me a job at my uncle's business. Kind of like, "Alright Son, we need an IT admin. Pack your lunch and we're going", and then it's built from there. I make around $1400-$1500 a month after tax. Basically I've got money falling out my ears. 

 

... but then I need a car, and soon I have to start paying rent, insurance, gas, etc.

 

So the money will just fall out into someone else's pocket. 

[brob]

21 minutes ago, Ausfernando said:

Try to get a better cpu, something like an i3-6100 will be perfect because from a old super low range cpu to 6th gen low to middle range cpu, its a big difference, also what kind of ram do you have, if you have ddr3 or ddr4 its good, if its ddr2 or lower, change it. Also get a new PSU (Power supply) as you dont want a cheap old one (for safety issues) 

Links

CPU

7th gen: https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-7100-Desktop-Processor-BX80677I37100/dp/B01NCESRJX/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1491336299&sr=8-1&keywords=intel+core+i3+7100

6th gen (10 dollars less and not that much performance drop)

RAM (only if the one you have is ddr2 or lower)

https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-Sport-Single-PC4-19200-288-Pin/dp/B00UFBZOVE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1491336379&sr=8-2&keywords=8gb+ram+ddr4

And PSU (This for safety more than performance)

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-WHITE-Power-Supply-100-W1-0500-KR/dp/B00H33SFJU/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491336439&sr=1-1&keywords=Psu

 

Everything I just linked is about 150-200 dollars (depending if you get the ram or not), also put the Ram on the 1st and 3rd slot (thats because of thermal reasons)

 

Hope I helped

 

 

The difficulty with upgrading to a more recent cpu is that requires a motherboard change. And an upgrade to an LGA1151 motherboard would require new memory unless that motherboard supported DDR3L (low voltage, e.g. 1.35v) and the existing memory is DDR3L.

 

@Zando Bob, you might consider adding an ssd. It will make a difference. Other than that and keeping free storage above 15% there is not much more that could be done without upgrading the basic hardware (cpu, motherboard, and memory). A step which will require saving for several months as it has to be done as a package.

 

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, brob said:

 

The difficulty with upgrading to a more recent cpu is that requires a motherboard change. And an upgrade to an LGA1151 motherboard would require new memory unless that motherboard supported DDR3L (low voltage, e.g. 1.35v) and the existing memory is DDR3L.

 

@Zando Bob, you might consider adding an ssd. It will make a difference. Other than that and keeping free storage above 15% there is not much more that could be done without upgrading the basic hardware (cpu, motherboard, and memory). A step which will require saving for several months as it has to be done as a package.

 

Yup, the SSD is on the list as well. It's one of the most cost effective ways to boost performance, the than more RAM. My 2012 MacBook Pro crawled before it was upgraded to and SSD and 16GB RAM. Are there any software tweaks I can do to increase performance? Is there any windows crap I can disable that I don't need? Or is just keeping the OS and the drivers up to date good enough?

[brob]

@Zando Bob, tweaking Windows is always a double edge sword. I try to run a plain vanilla Windows install using MS defaults as much as possible. More for stability than anything else. 

 

Leaving the system on, or at least on one night a week will let all the auto updaters do their work when you are not using the system. It will also let Windows defrag hdd, and do indexing while the machine is not otherwise being used.

[Zando_]

1 minute ago, brob said:

@Zando Bob, tweaking Windows is always a double edge sword. I try to run a plain vanilla Windows install using MS defaults as much as possible. More for stability than anything else. 

 

Leaving the system on, or at least on one night a week will let all the auto updaters do their work when you are not using the system. It will also let Windows defrag hdd, and do indexing while the machine is not otherwise being used.

OK. And I agree on the plain "clean" windows. Whenever I set up a PC, I usually do a clean install of Win10 to get rid of the bloatware and OEM instability. So I guess more performance is going to come from more hardware. 

[brob]

1 minute ago, Zando Bob said:

OK. And I agree on the plain "clean" windows. Whenever I set up a PC, I usually do a clean install of Win10 to get rid of the bloatware and OEM instability. So I guess more performance is going to come from more hardware. 

Sadly yes. Microsoft design philosophy dictates this. Has since Windows 3.0.

[Zando_]

Or I could run a super light install of linux ... with no drivers... no web browser... no software support... no wallpaper... just a command line* 

 

* This should be read in Linus's "cool television ad" voice.