BBRoundtable

Welcome back to <b> This Old PC</b>, where we'll remodel your computer for an extended useful lifespan.<
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>This episode, we'll turn your PC into a multimedia power house. When I mean "Power House", I mean we'll consolodate some of your most used items into on area. You will need to know how to install this stuff into your PC yourself or you will run into some nasty installation charges by computer stores, charging around $25-$50/hr. This should not be
ain surgery here.<
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> <b> <i> CAUTION: PLEASE READ THIS ARTICLE COMPLETELY BEFORE ACTING UPON IT. JUMPING THE GUN MAY CAUSE UNECCESSARY EXPENSES!!!</i></b><
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><b> <u>STEP 1: RAM more into your system</u></b><
>First thing that you'll need to do is upgrade your system to support multiple items. The first thing to get is RAM. You should have at least four times the ram that your OS suggests.<
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>Windows 98 & ME users should have 256 MB's of RAM<
>Windows 2K & XP users should have 512 MB's of RAM<
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>If you don't know how much RAM you have, go to the System Control panel. It'll be the last item listed in the general area. If you need RAM, check how many RAM slots are still open in your computer.<
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>To do this, <b> SHUT DOWN YOUR COMPUTER</b> (Make sure you have this printed so you're not totally lost) & open up your system. Your RAM should be located near your processor. Most Motherboards should have at least 3 RAM slots. If you have an open slot, then you should have no problem adding extra RAM... If all the slots are filled, you will have to add the ammount of RAM in the slot you want to replace to the ammount that you are planning on buying. Before you run out for your RAM, make sure what your processor's bus speed is. Your Processor's bus speed will seriously effect how effiecent your computer can use the RAM currently in your system. As a rule of Thumb, here's a list of processor busses, however, please consult your computer's owner manual to make sure of this. You will need to keep your RAM with the save processor bus to work properly.<
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>Celeron/Duran -- 66 Mhz Bus Speed<
>P II / K-62 -- 100 Mhz Bus Speed<
>P III / K-63 -- 100/133 Mhz Bus Speed<
>P IV / Athalon -- 133+ Mhz Bus Speed<
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>RAM is currently cheap with prices around $35 or lower for 128 MB's of PC-100/PC-133 RAM, however shop around & buy RAM from a place that you feel is respectable.<
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>Installing RAM is literally a snap! Open up your computer (This does mean you should pull the power cord out of your PC), pull out the old RAM if needed, & snap in your new RAM. Before touching <b> ANY ELECTRICAL COMPONENT, make sure that you have discharged yourself of any static electricity!</b> One shock of static electricity can fry your components & will void all warrenties on the items.<
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>Your RAM slots should have a lever on both sides of the RAM which secures it into place, to remove the RAM, just push the levers away from the RAM until you hear 1-2 snapping sounds. This means that the RAM is disconnected from the computer & may be removed. When insert RAM, gently push on the RAM until those levers snaps it into place.<
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>Once you have your new RAM in, close up your computer & start it up. If successful, your system should automatically accept the new RAM into your system. If not, you'll have to make sure you have the RAM inserted completely before returning it.<
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><b> <u>STEP 2: Kick your processor up a notch</u></b><
>You may have all the RAM in the world for your computer, but without a decent processor to support it... Your multimedia experience is going to be cut short with processor lags.<
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>Again, you'll have to open up your computer to see what type of process your have & what your motherboard will allow for speed. <b> AGAIN, consult your owner's manual for some of this information</b><
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>Processors may be expensive, so only buy what you can afford. Since different processor types will have different prices, you'll need to choose the best one for you.<
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>Replace the processor isn't that hard, however. Once you find the type of processor, it's another plug-n-play deal... like your RAM. For some slot 370 (That's the one with all those pins in it), they may have a bar on the side to release it. For Slot 1's, there's a levers on both sides again...<
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>Before you can take advantage of your new-found speed, you need to adjust your motherboard. You should find some jumper switches (its a small set of 10-switches) & some text/instructions on which ones to change printed on the motherboard. Compare the table to what your processor speed & your bus speed (if your motherboard supports multiple bus speeds) & adjust the switches accordingly. If you can't find the jumper switches, you may need to go into your bios to do this. Consult your owner's manual for more details.<
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><i> TO BE CONTINUED...</i> <i></i>

That's kinda a handy idea when wanting to recycle an old computer. <i></i>

Here are my suggestions to make your old computer into a multimedia powerhouse. This is for those who dont want to spend additional money on upgrades. I have a Pentium 3 733, with 384MB's of RAM. I have Windows XP Pro installed. Anyways, installing extra RAM is good, but if you have 128MB's of RAM with XP installed, then your computer is already superior over any OS you had installed previously. After I installed XP, I decided to add an additional 128 to the 256 I had. I didnt really notice any increase since my computer was already screaming. Tweaking is the key, and thats exactly what I did. Here's the following of the tweaks I implemented into my system.<
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>The first thing I did, and I noticed an immediate speed improvement was upping my L2 cache. By default, I have 256, but by dedicating more meory to it, the speed of my computer absolutely was mind blowing. To do this, type regedit in "RUN" on your start menu. then do the following:<
>To manually edit the registry. Modify HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\<
>Control\Session Manager\Memory Management and change the following key SecondLevelDataCache with the REG_DWORD value of (size of your second level cache in decimal). When you have the edit window open, delete the current value data, and make sure that the base value is set to hexadecimal. In the value date, type "800". This will make your L2 cache go from whatever it currently is to 2MB's.<
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>By default, Windows XP hogs 20 percent of your internet connection. In order to stop this and make your connection faster. Here's what needs to be done:<
>Click the Start button -> Run -> type:<
>gpedit.msc<
>Hit Enter or click OK.<
>Navigate to Local Computer Policy -> Administrative Templates -> Network -> QOS Packet Scheduler.<
>In the right hand pane double-click on the "Limit reservable bandwidth" setting.<
>On the Setting tab check the Enabled box.<
>Change "Bandwidth limit %" to read 0.<
>Click OK and close Gpedit.msc.<
>Under Start -> My Computer -> My Network Connections -> View Network Connections -> right-click on your connection -> select Properties (where your protocols are listed) -> make sure QOS Packet Scheduler is enabled. Once you have done this, exit and restart your computer.<
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>Another tweak: Go to "RUN" in the start menu and type "msconfig". Go to the startup tab, and uncheck programs that you normally dont use. Some programs there dont even need to be there, such as Easy CD Creator. This tweak will work with 98 and ME. Easy CD Creator is in the startup tab, and it does not need to be there since it will work without it.<
>If you really dont care about Window's System Restore feature, then disable it because its a memory hog. If you have XP, disabling it will not stop it all together. In order to completely shut it down, go to "RUN", and type "SERVICES.MSC". Find System Restore in the list, double click on it. Click "disable" on the tab.<
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>Heres a good tweak to speedup Internet Explorer. Go to Start, Programs, and right click on Internet Explorer. Click on the shortcut tab, and on the "target" bar, add -nohome at the end of the text.<
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>Another minor and easy tweak to remove any delay from menus sliding out. For this you will need to use regedit (open regedit by going to Start -> Run..., then typing ’regedit’ and pressing enter). The key you need to change is located in HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktop. The actual key is called MenuShowDelay - all you have to do is change the value to 0. Remember, you will have to re-boot your computer for this tweak to take effect.<
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>Here's a good tweak to speed up the startup/shutdown process. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\<
>Once there, find the value HungAppTimeout and make sure it is set to 5000 (that's the default). Now, in the same folder, look for the value WaitToKillAppTimeout. Set this to 4000 (the default is 20000). <
>Lastly, navigate to the folder<
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>HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\<
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>and change the value WaitToKillServiceTimeout to 4000 as well. Another thing that helps speeding up shutting down is going to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services and then setting the NVidia Driver Help service to Manual.<
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>To even further make your computer run faster and more stable, I reccomend downloading Cacheman. You can get it from Cnet or Voodoofiles.com . And, to download the ultimate program that I reccomend, PC Accelerator, you can download the sharware version, or download the program in its entirity from Morpheus. I'm currently using PC Accelerator 6000 v.5.8, and I love it. If you cant find these programs that I reccomended, contact me on ICQ, and I will transfer them to you. My ICQ number is 149631293 . I also reccomend for user's of Windows 95/98/ME and XP to go to this site. http://www.winguides.com<
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>Also, remember to defragment your computer once a week! <
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> <i>Edited by: bdunn420 at: 2/21/02 8:50:41 pm<
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Very handy tips, Billy! Thank you! <i></i>

<i> This was planned to be posted last Wednesday, but there were some stupid EZbugs that prevented this... so I'll post it now</i><
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> <b> <u>Part 2</u></b><
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><b> <u>Step 3: Pack it into more HD space</u></b><
>Unless you have a newer system, you're not going to get much into your 2-10 GB HD. If you have around 25 GB's of HD space & about 60% is still open, you may skip this step.<
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>This part can be a little nerve racking since you have to do open case surgery on your system & you'll need a Screw driver. For a HD, I highly suggest the Maxtor series since they take some of the pain out of it.<
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>After shutting down your computer & removing ALL CABLES FROM THE SYSTEM. Look where your current hard drive is. It should look like a checkbook encased in metal with an IDE cable attached to it (the IDE cable it the big ribbon cable). You should find an open connector on the ribbon cables in the middle & NOT at the end. This middle connector is called the "slave" slot. Adjust the connectors as instructed in your instructions before connecting it. After connecting your new HD, slide in under or on top of your existing HD & secure it with the screws provided. Before closing up your system, connect your HD to an existing power supply if needed. Don't let any loose wires alone when it comes to your HD.<
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>Once everything is reconnected, insert the floppy that came with your HD before booting. The floppy will get you started on formating your new HD for use.<
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>If you are an advanced user, you may be able to format your HD into different partitions... but for our purposes, just follow the instructions that came with your HD.<
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><i> CAUTION</i>: Your new HD most likely will take drive letter D & pushing your CD-ROM drives down 1 letter (D to E, E to F, ect.)... You will have to make changes to any shortcuts you may have with your system.<
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><b> <u>STEP 4: Drawing up a Graphical Card Storm</u></b><
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>A good Graphics Card is a key component for any Multimedia Powerhouse. Without one, you could only play games that look like they were made on a Nintendo or even an Atari... Not that pretty. That's why a good Graphics Card will keep your video running great.<
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>First of all, you'll need to know if your computer has an Accellerated Graphics Processor slot, or AGP slot for short. This is the new standard for graphics cards & If your computer was built after 1999, then you probably will have one... Otherwise you have to look for a PCI card.<
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>For most games, you'll probably need 8 MB's of Video RAM... However I suggest going for 32 MB's for most people & even 64 MB's if you're playing Everquest. Graphics Cards will vary in price & performance, but I would suggest a NVIDA Ge Force 2 or 3 for AGP cards...<
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>Once you get your card home, open up your system again & find your expansion ports (in the back of your computer). Just remove securing scren then the metal plate before inserting your new graphics card.<
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>If you have an old graphics card, please remove it & place in your new one. Once your new card is in it & you closed up your system. Connect your monitor to the new card. After booting up, run the drives that are enclosed on a CD to get your new card up & running.<
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><b> <u>Step 5: Once less screen to worry about -- Getting a TV Card</u></b><
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>A TV-Tuner card is a very nice feature to have in your computer. It saves space on your desk & can be scaled to your liking. There aren't a lot of TV-Tuner Cards, so I'll be refering to the Hauppage Win TV series.<
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>For the bare-basic TV-Turner PCI card (Mono sound & only a coaxial cable port), it'll cost around $50 or $100 for the USB variation (which they call their "GO" series). For the up-to-date HDTV ready TV-Tuner card will cost you around $300 for it.<
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>Since Hauppage works with international standards, you will want to check with their site to see if they support your regional standards for HDTV cards... Your Analog TV cards (NON-HDTV) are internationally supported.<
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>Once you buy one, just plug it in like a graphics card. Then connect an antenna or your cable line into the card & run the appropiate cords to your sound card on the outside. (Sound-out connector on the TV card to your line-in connector on your sound card)<
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>Again, you'll have to run the CD that comes with the card to fully use it & it'll take a few minutes worth the configuring (Like actual TV's), before it'll run how you like it.<
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><b> <i> To be continued again... whenever I feel like it</i></b> <i></i>

Geforce2 sucks, well, at least the geforce2 mx400 sucks, I should know. Its great that my games no longer hog system RAM, but the framerate sucks. I only get 30fps on TFC, which came out in 98.. DirectX sucks on TFC as well, so I'm stuck using OpenGL. Last year, I had a TNT2 Vanta 16MB card, and games had to use my system RAM because the card didnt have much memory. Anyways, I ran 3D Mark on my computer, and I got 1166 3D Marks. This year, I ran it again to see what I get for my Geforce2 mx400, well, I got a mere 762 3D Marks. So, if anyone here wants to upgrade their card, I reccomend a Geforce3 because they are getting cheaper now, and they outperform the Geforce2. <i>Edited by: bdunn420 at: 2/25/02 7:01:28 pm<
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More XP tips:<
>I currently have 384MB's of RAM installed in my computer, and before I did these additional tweaks, I had 250MB's of free RAM. Anyways, here are some more tips.<
>Go to "START", click on "Run". In the "Run" window, type SERVICES.MSC <
>A window will open with a list of services that the computer opens during startup. There are alot of uneccessary programs that open during startup, thus, slowing down your start-up and taking up memory. I went to multiple websites for info on these programs, and heres what I disabled and shutted-down:<
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>Fast User Switching<
>Help and Support<
>Human Interface Devices<
>IPSEC Services<
>Messenger (not MSN messenger)<
>Netmeeting Remote Desktop Sharing<
>NVIDIA driver help<
>Portable Media Player Serial number (for portable MP3 players, if you do not have one, then disable this feature)<
>Remote Desktop Help Session Manager<
>Remote Registry<
>Secondary Logon<
>Server<
>System Restore Service<
>Telnet<
>WMI Performance Adapter<
>Workstation<
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>After disabling these useless services, my startup time was decreased by 5 seconds, and now I have 275MB's of free RAM instead of 250MB's. <i>Edited by: bdunn420 at: 2/25/02 7:02:35 pm<
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