Tips for getting better CPU performance?

[stevem]

I'm with Albuquerque. I'm running a Gigabyte 8KNXP i875 S478, P4 Northwood 3.0GHz, 1GB Corsair TwinX that runs 1:1 @ 250MHz FSB Prime stable. I haven't really explored past 3.75GHz much & have debated grabbing one of these newer AGP boards, but have decided not to bother. I've still got an R9800 Pro. Sadly, I'm not gaming much these days...

Get your cooling right, grab the latest (or best) BIOS for overclocking, then tune for optimum overclock depending on your heat/noise/stability/performance preference. Results will depend on your motherboard, cpu, cooling, chipset, RAM, expansion cards, PSU, etc. What motherboard, RAM, etc. do you currently have?

 

[almighty]

What applications are you runing that you want better performance in, and what is your motherboard?

Best and Warm Regards
Adrian Wainer

Better peformance in general really and here is my mobo

 

[Albuquerque]

That's really not "your motherboard" -- there can be two dozen motherboards with an SiS 661 chipset in them. Do you truly know what your motherboard is? Because if this is the level at which you're capable of understanding computer hardware, you may be too far in over your head to begin with.

I'm not meaning to say that in a negative "you're too stupid" way... I'm sure you're smart enough to pick this stuff up; hell it's not even that hard once you get started. But you'd need to pick up more of the basics first (like being able to find out what your motherboard really is) before we continue to the next level.

Your basic hardware options are as follows:

• Buy a new processor
• Overclock your existing processor (if allowed by your motherboard)
• Buy a new motherboard and processor
• Buy a new motherboard and overclock your existing processor
• Just deal with it until you have the money to do a complete overhaul

That's really where you're at. You can always try what the posters above mentioned -- finding non-critical and/or background processes/services and killing them off. That will get you a little back, but probably not enough to notice. If you completely strip down your Windows install to the bare-minimum, you might see another 2-5% performance increase? Not a lot...

Overclocking would get you "faster for free", but only if your motherboard supports it and only if you've got the cooling to handle it. That's really the last of your free options right there.

 

[almighty]

That's really not "your motherboard" -- there can be two dozen motherboards with an SiS 661 chipset in them. Do you truly know what your motherboard is? Because if this is the level at which you're capable of understanding computer hardware, you may be too far in over your head to begin with.

I'm not meaning to say that in a negative "you're too stupid" way...

Sound's like it to me

 

[Albuquerque]

Sound's like it to me

I am not and have not called you stupid.

We need to know what motherboard you're using. What you just showed us is what chipset your motherboard uses. That's fine and dandy, but that tidbit of information isn't going to help us in helping you. And if you are unaware or unsure of the difference between a chipset and a motherboard, then you need to stop and learn a bit more before we continue.

The difference is quite large and is also quite fundamental to hardware upgrades. But if you only prefer for us to spoon-feed it to you, then you're in the wrong forum.

None of that has to do with you being stupid; it is more to do with a lack of experience which is never the same thing. Someone can be 1000x more intelligent than I, but if they have no clue what a throwout bearing is, I can't help them change out a clutch in their car just yet. You need to know the basics before you can get to the harder stuff... Once you've got the basics down (and it isn't hard) then the harder stuff really isn't that hard anymore.

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

Can you open your case and see who made your motherboard? The board makers name should be on the motherboard somewhere.

The cheap way to boost CPU performance is to overclock the CPU and the motherboard must be able to do this and this is why we need to know who made the motherboard. If you can't find the name then take a pic and post it here and I might be able to find out.

 

[Blazkowicz]

why the hostility, elitism and disdain. Do we really give a shit about the mobo's brand anyway (P4 mobo with SiS chipset is rather low-end). doesn't prevent trying a 10% O/C or a bit more, but the cpu will get hot (is it a prescott or northwood? the former is a cooking oven, the latter is better). Though you might get a nice +20% or +25%, who knows. depends on your cooling, ram, psu, mobo.

Then., why not upgrade the CPU if what's needed is more CPU. if that's a waste, then every upgrade is a waste. you AGP haters are nuts, your hardware will get obosolete too, especially given you upgrade at a much faster rate anyway (people still on P4 or socket A are NOT a rare thing, not everyone has had the $$$ to go A64 then A64 X2 then C2D, i.e. three upgrades when normal people upgrade once.)

 

[Skrying]

Then., why not upgrade the CPU if what's needed is more CPU. if that's a waste, then every upgrade is a waste. you AGP haters are nuts, your hardware will get obosolete too, especially given you upgrade at a much faster rate anyway (people still on P4 or socket A are NOT a rare thing, not everyone has had the $$$ to go A64 then A64 X2 then C2D, i.e. three upgrades when normal people upgrade once.)

That's why I've been trying to point out that him upgrading is a utter waste. It'd net him maybe 5% in performance increase with hundreds of dollars spent. Pointless, utterly pointless.

*Coming from a person who went AXP, A64, and C2D in three years....

 

[almighty]

Its a foxconn mobo and my P4 is the northwood acording to CPU-Z

 

[{Sniping}Waste]

Its a foxconn mobo and my P4 is the northwood acording to CPU-Z

Sorry to bring bad news but your motherboard will not overclock much. Its a Foxconn 661MX that supports CPUs on 400FSB and 533FSB only and not 800FSB support. This would mean that your P4 is a 3.06gig 533FSB. You might be able to up the FSB in BIOS but with out a AGP/PCI lock, you will be lucky to get past 145FSB and your default for your P4 is 133FSB so you be luck to up your CPU to 3.3gig.

 

[ANova]

Maybe it's not too late to return the video card and you can just upgrade the whole system to a Core 2 Duo. It would last awhile and you could always get some low end video card like an X1650 XT to tide you over until you know what DX10 card you want.

Either that or just bare with your current setup. Anything else would be a waste of money. The best way to get the most out of your system is to keep it clean, the less processes running in the background the better.