Engineering News Blog

Engineering News

Latest news of interest to engineers. Sourced from GlobalSpec's Engineering News
Previous in Blog: Caught! The Apple Jacker Stalked Victims Leaving Apple Store   Next in Blog: Google's Street View Halted in Greece Over Privacy
Close

Comments Format:






Change Mode
Close

Subscribe to Discussion:

CR4 allows you to "subscribe" to a discussion
so that you can be notified of new comments to
the discussion via email.

Close

Rating Vote:







Add Vote
20 comments
Rate Comments: Nested

Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

Posted May 14, 2009 8:00 AM

From NYT > Technology:

My continuing project this week has been converting an old Toshiba laptop into the fastest blogging machine possible. My overhauled PC screams, thanks to some tricks most technology writers wouldn't dream of telling you to try.

Reply

Interested in this topic? By joining CR4 you can "subscribe" to
this discussion and receive notification when new comments are added.

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
CUTiger
Power-User
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Hobbies - Fishing - New Member

Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: US - NC
Posts: 316
Good Answers: 9
#1

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/14/2009 9:03 AM

Crazy stuff in that Ad-Op piece, pretty much the writer gets blown-up very quickly by his readers comments
Reply
jack of all trades
Guru
New Zealand - Member - Kiwi Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Engineering Fields - Power Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 8777
Good Answers: 376
#3
In reply to #1

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/14/2009 3:29 PM

But uninstalling your virus protection software WILL speed up your computer (temporally). Like an IT friend said to me, he has a really fast state-of-the-art computer compared to my 6 year old clunker, it doesn't work but when it does it's REALLY fast.

The tortoise and the hare (that and excessive computer tweaking. Admit it, how many of us have killed their computers with DIY liquid-coolant system leaks or overheating due to overclocking).

__________________
 jack of all trades
Reply
stevem
Guru

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Defreestville, NY
Posts: 1072
Good Answers: 87
#4
In reply to #3

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/14/2009 4:10 PM

Not all leaks are fatal:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/3651

__________________
 Charlie don't surf.
Reply
jack of all trades
Guru
New Zealand - Member - Kiwi Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Engineering Fields - Power Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 8777
Good Answers: 376
#6
In reply to #4

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/14/2009 8:40 PM

I like the setup where you seal the whole case and then submerge the computer boards in oil.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/strip-fans,1203.html

No I wouldn't bother for a few extra FPS (I have the patience of a saint).

__________________
 jack of all trades
Reply
Epke
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Netherlands - Member - New Member Fans of Old Computers - Commodore 64 - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Japan
Posts: 2703
Good Answers: 38
#8
In reply to #6

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 12:09 AM

the link doesn't work for me

__________________
 From the Movie "The Big Lebowski" Don't pee on the carpet man!
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
jack of all trades
Guru
New Zealand - Member - Kiwi Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Engineering Fields - Power Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 8777
Good Answers: 376
#15
In reply to #8

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/16/2009 3:50 AM

The link is still valid (this is the second link I have posted that someone has had problems with ). Anywhere, here are a few pictures from the link.

__________________
 jack of all trades
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
bwire
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - bwire Hobbies - Car Customizing - New Member

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Upper Mid-west USA
Posts: 7498
Good Answers: 97
#16
In reply to #15

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/16/2009 4:57 PM

pretty slick eh

__________________
 If death came with a warning there would be a whole lot less of it.
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Epke
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Netherlands - Member - New Member Fans of Old Computers - Commodore 64 - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Japan
Posts: 2703
Good Answers: 38
#17
In reply to #15

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/17/2009 9:48 PM

yep working now must have been a security issue, could U use this set up to make fries? (with some heavier IC's off course)

__________________
 From the Movie "The Big Lebowski" Don't pee on the carpet man!
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
jack of all trades
Guru
New Zealand - Member - Kiwi Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Engineering Fields - Power Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Electrical Engineering - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
Posts: 8777
Good Answers: 376
#18
In reply to #17

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/18/2009 3:27 PM

People suggest using clean oil and not used oil, and this is generally stated in DIY articles of this type. I feel sorry for the person that decided to use used highly contaminated deep-fry cooking oil when building their machine for the first time.

Oh well, live and learn.

__________________
 jack of all trades
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
bwire
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - bwire Hobbies - Car Customizing - New Member

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Upper Mid-west USA
Posts: 7498
Good Answers: 97
#19
In reply to #18

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/18/2009 5:21 PM

Lots of stuff in used fry oil not to mention water

__________________
 If death came with a warning there would be a whole lot less of it.
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Epke
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Netherlands - Member - New Member Fans of Old Computers - Commodore 64 - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Japan
Posts: 2703
Good Answers: 38
#20
In reply to #19

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/18/2009 8:12 PM

you mean like bits and pieces of the Mcdinald employee?

__________________
 From the Movie "The Big Lebowski" Don't pee on the carpet man!
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
stevem
Guru

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Defreestville, NY
Posts: 1072
Good Answers: 87
#13
In reply to #6

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 10:52 PM

I do too, waaaay too expensive though.

Used to be you had to revert to watercooling to get that 10 or 15% FSB boost (Athlon) but today (i7 etc. w/45nm process) air cooling is sufficient to get 25-30% easy.

__________________
 Charlie don't surf.
Reply
stevem
Guru

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Defreestville, NY
Posts: 1072
Good Answers: 87
#2

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/14/2009 9:40 AM

Mr. Boutin is an idiot.

__________________
 Charlie don't surf.
Reply
cwarner7_11
Guru
Panama - Member - New Member Hobbies - CNC - New Member Engineering Fields - Marine Engineering - New Member Engineering Fields - Retired Engineers / Mentors - New Member

Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Panama
Posts: 4273
Good Answers: 213
#5

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/14/2009 7:04 PM

Anyone recommending Vista for speed has lost me from the outset. For Windows speed, give me Windows 98SE. For COMPUTER speed, Palm OS. Xubuntu runs a good second, but I haven't been able to get Google Chrome to run on any of my Ubuntu installations. But, then, I don't upgrade very often...
Reply Score 1 for Good Answer
No more "Almost" Good Answers.
stevem
Guru

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Defreestville, NY
Posts: 1072
Good Answers: 87
#14
In reply to #5

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 11:07 PM

XP64 (optimized) on a modern quad-core is pretty sweet.

Easier to get drivers too.

You'll upgrade, it's just a matter of when and how.

__________________
 Charlie don't surf.
Reply
Epke
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - New Member Netherlands - Member - New Member Fans of Old Computers - Commodore 64 - New Member

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Japan
Posts: 2703
Good Answers: 38
#7

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 12:06 AM

It seems you don't need any technical credentials to write a technical "blog"

__________________
 From the Movie "The Big Lebowski" Don't pee on the carpet man!
Reply
bwire
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - bwire Hobbies - Car Customizing - New Member

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Upper Mid-west USA
Posts: 7498
Good Answers: 97
#9

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 4:29 AM

Ready boost can significantly increase memory speed but not that way.

How can USB be comparable to seek times of modest HD's? It can't. if you want to utilize ready boost one needs use a and SSD card adapter but I'll wait just a bit USB 6GBs is just around the bend then 24GBs will be possible and ready boost is configured to max at 30GB and an SSD is bootable too.

__________________
 If death came with a warning there would be a whole lot less of it.
Reply
Anonymous Poster
#10
In reply to #9

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 7:53 AM

Dude must be smoking trees.

The best way to speed up your pc is clean it up and put more ram in it.

Also "Ultimate Vista Tweak" program works great for combining all of your systems settings into a gui that you just run. It doesn't even need to be installed.

Steve
Reply
bwire
Guru
Popular Science - Weaponology - bwire Hobbies - Car Customizing - New Member

Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Upper Mid-west USA
Posts: 7498
Good Answers: 97
#11
In reply to #10

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 3:00 PM

Those intent upon the present and the past are bound to miss the future

__________________
 If death came with a warning there would be a whole lot less of it.
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Anonymous Poster
#12
In reply to #11

Re: Five Controversial Ways to Speed Your PC

05/15/2009 4:15 PM

Huh??
Reply Off Topic (Score 5)
Reply to Blog Entry
Have a Different Question?
20 comments

"Almost" Good Answers:

Check out these comments that don't yet have enough votes to be "official" good answers and, if you agree with them, vote them!
Copy to Clipboard

Users who posted comments:

Anonymous Poster (2); bwire (4); CUTiger (1); cwarner7_11 (1); Epke (4); jack of all trades (4); stevem (4)

Previous in Blog: Caught! The Apple Jacker Stalked Victims Leaving Apple Store   Next in Blog: Google's Street View Halted in Greece Over Privacy
You might be interested in: PC Card Readers, PC Card Connectors, Cell Processors

Advertisement

Got Something to Say?
Ask a Question
Start a Discussion

Search this Section
General Discussion:
Go

Search this Blog
Engineering News:
Go

Recent Blog Entries

CR4 Sections
Aerospace
BioMech & BioMed
Chemical & Material Science
Civil Engineering
Communications & Electronics
Education and Engineering Careers
Electrical Engineering
General Discussion
Instrumentation
Manufacturing
Mechanical Engineering
New Technologies & Research
Software & Programming
Sustainable Engineering
Transportation

Site Directories
Forum Directory
Blog Directory
User Group Directory
RSS Feeds

CR4 Rules of Conduct
CR4 FAQ
Site Glossary

Who's Online (66 right now)
Show Members
Advertisement