New Computer Help

[mxer7734]

I have been wanting to buy a new computer for some time now but a lot of things have gotten in the way recently. I knew I could turn to the 2+2 forums for some help so here I am. I am debating whether or not to get a Dell, an HP, one from my local computer shop, or any recommendations from everyone else reading this. I would like to get a "top of the line" one if that means anything. My current computer is from my local computer shop and have had it for about 2 years now and is great but has been very very slow lately. I have soooo many files, songs, favorites and lots of things are slowing it down and that is why im on my search for a new computer. One last thing: I would like to get a monitor that will allow for at least 6 tables with no overlap. My current monitor is only 17 inches and can only get 4 tables on it with massive overlap. Any help is very much appreciated. Thank you

Well, let me ask you a few questions.

What speed cpu, and how much ram does your current computer have? Having lots of files will not necessarily slow it down any. Just run defrag, and any slowdown from having lots of files should be resolved. Most likely your computer is slow from having lots of installed programs (just uninstall them), spyware, and viruses. These things can all be resolved... if you want to go that route just let me know and I'll do what I can to help.

Why do you want a top of the line computer? Unless you're going to be playing 3D games, there's no need for anything fancy. As long as you have something with plenty of ram (1GB+) and an athlon or P4, you'll be fine. Of course, a good hard drive is important too. You could put that money into a really nice monitor (or two).

That said, if you do end up getting a PC, either build your own or buy a Dell. Dell is the only decent manufacturer, IMO. A local shop *could* be good, but it's hard to say whether they use good components or not. They might go with cheap parts in order to make a better profit. If they will customize it for you, and you can find out exactly what parts they're using, then that would be the best option. If you want to find out that info, then post here, I can tell you my opinion on the specific parts. The important things are CPU, motherboard, ram, hard drive, and video card. Find out the manufacturer and model number of each item.

In terms of monitors, get yourself a big Apple or Dell widescreen monitor. Widescreen will give you more useable space. The aspect ratio of a widescreen monitor will be closer to the aspect ratio of the table than a regular monitor. Apple's monitors are quite awesome:

http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/We...mp;mco=91A92F05 (http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/72502/wo/917VgYxDgqF53mr2kYr1L0e9dhK/0.SLID?nclm=AppleDisplays&mco=91A92F05)

Visit compusa if you want to take a look at one. Just remember that Mac OS X's graphics, windows, text, etc are a little bigger than Windows, so everything will be a little smaller than what you see at the store. When you hook it up to your PC then you'll actually have more screen real estate.

One last thing... get a video card that will support multiple monitors, and keep your old 17in hooked up. Then you can have your 6 tables on the main screen, and browse the net or whatever on the second one.

[mxer7734]

First of all thanks for the excellent reply and information. I guess I misused the word I wanted to when I said "top of the line" I didn't really mean the best out there. What I have now is a 2.4GHZ 512MB ram and 80GB. I am looking for something out there with a little more space. I was browsing some Dells the other day and noticed they no longer have the same models(They now have E110, E310, and E510) If so, which one do you recommend. I saw one with I believe 3.2 GHZ, 1GB ram and 160GB which is exactly what I'm looking for for around $1200 but thats without a high quality monitor. I will try to get the specs for the new computers and prices at the local shop but they usually always run a lot higher than Dells. Thanks again

[Nomad84]

[ QUOTE ]
In terms of monitors, get yourself a big Apple or Dell widescreen monitor. Widescreen will give you more useable space. The aspect ratio of a widescreen monitor will be closer to the aspect ratio of the table than a regular monitor.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not true. A poker table is 800x600 (actually a bit less than 600 to account for the space taken up by the task bar). Therefore to run 4 without overlap, you need a minimum of 1600x1200 resolution. This big widescreen monitors have a resolution of 1920x1200 IIRC, which is fine, but it's not necessary. You will still only be able to fit 4 without overlap, so unless you need the widescreen monitor for some other reason, you can save quite a bit of money by just getting a normal 20-21" LCD with 1600x1200 resolution. If you have a need for the extra space and have a program that will fit in a 320 pixel wide space (maybe AIM or Winamp or something) you'll get some use out of the extra space, but otherwise it will be wasted for playing poker. The cost difference between the Dell 2001FP and 2405FPW is significant. I'm not familiar with the Apple displays, so I can't comment on those, but the same resolution needs will apply to any display you get.

[cracker9521]

Your computer is more than adequate unless you are a hardcore gamer. I would recommend that you get an external hd maybe 100gb or so which you can get online for around $100 or so and back up all your songs and such that you want to keep and then buying another stick of ram for about $50. Try running an antivirus program, spyware removal, defrag etc. If you are still running slow find a buddy that knows computers and buy him a 12 pack to reinstall windows for you.

Thanks for the correction nomad... you're correct. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me.

[mxer7734]

When I started the Defrag it said there is not enough free space to continue but asked if I wanted to continue anyway..is this safe to do?

mxer, your computer is fine, if not great. You won't be able to tell much of a difference if you get a new computer (compared with reinstalling windows), unless you're a hardcore 3d gamer. If you really want to buy something, get another 512MB of ram... otherwise I honestly think you'll be dissapointed.

Other than that, you should go through some steps to get your computer running faster. First of all, right click on your task bar and click "Task Manager". Look around in there and tell me how much ram is currently in use, and how many processes are running.

Then, go to www.lavasoft.de (http://www.lavasoft.de) and download adaware personal (the free one). Run that... reboot. Of course, make sure you have some sort of antivirus installed. Some are better than others... some even tend to slow your computer down a bit.

Let me know how much ram is in use, and the processes... and then we can work on trimming that down a little.

I don't think it'll hurt anything, but it won't be able to fully optimize your disk. How much space do you have left? Can you clean it up any?

BTW, here's the specs on the apple displays:

20in: 1680x1050
23in: 1920x1200
30in: 2560x1600

So, you'd want at least the 23in. It's deceiving, since they're widescreen (man, I'm glad nomad corrected me). The 20in will be wider than a normal 20-21in, but not as tall. The 23in will be about the same height, but wider.

The 30in should be big enough to do SIX games without overlap, if they're all 800x600.

[mxer7734]

I have currently 42 processes running and I'm not sure where to find the amount of RAM being used. Also I have only a little over 1GB of free space.

[Nomad84]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for the correction nomad... you're correct. My eyes must have been playing tricks on me.

[/ QUOTE ]

NP.

[ QUOTE ]
BTW, here's the specs on the apple displays:

20in: 1680x1050
23in: 1920x1200
30in: 2560x1600

...

The 30in should be big enough to do SIX games without overlap, if they're all 800x600.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's big /images/graemlins/smile.gif You could even do 9 tables with less than 50 pixels of vertical overlap.

[mxer7734]

Just defragged and I actually LOST free space, I also did a system cleanup and it didn't really change much. Does defragging multiple times hurt your PC because I am going to delete some files so I have enough free space to get the complete defrag. Does this hurt to do it multiple times?

[CORed]

[ QUOTE ]
I have currently 42 processes running and I'm not sure where to find the amount of RAM being used. Also I have only a little over 1GB of free space.

[/ QUOTE ]

Wow. You've managed to fill up 79 GB of HD space. The lack of free space may be part of your problem, though I think adware/spyware may have more to do with it. I don't think you need a new computer, but you should either do a massive HD cleanup, deleting stuff you don't need, or, if you can't bare to part with anything, get another HD. You could get an external, but I think you'd be better off just to install a second HD in your PC, and move your music and othe data files onto it. More free space would allow you to properly defrag. Also, NTFS filesystems can get hosed if you fill them up completely, co be careful.

[tigerite]

I'd also recommend using Partition Magic to split it up into separate drives

You can run defrag all you want. 40 processes isn't outrageous, but it could be better (I have 16 processes running right now, with just firefox and ms antispyware open).

With window xp, do this to get an idea as to how much ram is being used:

- right click on taskbar
- Task Manager
- click on the Performance tab
- the second graph is called "PF Usage" (or something). Tell me what that value is.

[mxer7734]

Oh I see now...525 MB

Well, that's the problem! You're using more ram that you physically have available. So, your system is using your extra hard disk space as "virtual memory". This is especially bad because you don't have any disk space left on your drive. The swap file is fragmented, and possibly filling your drive completely up at times.

There's a lot you can do to fix it. Basically, you need to free up disk space and you need to figure out what programs are hogging all of your ram.

First of all, free up as much disk space as possible. You need to have 15% of the drive free in order for defrag to be effective. Uninstall as many programs as you can. This will save disk space and hopefully get rid of some of those programs that are running in the background hogging disk space. Reboot.

No, go to the task manager and see how many processes you have running and how much ram is in use. If it's less than before, then you've made progress. Ideally, you shouldn't be using more than 200MB of ram on a clean boot (be sure to check these numbers with no program running, like firefox, etc).

Now, click on the "Processes" tab in the task manager and sort them by Mem Usage. What processes are using the most ram? Go ahead and tell me the names of the top 5 processes.

Now, try to right click on every program in the system tray, and exit each one. Go back to the Task Manager and see if it freed up any ram (and how many processes you have running now). Was it significant? If so, then you'll have to consider uninstalling whatever you have running down there.

If you're still using a lot of ram, download this:
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml

Install it, then go to your Control Panels and open up the net Startup control panel. Disable everything (yeah, everything). Reboot. Go back to the Task Manager and see how much ram is in use, and how many processes are running. Most likely you'll see a big change here... if that's the case, go back into the Startup control panel and only reenable those things that you really need, one by one.

Run defrag. It's important to run defrag after you've already uninstalled everything (and freed up ram) so that it is most effective.

Anyways, if you need help with any of this, let me know... I can login to your computer remotely and try to figure out exactly what the problem is, if you have any trouble. Just send me a PM and I'll give you instructions on how to setup remote access.

[mxer7734]

Well I found out one problem, when I gave you the amount of RAM that was being used I had 9 Internet Explorer's running and PT. I shut all these down, rebooted, and starting cleaning up my files. I deleted as many unessesary files as I needed to get the 15% free space to defrag. I ran defrag completely and rebooted again. My computer runs great, even with 9 Internet Explorers and PT running. Before It would freeze for a few seconds or make loud noises. Now everything works out. Thanks Again for all the help, If I need anything in the future I will just send you a PM. Once again Thank you!

Great!! /images/graemlins/smile.gif