I want more speed!

[carpwoman]

I everyone.

I'm trying to find ways to "pimp" my tpad . I have just installed memory for a total of 3 gigs of RAM and a new 250gb hard drive.

As a photographer I need all I can get!

My adult self is wondering if I can upgrade my CPU.

My geek self is wondering how to overclock my CPU. (I know the dangers of getting speed greedy ((or "spreedy" as I like to say)) but yet I can find no info on how to do this on my z61m.)

Any help or tips y'all can give is sure appreciated. I have no qualms about tearing open my desktop, but I hesitate to mess with my tpad.

I figure if the overclock doesn't work or my machine gets too hot I can just reinstall everything from a good back up, right?

Thanks again,

Joanne

[jdhurst]

The most bang I ever got for my buck on a ThinkPad was (is still) a 7200-rpm hard drive. The difference was substantial in side-by-side tests. 3Gb of ram is enough for sure. ... JDH

[carpwoman]

The most bang I ever got for my buck on a ThinkPad was (is still) a 7200-rpm hard drive. The difference was substantial in side-by-side tests. 3Gb of ram is enough for sure. ... JDH

That's not very exciting....

[jdhurst]

Assuming it to be XP, set it up properly. Most XP machines slow down because people let temporary files and crud build up.

I use Cache Sentry Pro (not free) to keep temp files in line; Perfect Disk 8 (not free) to defrag daily, Windows Defender (free) to eliminate spyware. My A/V is not available to home or single users.
... JDH

[aaa]

The GPU is usually overclockable by software (like ATiTool), assuming you play games (to actually benefit) and it's not pushing temperature limits already.

There's the SetFSB/CPUFSB/etc set of programs for overclocking the CPU. But they need to support your motherboard.

And if you want to be really daring (with a risk of ruining things obviously), if you don't have the T7200 CPU already, people have been experimenting with pinmodding the Core 2. to get a 20% boost in speed (1.6 to 2.0 for example). I don't know of anybody who's been successful though (it used to work on the old Pentium Ms).


Mind you, you already pretty close to maxed out, and improvements to things like the CPU aren't going to make as noticeable of a difference.

[carpwoman]

Thanks all. I figured I was pretty close to being as fast as I can get, but the geekette in me sometimes needs to be fed.

I'll live with what I have I guess, until I win the lotto. Until then I think I'll put my "Dick Cheney eats kittens" bumper sticker on the lid...

Joanne

[BuddyWill]

I upgraded my Z60M with a faster hard drive after determining that my current config is too slow for my needs. I also upgraded the ram to 2gb. I am happy to report better performance although I am not sure if the faster hard drive has worked better.

For sure I took a major hit with battery life though. From my default 3~3.5 hours on real life usage (I do a lot of CAD work at the time)...after the 7200rpm upgrade, my battery life is down to 1 hour.

wow. what a huge difference. While plugged in it is ok but defeats the purpose for being mobile.

Other options does include an extended battery + an ultrabay slim battery but it comes with great added expense.

I'm actually considering downgrading back to my 5400rpm drive and using the 7200rpm drive as a secondary via the Ultrabay (I currently have the 7200 as primary and 5400 as secondary). If I need to use LightRoom (God Bless Adobe), I will run it off the 7200 rpm drive.

sorry if I went on tangent but thought it may offer some value for readers.

[mgo]

I everyone.

I'm trying to find ways to "pimp" my tpad . I have just installed memory for a total of 3 gigs of RAM and a new 250gb hard drive.

As a photographer I need all I can get!

My adult self is wondering if I can upgrade my CPU.

My geek self is wondering how to overclock my CPU. (I know the dangers of getting speed greedy ((or "spreedy" as I like to say)) but yet I can find no info on how to do this on my z61m.)

Any help or tips y'all can give is sure appreciated. I have no qualms about tearing open my desktop, but I hesitate to mess with my tpad.

I figure if the overclock doesn't work or my machine gets too hot I can just reinstall everything from a good back up, right?

Thanks again,

Joanne

You're already on track with the 3 gig of RAM. Next the hard drive...

I agree with the 7200 rpm drive upgrade for some real substantive speed improvement. Also, I prefer the "Classic" mode and Performance settings for Best Performance in Visual effects, with only mouse shadow enabled.

The simplified Classic desktop put less of a load on my brain, too.

[aaa]

For sure I took a major hit with battery life though. From my default 3~3.5 hours on real life usage (I do a lot of CAD work at the time)...after the 7200rpm upgrade, my battery life is down to 1 hour.

That sounds odd. My 7200 used a fraction more power over my 5400, definitely not that much. Incorrect setting? Sudden coincidental battery failure?


A point on 7200 vs 5400: You have to remember that most people who do this upgrade are going from an *old* 5400 to a *new* 7200... it might not just be the RPM doing the speed up, it could be other improvements as well. Just want to mention that, since you already have a top of the line 250gb 5400 drive, the difference won't be as big as the people upgrading from their really old 40 gigs.

[BuddyWill]

Wow, this is opening up a new door for me if in fact what you are suggesting should counter my own findings.

I had thought that the 7200 rpm hard drive is the culprit for my sudden decrease in battery life but I could not find any other solutions to why immediately after my 7200rpm upgrade that my battery is finished within 1 hour.

I did also receive a black triangle with an exclamation point next to the battery after my hard drive upgrade and on a mouseover, it states that my battery is not performing the way it should be. I figured this was because the laptop is configured for a 5400rpm drive and was not intelligent enough to factor in the new 7200rpm drive.

The comment also suggested that my battery is performing at a ddegraded value and recommended that I purchase a replacement. I ignored the warning but still do not feel that it is my battery. The only way to test is to swap drives and see if I get my 3.5 hours back. that would mean ghosting the drives and I just do not have the time to do that now.

[qviri]

Yeah, such a massive battery life loss is definitely unusual. You should see a decrease of about half hour at most, and usually less than that.

A point on 7200 vs 5400: You have to remember that most people who do this upgrade are going from an *old* 5400 to a *new* 7200... it might not just be the RPM doing the speed up, it could be other improvements as well. Just want to mention that, since you already have a top of the line 250gb 5400 drive, the difference won't be as big as the people upgrading from their really old 40 gigs.

In fact, anything short of latest generation 7200 rpm drives (Hitachi 7K200 / Seagate 7200.2) would probably be a downgrade. I have a perpendicular recording Seagate 5400.3 that is almost as fast as 7K100 drives.

[BuddyWill]

This is my 7200rpm Hard Drive purchased from NewEgg:

SeaGate ST910021AS NBHD 100G|ST 7K 8M SATA

I performed a battery counter reset last night but unfortunately as I woke up five hours later it was sill in process.

I needed to hoist my laptop for the road to start work so I had to cancel the reset. When i unplugged it off the outlet, I saw a glimpse of the battery's suggested remaining use in hours (in Thinkvantage battery Maintenece software FN+F3) and saw 2+ hours instead o fmy usual 1:15 hours!

As I use the laptop now, it is still at 1:15 minutes on highest performance management mode.

ps: I updated my battery maintenance manager to the latest version and there are 2 extra power schemes for power management; one for watching videos and another for turning your display off but preserving the current power preferences......neat.

[cj3209]

I do a lot of work as a photog myself using Nikon Capture NX and PS CS3.

What I've found is that a 7200 RPM hard drive is key as well as RAM, which you already have. Another option is to get a fast external hard drive and use it as a cache for photoshop and other software.

The other things to do is to tweak XP Pro.

I don't think the processor speed will necessarily limit your speed as much as you think.

Good luck!

CJ

I everyone.

I'm trying to find ways to "pimp" my tpad . I have just installed memory for a total of 3 gigs of RAM and a new 250gb hard drive.

As a photographer I need all I can get!

My adult self is wondering if I can upgrade my CPU.

My geek self is wondering how to overclock my CPU. (I know the dangers of getting speed greedy ((or "spreedy" as I like to say)) but yet I can find no info on how to do this on my z61m.)

Any help or tips y'all can give is sure appreciated. I have no qualms about tearing open my desktop, but I hesitate to mess with my tpad.

I figure if the overclock doesn't work or my machine gets too hot I can just reinstall everything from a good back up, right?

Thanks again,

Joanne

[carpwoman]

Is there really that much difference between 5400 and 7200 rpm? I just put this 250gb 5400 hard drive in last week. It replaced a 120gb 7200.

Should I have looked harder for a 7200?

Should I wait for a 1TB 10,000rpm?

[cj3209]

Generally, there is a good speed boost going from a 5400 rpm to 7200 rpm drive. Although a newer 5400 rpm hd is faster than an older 7200 hd . Does that make sense?

I probably wouldn't have replaced a 120 GB 7200 HD unless you needed the extra hd space.


CJ

Is there really that much difference between 5400 and 7200 rpm? I just put this 250gb 5400 hard drive in last week. It replaced a 120gb 7200.

Should I have looked harder for a 7200?

Should I wait for a 1TB 10,000rpm?

[qviri]

Is there really that much difference between 5400 and 7200 rpm?

7200 rpm spins 33% faster than 5400 rpm. Faster spin = faster drive.

However, the 250 GB drives have platters that are 25% denser than 200 GB drives. Denser platter = faster drive.

In practical terms: this thread has benchmarks of both a 200 GB 7200 rpm drive (Hitachi 7K200, generally acclaimed as the fastest 7200 rpm drive), and a 250 GB 5400 rpm drive (Samsung HM250JI). Going off max transfer, burst rate, and access time, the Hitachi is 15%-17% faster.

Going off the average, the Hitachi is 45% faster, however, the benchmark for the Samsung looks odd, it should not drop near the start like that. I found another benchmark of the Samsung, in which the max transfer and burst are within 5% of the Hitachi and the average is within 10%. This is on a different system, so it isn't directly comparable, but it's pretty safe to say that the 7K200 is not significantly faster in absolute terms than the HM250JI.

A lot can depend on the brand of the drive in that different brands will have different firmware which can have a significant effect on the speed. You haven't said what brand your drive is.

Another issue is that the hard drive is often the bottleneck in systems, and this may exaggerate the perceived speed difference between drives. Your system would likely seem faster after upgrading the hard drive by 10% compared to upgrading the CPU by 10%.

Unless you know that your 250 GB drive is holding you back significantly, I don't think moving to a 7200 rpm hard drive is worth it at this point. Maybe when 320 GB 7200 rpm drives are released

[carpwoman]

It's a Sea Gate. I've had good luck with them.

Thanks for the 411.

[Stan]

This is an interesting thread and I have no wish to offend by asking for clarification on this issue.

But, are there 5400RPM HDDs that can perform as well as their 7200RPM counterparts? I'm not too clued up on this matter as cache seems to play a major part in the efficiency of HDD performance as does the density and number of platters?

Sorry if I’ve overstepped the mark here but I think a definitive answer would help many of us, particularly those tied to advanced IDE platforms. We don’t all have SATA capability just yet.

[aaa]

This is an interesting thread and I have no wish to offend by asking for clarification on this issue.

But, are there 5400RPM HDDs that can perform as well as their 7200RPM counterparts? I'm not too clued up on this matter as cache seems to play a major part in the efficiency of HDD performance as does the density and number of platters?

Sorry if I’ve overstepped the mark here but I think a definitive answer would help many of us, particularly those tied to advanced IDE platforms. We don’t all have SATA capability just yet.

Maybe? I switched from a 7K100 to a newer (highest density available as of now) 5400 and it actually seemed faster to me. Of course, that's just my opinion. But considering that IDE users are stuck with the same old 7K100 while 5400 technology continues to advance, I am not that surprised.

[Stan]

This is an interesting thread and I have no wish to offend by asking for clarification on this issue.

But, are there 5400RPM HDDs that can perform as well as their 7200RPM counterparts? I'm not too clued up on this matter as cache seems to play a major part in the efficiency of HDD performance as does the density and number of platters?

Sorry if I’ve overstepped the mark here but I think a definitive answer would help many of us, particularly those tied to advanced IDE platforms. We don’t all have SATA capability just yet.

Maybe? I switched from a 7K100 to a newer (highest density available as of now) 5400 and it actually seemed faster to me. Of course, that's just my opinion. But considering that IDE users are stuck with the same old 7K100 while 5400 technology continues to advance, I am not that surprised.

Thank you aaa,

I've come to a similar conclusion. A newer 5400 Rpm drive than my original 40Gb IBM drive may/ should be more efficient.

I don't need a speed boost but an increase in capacity would be a major bonus if no loss of loading speed is evident.

Larger drives always seem slower though, at least in my experience of desktop PCs. I suspect the rule of thumb is to be conservative in size and pay particular attention to good housekeeping?

I'll be ordering a larger 5400 Rpm drive from a major manufacturer when my budget allows.

[BuddyWill]

I think I may have been bitten by software bloat on my Z60m. Instead of reformatting the drive, I am thinking of upgrading the hard drive to a larger capacity and fresh install everything.

Does anyone have any suggestions in terms of a 160+gb drive from NewEgg to look into? Any incompatibility issues to look out for when selecting?

The HITACHI Travelstar 7K200 HTS722020K9SA00 (0A50940) 200GB 7200 RPM SATA looks extremely popular by far but ouch, it's pricey too.

[cskern@gmail.com]

I've never been a big fan of Hitachi's.I've seen way to many of them fail unpredictably over the years. I just upgraded my stock Hitachi 60gb with a 120 toshiba mk1234gsx 5400, that I got brand new on Ebay for $60. I couldn't believe I got it for that price. I've had it for about 8 months now, and I've been very happy with it.