Computer Performance

[Hambone]

     Alright, so here's the story. I got a new laptop for my birthday and it has Windows 7. I went to go play Stick Online on it, but it was quite difficult because I was averaging about 15 fps. So I thought maybe it was the RAM, but I checked how much I had and it said 4 GB. That's one gig more than my home computer that runs Stick Online almost flawlessly. My home computer runs on Vista. I was under the impression that Vista sucked up vast amounts of unnecessary ram also. At this point, my limited knowledge of computers has reached it's maximum. Pathetic, I know. Anyways, what do you guys speculate could be causing it to run slowly? Even if I can't fix it, I'd like to know. (Oh, and I checked my processes too. When S.O is open, I'm using about 50% of my available memory, about the same as my home PC.)

[ARTgames]

graphic chip and professors. what are they on your system?

[Scotty]

As a starter, I'd recommend cleaning up some of the basic crud that is left from the install.  Try running CCleaner

After you get an effective cleaning, clean up your registry with the same tool (do it about 3 or 4 times until it doesn't give you any errors).  After you accomplish both of those, download JKDefrag and extract it to a folder.  Reboot your computer into safe-mode and run the defragger once or twice to get a good defrag in.

Try after doing all that, see what it looks like.  I'd imagine straight out of the box, it probably isn't very optimized.

[Hambone]

Well, my processor is AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-62 2.10 GHz. Couldn't find anything on the graphics chip.

[Scotty]

Go to Start->Run and type in 'dxdiag'

[Hambone]

Alright, It says my chip type is GeForce 7150M / nForce 630M Should I back up changes to the registry, or is that counter-intuitive?

[Scotty]

You should be alright without backing them up.  I never did.

[NotoriousM4^]

As a starter, I'd recommend cleaning up some of the basic crud that is left from the install.  Try running CCleaner

After you get an effective cleaning, clean up your registry with the same tool (do it about 3 or 4 times until it doesn't give you any errors).  After you accomplish both of those, download JKDefrag and extract it to a folder.  Reboot your computer into safe-mode and run the defragger once or twice to get a good defrag in.

Try after doing all that, see what it looks like.  I'd imagine straight out of the box, it probably isn't very optimized.

<3 CCleaner a.k.a Crap Cleaner.

[ZaC]

Also how good is your connection? A good connection often helps me when my laptop gets really low fps.

[Pat]

Connection has nothing to do with fps.

[Hambone]

Well, scotty It seems to have decreased my lag overall, but my Fps still dips obscenely low from time to time, but at least I get 30 fps sometimes :)

[Lingus]

Maybe try checking to see if you have all the current drivers? Even though it's a new computer sometimes they load it with drivers that are slightly outdated. If you get the new graphics driver it might solve this issue. It may not though...

[Scotty]

Maybe try checking to see if you have all the current drivers? Even though it's a new computer sometimes they load it with drivers that are slightly outdated. If you get the new graphics driver it might solve this issue. It may not though...

That's actually a really good point.  If I recall correctly, while Windows 7 does try to find the best drivers for your hardware, it doesn't always get the best one.  Definitely make sure your drivers are all set!

[Meiun]

    If you are on a laptop, try clicking on the battery icon in your taskbar and selecting "High Performance mode." I would also try to make sure you have the latest graphics drivers. It probably wouldn't hurt to go run Windows Update and make sure everything is up to date as well.
   As for the memory issue, regardless of how much memory your computer has, both Vista and windows 7 tend to use a caching method in which they try to always be taking advantage of the available memory. Essentialy, they try to preload commonly used programs and other data for quick startup and access whenever needed (so the OS always tends to use around 50% of the available memory). I have windows 7 on my new netbook that currently only has 1GB of RAM and it is always using around 50% of available memory, and I have 4GB on my other bigger laptop and it uses the same percentage. But worry not, the OS will quickly release that cached data from memory if it is needed for something else.

Hope that helps.