- Super-Charge Vista! Or at Least Give It a Prod
- Hardware Requirements: The Basics
- Hardware Upgrades for Vista Bliss
- More Memory: Cheap, Easy, and Quick
- Bigger, Better Video Card
- Installing a Faster CPU: Not an Easy Upgrade Option
- Andy's Recommended Upgrade Plan
- Boost Vista with Your USB Key
- Tweak Your OS
- Boost Your System with Basic Maintenance
- The Fruits of Your Efforts: Performance Monitoring
Hardware Upgrades for Vista Bliss
Later in this chapter, I'll show you some software tweaks that will help you get the most performance out of your system. But the best thing you can do to give Vista a boost is to upgrade one or more of the hardware components, if it is behaving in a sluglike manner.
As we go into this section, it's a good idea to take an inventory of your system components. I showed you how to do this in Chapter 2, "Basic Vista Troubleshooting," but I'll review that as we go. It's helpful, however, if you gather the following information.
Photocopy and fill out Table 4.1 as needed.
Table 4.1. Your System Specs
System Components |
Your System |
Processor make & model: |
|
Amount of RAM: |
|
Video card make & model: |
|
Amount of video RAM: |
|
Hard drive size: |
|
Hard drive space available: |
|
Windows Experience Index: |