Windows 7 Upgrade Questions Help Please

[Daniel Miller]

Hi,

I will list the specs from my computer at the bottom of this post. What I am wanting to do is see what options would be best for upgrading, and what I can upgrade that would be the most beneficial to me. I like to do a lot of video editing and I just got the sony nex-5n camera that shoots 1080P at 60 frames per sec. My computer used to do the video editing perfectly with my old camera at 720, but not now. I wouldn't say it's horribly slow, because it does get the job done, but previewing everything is a huge pain, the video skips a lot and it's very annoying. However, if I do wait about 10 seconds before I press play, the lag is usually much less. Most likely caused by the program rendering beforehand.

Anyways, my main question is what component should I upgrade to get the most benefit? And what should I upgrade to? I am not able to spend tons of money but I would like to know what's out there. If any of you can point me in the right direction either with links/direct answers that would be so awesome!

Here are my current specs from windows expirence index:

*As you can see most of the scores are decently high except the graphics score.*

Determined by lowest subscore

[TD="class: DocText"]Component
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText"]Details
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 75"]Subscore
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 100"]Base
score
[/TD]

[TD="class: DocText, width: 125, bgcolor: #EAEAEA"]Processor
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, bgcolor: #F0F0F0"]AMD Phenom(tm) 9750 Quad-Core
Processor
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 75, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]7.0
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 100, bgcolor: #E0E0E0"]
[TABLE="width: 100"]
[TR]
[TD="align: center"] 5.5
[/TD]

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 125, bgcolor: #EAEAEA"]Memory (RAM)
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, bgcolor: #F0F0F0"]8.00 GB
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 75, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]7.2
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 125, bgcolor: #EAEAEA"]Graphics
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, bgcolor: #F0F0F0"]ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 75, bgcolor: #E0E0E0"]5.5
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 125, bgcolor: #EAEAEA"]Gaming graphics
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, bgcolor: #F0F0F0"]4735 MB Total available graphics
memory
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 75, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]6.5
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 125, bgcolor: #EAEAEA"]Primary hard disk
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, bgcolor: #F0F0F0"]101GB Free (917GB Total)
[/TD]
[TD="class: DocText, width: 75, bgcolor: #F5F5F5"]5.9
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="class: SubText, colspan: 4"]Windows 7 Home Premium
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]


[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD]System
[/TD]
[TD="width: 100%"]

---

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Manufacturer
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]Gateway
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Model
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]DX4300
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Total amount of system
memory
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]8.00 GB RAM
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]System type
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]64-bit operating system
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Number of processor
cores
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]4
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD]Storage
[/TD]
[TD="width: 100%"]

---

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Total size of hard
disk(s)
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]3246 GB
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Disk partition (C
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]101 GB Free (917 GB Total)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Media drive (D
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]CD/DVD
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Media drive (E
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]CD/DVD
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Disk partition (F
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]115 GB Free (932 GB Total)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Disk partition (G
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]852 GB Free (932 GB Total)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Disk partition (H
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]20 GB Free (466 GB
Total)
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD]Graphics
[/TD]
[TD="width: 100%"]

---

[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="colspan: 2"]
[TABLE="width: 100%"]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Display adapter type
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]ATI Radeon HD 4600 Series
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Total available graphics
memory
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]4735 MB
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"] Dedicated graphics
memory
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]1024 MB
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"] Dedicated system
memory
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]0 MB
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"] Shared system
memory
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]3711 MB
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Display adapter driver
version
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]8.881.0.0
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]Primary monitor
resolution
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]1920x1080
[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD="width: 10"][/TD]
[TD="class: SubText, width: 260"]DirectX version
[/TD]
[TD="class: SubText"]DirectX 10
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

 

[Drew]

@ a glance, the box looks fairly robust still, here are a couple suggestions...
Graphics card to GeForce GTX 295

The HDD does not have enough free space. Either, time for bigger or an additional or some means & form of storage, off that drive. Should have, @ least, 15%. Then, too, maybe there is stuff on it you don't need, use or care about much or anymore that can be turfed.

In your case, you'd want security that is not a resource hog, too.

8Gs is lots & the CPU needs no concern. So, guess the above is my 2 cents.

Cheers,
Drew

 

[Daniel Miller]

Thanks for the response! I actually have 4 hard drives in the computer, so I assume you were talking about the C drive which contains the OS. I guess I could move some stuff from there to the 1TB drive I just bought a couple weeks ago.

As far as the GPU I'll definitely look at your recommendation, thank you so much! I have just been searching everywhere on the net for comparisons on new GPU's and I haven't found much.

And would you or anyone know if I can stick more RAM in my computer? I was at best buy and the most ram on a stick is 2 GB, which filling up my mother board would be 8 which is what I'm at now...however I've heard reports of people with 16 GB of ram, would this require a new motherboard or are there sticks that have more than 2GB on them?

 

[Drew]

Here, go nuts, mate

Link Removed - Invalid URL

Cheers,
Drew

PS: &, yeah, bet you could move some stuff to that, yeeesh,

 

[Daniel Miller]

haha that's awesome! Thanks! lol

 

[Saltgrass]

Check your motherboard specs, it might be limited as to how much RAM it will take. Also, different versions of Windows 7 will restrict memory. For example, Home Basic is limited to 8 G, but everything above that is 16G or greater.