Vista - Advanced Performance on Vista

I apologize in advance if this is longer than needed. Long question short, what can I do to improve my system performance or what am I doing wrong to improve it?

Before I continue, I’ve read the “Speed Up the Performance of Vista” thread numerous times with no real success. My laptop isn’t extremely slow, it tends to be a little sluggish when scrolling on web pages [Mozilla and IE(have tried both 32 and 64bit editions of IE)], when scrolling in my music in iTunes (especially in Cover Flow), or when the system is left on for a day or two. I started with a clean install to avoid problems and to update all drivers necessary. On the Cover Flow, I have a friend with a latop with half the power of mine and it scrolls through the Cover Flow flawlessly (he has Home Premium 32bit).

Throughout the forum threads on this issue I see a lot that Vista simply takes time to update everything necessary. I’ve been running on it for about 4 months now. All drivers up to date, all Windows updates downloaded and installed as soon as they come out, and the system in protected with anti virus software. Here come the inquiries. 1) Can that be a problem? I am running McAfee on it. 2) Also, is my computer simply not able to handle all of it? When sluggish, the faster I try to scroll, especially iTunes, the slower it actually scrolls, obviously, but the CPU never goes past 25-35% of usage. Same with RAM, staying at 40% or so. My lowest score in my index score is my memory with a 5.0. Not sure of the brand currently installed, but I know its 4GB at 667, I’m a Crucial fan, 3) so upgrading to Crucial memory also for 4GB but at 800 it will it significantly increase my score? 4) Therefore performance?

I’ve tried using the system with all the neat features disabled, transparency, etc, but same issues remain. I’d like to think my system can handle the neat features.

Here’s what I have:
Vista Ultimate 64bit
Dell XPS M1730
Intel Core Extreme X7900 @ 3.20 (Over clocked)
4GB RAM at 667
NVIDIA GeForce8700 GT Dual 512MB
200GB HDD @ 7200rpm

Other programs that require a lot are just fine. Some of those are Adobe PhotoShop CS3 or Illustrator, any of the Office 2007 programs, or Adobe Fireworks CS3. Maybe my issues are program specific, but there’s still that factor that my system slows down after being on a while. An example would be when minimizing a window, instead of getting the smooth effect, it’ll skip, and won’t become smooth unless I maximize and minimize that same window several times. Same applies when opening a new window. 5) What can be the cause of that? Because of this it often freezes on me. On the reliability monitor I have an Index of 7.93, with many application or miscellaneous failures. Though overall, the Index is on an incline as time goes.

6) Why does Windows Media Player often not open after clicking a file supported by it? Example, I’ll click on a movie and the sound will start, but the player itself will not open. I can see it in the processes but won’t open unless I click in the desktop icon.

Just to through one more, my CPU is over clocked and it shows it is so in the BIOS. However the system information in the Control Panel only shows the default setting of 2.80. Regardless of what the Control Panel shows, my CPU is still at 3.20 right?

Again, my apologies for such a long message, hopefully someone can enlighten me.

Laptops are not speed demons. Try a cooling pad. Most laptops will slow when they get to a certain tempature. Overclocking a laptop could cause you to overheat and slow down. Many of the chips have thermal controls. I would switch to a desktop.

The slowing down due to high temperatures, is it a significant decrease in performance??? Not sure if you are familiar with the M1730, but a real con to overclocking it, is that it makes the fans operate at full speed. This makes the system really loud, and I mean loud. The noise bothers me, so I looked everywhere to see if I can overwrite this fuction to keep it quieter. No luck. Recently I found the solution by accident. If I simply turn on the system on battery without the AC adapter plugged in, it will be completely quiet. Right after the BIOS screen or so I can plug it back in without the fans going full again. So quiet, I have trouble hearing it at night even when it sits next to my ear in the nightstand. Occasionally, it'll slightly speed up when running a lot, but never at full speed. Now, if I turn it on with the adapter plugged in, fans go at full speed at stay at full speed. If the temperature is a significant issue, then seems to me that this is my problem. Agree or disagree?

To put it bluntly, yes.

Laptops usually incorporate a scheme similar to the Intel Speedstep which starts cutting processor power consumption (and thus speed) when it starts experiencing things like running on batter, over heating, etc.

Just learned today, thanks to Everest, that when I try to "trick" my system by turning it on unplugged I don't trick it at all. The system is a hundred times quieter but only because the clock speed remains at 2.80 if started up from battery. Never goes back up to the overclocked speed of 3.20. To experience the 3.20, it MUST be started from AC, making it extremely loud. With that said, my original issues are still present. Since its primarily iTunes, could it simply be that it isn't fully compatible?

Regarding CPU temperature, at 2.80 my max temp is said to be 100C. Haven't found what it is at 3.20. In a 10 minute stability test I did, my CPU averages at 78C. My hard disks both at 42C. Are these running considerably hot?

This SpeedStep technology I don’t understand what it exactly does. I am able to disable it from the BIOS setup, should I?