~Toughbooktalk~

This may be a case where win7 64bit will be a better choice.
Will win7 64 bit install on a 32bit cpu and use more than 3.2gb of ram?
If it will, then win7 64bit with 8gb of ram will help a lot.

I found a post from the Dragon on NBR in my wayback machine..No I don't give rides!
Readyboost may help out too.

Bono-

D@MN. I stand corrected. you really DO NEED all that heat...

If you're trying to manipulate very large images, then you DO need the MOST RAM you can get running in this machine. Before you change your OS, MAKE SURE YOU CAN SEE ALL 8 GB IN BIOS. If yes, then Get into Win7 64-BIT Edition - it's the ONLY way you're going to use all of it.

Next, get yourself a 4GB Flash Drive that's rated for use as a ReadyBoost drive; THIS WILL MAKE A DRAMATIC INCREASE IN YOUR FILE PROCESSING SPEEDS. Look here for a good basic discussion of what drives are fast enough; they have a list of known ReadyBoost ready flash drives.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=186

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReadyBoost

Don't go crazy looking for the biggest, fastest, most expensive drive out there; for ReadyBoost you have to format the drive in FAT32, and you're going to want to make it dedicated. Even if you get a bigger one, it'll only USE 4GB, so anything bigger is a WASTE.

ReadyBoost is essentially a 3rd level cache; we used to have add-on boards with that feature for just this sort of thing.

I'll give you a real-life comparison of the improvement:

The machine I'm typing on RIGHT NOW is an Athlon64 with 2GB RAM (Max supported by the BIOS) and a 4GB ReadyBoost. Without the ReadyBoost, I could typically keep 14-16 browser tabs open at once (I'm a multi-window ABUSER) in 1680x1050 32-Bit resolution before FireFox would cough and occasionally die. WITH the 4GB ReadyBoost drive, I routinely keep 30 or more tabs open as well as a couple .PDF files, a WordPad document or two, and an instance of TaskManager all the time. It runs stable and fast; when there's lag, it's from my Roadrunner service, not the PC.

I'm not sure, but I believe the SD-card slot in your CF-30 is SD-HC compatible; if so, you should be able to permanently use a SD-Card in that slot for Ready-Boost.

I'm using a 4GB SanDisk Ultra II SDHC Plus for this machine; it is the Class 4 version, with built-in USB 2.0 on the other end (UBER-HANDY little card). Even if it won't work in the SD slot, it WILL work on the USB side for ReadyBoost.

Just be careful when you're shopping for ANY SanDisk Flash Memory; there's a LOT of counterfeit SanDisk out there. This is straight from the manufacturer: SanDisk (JUST LIKE SONY) ONLY SELLS IN HERMETICALLY SEALED RETAIL BLISTER-PACK. PERIOD. If a vendor is selling SanDisk in OEM or BULK, IT IS COUNTERFEIT. Your particular vendor may not know it (or may just not WANT to know it - nudgenudge, winkwink - how am I getting such a great deal on a truckload of name brand flash memory); there are vendors selling on Amazon who are selling counterfeit product. Most of the counterfeit product is NOT ONLY substandard, much of it isn't even of the rated capacity; they reprogram the memory controller to report a bogus capacity, and you may never even realize it until you try and save a file or folder of known size and it kakks out halfway through.

mnem
Getting tired of bruising my knuckles on the ground...

Readyboost is a good ideas and works great but he will not be able to add a SSD because W7 will disable it when a SSD is installed.

With the price/Size of SSD's today I would skip ready boost. It may of been my setup but never really seen that good of a gain. I got better speeds depending on how good your flash drive was as well.

On my CF-29 MK5 and my CF-30 MK1 and it worked great but I used a SD card. The only problem was finding one that worked. The cheap ones will not. You need a class 10 if I am right

The 5400 rpm HD really drags the system down. Replacing it with a SSD is the single best upgrade.

My physical memory is 68% while running program name ACAT for ATT.

That little extra bit of memory just may help out then. Do have another 2gb stick of ram you can use to test it out. Then I will give you a few things to try out on your current install.

Where is a good place to order a ssd and what make and model?

I have got most of mine from www.newegg.com .. I us Intel , Samsung and Kingston.