PC >> Vista on a Sony VAIO FS215SSee also: IntroductionBeing a computer lover, I wanted to try Vista on my notebook as soon as it was released. My Sony VAIO PCG-FS215S, though not that old, is getting on a bit now. Its 1.87GHz Centrino processor and 512MB RAM seem pretty moddest these days, what with Core 2 Duo processors and a 1GB RAM being standard on most notebooks. Initial InstallationI was lucky enough to be able to borrow a genuine copy of Vista soon after its release, which I could install as an evaluation copy, before taking the plunge and shelling out hard-earned money on software that may be no good. At this stage, the only upgrade I had made to my VAIO was to replace one of the 256MB RAM modules with a 512MB module, leaving me with 768MB total. I always planned to replace the other 256MB module at some stage, but I never really got around to it, I guess because XP just doesn't feel as if it needs more. I knew Vista was demanding in terms of resources, so I suppose it's fair to say that I didn't have huge expectations as far as performance goes. I'm glad I didn't. To say it ran slowly would be an understatement... It took a good few minutes to boot, which, compared with XP on the same machine, felt like a lifetime. Furthermore, even once booted, it was extremely sluggish, and the hard drive was constantly chattering away, almost as if it could not keep up. I tried tweaking to no avail; this involved disabling the fancy features such as aero, and even trying out ReadyBoost, both of which made no noticeable difference. To top it all off, Vista hadn't installed drivers for most of my devices, and these weren't available from Sony. From that point onwards, I forgot about Vista, and told myself I'd have to wait until I replace my VAIO. Change of HeartHaving seen a few friend's computers running Vista, it got me thinking about getting the VAIO running it again. I really liked the look and feel of Vista, and, like I mentioned above, being into my computer in a big way meant that I wanted to be running the latest OS. At the same time, I didn't feel the need to spend money on a new computer to simply get Vista. I started to have a think about what I could do to my VAIO to boost the performance. The most obvious upgrade was replacing that remaining 256MB module. Upgrading the processor, though possible, was very much out of the question as to get any noticeable benefit I'd have to replace it with one of a higher clock speed, and with this comes more heat. Quite honestly, I just didn't want problems in this department. So that really left just one remaining component that is easily replacable, and would certainly impact performance: the hard drive. The VAIO FS215S uses a Toshiba MK1031GAS drive that runs at 4,200rpm. Clearly, performance was going to be limited by this drive to a degree. I wasn't sure what to replace it with though. Off to the ClubVAIO forums I went... It seemed that whilst there are 7,200rpm drives available for notebooks nowadays, and that these would certainly give the best performance increases, they (understandably) produce quite a bit more heat than slower-revolving drives. Heat is obviously a big concern in notebooks due to the tight space in which the components are housed. Furthermore, the fact that notebooks are designed with particular components in mind emphasises this point. So, it seemed that the best bet was going to be a 5,400rpm drive. Seagate's Momentus 5400.3 (datasheet here) range seemed to come highly-recommended. These drives are supposed to be quiet, low-power-consuming, and 50% faster than equivalent 4,200rpm drives, not to mention offering a 5 year warranty. Perfect. I ordered one of these for under £50 from an online retailer. Upgrade TimeSo, the bits arrived, and after backing up my old hard drive, I was ready to go. Five minutes later and the new components were installed; that's how easy it was! Out came the Vista DVD again so I could try again... The first thing I noticed was how much quicker the installation was than prior to the upgrades. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish, compared with a good hour or so previously. The first thing I did was to disable aero and transparency, as these are real resource hogs and I have little interest in them. I then rebooted again for the real test. The difference was incredible. It took about 20 seconds to boot to the login screen, and about a further 10 seconds to boot into Windows and be ready to go. To make things even better, Sony have now released Vista drivers and software for this notebook . Okay, things aren't perfect; there's no drivers available for my Topfield PVR, nor my Brother AIO device, but I know that these are in development and will be along soon. So, having sold the original Toshiba hard drive on eBay, I decided that I'd take the plunge and order Vista Home Premium. Spring CleaningIn the mood to get my VAIO running as well as I could, I decided to clean the heatink and fan, and put some new thermal paste on the processor core. After all, I think it's fair to say that it'll be working a bit harder on Vista, so I wanted it to run as cool as possible. This might sound scary, but it's actually very easy. Simply remove every screw on the underside, and the casing pulls right off.
This is the inside of the VAIO once the casing has been removed. I have also removed the heatsink and fan (top-left). Also notice the farmyard animal towel I'm using the stop the VAIO from getting scratched. ;-) I cleaned the core using isopropyl alcohol, and also the underside of the heatsink. I then applied a very small amount of Arctic Silver 5 paste to the core, and with my hand inside a plastic sandwich bag, covered the surface evenly.
Finally, I gave the heatsink and fan a few blasts of compressed air, and reassembled everything. Thankfully, the design of this notebook is such that there is no intake fan, so dust inside is minimal. ConclusionSo there we have it; a Sony VAIO PCG-FS215S running Vista. Okay, that's nothing amazing, but I've managed to get it running well, which I never thought would be possible on this notebook. If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to get in touch. |
|
