I finally managed to somehow fix my desktop after suffering from insufficient disk space on my laptop for months.

500GB harddisks on my desktop, which were intended to store archive photos, went useless when my desktop Windows XP suffered from bluescreen upon start up which I tend to be lazy in solving the issue.

Anyway, I reinstalled a fresh copy of Windows XP (but it did not replace the old copy of Windows XP! but that’s another issue altogether…)

This screenshot below triggered my urge to get a new CPU. When I run Lightroom 2, it tend to occupy 99% of the CPU usage. I have 4GB ram installed, in which Windows XP only detects up to 3GB (due to 32-bit limitation).

I did a quick check on some forums and many agreed that Lightroom does not require a powerful GPU but rather CPU and RAM that counts most.

I was running on AMD Sempron™ 3000+. As much as I would like to get AMD Phenom™ II X4 940, too bad my budget motherboard only supports up to AMD Athlon™ X2 Dual-Core 5200+. I decided to go for the best CPU it can support, as it only cost me SGD$100. Cheap deal for an upgrade!

Comparison for the two CPU side by side

Alright! I got it!

Spent around 15 minutes on removing the old CPU and installing this new lovely CPU. Was so excited to have a fresh copy of Windows XP running on the Best CPU that my motherboard can support, I quickly fired up Lightroom 2 and was so desperate to feel the difference!

.

.

.

OK, Lightroom 2 still occupies 99% of the CPU usage.

Well, aside from the slight disappointment (yes, slight!… slight……) I should say it still makes difference, although not noticeable. From single core to double cores, definitely multiprocessing is made smoother and possible.

One core may be fully used by Lightroom 2, while the other core will be free to process other stuffs e.g. messenger, web browsing, song playing etc.

But heck care? The hundred bucks bought me a different weekend