So now I'm running Gnome Classic (no effects).
You're aware that GNOME Classic soon or later will be dropped? Last time
I tested GNOME3 IIRC "Classic" had another name and needed more
resources than GNOME2.
I switched to Xfce, for older installs it's a good replacement for
GNOME2, for new installs Xfce and GNOME apps won't work together, since
font and background colors sometimes are painful, LXDE might be the
better choice nowadays.
YMMV!
Ralf