CPU and Ram question

[jyms]

I've been struggling with my computer only having 2 gig of ram becasue I play at Ongame and between the sites brutal software, HEM, my music and whatever scripts and Browsers I have open (57 process or more) I get some freezing issues with the client at times that may be attributed to ram. What I did was take out my two 1 gig DDR2 chips and took them to Tiger Direct (pretty good store usually) to get an upgrade or 2 more. The guy gave me 2 more 1 gig DDR2 chips that are supposed to be compatible with my 4200's, It even says so on the packaging. I installed them along with the old chips and now have issues.

My cpu (core 2 duo 1.86GHz ) constantly jumps to 50-60% and sometimes runs at 100% for minutes at a time. My system info is only showing 2.99 gig of ram and I need to know if it's a compatibility issue or a setting that I can maybe adjust. Would something like a format or a possible Defrag help at all?

Maybe just go back and get some different ram?

[OngBonga]

My computer runs fine with 500K RAM. Up until about a fortnight ago, that wasn't the case, it was always maxing out, but then I had internet problems and accidentally rebooted windows and lost everything, but since then my computer has been running perfectly.

I'd suggest you either have a virus or it's full of pointless programmes running silently or causing a conflict of sorts.

Rebooting isn't a bad thing if you back your important files up (unlike me, I lost my database, music, photos, my football manager game save that had been going for years, and some quality porn).

This should be a last resort though.

[jyms]

Yea I doubt formatting would help this situation but I may do it in the future anyway just to clean up the machines processes. For now, searching the web for all my programs and registration numbers is too much for me.

As of now, I tested the machine with both sets of ram alone. Both old and new show at 1.97 gig, but together they only get 2.99 gig. This has to be a conflict right? Can it be a an issue in the clock speeds or something beyond my knowledge. Do I need to get into the setup and change a setting?

[BankItDrew]

I'd have a format done because it won't hurt and may help, even a little. If you're still having an issue, the problem is probably defective/non-compatible software/RAM/motherboard. In which case, you should have a diagnosis done by Tiger Direct. Although, I strongly recommend Canada Computers.

[Monty3038]

check the bios on the motherboard to insure it supports more than 3Gig of ram.

[NobleTruths]

Could you tell us more about your computer and OS? I am willing to bet this is Windows XP. Altho XP can support 4GB, your system will only show about 3GB due to other operational needs and restraints. See this article.

Next time your CPU is at 100%, open Task Manager, look under Processes, and post what process is using most of your capacity.

My first article of Internet computer safety could be helpful. My second one deals with infected computers; never hurts to run a scan for peace of mind.

Look at this link for suggestions to improve your computer performance. A very good program to clean out junk and temp files is CCleaner. Auslogics has a great defragger.

In CCleaner, under Tools option, you can see what programs automatically start up with your computer. You can disable those that are not necessary to your every day life. Only do this if you know what you are really doing. Do not "delete" anything.

[andy-akb]

Dont you need to have a 64-bit processor to support more than 3gb of RAM? I forgot about this and installed 4gb on my laptop and am almost positive thats the issue you are having. There is no reason to format your computer, that definitely wont change any issues with how much RAM is available, but if you really want to you could do it to help clean up some of the junk on your HDD. You could also have a 64bit processor and be running a 32bit operating system like Windows XP and if that is the case then upgrading to 64bit windows 7 should fix it. Look up your laptop model number and see if you can tell if the processor is 32- or 64-bit, if you cant then post here and somebody should be able to

[jyms]

Sorry, I was out shopping.

Thanks for the help so far guys. So far I know this, yes the Bios sees all 4 gig, One issue I may have is that I am running XP like noble assumed and from what I know now, XP being 32 bit will only see 3 gig. Apart from that I know that my onboard Vid card, (running my plasma TV) uses some of the ram as well. Right now, everything is fine, and I am on all 4 DDR's but I get these spikes in CPU that I never get if I run either of the two sets alone as just 2 gig. It seems to be mostly my browser and when playing it's the Ongame client pushing 50% or more. I'm going to try to defrag since it's been a while, I will try some other things in Nobles post and see if there is anything I didn't do in the past when I read some of them.

As I mentioned, it's an Intel Core 2 duo, 1.86GHz, XP media center edition w/SP3. fresh after booting I have 55 processes running which def sseems like a lot but I do have several programs running like Avira, Zone Alarm, Snoopfree and Winpatrol.

[Smith]

More RAM is always better... It's best to watch Task Manager, and see what is going on.

I also saw this in another thread. Ninite - Install or Update Multiple Apps at Once It looks pretty sweet if your going to have to reinstall a bunch of software.

My bottleneck currently is my hard drive. I was thinking about getting a SSD to help with my PT3 database. I'm curious to see if that speeds up the lag when loading stats, graphs etc...

[Ash256]

Avira, Zone Alarm, Snoopfree and Winpatrol.

There could certainly be some conflict here, I've had some horrible battles between Snoopfree and other security software in the past.

As an experiment you should uninstall all security software except for Avira and get hold of Comodo's free firewall - that performs all the functions of Zone Alarm and Snoopfree with a free sandbox thrown in.

[KoRnholio]

Could check/enlarge your page file as well, might reduce the strain on all those processes XP insists on running.

FWIW I just upgraded my dual core ghz 2GB ram WinXP system to 4GB ram and Windows 7 64bit and it has helped tremendously.

[andy-akb]

i mean you arent going to get the 4gb unless you switch to a 64bit OS. I also dont know if all core2 duos are 64bit. Do you have the specific model number of your laptop so i can lookup the specs to see?

[jyms]

Ash , I've never had any luck with comodo or online armour. My computer wouldn't boot after either install. Maybe I should try a format and then install it right after Avira before anything else. I never thought of snoopfree being a problem in all of this but maybe it is.

Kornholio, I thought about this, sooner of later I will have to bite the bullet and get away form XP. Vista was just never an option but maybe it's time to move to Win7.

Andy, I have no idea if it's 64 bit or not, but it's also a desktop and not a Laptop. It's a fairly std Gateway that I have added a PCI duel vid card to and nothing much else.

Maybe my 3 day weekend will be spent looking into backing up shit and possibly going for a format or even a Win 7 upgrade. It's running better after playing with so much but who knows. No poker attempts yet.

[Donachello]

check the bios on the motherboard to insure it supports more than 3Gig of ram.

This.

Also your system might not support 3-4 RAM slots running at the same time. I know that a work computer I used over the summer had all 4 slots filled and kept crashing until I took out some of the RAM. The RAM has to be compatible with each other as well as the motherboard. If you want more RAM I'd suggest getting 2 2GB sticks and just using the two RAM slots you were previously using.

Also, Spybot Search and Destroy is just about the only anti-spyware you need imo.

[NobleTruths]

Andy, I have no idea if it's 64 bit or not, but it's also a desktop and not a Laptop.

Windows XP is always 32 bit.

Snoopfree can be a resource hog. Is your ZoneAlarm a firewall only, or is it the suite? Hopefully it is only the firewall; otherwise you have too many conflicting programs. ZoneAlarm is quite a resource hog, as well.

[jyms]

Yea just a Firewall I added later on.

[NobleTruths]

If CCLeaner, defragging and running the checks for malware (I would recommend Malwarebytes' free version and an online scanner) don't improve things reasonably, I am willing to help you analysis your system more thoroughly using various tools. Please let me know. BTW, if the online scanner finds something, save a copy of its report.

[Smith]

Windows XP is always 32 bit.

Oh really? then how do you explain this?
Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition w/SP2c - 1 PC

[Nakamura]

I run XP and find that firefox sometimes steals 100% of CPU power. No idea why as I'm normally not doing anything on it. Google Chrome seems better to the point I feel like dropping firefox.

IMO it sounds like Windows needs a reinstall. Yes, it's a pain in the ass but it speeds up performance a lot. Unfortunately the way Windows deals with installing and uninstalling programs seems to leave quite an imprint which in turns seems to slow the system down considerably.

[Nakamura]

Oh really? then how do you explain this?
Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 Edition w/SP2c - 1 PC

Late arrival to the XP family. Most people never ran it or knew about it.

[Smith]

Late arrival to the XP family. Most people never ran it or knew about it.

True. Just wanted to show it does exist.

[Luco]

Rebooting isn't a bad thing if you back your important files up (unlike me, I lost my database, music, photos, my football manager game save that had been going for years, and some quality porn)

Unless the hard drive catches fire or something this should never happen, as you can just plug the hard drive into another machine and take everything you need off it like any other external drive.

[CoccoBill]

32bit Windows supports only up to 4GB of ram, minus any fixed allocations for your hardware device which typically leaves you with something like 2.9-3.5GB usable for windows. Get 4GB (preferably 8, its cheap anyway) ram, a 64bit OS (if you're reinstalling I'd just go with Win7) and you should be fine.

[Jack Sawyer]

32bit Windows supports only up to 4GB of ram, minus any fixed allocations for your hardware device which typically leaves you with something like 2.9-3.5GB usable for windows. Get 4GB (preferably 8, its cheap anyway) ram, a 64bit OS (if you're reinstalling I'd just go with Win7) and you should be fine.

Gold advice. There's no real reason to be running less than 4GB nowadays, since ram is currently dirt cheap. Or to not ditch Windows XP, since it cannot see all of your ram as you approach usable quantities.

BTW, 32 bit windows only "sees" under 3GB of ram, so the 2.9 figure is accurate. Anything above that and it's just an expensive heater.

[drmcboy]

i have just switched to 32 bit win 7 and I was terrified but it's pretty cool. 0 issues with PT/stars/FT.

No experience with the 64 bit but the wife hates it.

[Ash256]

i have just switched to 32 bit win 7 and I was terrified but it's pretty cool. 0 issues with PT/stars/FT.

No experience with the 64 bit but the wife hates it.

Yeah, I had to reformat and switch to 32-bit having discovered that my refurb Win 7 64-bit laptop is incompatible with my most important piece of music hardware.. I've been able to play poker while browsing while creating a pretty CPU-heavy track without any problems at all, and that's just on a dual core 4500 with 3GB RAM. Win 7 rocks imo.

[Poker Orifice]

Noble Truths, any alternative to 13.) Jason Levine's Browswer Security Tests ? (that link doesn't seem to be there)

tks for your posts re: Computer Security. I'm pretty illiterate when it comes to computers & your info. has helped me out quite a bit.
tks again (now give me ur stack! )

[NobleTruths]

Noble Truths, any alternative to 13.) Jason Levine's Browswer Security Tests ? (that link doesn't seem to be there)

Thanks. Updated to new sites.

[mbiz]

Its probably also that your windows install is old and bloated. If you know how to, its worth keeping windows on a separate partition. This way you can format that partition individually, without compromising any personal files (you will lose registry settings though but its no big deal) and start 'fresh'. Reinstall latest drivers with a fresh windows install and you'll be surprised at how nice it runs. I only do it when i need to which ends up being maybe once a year or so - due to things like some uber malicious virus or a new OS or new something else.

This is if you have had the same windows for a long time though. Still, its a great way of maintaining your rigz0r.

If you dunno how to do it, google it up. But i'll be happy to help, just ask in here again if you want some advice on how to do it.

**Also, start menu -> run -> msconfig, go to the 'startup' tab and untick what you can tell to be complete bullshit. greedy apps!

[swiggidy]

Jyms, it's possible you're taxing the processor if you're running a ton of stuff at one time. I would guess that would be a way bigger road block than even 2GB of ram.

No experience with the 64 bit but the wife hates it.

Why is that? Just curious.

[CoccoBill]

Nah, current multicore cpus are more than fast enough, even for fairly heavy multitasking. Worst case if you "run out of cpu" is slightly slower response times and jerkiness, if you run out of ram you will get swapping, looong response times and complete system freezes.

32bit vs. 64bit OS makes absolutely no difference, you will never know what you're running. The only issue can be drivers for your hardware, if they happen to be crap or nonexistent. Win7 is by far the best Windows desktop OS, ever.

If you want a truly significant upgrade, get a small (64-120GB) fast SSD (Intel or anything SandForce based, stay away from the cheap crap) for your system drive. I've been running a 80GB Intel ssd as my system drive for a couple years and its been by far the most practically noticeable upgrade I've made like ever.

[jyms]

Yea, I don't think it's the procesor being taxed. As I mentioned before, if I run either set of ram alone I have no issue with the processor (Intel 1.86MHz Core 2 duo). The ram I bought is supposed to be compatible with mine. The only issue I have had in the past with 2 gig is that my poker client (Ongame) sucks and supposedly more ram is something that helps with the client freezing that that others don't get. This isn't about Ongame though so that's for another thread.

I am running now on just 2 gig, the new chips. I cna run everything fine on the old 2 gig as well. My problem is that only when I put in the 4 total gigs, I get CPU spikes to 100% for long periods of time, my boot takes longer and I have a ton of issues, sound stuttering and video skipping. I can't use my browser with more than 3 tabs and my computer freezes. Is the fact that XP only supports the 3 gig maybe a cause for the issues? Or can it be a setting? My Bios shows 4x1024 so it sees them.

I think I will upgrade to Win 7 if anyone thinks it will make a difference in the ram issue. If this is a hardware issue and I may still have the problems, I would rather just spend the money on a new tower with Win 7 installed and more ram available later in the year.

[NobleTruths]

Is the fact that XP only supports the 3 gig maybe a cause for the issues? Or can it be a setting? My Bios shows 4x1024 so it sees them.

No, this is not causing the problem. What model number is your Gateway? What brand and model of new RAM did you just buy?

[Warpe]

Jyms, go here and scan your system for Windows 7 compatibility:

Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows

As long as your hardware supports it I would definitely upgrade to Win 7.

[jyms]

Model - GT5268E
The new ram is PNY 1024MB DDR 5400 667 MHz supposedly compatible with 400, 533 and 667MHz

I'll try it warpe, but my concern is still whether the ram will work after the install. Maybe I will try it both with and without when I run the test.

[Warpe]

Windows 7 system requirements




If you want to run Windows 7 on your PC, here's what it takes:

• 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor
• 1 gigabyte (GB) RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
• 16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
• DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

[NobleTruths]

The type of RAM should be 1024MB-533MHz DDR2-533 PC2-4200. While you can use a high MHz (667) and module (5400), your system will only operate at the 533MHz and 4200 level, so why pay the expense? Also, you should not be mixing the two types. In addition, you stated "DDR" not "DDR2." I think you just mis-entered the data, but please check...it must be DDR2. Actually, you should not be able to fit DDR's in the slots at all.

[jyms]

Yea it's DDR2 that's just laziness on my part because DDR2 slots are different. I get that the lower speed will be all I get out of a faster ram to match up, but the expense was only $21 per gig anyway and they didn't have any 533MHz 4200's hence the 5400's that were supposed to be compatible. I think I will just shoot for a Win 7 upgrade and see how it goes.

[NobleTruths]

That should be a nice upgrade.

[jyms]

Wow, I started the process to back shit up to upgrade to win 7 after unsuccessfully trying to downgrade both my Adobe Air and Adobe flash. That shit is immpossible to work with. I have so much shit on this computer to back up before I make the switch to win 7. almost 100gig worth of stuff.

[NobleTruths]

You must have tons of vids and music.

[jyms]

100's Poker Vids, PDF's, tons of Wii games and iso's and about 12 movies I haven't seen yet. Not a lot of music.

[Keith]

have you got room and connectors to use your current drive as a data drive , stick a new hard disk in to use for your new OS install. You'll have to change the boot order in the bios or swap the drive connectors on the mobo. Will save the hassle of backing everything up.
Solid state drives ae supposed to really increase system speed if you use them dor the os and i assume page file.