Desktop computer question

Forgot to add that I have 3 Gb of RAM , dual channel DDR2 .

Reply to
Terry Coombs
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No , I have 3 Gb of RAM on this machine .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Mine will only accomodate 2G PC133 SDRAM. Last time I looked (several yrs ago) a "used" 1G stick of PC133 SDRAM cost over $100USD! I jes looked again and I can buy two new half-gig sticks fer about $20. I still need a new box. ;)

nb

Reply to
notbob

Let me check , I'm pretty sure I have some PC133 SDRAM , yours for the postage if I do . Ping my reply-to with a good email address and I'll send a photo .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

K, somehow I thought you had 8. 3GB seems like an odd amount, but I guess it's possible. If you have 3, what I said still applies. The other poster was saying his response time sucks, but he has only .5GB of RAM, you have

6X that.

Whatever is going on, seems most of us agree you're terrible performance is from something software related, or possible internet connection?

Here's some more interesting news:

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Looks like going forward Win 7 users get a choice of taking the entire update that is offered from MSFT or nothing. You can't pick and choose which updates you want like you could before.

Reply to
trader_4

And 32 bit Windows XP, I believe, is incapable of making use of hyperthreading and actually using those 4 cores - particularly if the motherboard does not support hyperthreading (don't know if that unit does or not)

Reply to
clare

Windows 7 is GENERALLY faster than XP on the same hardware - and Windows 10 is very often faster than win7.

Reply to
clare

Just for giggles and to humor me, download and run Advanced System Care free version from IOBit. Use custom install and don't let it add any extras. Tell me if it isn't faster when you are done.

I have not had to "rebuild" a windows machine due to performance issues in over 5 years - and I look after a LOT of "confusers".

Reply to
clare

Benchmarks... I've used this one.... type in what you have... then what you are wanting to do... you'll get an idea of how much the changes ought to move the numbers around, you can predetermine how much the amount of ram, motherboard, CPUs change the values. I replaced a core 2 with a quad core in an older Dell... just for the fun of it. For what I do... probably not much if any difference but the benchmark went up ! I'd update the BIOS first then make the CPU change. Check the capacitors on the older machines, I had to change a couple on the one I dragged home from a 2nd hand shop. It's a Dell dude... 740 Optiplex built like an anvil. 64 bit Linux Mint on it ... how fast is it? Faster than I'll ever need to go with it. Armchair hot rodding.

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Reply to
My 2 Cents

Times change I guess. I can't get mine over 50% even pushing all four cores to their max processing video.

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

Have you checked your RAM usage in Windows task manager?

With multiple browser tabs open you might be maxing out the available memory. This will cause Windows to swap memory out to the page file on your hard drive, resulting in major slow downs.

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

I'm not familiar with AMD processors, so I made some wild guesses on your processors to check the benchmark speeds at

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The Athlon X2 BE-2400 benchmarked at 1225.

The Phenom X4 9150e benchmarked at 2134.

So, in theory the X4 should be twice as fast. Of course, real world usage involves RAM, hard drive access, and a variety of other components that can affect actual speeds.

Keep in mind, "twice as fast" is relative, they're both old slow processors.

My i7-4790K benchmarks at 11,188 and that's a two year old CPU. Definitely not bleeding edge stuff.

For a bit of reference, I upgraded from an i5-2500K CPU that benchmarked at

6444, so the new CPU benchmarked almost twice as fast. Of course, the real world difference was almost imperceptable, even with 16GB of RAM and two SSD drives.

The new processor "might" make a slight difference, but I'm betting there are other bottlenecks slowing down your system. Given your description, I would lean towards insufficient RAM.

Then again, there may be nothing wrong with your system. You're just running modern software on an ancient computer. :)

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

The problem with the RAM situation is that AIUI this is the max a 32 bit XP install will recognize ... and the modern software/(not quite) ancient computer is probably closer to the mark . This mobo is capable of 64 bit , but as you say , it is pretty old , so I guess maybe it's time to either build a new unit , maybe go to 7/64 bit , or just live with what I've got .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

Yeah, I spend way too much time on the computer. :)

We're usually in bed by 9pm, but we were up late watching movies. Our usual Friday date night.

Wow, so sorry. That's young. Life seems so short anymore. My dad died from cancer at 51, my step-dad drowned when he was 39, and my new step-dad died from a stroke at 50.

I'll turn 53 in November, so I feel like I'm living on borrowed time. :)

They say the average life expectancy is around 85, but I watch the obituaries in my news feeds and it seems most people are dieing in their

50's and 60's. I don't feel old, but it's kind of scary how little time I might have left.

Being "Her Husband", the best thing I've ever done...

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

Oh that's right, I forgot about that limitation.

If you're on a budget and don't need the latest tech, you can find lots of CPU and motherboard combinations on Ebay. That's where I always sell my old components. You could probably get some fairly recent parts for $100-200.

That's what I'm running on my desktop. It's fast and stable and just works well.

I upgraded to Windows 10 on my laptop (that I rarely use), but there were just enough quirky differences that I decided to stay with Windows 7 on my desktop.

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

Let me guess - you have a dedicated video card with heaps of ram and a powerful processor on it. Lots of video cards today are running very powerful processors - some almost as powerfull as the main CPU.

Reply to
clare

When something happens in 1/10th the blink of an eye, increasing speed by a factor of 10 has virtually no perceptible effect. You have to be running some very powerful programming, running extremely complex calculations, to see any difference past a certain point (which I believe has already been excededm on most home computer systems. The resat of the sysyem already cannot keep up with the processor in most cases.

Reply to
clare

There is a difference between most obituaries being for people in their 50s and 60s, and most people dying in their 50s and 60s

Those who DON'T diie in their 50s and 60s tend to live well into their 80s and 90s

Reply to
clare

I've just ordered a new hdd , figure that before I start making any serious changes in this box I'll do a clean install and see how it acts . I'd wipe the one that's in there but there are programs I can't replace ... and I can always hook it up with my little adapter to access those if needed . Probably do a minimal install , I don't use a lot of those programs often and if I need one , as above I can hook up the old drive . It's amazing , new WD Caviar blue 320Gb drives are under 20 bucks now . Not so long ago I was paying over $50 a pop .

Reply to
Terry Coombs

If all you need is 320GB, for not too much more you can get a solid state drive. I did that when my 1.5TB HD died. I'm only using 75MB, so I replaced it with a 250GB SSD. System boots in about 20 secs now. I paid about $70, that was 8 months ago.

Reply to
trader_4

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