My desktop PC... Upgrading it

Crabman

Hey Hey - I've been trying to sort out why our old PC is being so slow and have installed a program which pulled up this info about it - I've upgraded the RAM (128MB single memory stick) with an additional 64MB stick in the second slot, but this program seems to think it's 256MB

Can anyone also tell me what the primary and secondary memory cache is and why the primary is 32kb compared with secondary of 256kb - is this the RAM or something different?




Anyone have any tips/ideas on how to increase the speed of this desktop? I thought about getting some RAM to upgrade the memory further but there are so many types and different "numbers of pins" to select from - please tell me there is an easy way to select the one needed instead of actually having to count 109/128 pins on the memory stick!

Crabster

nintendosensei

The first one is L1 cache, this is harder to produce. The second is probably L2 cache, this is just what i think. I'm quite sure though. It smooths over the cracks in the way intel pc's access the memory which is why Intel CPU's have more cache.

timberflake

Go to http://www.crucial.com/uk/ and click on "Scan My System" it will show you how much ram you have installed and what type your PC takes. You can even buy it from the site, let us know how you get on.

ian02

There is a free prog that lists everything in your pc, Everest Home Edition, download from http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

espresso

ian02 wrote:

There is a free prog that lists everything in your pc, Everest Home Edition, download from http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html

However Everest Home is no longer updated so use PCwizard which is kept up to date with the latest technology.

:cool:

ian02

espresso wrote:

However Everest Home is no longer updated so use PCwizard which is kept up to date with the latest technology.

Quite.................but seeing that the OP has a P3, it doesnt really matter :rolleyes:

espresso

PCwizard is a better program so why bother with Everest Home!

bat999

Hi Crabman
Those primary (L1) and secondary (L2) caches are memories that are built into the Pentium chip. They are similar to RAM but are much faster to access (because they're closer!). You can't add to these caches.
Your printout shows that both RAM slots 0 and 1 are already in use. If you want to increase your RAM you'll need to replace one or both of your 128MB modules with larger ones.
To find out which type of RAM that you need then go to the Crucial or Kingston websites and enter the model number of your motherboard (Micro Star MS-6323 0.1) or use Google to find the website of your motherboard.
:cool:

PS Your printout shows that you have 256MB of RAM because you have two 128MB modules (128+128 = 256)

Crabman

I've done the scan as suggested in post #3: http://www.crucial.com/uk/systemscanner/viewscanbyid.aspx?id=2B0292CC31D926C3

It doesn't seem to me that I'm going to get a great increase in performance judging by their little meter - it definitely isn't worth it going by the price - £100 for the 1GB RAM upgrade.

I'm really looking to get another 6-12 months out of this desktop till I can replace it with perhaps a dual-core Athlon 64 mid next year. I have my laptop in the meantime but I know of a friend who has a Pentium II 600Mhz laptop with 256 MB and his machine is way faster than this desktop. Can't think why - he's got Win XP Home whereas I've got Pro, no other difference as far as I can see...

timberflake

Often doing a clean reinstall of windows and only running the things you need will keep your PC running smooth. PC's get bogged down with crap, I'd try a clean install but remember to back up your docs/programs/drivers and make sure you have a couple of days spare to complete the job!

Poppycat

Sandra is also a good program to find out whats on your pc, you can downlaod a trial version here

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/

I agree the L1 and L2 are cache which is fast memory on board the cpu.