Adding RAM.

Cardew

I have a Medion Akoya P7360D(MD8855)(an Aldi ‘special’) running Windows 7 purchased in March 2010. It has 4 GB DDR3 SDRAM memory. (2 x 2GB)

The processor is an AMD Phenon11 X4 820 Quad Core 2.8Ghz 6MB total Cache

Looking at the Crucial website it would appear that there are two slots for an additional 2 x 2GB of memory costing £17 each.

The PC seems to be getting slower downloading from the web, particularly when watching TV. For instance the BBC news keeps ‘buffering’ even though I have BT Infinity 2 with download speeds always in excess of 40Mbps download and 12Mbps upload(currently 56/15Mbps)

It is connected to a BT Hub 5 via Ethernet cable and has the same issue using IE11 or Firefox. I have the full McAfee suite of virus/firewall etc which agrees with CCleaner & Malwarebyte which all tell me the PC is 'clean'.

I do all the usual ‘maintenance’ disk clean-up, defragging etc. The 1TB S-ATA hard drive has 852GB free.

My question is would you expect the additional 4GB memory to have a significant effect?


P.S. I would get a new PC but from what I have seen of Win 8, as well as the reports I have heard, means I will wait until a new version is available.

System

Right - by using an ethernet cable you have ruled out any wifi issues. Increased RAM might help a little but I would try a couple of things first.

1. Re-set your browser cache if you haven't done so already.

2. Change your DNS to either Open or Google. I have used Open DNS for the past year or so after suffering some of the problems that you have encountered. It is free: the DNS settings are 208.67.222.222 (Primary) and 208.67.220.220 (secondary). You can usually change DNS in your router settings.

It is also possible that your problems are down to congestion on your exchange.

Cisco001

I don't think there will be any difference between 4GB and 8GB on download.

aerostar

When you run CCCleaner do you clean all the tempory files etc, as that will slow down the computer ?.

Before you go messing with DNS, which is rarely a problem, get your computer into Safe mode with networking and run some speed tests, note what you get.

Then restart the computer in full mode and run the same tests, if there is a marked difference, then you need to clear out unused programs and diable some programs in the start up.

CCClean can do this , just disable so you can re-enable if the program you have disabled in start up is really needed.

Also do remember that the sites you are on cannot serve an infinite amount of users.

John_Gray

Agree with most of what people are saying above. Broadband line download speeds are the crucial factor, then speed/workload of the remote server.

enfield_freddy

1: additional ram will not increase your internet download/upload speed


2: windows 7/8/8.1 comes in many flavours , but in 2 formats . 32 bit and 64 bit, the 32 bit can only address about 3 1/4 gig of ram whereas the 64 bit can address many gig of ram , go into control panel/system and check which version you are using .


on my 8.1 system (32 bit) it says : Installed memory (ram) 4 gig , 3.37 gig usable.


so even if I added another 8-12 gig the machine could not use it

Cardew

enfield_freddy wrote: »

1: additional ram will not increase your internet download/upload speed


2: windows 7/8/8.1 comes in many flavours , but in 2 formats . 32 bit and 64 bit, the 32 bit can only address about 3 1/4 gig of ram whereas the 64 bit can address many gig of ram , go into control panel/system and check which version you are using .


on my 8.1 system (32 bit) it says : Installed memory (ram) 4 gig , 3.37 gig usable.


so even if I added another 8-12 gig the machine could not use it

As I stated in my opening post my download/upload speed on BT Infinity 2 is always in excess of 40/12Mbps - so clearly internet speed is not the problem.


I should have added that it is a 32bit machine.

Angry_Bear

Also check your setting for Flash (assuming you're using something like iPlayer).
Check here: http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/tv/HD_video_performance
Also here: http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager09.html

If you right-click on a flash box and choose global settings, you'll get a settings manager window. Try clearing the Flash cache on the advanced tab (delete all browsing data and settings).

ETA:

Cardew wrote: »

I should have added that it is a 32bit machine.

Unfortunately then extra RAM definitely won't make a difference as your machine won't be able to use it.

althas

A full maintenance run would always be a good place to start

As well as ccleaner, a malawarebytes scan would be good. Then a complete defrag of the hard drive (may take a day so let it run)

Also a registry clean will help (if you dont already do it). The one in ccleaner is a good start, just accept the backup of the registry when it asks

Danceswithhorses

A 'restore to factory settings' would give your 4 year old pc the ultimate clean up, assuming you had backed up all your important documents, and had all your important program installation discs at hand.
Also windows 8 isn't all that bad and can be improved massively with 'classic shell'.
Not entirely sure that will help you with your buffering problems though-is your bt connection 'unlimited' ?

enfield_freddy

Cardew wrote: »

As I stated in my opening post my download/upload speed on BT Infinity 2 is always in excess of 40/12Mbps - so clearly internet speed is not the problem.


I should have added that it is a 32bit machine.

then adding extra ram will not help ,


question answered


QED