Why is my PC so damn slow???

purplepatch

@ tojo ralph
yeah, 2 slots, but buying 2x 256 is going to cost me more isn't it?

alternative is to buy 256 and add that to the 128 I've already got.

but thought I'd get the best result from buying 512 hence wondering why they aren't giving me that as an option....

purplepatch

CIS wrote:

The maximum capacity the motherboard can take is 512mb, each of the 2 slots can take a maximum of 256mb each, filling each slot gives 512mb.

....and that is probably the reason why!

I did wonder that, but it also says something on the crucial site about it taking 2 banks of 1 and from that I gathered that I could use just one slot and put 512 on it. I take it I came to the wrong conclusion.

CIS

Some memory needs to be installed in matched pairs whereas moderm memory can in most cases be installed as single sticks.

Tojo_Ralph

The matched memory thing in "banked" slots is something I was warned about .... .... However, my understanding (don't quote me) is that if a computer has only 2 slots (one having Ram pre installed) it will not be "banked" and memory does not have to be "matched"



Have you tried downloading and using the free oftware FREERAM? .... It works away in the background freeing up ram.
http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,22441,00.asp

I used it on the old lappy I resurrected (64MB + 128MB Ram) and found it worked well.

CIS

it depends on the age of the machine as to whether it needs 2 identical sticks of ram to run, Older machines needed two sticks of RAM in order to run properly with the CPU, some modern motherboards can run faster with two matched sticks of ram, but they can quite happily run with 1.


(IIRC ram supplied 16bits from each stick, cpu needed 32 bits, hence 2 ram sticks needed,modern ram can supply 32bits, hence one needed)

996ducati

purplepatch wrote:

I'd be extremely grateful for some advice from you techie people.

I've got a 5 year old celeron pc and it is driving me mad as it's so bloody slow.

I sometimes wonder why I bother having broadband as it labours over everything I do. I don't play games, just surf and send emails mainly. I've got avast, zonealarm and antispyware, so don't think it's anything to do with viruses/spyware.

I've tried the disk defragmenter and that hasn't done much either. It's stuff like when I try to flick over to Outlook Express it will just freeze up for a while before anything happens.

Is it just that the machine is knackered and I need a new one or is there something I can do to help, such as buying more memory?

Another eg, I just right clicked on my computer to get info about the pc to post on here and it took over a minute for the info to come up - this is what I'm talking about. So annoying.

Celeron Processor
1.00 GHz
120 MB of RAM

I'm no techie so be gentle with me

What anti-spyware prog are you running? Its not the Micro$oft one by any chance?

Also,how big is your hard drive & how full is it?

The memory will be an issue as mentioned with XP but htere are other things that will slow it down too.

996ducati

purplepatch

996ducati wrote:

What anti-spyware prog are you running? Its not the Micro$oft one by any chance?

Also,how big is your hard drive & how full is it?

The memory will be an issue as mentioned with XP but htere are other things that will slow it down too.

996ducati

Yes, it is microsoft antispyware - is that a problem?

Hard drive is total 26.5GB, of which free space 16.9GB.

Any advice gratefuly received.

Toxteth_OGrady

@P_patch

You can download a pdf docment "10+ things you should know about troubleshooting a slow PC" here. It may help.

:cool:

TOG

bigup

I had a similar problem to this. My computer is about 5 years old and was running slow. I just put in the XP disk and re formatted the computer. Back to normal and back up to speed. No need to waste money on upgrades if your simply surfing and using the computer for standard programs. Upgrading is a waste of your money.

You probably have lots of trash files all over your computer slowing it down and using up resources. A clean XP install will clear everything off the computer and make it fresh as a babys bottom.

Clean install from scratch with all your antivirus and SP2 etc will take you back down to around 5/6 gig. Then put back your files and youl be happy!

purplepatch

I've thought about reformatting (did this a couple of years ago already) but I've got a lot of photos and music stored - thinking about it I guess this is contributing to the slow speeds. Don't really want to delete them all though as use them a lot.

I'm still v confused about what sort of memory to get. Still can't work out why there doesn't seem to be any compatible 512mb ram available to buy when my machine only currently has one stick of 128mb and works ok albeit slow. Why not one stick of 512mb. Strange.

Also, will it be ok to get a 256 stick and add it to existing 128mb. Does it matter that they don't match? I'm guessing not, but.....!

I'm considering buying the crucial 256 stick even though it's more expensive, at least they can guarantee it. The ebay seller that I've been dealing with is unhelpful to say the least - keep getting one sentence replies that don't make things any clearer.