Improving computer speed, need RAM advice

Forums › Desktop computing › Improving computer speed, need RAM advice

snowman213

60 posts

Master Geek

#31094 4-Mar-2009 13:03

Hi,

I need advice on improving computer speed, not for gaming, just so computer can load faster when opening more than 2 programs.

I currently have 2 gb ram, 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo proccesor, Dell product (information I looked up on 'My Computer')

Its currently abit slow than when we first purchased it (feb-mar 2008) and I need to reboot the system not now but later on.

I dont want to spend so m
uch and taking out devices to install a new one, i was thinking about buying 2gb more ram only (i have 4 available slots for ram).

I plan on looking for some over on Trademe, so I would like someone that can give me some suggestions.

THanks

Jimmy

heavenlywild

5060 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#199192 4-Mar-2009 13:20

Yep, definitely add more RAM, at least 3GB.

Also, you may want to look at restoring the computer back to factory condition to clear viruses and malware on your computer.

garvani

1873 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#199194 4-Mar-2009 13:24

You will be looking for ddr2 ram by the way. You will want to check the motherboard manual / website for specs on what speed ram you can put in (although if you put in faster ram it will clock back to what your motherboard can handle)

snowman213

60 posts

Master Geek

#199196 4-Mar-2009 13:27

heavenly_wild: Yep, definitely add more RAM, at least 3GB.

Also, you may want to look at restoring the computer back to factory condition to clear viruses and malware on your computer.

Do u mean use the windows cd to redo and clean entire computer?

gehenna

8497 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#199198 4-Mar-2009 13:31

At the very least download and run CCleaner to clear out log files, temporary files, dead registry entries etc that may be clogging things up. It's free and it's a quick way to recover disk space and help performance.

snowman213

60 posts

Master Geek

#199200 4-Mar-2009 13:34

gehenna: At the very least download and run CCleaner to clear out log files, temporary files, dead registry entries etc that may be clogging things up. It's free and it's a quick way to recover disk space and help performance.

Thanks, ive got ccleaner but i dont really know how to use it, all i do when i go on it is use cleaner and registery cleaner

gehenna

8497 posts

Uber Geek

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#199212 4-Mar-2009 14:25

Yep that's enough of a start. You've done pretty much all you want to do with it.

Another thing you can try is to increase your page file size. How much free space do you have on the hard drive? A page file kind of emulates physical memory by using some of your hard drive as virtual memory.

if you right click on My Computer and go to properties, then click on Advanced, and Settings under Performanc a Performance Options window should appear.

On there, click on Advanced and then have a look at the Virtual Memory setting. Can you post the number of Mb it is showing? If it's only a small number, and you have a fair bit of free HDD space, try going into the Change button and then setting a Custom Size. Something like 1024Mb which is 1GB in real terms. Most default to between 256 and 512MB which isn't very much - especially if you only have a small amount of physical ram

vexxxboy

4243 posts

Uber Geek

#199214 4-Mar-2009 14:34

you could try smart defrag a free program check it out here, keeps your hard drive running smoothly

http://www.iobit.com/iobitsmartdefrag.html

Common sense is not as common as you think.

Equinox IT

Cloud spending continues to surge globally, but most organisations haven’t made the changes necessary to maximise the value and cost-efficiency benefits of their cloud investments. Download the whitepaper From Overspend to Advantage now.

snowman213

60 posts

Master Geek

#199268 4-Mar-2009 19:06

gehenna: Yep that's enough of a start. You've done pretty much all you want to do with it.

Another thing you can try is to increase your page file size. How much free space do you have on the hard drive? A page file kind of emulates physical memory by using some of your hard drive as virtual memory.

if you right click on My Computer and go to properties, then click on Advanced, and Settings under Performanc a Performance Options window should appear.

On there, click on Advanced and then have a look at the Virtual Memory setting. Can you post the number of Mb it is showing? If it's only a small number, and you have a fair bit of free HDD space, try going into the Change button and then setting a Custom Size. Something like 1024Mb which is 1GB in real terms. Most default to between 256 and 512MB which isn't very much - especially if you only have a small amount of physical ram

In the virtual memory it says "total paging file size for all drivers : 2345mb"

I have about 103gb free space, total is around 450-500gb.