Ram bottleneck debacle

[letulechuga]

Greetings.

I recently started using three screens 2x dell 2405 FPW and 1x 50" Changhong LCD.

Prior to this I was running the 2x dell's with no problem.

One dell and the Changhong are Running off of the video card (Radeon 4670) via Dvi and HDMI respectively, and the second dell is through the onboard chip.

Since the upgrade the system seems sluggish, so much that I get forced to change the aero scheme in Win 7.

So my question is should I shell out the ~$80 for 4 gigs of DDR2 1066 ram (I have 2GB now) or is something else the problem.

the cpu is AMD 5600+ dualcore socket AM2

As always thank you for the advice AT

 

[mnewsham]

I was running 8GB of DDR2 RAM in my rig in January and it was slowing down pretty bad occasionally, I can't even imagine 2GB...

You should really just do a whole platform upgrade, hell DDR4 comes out soon.

However, for triple monitor you may also wish to upgrade you GPU to a newer version as most of the newer AMD GPUs support triple monitor set ups without using integrated. That would also give you an extra GB of VRAM to help with the extra screen real estate.


But if you wanted to keep what you already have, minimally upgrade the RAM, and look into saving up for a platform upgrade soon.

 

[letulechuga]

It's surprisingly ok, although now that you mention it that is probably where the issue comes in. I noticed Windows is showing 1.87 GB of ram, that is where the onboard gpu comes into play. I will get the two 2 x 2 GB sticks and see what happens for now.

 

[DesiPower]

I doubt that memory will make much of a difference, a new video card might be more helpful. maybe even cost same as the ram..

 

[mnewsham]

I doubt that memory will make much of a difference, a new video card might be more helpful. maybe even cost same as the ram..

since he is using integrated graphics for the 3rd monitor more RAM might help a bit, but I agree he needs more than just RAM to really get it running well.

 

[mfenn]

If you were running right at the edge before, then the system memory that the IGP uses could have very well been the tipping point. And of course the extra monitor naturally makes you want to do more, further increasing RAM usage.

I dunno if I'd spend $80 on DDR2 though. You can pick up 2x2GB on Ebay for ~$25, which seems much more reasonable.

 

[letulechuga]

I'm really leaning towards the ram here because it wouldn't take a graphics card to run say 3-4 separate chrome windows on different screens. In other words desktop applications that I'm using aren't graphically intense. They do however use ram. Good call on the eBay, but I think I'd rather pay double on Amazon.

 

[letulechuga]

Also do you guys think an ssd would make any difference if I at least threw the os on there?

 

[DesiPower]

I'm really leaning towards the ram here because it wouldn't take a graphics card to run say 3-4 separate chrome windows on different screens. In other words desktop applications that I'm using aren't graphically intense. They do however use ram. Good call on the eBay, but I think I'd rather pay double on Amazon.

A graphics card like this with 2GB memory can handle 3 monitors by itself, leaving the PC's resources to do its own thing...

 

[DesiPower]

Also do you guys think an ssd would make any difference if I at least threw the os on there?

Maybe, does you mobo do ahci? For that old system, I would just reinstall OS if its getting slow, wont bother with SSD. However with M500 running at around $70, I would be VERY tempted

 

[mfenn]

Also do you guys think an ssd would make any difference if I at least threw the os on there?

An SSD would make the whole system much snappier, but I would make sure that I had enough RAM first. Swapping onto an SSD is certainly better than swapping onto an HDD, but not swapping at all is the best.

A graphics card like this with 2GB memory can handle 3 monitors by itself, leaving the PC's resources to do its own thing...

But if he's adding more Chrome windows on the new TV, then he'll need more memory anyway. Chrome is famously RAM hungry because of its one process per tab model.

 

[DesiPower]

But if he's adding more Chrome windows on the new TV, then he'll need more memory anyway. Chrome is famously RAM hungry because of its one process per tab model.

I have a Pentium D950 running on 2 GB DDR2 667 memory, with HD6450 and Win XP. I have just one TV connected to it and I am a FF guy, I never felt I am running out of memory, system runs flawlessly with all kind of videos playing through browser

 

[piasabird]

Maybe the real problem is the AMD processor. One thing about running integrated video is if this system is using DDR2 it probably has a processor that has a slower bus speed on the Processor and maybe the motherboard also.

I have never tried to run both IGP and A video card also. Running a game on 3 monitors might be a bit much for that system. I wonder what version of PCIE it has as in 2.0/3.0? It might make a difference for a new video card. Still you could purchase a new video card that supports like 4 monitors, but it is probably best to use 3 monitors of the same model type, otherwise that in itself may cause issues. If the computer didn't run fast enough then maybe just upgrade the Motherboard/DDR3 RAM/CPU.

Another question is whether it is best to run one video card or two.

 

[Drummerdude]

Trying to throw a ssd at this isn't going to help. The system is so old, so to speak, that really, it's like trying to put a turbocharger in a 3 cylinder Geo Metro. Really isn't gonna help. Also, if you're using XP ( saying IF, because I don't know what os you have ), then you'll wanna upgrade. But agreed with everyone else about the ram. 2gb is wayyy too little nowadays. And since you're sharing with the onboard now, A. did you make sure to install the latest and greatest drivers? B. You've now lost a small bit of ram to dedicate to output.

 

[letulechuga]

The OS is win7. And as the audience suggests Ram might the solution, because of the loss of a few hundred megs given to the integrated video @Pisasabird gaming is not really an issue here, and I wouldn't dare to even attempt to run any type of game on triple screens if such a thing is even possible with a video card and integrated graphics. The idea is also to not upgrade for as long as possible.

 

[letulechuga]

Well, I ended getting a whole new setup with an asus am3+ board, fx 6300 vischera a geforce gtx 650 oc and 8 gigs of ram out of which win 7 now sees only 3.12 gigs.. Well at least the artifacting is gone...

 

[DesiPower]

Well, I ended getting a whole new setup with an asus am3+ board, fx 6300 vischera a geforce gtx 650 oc and 8 gigs of ram out of which win 7 now sees only 3.12 gigs.. Well at least the artifacting is gone...

congrats, specs look great!

 

[Cerb]

Well, I ended getting a whole new setup with an asus am3+ board, fx 6300 vischera a geforce gtx 650 oc and 8 gigs of ram out of which win 7 now sees only 3.12 gigs.. Well at least the artifacting is gone...

You need 64-bit Windows to use more. If you don't have software that fails to run in 64-bit (generally old and/or vertical market stuff), you can just install 64-bit and be fine. The same number works for 32-bit or 64-bit.

 

[mfenn]

You need 64-bit Windows to use more. If you don't have software that fails to run in 64-bit (generally old and/or vertical market stuff), you can just install 64-bit and be fine. The same number works for 32-bit or 64-bit.

Cerb is referring to the same license key working in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You can grab 64-bit media completely legitimately from the links in this post.

 

[letulechuga]

Thanks guys.

 

[MongGrel]

Running 12Gb of RAM on this one atm, I'd hate to even think of running less than 6 these days myself.

Used to run 6 and it was fine, I picked up some more when rebuilt it and stuck the X5650 in and put the 6 in the HTPC.

2 does sound really barebones.