installed more ram computer still slow?

Question

i have a fairly new dell demension 3000 with windows xp home it came with 256 of ram 40 gb hard drive wireless pentium 4 2.8ghz cd-rw and a 3 year warranty. my comp was kinda slow so i bought a kingston 512 module and installed it my computer reconizes it and says it has 768 but it still runs slower than 512mb would. i have security and virus protection from norton and its not any of that free crap, i pay but i dont have any others (spywere programs ect.) i dont think my comp is running as fast as it should be PLEASE HELP!!!

im pretty sure the two modules are the same speed but i think ill try taking out the 256 and just have the 512 in there and see how it does (by the way if there is only one module doesn't it have to be in the fisrt slot?)

to all you people who say my computer is crapy or bad and i need a new one I KNOW, this computer is just my computer for 1 1/2 years then its my familys after that im getting a fully loaded macbook

Answer 1

2.8 ghz with 768mb RAM should be great with Windows XP.

If your computer is running slow I would check a few things.

1. download Ad-Aware and run it, good program that is free and it really works.

2. If you have many icons next to the clock (in the system tray), those are going to slow down your computer. Right click on the ones you do not need and exit them, or even better go into their options and disable them (if possible). After that if you still have a ton of icons there you can disable them before they even start.

-> Start
-> Run
-> type "MSCONFIG" (no quotes)
-> the last tab is named "startup", click it
-> this is a list of programs that start when your computer starts. Some of these programs are necessary and some are not. If you are unsure, then do a websearch for the name and im sure you will get a description of what it is. If it is unnecessary, then uncheck the box. After you are done you will need to restart your computer.

3. My last thought is that you might have Norton Disk Watch (or similar) program running. This is a program that CONSTANTLY monitors your entire system (RAM, hard drive, virtual memory, running processes...) and is extremely intensive on your system resources and speed. Turn it off. Period. I have never heard of anyone needing this program or benefiting from it (unless they knew they had problems already that they were using this program to address).

Hope this advice helps!

Answer 2

*Cries*... Ok, where do I begin.
First: We need to get your running processes down to a minimum. This is probably most complicated for people not familiar with msconfig. Don't fret though, we'll get you through this, and soon enough you'll be on your way to being geeky.. or not..
#1 Msconfig:
- Click on your start bar and select (Run) from the menu.
- Type "msconfig" (without the quotes) in the small window and click Ok.
- This brings up the System Configuration Utility.
- Click the last tab labeled Startup.
- Click the button labeled "Disable All" (don't worry it's safe)
- Next click the tab labeled "Services"
- Check the little box that reads "Hide all Microsoft services"
- Uncheck all the boxes that are still checked excluding the ones that belong to Norton. (If you can't tell or dont know, uncheck it.)
- Click Ok, but exit without restarting your computer.

Second: You need to get some antispyware programs.
#1 Spybot S&D http://www.download.com/Spybot-Search-Destroy/3000-8022-10122137.html?part=dl-spybot&subj=dl&
#2 Ad-Aware http://www.download.com/3405-8022-5153545.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5
#3 Microsoft Defender http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
These are three of the best anti-spyware programs on the internet! Download at least the top two and use them at least once a week. Microsoft Defender is great, but also runs in the background all the time if you let it. (But we're trying to make your computer better, stronger, faster...) Extra running processes aren't always welcome, but might not bog down your computer too much, so don't cast away a good program just because of that.

Third: Please remove Norton from your computer. I know you think it's the best and that it really saves you from getting viruses, from my experience however, Norton seems to be the cause of 60% of computer problems on computers that have Norton installed. And I'm talking about all Norton products, not just the anti-virus. McAfee isn't the greatest either, but i've never seen McAfee eat up the system resources like Norton does. However, do not like McAfee either. There are better alternatives to anti-virus programs out there; and most of them are actually free!. Keep in mind though that you will only want one anti-virus program on your computer at a time. Look each of the programs over and make your decision based on what you want and need in an anti-virus program.
#1 Avira Free Anti-Virus http://www.free-av.com/
#2 AVG http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/
#3 Avast! http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

After all of this you should:
#1 Have noticed a speed increase!
#2 Have been slightly frustrated at the least or extremely agitated with the computer lingo. You've done well! Go have a drink and relax, knowing that your computer is running well.

I hope this mini-tutorial has helped you and possibly some others that were just reading. If you need a little extra help, feel free to contact me by email [e-mail]

Answer 3

Don't mix the two sticks of memory - leave the 512 stick in and do a test. If slower when combined, double check the speeds and chances are you got memory that was too slow or at least not matched with the original stick.

Alternatively, you might just have a bunch of junk clogging up your machine. Look at the processes that are running - Ctrl+Alt+Esc to get task manager. Check processes tab, sort by CPU and check what's taking up the most time.

From there, if you can't identify the cause, you're probably looking at slow HDD, video card or other system component.

Answer 4

Make sure the pc has a capacity for 768mb. 2.8 ghz is a lot. Your processor may be bad or you have too many programs installed.
I just put 1024mb ram in mine and watched it slow as I installed all of my stuff. It is still faster but not as with no software to operate.
Go to the control panel and click open system information. You will see the info you need for capacity. Scroll tools on top and run Dr. Watson and direct x diagnostic tool. These will create a report to analyze the same way. There would have to an imbalance somewhere in the system.
That is all I know.

Answer 5

Usually if PCs suddenly get slow, it may be due to a couple of reasons....

1) Processor too slow
2) Not enough RAM
3) Disk drive too full / not defragmented
4) Spyware / Adware issues

The last reason is the most common of all especially if you use your PC to browse the net always.

Try downloading AdAware. Its a free anti-spyware/adware program from Lavasoft. I use it and it really helps. Clean/check your PC at least once a week and you'll be surprised at how many naughty items are hiding and slowing down your PC.

Hope this helps and good luck....

Answer 6

Install another 512 if you can, or drop that original 256. Many PCs don't just need matched memory speed, they need matched memory *size* to work well.

From Dell's service manual (readable online): "DDR memory modules should be installed in pairs of matched memory size. This means that if you purchased your computer with 128 MB of memory installed and you want to add another 128 MB of memory, you should install it in the appropriate connector. If the DDR memory modules are not installed in matched pairs, the computer will continue to operate, but with a slight reduction in performance."

The technical reason for that: when a system has two identical sticks of RAM, it can be designed to either treat them as double-wide memory to fetch data in larger chunks, or as interleaved memory to pick up data from one stick while the opposite stick is prepared for the next read. Speeds up memory fetches the same way striped RAID disks speed up data transfer.

Answer 7

If you are running office applications, you should experience a reasonable fast speed.

However, if you are using it to play games that is demanding, most likely is your graphic card that is the bottleneck.

The memory you brought, is it on the same speed as the 256 MB? cause, let say you brought a memory running on a higher speed/frequency it will be downgrade to lower speed as the 256MB. So maybe you can try just run the PC with the only 512MB, if the speed is higher.

Answer 8

Ram is memory it has nothing to do with speed. Your processor is what makes your comp fast, but your processor isnt bad at all. (p4 2.8ghz is pretty good) what id recommend is deleting all the extra programs you have that you dont need. And installing spyware removal programs (Ad-aware and Spybot, both because 1 picks up stuff the other doesnt) and a program called crap cleaner clean your registry and all the stuff on your comp that you dont need. You can get them on www.download.com.

Answer 9

the speed of the 256 might be slower than the 512 (or vise-versa) the speed of the two must be the same or one is faster than the other to work, the speed will on the black chips on the ram stick it is normally the last number

Answer 10

dell dimention 3000 is the budget line of dell. and its really slow. you did not specify what ram did you buy. is it pc2700 or pc3200. pc3200 is faster than pc2700.some times security and virus protection will make your computer runs slower especially at start up because they are continuesly running in the background. also try defragmenting your hard drive and you can download microsoft bootvis and ccleaner (use google) to clean your computer.It is also advisable if you have your computer for 6 months to reformat it. good luck.