Is my computer acting slow because it needs ram memory?

Question

Is this enough memory for a computer to run all these hard drives?
It's running three hard drives
200 GB
20 GB As the main one for running windows XP
20GB
512 MB Ram Memory..
CPU: AMD Athlon XP 3200 + 2.1 GHz

Ever since I put my computer like this, it's slower....So I was wondering if I had to change the ram memory for at least 1GB? or is it something else?

Answer 1

Adding more hard drives to your system will not slow down your system performance unless you have your page file on a slow hard drive.

If this is the case, adding more ram will boost performance, but you can also change your page file to another drive. The source link explains more information on how to configure your page file.

You should also know older hard drives tend to run slower than faster hard drives, and if you have changed the drive which Windows runs on, that can definitely alter performance.

Hope this helps,
Ken

Answer 2

There are many things that can slow down your PC but adding ram always help. You probably need to add about 512 Mb of Ram. You also should have your main drive on a separate channel and connect the other 2 drives to a different channel. Move your Swapfile to one of the 2 drives that don't have Window. Disable all unecessary apps running in backgrounds will also help. Disable some of the Win XP visual effects that you don't need like Show shadow under mouse pointer, Animated window when maximizing or minimizing, Fade or slide menus....etc.......

Answer 3

Do you need more memory, yes. 2GB is the current standard, but this has nothing to do with the drives you added. You can decrease the load time on your computer by adding more memory as the computer relies less on virtual memory which allocated part of the hard-drive for memory swapping. But this only depends on the information the computer is loading. The more you have on your computer the longer it is going to take to process. now if you replaced the os drive,a 200gb 7200 rmp 16mb cache with a 20gb 5400 8mb cashe youre going to see a real drop in performance. If you get a loss performance when you added the drives it's not because you dont have enough memory, Its because the drives are slower and thus creating a bottleneck on your system.

Answer 4

It may not be "happy" with the arrangement that it has to go thru to check the drives.

But do this first. Run Ad-aware and see if you got adware on your machine. Then run AVG7.5 for other crap. See if that helps.
Sure running more Ram is faster but I got 256mb on a 6 GB hd and it is not bad. The junk slows it down and how many applications you have running at the same time also slows it down. You can check this by ctrl/alt/del one time and wait. A list will appear of everything that is "on" All you do need is the antivirus and the system. All the rest can be ended

Answer 5

now when you got your computer in the beginning it was fast "yes"

so the question your asking is No

move your boot system from the 4200 rpm 20 gig slow hard drive to the more fast 7200 rpm 200 gig
or
clean out all the unwanted junk you have loaded on to it
kill all the programs running in the background,
clear the internet history
clear the cookies
start a disk clean up
then defrag the hard drive C:

Answer 6

Adding ram should help, but it might not be the reason check all drive to see if any of them has bad tracks, that will slow the computer allot.

Answer 7

Hey there,
If you want to clean your pc and make it faster and more secure use Ccleaner. It's free and ot works like a charm. Download it from here http://j.mp/1sW26Qh
It's amazing.
Bye Bye

Answer 8

it could use more ram for sure, i always double my ram as soon as i get a new PC, cuz you can always use a little extra

also all those little icons by your clock,,, the more of them that are there, the slower you will run, exit all unnecessary programs running, will also help.

Answer 9

You could use another 512MB and consider overclocking a bit or upgrading your CPU if you can afford it.
I don't think adding more HDD's is causing it to slow down.

Answer 10

Ram will definently help but if your processor is old that may need updating too and that isnt always easy