speed of computer?

Question

my computer is 5 years old.A gateway computer with windows xp with a intel celeron speed of 1195 mhz and 18.65 GB and 384 memory(MB) and it also has a total virtual memory of 2.00 GB. I`m confused ,what is the difference between the 18.65GB and the total virtual memory of 2.00GB. my computer runs very slow when I go to certain websites with a lot of graphic and video images and I wanted to know if 18.65GB is too slow because I read that you should have at least 80GB.

Answer 1

Agree with sasha above. Bump up your memory to 1 Gig.

However.....

You may have to get 1 Gig of memory (the existing memory may not be useful) in that you probably have 2 slots for memory. You would need 2 512M modules to get 1 G. You probably have 1 256M and 1 128M right now.
Perhaps the cheapest solution would be to buy 1 512M module, and reuse your 256M which would bring you to 768M. That would be good enough for a short while until you need to upgrade anyway.

You really need another Hard Drive too. You could get a cheap 100G or so that could tide you over.

Then again, Instead of spending the 150 or so (100G drive and 512M memory), buy a new computer for 300, and reuse your existing monitor to save $$

Answer 2

THIS IS LONG
I'm lost on this one.
IF, I am understanding correct; Your processor is probably OK. It slow (1195 MHz) compared to today's @ 2400 Mhz but it fast enough to do what it need. Normally we speak of these in GHz, so yours is 1.2 GHz compared to 2.4 GHz.
Virtual Memory is part of your Hard Drive. When you not have enough regular memory (RAM) then the computer uses the Virtual memory by writting and reading to the Hard Drive. THIS is when a computer runs slow.
I am guessing the 384 memory is your RAM in megabytes. This would seem true for the age. It may only upgrade to 512 MB of memory (RAM). If, you have a Best Buy or similar computer store you can give them the name and model of your computer and they tell you how much Memory your computer take to max out. OR ask on Answer. People need to know the Name (Gateway) and "Model Number" (G3600, GX4000 etc) the numbers are on a little tag on back if it a Tower and Bottom if it a Laptop.
The 18.65 GB lost me, I assume this the Hard Drive and that may be the number of what you have not used. From the age it should be 40 or 80 GB maybe even 160 GB but that being lucky.
You should have an Icon on the Screen that say "My Computer" Double click it and it the box click "Local Disk (C:)" one time to highlight it. When you click one time you should see a Pie to the left and it will tell you more about your Hard Drive;
Capacity; xxxGB (This the Total size)
Used; xxxGB (This what programs use)
Free; xxxGB (This what left to use and may be 18.65)
When you have you Web Browser open like your Surfing the Net. Up top click Tools > Internet Options > Delete Files + Delete Cookies if a box open asking to Delete off-line content check it and click OK. This help clear out the garbage.
Find out on here what RAM you need and if you can buy some more.
One great thing you can do and it may take time, is Defrag the Hard Drive. Turn off your Screen Saver. Bottom left click; Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Disk Defragmentor
You can click Disk Cleanup and it clean the Garbage we mentioned above and then runs Disk Defragmentor.

Answer 3

5 year old PC is old and slow by today's standards. You have 384Mb of physical RAM. The virtual memory is the disk space your computer uses to supplement the physical RAM when its running - however this virtual ram is slow to access as the computer has to read and write stuff to the physical disk and it is very slow. You also have a hard disk with 18.65 GB (i.e., a 20GB Hard Disk) and this is where you have your program and files and where the computer steals its 2Gb virtual memory from. I would not think about trying to upgrade this systems it would be a better use of your cash to get a new system. Even the cheapest Dell PC will be miles faster that this 5 year old gateway system. Hope this helps, good luck.

Answer 4

18.65 GB is the size of your hard drive. It is STORAGE not MEMORY. It is the total amount of space you have to store data, files, documents as well as your operating system. It does not effect computer performance generally.

384 MB is the amount of physical random access memory (RAM) that you have. 384 MB RAM is quite small to run XP and today's memory intensive applications. Lack of physical RAM will indeed slow your computer down.

2.0 GB virtual memory is space allocated on your hard drive that is used when your 384 MB of RAM gets low. A hard drive is much slower to respond than RAM, so running your 384 MB of RAM low will definitely slow your computer down!

At the very minimum, you should add another 256 MB stick of RAM, bringing your total RAM to 640 MB. Adding another stick of 512 MB (896 MB total) would give even more speed increases. Of course your motherboard must be able to support the additional RAM as well as have an empty slot to plug it in. Not all older motherboards will.

You can use the free Crucial Memory Advisor™ Tool. It could help you.
http://www.crucial.com/

Good luck!

Answer 5

I think you are confusing memory with storage

18.65 GB is the size of your hard drive, how much space you have available on your drive determines how much data (files, programs, etc) you are able to store on your computer. If a disk becomes full it can cause your system to run more slowly, but the bottleneck is typically your processor and your RAM (memory)

The 2 GB of virtual memory (or pagefile) is space reserved on your hard drive that functions as memory. Basically, when your system runs out of physical memory, it reverts to virtual memory to pick up the slack, this is an imperfect solution however because virtual memory is not nearly as fast or efficient as physical memory.

The 384 MB is your actual physical memory, and the fact that your pagefile (virtual memory) is so large, suggests that you do not have enough. Windows by default, creates a larger pagefile according to it's needs, typically it is 1.5 x your physical memory. Since 2 GB far exceeds this, it's a sign that your system is a little hungry for memory. In my experience, WinXP performs best with 512 MB - 1024 MB (1 GB)

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,18024-page,1/article.html

Answer 6

Your computer is fine for normal usage and if you are browsing some high end sites just dont think of it as your
computer is not able to process that feed . You certainley have a Physical memory of 384 Mb and a Harddisk of 20 GB in which you have assgned 2000 Mb as your vitual memory for improvment of speed . But it dosent work out very well . I suggest you upgrade your PC for a decent budget of around 400 $ . GO for a Ati Radeon X1650 512MB GPU and ASUS V8NM CSM and Intel DUAL CORE 2.8 GHZ . Have nice geek time .

Answer 7

the 384 MB or megabites of memory are physical "sticks" on the motherboard the virtual memory is a space on the hard drive dedicated for when you use more than 2 gigs at a time this is not an actual tangible thing your hard drive is what they are referring to when they say at least 80 gigs this is how much "storage" you will have.

there are 1024 MB in 1 GB if that helps

Answer 8

If you don't do a lot of graphics or play big games just get more memory for your computer and make sure to defragment youre hard disk regularly and it should be good enough.People always assume that we should all have the latest computer but I don't agree.

Answer 9

if u want to increase your speed of ur computer, then purchase 256 or 512mb of ram. 512 mb is a nice option, but it is costly. actually ur processor's speed is very less it should be in ghz ie gigahertz . my opinion is to sell this computer and puchase a new one because upgrading ur computer with good requirements can cost u above18 thousand. so selling old one is the better potion.

Answer 10

You have 384MB of RAM, virtual memory is on your hard drive. You should look into getting more RAM, you should have at least 1GB.