Windows 7 slowing down tremendously

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  1. Posts : 17
    Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)
       #1

    Windows 7 slowing down tremendously


    I have this funny situation. Got a new Zotac G41 Value motherboard. Put in 1GB of 667MHz RAM and a Dual Core E2180 processor, 2.0GHz, 800MHz FSB with 1MB cache. Installed Windows 7 Ultimate. Ran fine.

    Then I upgraded to a E7500 processor, 2.93 GHz, 1066MHz FSB with 3MB cache. Still with 1GB of 667MHz RAM. No changes to the operating system in any way.

    What happened was that performance dropped drastically. Programs took ages to open although Windows startup was fine. It took quite long to shut down though and it was like running Windows 7 on a system that's like 5 to 6 years old. Worked but really slowly! Switching between programs was a nightmare too.

    So I got myself a 1 x 2GB piece of 800MHz RAM, took out the 667MHz one and lo behold! Everything was ok. I'm not much of a person for calculations but I've assembled quite a lot of systems over the past 10 years. This is the first time I've come across a situation where a piece of RAM can make such a HUGE difference.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 4,517
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
       #2

    With only 1GB of RAM, it was probably Pageing alot of DATA.

    Meaning, alot more HD activity, hence the slowdowns.
      My Computer


  3. whs
    Posts : 26,210
    Vista, Windows7, Mint Mate, Zorin, Windows 8
       #3

    For Vista and Win7 RAM is the determining factor for performance. When you have the performance problem, have a look in Resource Monitor > Memory tab and see whether you have any/a lot of hard page faults. If yes, that would explain the slowdown ( as Wishmaster said).
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 3,822
    Windows10 Pro - 64Bit vs.10547
       #4

    Wow, going from 1G of 667GHz to 2G of 800GHz must be like getting into a Ferrari..

    - great fun..!!

    you'll see the benefit when you're running several progs at once, as well
    more (-and faster!) RAM is definitely a good move - especially in 64-bit..
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 2,685
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86-64
       #5

    Put in 8GB, I think your G41 board will support it. Why? You'll never worry about RAM again - well not for a year or so.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 519
    Windows 7 Ultimate (64)
       #6

    Frostmourne said:
    Put in 8GB, I think your G41 board will support it. Why? You'll never worry about RAM again - well not for a year or so.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 17
    Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)
    Thread Starter
       #7

    I knew you folks would put the blame on the RAM BUT .......... BUT ............ BUT noticed the first part of my initial post?

    NO problems when I first installed Windows 7 Ultimate on the same system with the E2180 processor doing the duties. Worked fine. Not fantastic but sure beat my two T6400 equipped notebooks, one with 667 and the other with 800MHz RAM. Both had 2GB.

    What I'm suspecting, from a layman's point of view, is that the E7500 with its higher FSB and larger cache was facing a great bottleneck with the 1GB of 667MHz RAM but as also mentioned earlier, this is the first time I've come across such a drastic difference in performance. Usually the differences in adding or subtracting RAM from my systems (refer below) are barely noticeable in the real world.

    ps. My systems are always left bare. At the very very most, I'll only have one antivirus software and Norton Antivirus was already present when the E2180 was acting CPU. No other nonsense starting up with Windows. I check with MSConfig and go into the registry too. Sometimes, I'll even take a look at Processes in Task Manager. I also have the pagefile placed on a different partition from Windows and set to a fixed value as recommended.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 6,618
    W7x64 Pro, SuSe 12.1/** W7 x64 Pro, XP MCE
       #8

    Could it be that when you intially upgraded the processor, that you dislodged or damaged a stick of RAM? Did you run Memtest86 on the old ram before replacing it?
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 17
    Windows 7 Ultimate (64bit)
    Thread Starter
       #9

    seekermeister said:
    Could it be that when you intially upgraded the processor, that you dislodged or damaged a stick of RAM? Did you run Memtest86 on the old ram before replacing it?
    Don't think so. That piece of 667 MHz RAM was removed and inserted a few times when I tried other RAM. No problems starting up and running. It's now in another PC and working fine.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,161
    Windows 8.1 PRO
       #10

    Compatibility issue with the RAM and Processor.
      My Computer


 
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