Weird lag in seemingly ALL applications.

Ah thanks again guys, and thanks a LOT for the guide, really helpful. I'll go apply the settings and report back.

hi fletch

1 long beep followed by 3 short beeps is normally a graphics card problem whereas 1 short beep followed by 3 long beeps is normally a memory problem. Listen carefully and make sure you know which 1 it is.

If its the memory then you can just lower speed back to 666mhz and keep the voltages and timings as they are and see if that helps. When working in the bios there is a lot of trial and error until you find the sweet spot for your system.

If its the graphics card then as its nvidia someone else will need to help you as i always use ATI, so im unsure of what to do on nvidia but basically you want to lower your graphics card speed and see if that helps.

Also make sure you are using the most recent drivers for your graphics card - http://www.nvidia.co.uk/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-uk

Hey again,

I was under the impression that 1 long and 3 short indicated a memory problem? I'm not sure what BIOS I have (I think its AMI BIOS, ill check soonish) but according to this page; Computer Post / Beep codes - it says '1 long, 3 short - Conventional/Extended memory failure'.

But yea, its definately 1 long, 3 short.

I'm not sure which is correct, I just really hope it isnt my graphics card. As I cant really afford to replace it. I'm currently using the most up to date drivers available.

Thanks for your continued help btw.

Checked my bios and it is indeed AMIBIOS.

Ok, so I changed the settings on the RAM to 667mhz with the same timings and voltage as before, got the beeps again but this time, when windows began to boot, the PC restarted itself, so I tried again. This time I got a BSOD and the PC would just beep, with no return to the POST screen.

After trying a few times to get it to boot I reset the cmos and tried again, still no luck. So I took out 2 of the RAM modules (just leaving the 4-4-4-12) and it booted up fine, Windows started as normal.

Just out of curiosity I checked to see if I still got the lag in my music while browsing. The scrolling was a little laggy but my music was playing fine, no weird slowdown. So I tried WoW aswell, and while it was still lagging (which to be honest, I can forgive due to Task Manager reporting I'm using 95% of available memory while playing it) my music wasn't lagging at all, and the 'lag' appeared to be 'normal' fps loss, not the weird slowdown issue I was experiencing before.

I think it's safe to say the RAM is the problem, unless you guys think it could be something else? I'm not 100% but I'm pretty sure I'll be purchasing one of the kits I pasted earlier.

Thanks again for your help.

Yeah sorry i typed that the wrong way round. Hope i didn't send you into a panic about your graphics card lol.

Try taking out the cl4 stick and put in the cl5 sticks. This would at least give you 2gb and see if that works well.

You could sell the cl4 stick on ebay and buy another single cl5 stick to match what you have already got if you really need 3gb or more.

Id advise against buying new ram as it would be a waste of money. Those sticks you have linked to are 1066mhz ram and the 5pb motherboard can only go up to 800mhz, so for over £100 you will gain nothing in performance. If there is nothing wrong with the ram you have got then spend that money instead on a better cooling solution for your pc.

You said earlier that your cpu runs hot, use the money for better fans, dust filters etc etc. You could also try raising the fsb to 350 and give it a x7 multiplier which will give you about the same clock speed but with a lower multiplier it should require less voltage to run therefore reducing heat. It would also mean you could run your ram to cpu in a 1:1 ratio giving your ram a speed of 700 mhz which means you could reduce the voltage and the timings there as well so it gives out less heat. But its all trial error and expect a lot of reboots in trying to find whats best for your pc.

W7 wants more ram to itself than XP. approx 1GB
W7 has a lot of services that could be disabled, depending upon your pc needs. Services take ram and cpu cycles, reduce them.
Get new ram, all same specs, same timings, minimum 4GB. Prefered 6GB or more.
Get a bigger PSU, your vid card is volt hungary.
Consider a modest OC of cpu.???????

W7, state of the art operating system. Your system hardware, viable, but 4 years out of date.

You could have a heat issue. You could be maxing out your hardware because of windows 7 higher demands.???

If you have the time id spend it tweaking your system, as you'll end up paying somewhere around £150 on what is a ddr2 system. To me that sounds crazy.

I think you should spend that money on system cooling or keep it for when you upgrade to a ddr3 system.

Windows 7 is like a tweaked version of vista which is about 3.5 years old. So its not a demanding operating system for the specs you have. As you can see in my system specs im eeking out everything my core2duo's got lol. My windows 7 uses 800mb of ram at boot and iv never seen it go above 2 gig. Buying new ram will probably solve the lag issue so its a quick fix but if you have the time to tweak what you already have you will end up with a faster pc, which runs cooler and have spent no money.