New motherboard or just increase ram ?

[LJA]

Hi this is my first post . I have an Asus motherboard P5VDC-MX I have 2 gig of ram in it already DD1 1 beleive and a pentium 4 chip . I have noticed the puter runs a bit slow at times and I do have quite a few games installed , like Halo , Half life , Wolfenstien ect .Now Would I benifit from installing a new motherboard or could I just install more ram .Here are my ram memorey specs

 

 

2 x 240-pin DIMM sockets support max. 2GB DDR2

533/400 non-ECC, unbuffered memory.

2 x 184-pin DIMM sockets support max. 2GB DDR 400/

333/266 non-ECC, unbuffered memory

(NoteDDR and DDR2 memory can not be used

simulltaneously)

 

The DDr2 sockets are empty so could I buy 2 2gig sticks and pop them in and solve the speed problem ?

 

My graphics card is an Nvida , not sure of the model but it does the job .

 

Thanks

 

LJA

 

[BeeCeeBee]

Anything more than 3 Gigs of RAM on XP home is wasted. If your bios can handle the 4 gigs it will recognize it but windows will not (I have heard some instances where XP will "see" as much as 3.5.) I believe that if you are going to add Ram to the DDR2 slots you will need to remove the others. You are right that they cannot be used together but I also believe that windows will only recognize the lower spec RAM. But I am not a hardware expert.)

 

Personally I would look to other causes for the slowdown before assuming that increased RAM will be the solution although RAM is not all that expensive so it may be worth a try.

[KenB]

Just to add to BeeCeeBee's comment:

2GB RAM should be more than enough for XP.

 

I agree that you should look for the cause.

 

Run MBAM from here:

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware: Malwarebytes

Download the free version. Install > Update and run it.

 

Let us know the results.

 

How much free hard disk space do you have?

What size hard disk?

Start > My Computer ....right click C:\ > Properties

[LJA]

Will do My HD is an 80gig and its used 28.8 so far I'll get back to you when the Malaware test is finished

[LJA]

Ok Here is the log

 

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware 1.46

Malwarebytes

Database version: 5067

Windows 5.1.2600 Service Pack 3

Internet Explorer 8.0.6001.18702

11/7/2010 1:43:27 PM

mbam-log-2010-11-07 (13-43-27).txt

Scan type: Full scan (C:\|D:\|)

Objects scanned: 321642

Time elapsed: 5 hour(s), 16 minute(s), 18 second(s)

Memory Processes Infected: 0

Memory Modules Infected: 0

Registry Keys Infected: 0

Registry Values Infected: 0

Registry Data Items Infected: 0

Folders Infected: 0

Files Infected: 4

Memory Processes Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Memory Modules Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Registry Keys Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Registry Values Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Registry Data Items Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Folders Infected:

(No malicious items detected)

Files Infected:

D:\Documents and Settings\LJA\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\9I7MES0S\IWONGlobal[1].exe (Adware.Iwon) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

D:\Documents and Settings\LJA\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\F40P7N6T\MyFunCards[1].exe (PUP.FunWebProducts) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

D:\Program Files\FunWebProducts\Installr\2.bin\F3EZSETP.DLL (PUP.FunWebProducts) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

D:\System Volume Information\_restore{61C32107-58E9-474E-B596-7478C1B112E1}\RP14\A0005233.DLL (PUP.FunWebProducts) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

[LJA]

I have 2 HDs 1 is the 80 gig one which is the main HD local disc C and the other is a western Digital 500 gig Local disc D it has 50.6 gig used on it mainly games and music .HD C is the main one as mymotherboard does not recocnize the 500gig one

[KenB]

Hi,

 

I think the non-recognition of your 2nd drive is a different issue.

 

MBAM found 4 infected files on D:\

 

I will ask Starbuck to take a look to see if it is worthwhile investigating this further.

[LJA]

Aye Thanks That would be great .

[Starbuck]

Hi LJA,

 

The 4 files removed are nothing serious.

It doesn't look to be a malware related problem on the surface.

How long have you had the system?

When was the last time you gave the hard drive a good clear out?

 

I have 2 HDs 1 is the 80 gig one which is the main HD local disc C and the other is a western Digital 500 gig Local disc D it has 50.6 gig used on it mainly games and music .

So is the 500G hard drive just used for storage?

 

Let's do that now and see if things improve afterwards.

 

Step 1

 

Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
  
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
  
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
  
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

 

Step 2

Download Puran Disc Defragmenter

Save it to your 'Desktop'.

Run the program.

From the main 'Puran Defrag' screen, click on the 'C' drive to highlight it.

Then click on 'Defrag'.

 

This program is faster than the built in Windows Defrag and is more efficient.

Try not to use the m/c while the defrag is running.

 

See if the system runs any faster afterwards.

[LJA]

WowThe Puter is back to normal Thanks heaps . The 500 gig HD is as you guessed a storage HD . The System I built meself about 4 1/2 years ago . Putting them together is easy working out what to do when they stuff up is another thing alltogether .

Anyway thanks again it's running at full speed now

[Starbuck]

WowThe Puter is back to normal Thanks heaps

Thanks for letting us know. http://fc07.deviantart.com/images3/i/2004/146/9/1/Two_thumbs_up.gif

I run TFC on my machines about twice a week.

This helps to stop the rubbish building up.

 

Safe surfing. http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/033/b/3/Computer_addict__by_Sinister_Starfeesh.gif

[RandyL]

Cool. Interesting thread. Thanks for the read.

[KenB]

Good to hear your machine is performing normally - put this down to a group effort :)