Computer Slowing Down

[Silvertaler]

So I just came back from vacation, had left my computer in a perfect state last time, and now it's acting weird. When I turn it on, it works just fine, I can run any game at up to 120 FPS without trouble and quickly open any program. Then it progressively slows down, games go down to 10 FPS, webpages take considerably longer to load, to the point it freezes and makes me have to restart it. This never happened before, so I have no clue about what's going on.

 

I don't know if this may b e the source of the problem but, last thing I did related to my computer's speed was to add a 2GB RAM chip, don't think the problem may come from there but I'm no pro either.

 

Any ideas about what's going on?

[Sy_Accursed]

Ram works best in pairs so a single chip may be causing issues.

 

BUT given tht ur in France and thus probably having simialr weather to UK atm I'm gonna guess tht a more likely cause atm is plain heat.

Past few days my fan controller has cranked all 5 of my system fans up to 100% for the first time ever and the system is still running in the high 30s Centigrade, so I'm willing to bet any system not designed with cool running in mind (aka msot systems) is gonna be easily idling in the 40s or 50s range which is bound to cause some lag.

[Jernlov]

Don't think 40 or 50 are going to cause lag issues at all. My CPU hits that when playing games and it still performs fine. Also, I know people with Q6600s (hot quads!) where the temperatures are 55-65 degrees with no impact on performance.

 

I would take out that RAM chip because it needs to be balanced to work best (dual/triple channel). See how your performance goes and post here as to whether or not it made a difference.

[Sy_Accursed]

It depends on the hardware really and what temperatures you are measuring. I was talking about case temperatures, as thts wat my fan controller recalls and idle temperatures not active ones.

Once you hit about 40 it does start effecting performance, it depends on how heavily you are using the system, how old it is and what its temperature limits are to how much it will effect it, or if its even noticeable outside a performance test.

 

Running a game at 120 FPS is certainly system heavy so if my cool running system is idling high 30s, a standard system running a high end game in this kind of heat is quite likely to easily be hitting temperature high enough to hit performance. If its not cool running it prob idles mid 40s, so running resource heavy games i wouldn't be surprised if its pushing its way up to the 70s

[Silvertaler]

Don't think 40 or 50 are going to cause lag issues at all. My CPU hits that when playing games and it still performs fine. Also, I know people with Q6600s (hot quads!) where the temperatures are 55-65 degrees with no impact on performance.

 

I would take out that RAM chip because it needs to be balanced to work best (dual/triple channel). See how your performance goes and post here as to whether or not it made a difference.

Mine's running dual actually. One 500MB RAM chip and the newer 2GB one. As for weather, I really don't think it has any impact on it since it says it's at like 35ish degrees.

[Quinton595]

Don't think 40 or 50 are going to cause lag issues at all. My CPU hits that when playing games and it still performs fine. Also, I know people with Q6600s (hot quads!) where the temperatures are 55-65 degrees with no impact on performance.

 

I would take out that RAM chip because it needs to be balanced to work best (dual/triple channel). See how your performance goes and post here as to whether or not it made a difference.

Mine's running dual actually. One 500MB RAM chip and the newer 2GB one. As for weather, I really don't think it has any impact on it since it says it's at like 35ish degrees.

 

 

The Thing with Ram is (as said before) it needs to work in pairs. However, they need to be the SAME ram.

 

Different rams will not only have different memory capacities, but they will also have different internal timing. (they work at different rates)

 

So i recommend purchasing another 2 g ram stick (make sure its the same as before)

 

Also, the ram needs to be compatable with your motherboard for best results.

 

Also, if you're having hot weather, take of the side of the case for best results. Put a fan on it if you really need.

[OldJoe]

^No, the slowest memory stick dictates the speed.

Removing the side when it's hot is bad, the air-flow gets messed up and there's more air to handle.

[Laura]

It has been shown that the benefit of dual-channel memory is offset by the benefit of having more memory.

[Silvertaler]

Tried running the computer with the 500MB ram only, didn't solve it (used to run fine with it alone before, except while I played games).

 

Also, the computer ran fine with both of the chips for over a month actually, possibly even two.

 

I'm pretty sure I have no viruses either.

 

The computer just runs fine for over half an hour and then lags to death. I used to get the same kind of lag before when I had the 500MB Ram chip only, but it was after 10 hours of playing heavy games, the computer would just slow down progressively until the game lagged too much for me to continue playing. Now it's doing the same thing, except it only takes 40 minutes now and I don't even need to run games.

[Quinton595]

Its possible that you're having heating issues.. but the reason it has only picked up in the last month may be because something finally broke/disconnected/fell off/etc.

 

Check to make sure the heatsinks are all attached to.. whatever the're heatsink-ing

 

Check to make sure all the fans are running..

 

Sorry man, cant think of much else :S

[Sbrideau]

A lot of dust in there?

 

Other than that, when the system slows down, you could check the RAM usage (with the task manager), see if there is a memory hole in some program you are running.