Physical Memory/RAM

[Mary Lou]

I have an HP Desktop Pavilion m8150n, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, Windows Vista
Ultimate (32), 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS. I have
upgrade Vista with sp1.

I have been having some problems with my pc hesitating when I'm clicking on
things in a game. I have just recently upgraded my memory from 3 to 4GB,
thinking this would solve my problem. It hasn't. When I go into the Task
Manager, it shows Physical Memory (MB) Total 3581, Cached 2730 and only 56
Free. Is this my problem? I have a long list of processes and services
running and I'm sure I don't need all of this running at the same time. This
could also be causing my problem, but not sure. I have shut down some of
these processes, but I'm not sure which ones I actually need to run the
computer.

This problem is extremely frustrating. I have 211GB free on my hard drive
and the box is checked for Index drive for faster searching. I would be happy
to provide any other information.

Anyone out there have any suggestions/advice for improving the performance
of this pc. I have defrag running on a weekly schedule and I run RegistryFix
and Disk Clean every day. Thank you.

 

[dullpain]

I have been having some problems with my pc hesitating when I'm clicking on

things in a game.

Your video card, a lowly 8400GS, may just not have the power you desire to
run the game at the settings you want.
Try dialing back the video settings and see if that helps.
Otherwise the prices of 8800s have come way down and the new ATI cards are
finally competitive.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:14:00 -0700, Mary Lou <Mary

I have an HP Desktop Pavilion m8150n, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600, Windows Vista
Ultimate (32), 4GB RAM, 640GB hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS. I have
upgrade Vista with sp1.

I have been having some problems with my pc hesitating when I'm clicking on
things in a game. I have just recently upgraded my memory from 3 to 4GB,
thinking this would solve my problem. It hasn't.

Not a surprise.

When I go into the Task
Manager, it shows Physical Memory (MB) Total 3581,

That's normal. All 32-bit versions of Windows (not just XP) have a 4GB
address space. That's the theoretical upper limit beyond which you can
not go.

But you can't use the entire 4GB of address space. Even though you
have a 4GB address space, you can only use *around* 3.1GB of RAM.
That's because some of that space is used by hardware and is not
available to the operating system and applications. The amount you can
use varies, depending on what hardware you have installed, but can
range from as little as 2GB to as much as 3.5GB. It's usually around
3.1GB.

Note that the hardware is using the address *space*, not the actual
RAM itself. The rest of the RAM goes unused because there is no
address space to map it too.

Cached 2730 and only 56
Free.

Also normal. Wanting to minimize the amount of memory Windows uses is
a counterproductive desire. Windows is designed to use all, or most,
of your memory, all the time, and that's good not bad. Free memory is
wasted memory. You paid for it all and shouldn't want to see any of it
wasted.

Windows works hard to find a use for all the memory you have all the
time. For example if your apps don't need some of it, it will use that
part for caching, then give it back when your apps later need it. In
this way Windows keeps all your memory working for you all the time.

Is this my problem?

No.


I have a long list of processes and services
running

How many? Most of us do too. That's normal.

and I'm sure I don't need all of this running at the same time.

Although it's possible that you could do without some of these, in my
experience that's very seldom responsible for performance problems. It
isn't where I would start looking for problems.

Is your problem only with games? Some games? All games? Which ones? I
personally don't play computer games, so I can't be too specific, but
be aware that game performance is often constrained by your video
card's performance. It may be possible that that's your bottleneck.

This
could also be causing my problem, but not sure. I have shut down some of
these processes, but I'm not sure which ones I actually need to run the
computer.

This problem is extremely frustrating. I have 211GB free on my hard drive
and the box is checked for Index drive for faster searching. I would be happy
to provide any other information.

Anyone out there have any suggestions/advice for improving the performance
of this pc. I have defrag running on a weekly schedule

Almost certainly that's way overkill, but it's not causing your
problem.

and I run RegistryFix

Ugh! Registry cleaning programs are *all* snake oil. Cleaning of the
registry isn't needed and is dangerous. Leave the registry alone and
don't use any registry cleaner. Despite what many people think, and
what vendors of registry cleaning software try to convince you of,
having unused registry entries doesn't really hurt you.

The risk of a serious problem caused by a registry cleaner erroneously
removing an entry you need is far greater than any potential benefit
it may have.

I recommend that you discontinue use of this product immediately. If
it hasn't yet caused you a problem, consider yourself lucky.

and Disk Clean every day.

Also overkill.

 

[Mary Lou]

Can you please tell me where to find this info? Thanks.

 

[Mary Lou]

Thank you all for your input. I really appreciate it.

I will discontinue immediately the use of RegistryFix. Didn't know it could
cause problems.

Is the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS the best out there at a reasonable price?

I play a lot of games on Comcast Chill. These are little games, like
mahjong, word games, puzzle games, etc. Shouldn't be having problems with
these kinds of games.

I play GuildWars online and I always have some kind of lag.

Again, I appreciate your suggestions/advice. Thanks.

 

[DL]

The type of problem you mention can be very hard to diagnose.
Your vid card is fine for card type games, I know nothing about GuildWars,
but I would imagine an online game 'maybe' affected by your internet
connection, perhaps their on line help or community, if they have one, might
offer suggestions.
What AntiVirus application do you run?

 

[Mary Lou]

Thank you all for your responses.

I already have SP1 installed.

Looks like I will be looking for a great buy on a video card as soon as I
can save up some $$. For some reason, I never thought it was the video card
as I was under the impression that this was a pretty decent video card even
though I knew it wasn't top of the line, like an 8800.

Thanks again, appreciate it.

 

[Mary Lou]

Antivirus - Kaspersky Internet Security Vers. 7.0.