Powerful PC running very slow! Too much memory usage?

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YoungThug

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Jan 1, 2016
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18,510
Hey guys, recently i bought a nice gaming pc from my friend with some impressive specs. However, it runs extremely slow in literally every task. Opening chrome, opening the start menu, clicking on files, you name it, it does everything at such a SLOW rate its driving me nuts! Here are the specs and you will see why this is strange.
MB: ASRock 870 Extreme3 (w/ Crossfire X if that makes a difference)
GPU: Raddeon HD 7770
CPU: AMD Phenom II(tm) X4 840
4.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 573 MHz (8-8-8-20)
931 Gb Western Digital WDC ATA Device (SATA)
These are not bad specs whatsoever.
My first problem and only thing that i can think of why the computer would be running so slowly is the amount of memory being used. While having no applications open, not even chrome, Memory usage is almost always above 50% which seems high. i always have less than half of my memory available to use. I dont know what is wrong with this computer but it is driving me crazy and now i am looking to upgrade the processor and graphics card because maybe those will help? And maybe even motherboard? Thanks guys

 
Solution
laviniuc
buy a new rig, use what you can from the old, harddrive(s), optical drives,, maybe the ram, but it'd be a shame to use a brand new cpu with 4gb old ram. (assuming it's 1.5v and it does run on skylake)

the case you could reuse also. the psu depending on how old and what model it is.

but in your shoes i'd do the following:
-pick some ram 2x4 gb that i know i can use on a new system too (there are some skylake boards that do run on ddr3)
-i'd get an ssd drive too - again, one that i could use on the new rig too.

run with these for a while, see if the system works better. if not, buy also a new cpu/motherboard/psu (maybe case too) and use the ram and ssd/hdd from the above steps on it.
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laviniuc

laviniuc

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Nov 29, 2013
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check your harddrive too (crystal disk info can check easily the smart values), replace your hdd sata cable if you have one around

2gb used by windows alone is not unheard off, windows will always try to use as much ram as it has available for caching (unlike disks, ram can be full and not cause it to run slower). the way it works is windows would never willingly release cached data even if not used unless there's another app requiring ram than available. and it's ok to work like this instead of trying to predict in advance which sections of the cached data to preemtively clean up. (by doing it advance it's just an extra delete from ram which it needs to do eventually anyway, it still can't know in advance what you'd need cached instead)

depending on how much money you can spend:
-a ssd is almost always a very cheap way to pour a bit more life on an old system - and you can take it with you to your next build. -
-8gb ram wouldn't hurt for an upgrade either
-you can get a bit better cpu (phenom 2 9xx/10xx series but won't make a lot of difference)
-after these you're looking at whole system changes: mobo+cpu+ram
 
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YoungThug

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Jan 1, 2016
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i Have looked at the task manager and nothing out of the ordinary shows up. The largest thing ive been running is chrome.
 
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YoungThug

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Jan 1, 2016
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I would be looking to get brand new everything basically. The latest and greatest. Say a GTX 980 and good processor like a 6770 or whatever its called by intel. Would it be worth it to buy these things including whatever else would have to also be purchased? Or would it just be simpler and easier to just buy a new rig all together?

 
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laviniuc

laviniuc

Judicious
Nov 29, 2013
5,505
18
32,415
buy a new rig, use what you can from the old, harddrive(s), optical drives,, maybe the ram, but it'd be a shame to use a brand new cpu with 4gb old ram. (assuming it's 1.5v and it does run on skylake)

the case you could reuse also. the psu depending on how old and what model it is.

but in your shoes i'd do the following:
-pick some ram 2x4 gb that i know i can use on a new system too (there are some skylake boards that do run on ddr3)
-i'd get an ssd drive too - again, one that i could use on the new rig too.

run with these for a while, see if the system works better. if not, buy also a new cpu/motherboard/psu (maybe case too) and use the ram and ssd/hdd from the above steps on it.
 
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Solution
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YoungThug

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2016
4
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18,510


Ok good ideas there. Do you think that my current fans, 4 of them, 2 in front 1 up top and 1 behind would be able to handle the 980 and a much more powerful CPU and motherboard? There would also be the fan on the new heatsink, 980 itself too but not counting those would that work?
Average CPU temp is 16 degrees, GPU 27 degrees, and mobo 25 degrees.

 
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pewpew135

pewpew135

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Dec 20, 2015
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Does your PC have virus? Scan for some. Some situations involve virus that manipulate your system (ofc), which only 256MB of RAM can be used. My old PC has been a victim. I reformatted my PC and it solved my problem.
 
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