Where's the bottleneck?

koishkim · Jul 18, 2016

Hi there,

I have the following build:

Athlon X2 4400+
6GB DDR2-6400
GeForce 8500 GT 256MB
160GB SATA2 HDD (16MB cache)
22" 1680x1050

I installed Ubuntu 14.02 LTS on it to use the system for web browsing and word processing, only to find out it lags quite a bit even for light web browsing. Yes, I do open up and maintain ~ 10 tabs on Chrome, each of which loading up some videos and images. But I thought it would be more than enough for lag-free web browsing. Where do you think is the bottleneck?

At first, I thought it was the GPU, but after I installed a program that monitors CPU usage and stuff, it seems the CPU is on full load in almost every moment when I do web browsing. (By web browsing I mean, I try open up a couple web communities at the same time, constantly popping up new pages and closing them. So the average # of pages that load new stuff is around 5~6.)

So... Is it the CPU? Is Athlon X2 4400+ that old? In a local market (a university where I go to), there's Intel G550 and H61 MB available, and it's only 30$. I'd have to buy RAM separately, maybe 4G, but in sum it shouldn't exceed 50$. You think this one will definitely provide me better experience?

Thanks.

Baumy15 · Jul 18, 2016

koishkim :

Hi there,

I have the following build:

Athlon X2 4400+
6GB DDR2-6400
GeForce 8500 GT 256MB
160GB SATA2 HDD (16MB cache)
22" 1680x1050

I installed Ubuntu 14.02 LTS on it to use the system for web browsing and word processing, only to find out it lags quite a bit even for light web browsing. Yes, I do open up and maintain ~ 10 tabs on Chrome, each of which loading up some videos and images. But I thought it would be more than enough for lag-free web browsing. Where do you think is the bottleneck?

At first, I thought it was the GPU, but after I installed a program that monitors CPU usage and stuff, it seems the CPU is on full load in almost every moment when I do web browsing. (By web browsing I mean, I try open up a couple web communities at the same time, constantly popping up new pages and closing them. So the average # of pages that load new stuff is around 5~6.)

So... Is it the CPU? Is Athlon X2 4400+ that old? In a local market (a university where I go to), there's Intel G550 and H61 MB available, and it's only 30$. I'd have to buy RAM separately, maybe 4G, but in sum it shouldn't exceed 50$. You think this one will definitely provide me better experience?

Thanks.

the cpu is the issue, chrome probably doesnt help it has been known to eat up CPU time and RAM

koishkim · Jul 18, 2016

Baumy15 :

koishkim :

the cpu is the issue, chrome probably doesnt help it has been known to eat up CPU time and RAM

Then maybe it's time that I buy a better CPU. What about the G550 idea? Mind if you give me your 2 cents?

Baumy15 · Jul 18, 2016

koishkim :

Baumy15 :

Then maybe it's time that I buy a better CPU. What about the G550 idea? Mind if you give me your 2 cents?

depending on the motherboard chipset you should be able to get yourself an AMD Phenom 9950 (highest tier) it will be a fair bit quicker then the athlon you have now

koishkim · Jul 18, 2016

Baumy15 :

koishkim :

depending on the motherboard chipset you should be able to get yourself an AMD Phenom 9950 (highest tier) it will be a fair bit quicker then the athlon you have now

My mobo is GA-M56S-S3, and it seems it supports AM2+ although it doesn't support to its fullest. Problem is, I live outside the US, and it's quite hard to get the AMD CPU you mentioned. Thanks for your reply, though. I will certainly look for ways to swap the CPU with a better performing one.

Baumy15 · Jul 18, 2016

koishkim :

Baumy15 :

My mobo is GA-M56S-S3, and it seems it supports AM2+ although it doesn't support to its fullest. Problem is, I live outside the US, and it's quite hard to get the AMD CPU you mentioned. Thanks for your reply, though. I will certainly look for ways to swap the CPU with a better performing one.

Im the same as you, outside the U.S. The iten rather isnt avaliable or is available but cost an arm and a leg. Id recommend looking on ebay or other local buy/sell sites, you may be suprised as to what you will find

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