Computer actually slower?

[mkent667]

Hey all, found these forums trying to troubleshoot my PC problems - I'm already liking it here, heh. Specs posted at bottom of post for easy reading.

Ok, I was wondering if someone here might know what's going with my computer. Rest assured I asked everyone I knew before coming here. I recently upgraded to 3GB of ram (2 516 + 2 1GBs) and to X1950 Pro video card (from a 6200 GeForce LE) - AGP by the way. The only problem? My computer load times seem to actually be slower; I can also tell a difference alt+tabbing. Even my web browsers and windows XP seem to open slower.

It's weird though because some programs do seem to run faster once they do load, just the loading has gotten slower. Then it gets stranger because certain programs load faster than they used to (MS Word is practically instant now). Whenever I open the Catalyst Control Center my screen goes black for about 2 seconds also, and occasionally it does it once or twice when windows boots up.

Now, I post this here because I *think* the common denominator is my graphics card. I already took out the new memory and put the old back in, that didn't fix anything, so now I have all four sticks in without issue. It would appear that the programs that lag when loading all have a good bit of graphics to load too...

I was thinking maybe my power supply was to blame? I have a 470W right now, which I think should cover everything, but maybe I'm mistaken? Or maybe it's been damaged? Or maybe I'm just stupid and have it set-up wrong.

I see a nice Antec 550W on Newegg.com that's pretty reasonable price-wise, but don't want to buy something unless I know I need it. It also shows my ram running at 200mhz which is odd because I'm pretty sure everything is 400mhz. This may all just be a software or driver issue; I just don't know. Below are all the relevant specs I could think of:

Asus P4C800-E motherboard
Pentium 4 3.4GHZ (socket 478 mPGA)
2GBs PC3200 400mhz DDR ram (two 1GB sticks)
1GB PC3200 400mhz DDR ram (two 512 sticks)
Radeon X1950 Pro (AGP v 3.0 8x slot)
Enermax (EG475p-VE)(24p) ATX12V 470W Noisetaker power supply
3 cooling fans + 3 for Power supply and graphics card
SATA 10,000rpm raid HD
Catalyst Control Center 8.6

If I left out any important information let me know and I'll find it for you. Sorry if this post was longer than it needs to be, just getting frustrated - you don't expect your computer to slow down when you upgrade it, lol. Thanks in advance.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Your power supply should be fine. It could be these things. Heat, check your temps. Make sure youve connected the 6pin power to your gfx card. But it could also be you maybe didnt delete or clean your old drivers out completely. Use driver clean to do that. Follow what it says, and theyll be cleaned. It also could be (Im assuming youre running xp) the xp sp3 update. But more likely, maybe your ram isnt running in dual channel mode any more. Have you tried just using say the 2 gigs of memory first? Check in your bios bootup to see if youre running dual channel. Seems like a memory issue or a driver issue. The other programs shouldnt have a slower load time because of your psu, which is more than enough for that card

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Your memory should be running at 400 and you should have dual channel. Has to be when you added the other 2 sticks, maybe it wasnt compatable memory or using all 4 slots sometimes knocks out dual channel

 

[mkent667]

Thanks for the reply. This is where I'm at.

I'm using CPU-Z and it says "DRAM Frequency 210mhz" and "Channels # Single". Not sure what some of this stuff means, but definitely showing max bandwidth on the ram at 200mhz.

With just the new RAM in, it still shows single channel @ 200mhz.

Here's my real problem now, I have a Compaq GX5000T. I can't change any memory settings in my BIOS.

I DLed Systool, but have no idea what half this stuff means. So, if I were to buy a new motherboard would it allow me to go in and change these settings? The computer beeps twice when loading which means I need to set my CMOS if I'm not mistaken...

I've already set aside 60 bucks for the power supply I was going to buy, if the problem is the RAM and I have to end up buying a motherboard instead so I can control it; I'm willing to do that.

Here's some at NewEgg that I think are compatible

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010200280+1070509907&name=478

What would my options be as far as upgrading the motherboard while maintaining compatibility with everything I already have be? I hate buying things that I don't know I need, so before I push the red button is there anything I can do to try to get my memory working properly first? Appreciate all the help!

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

OK, at your point, being a older agp system, it really wouldnt benefit you to upgrade to a different agp mobo, tho I know your gfx card is. Id check to see if you can get a newer bios for your board. Check the Compaq site. Heres some info on your board http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=30&model=175&modelmenu=1 Google for a newer bios at asus site, but first, reset cmos, that may clear all this up, if not look to asus for a newer or a better bios

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

One other thing. What are the timings on your ram? All four should have the same timings. Even sometimes with the same timings, ram wont work together. Usually with the same timings it will, but on occasion, it wont

 

[mkent667]

Thanks for all your help Jay, but for now I think I'll have to call it quits. I may end up buying a new motherboard for it, but for the most part my programs run fine when they load, they just load slower; and I can probably just live with that for a while.

I can't get any kind of update from Compaq and from what I've read I shouldn't try overwriting it with Asus' BIOS. I found some programs that claim to update your BIOS, but from what I can tell these are all just driver update / registry cleaners that I don't think would update the motherboard BIOS.

I took out the CMOS and put it back in after a few minutes - didn't change anything. I've switched out the memory in a few different ways to no avail. I have the latest driver for my vid card and pretty sure I have the power supply connected to it properly (my power supply doesn't have a 6-pin, so I had to use and adapter that came with the card).

I get one beep when loading my computer now (got rid of the two beeps), and from what I've read that means a ram failure, but I've ran a couple programs that say my memory is fine.

I guess I'm suffering the consequence of not building my own machine. The compatible motherboards I've found would likely fix the problem with the BIOS a memory control, but they're lacking versus what I have now in every other category, so not sure if it'd be worth doing.

Thanks again for you help, it's been appreciated sir. For now I'll just go with it and see what happens.

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

GL and keep asking, maybe someone has your cure, without spending money. At its age, it wouldnt really be good to upgrade along the lines of agp, sckt 478 etc. Id try looking on the memory foums, and ask there, maybe theres someone whos got your answer. Dont give up keep trying. Its cheaper than buying, and yw

 

[mactronix]

Well i think JDJ covered it really.
Just my 2 cents,
I dont think the PSU is an issue it seems to have plenty of Amps on the +12V rail.
You have tried running the old card right ? and it still does the same or does the problem go away ?
2 GB of ram run as a pair (they need to be matched though or it wont work) is plenty for XP on your rig.
If any thing the CPU will slightly Cripple the GPU not the other way around.
As for the Ram running at 200. Well its ddr right so its double data rate so it is running 400 effective but the clocks will read it as 200.
It could be the Graphics card but without trying another one you wont know.
Usually these type of things come down to either driver conflicts or faulty ram.
Personally i would clean out all the drivers properly and just install the display drivers for a start, you can add the control center later if its all ok.
These things need to be worked through methodically and slowly and above all one thing at a time. try one thing if no joy put it back as it was then try another. Pulling and changing multiple hardware and software will just have you going around in circles.
Mactronix

 

[JAYDEEJOHN]

Thing is, hes in single channel mode, Im wondering about the ram, if the timings arent matched

 

[mactronix]

Well i think that must be because the ram isnt matched as far as i know if it isnt there is more than a slight chance that it wont play ball. He says he has no way of setting it so whats he to do ?
I mainly posted to set him straight about the clocks being ok at 200.
Also i just checked the Beep codes and it says memory or parity which is also related, could be the GPU memory for parity though. thats why i asked if he put the old card back in to check.
Mactronix

 

[mkent667]

Uninstalled the Radeon; put the GeForce 6200-LE back in... Things running a little better now. I either got a bad card or for some reason it has some compatibility issues with my machine. I'll call ATI and see what kind of help they may be able to give me and if it is broken maybe I can get a new one; it should all still be covered under warranty/30 day guarantee. Thanks for you help again.