assistance with computer setup, please

Alright...I have had my computer since August, 2006. I bought it new, just for SL. Granted, it wasn't the most expensive one out there, and i didn't know at the time about what to look for.

I have argued and fought over this computer with my husband, who thinks that my computer is better than his. However, his runs SL infinitely better than mine. I can barely move in SL, and cannot build. We have gone through theories, of "your cable is stretched from one side of the house to the other, downstairs"...to "you have too much stuff loaded on your computer". When I bought the computer, and loaded the stuff on it for the first time, and again, reformated the computer totally, tried to show him.

Well, now, the latest theory is that i have low FSB. I realize this, and I have no way of increasing it. But is there anyone out there who is willing to talk me through different things to look for on my computer? I feel like I have not done the equivalent of flipping a dipswitch.

when I do control-alt-delete while in SL, i notice my cpu is running at 100%. other computers I have seen do this, lock up and crash. Funny thing, though...they have loaded graphics better, and move faster, until they crash. (the one actually went WAY faster than Ken's.)

I have done low-lag items on SL...doesn't help me move. doesn't help the pause issue.

This is the information the best that I know how to show.

on the outside of the case:
celeron d processor 352
3.20 GHz 533 FSB 512 KB L2 Cache

Video - ATI Radeon Express 200 (PCIE slot)

512 Memory (have added another 256)


From the System Properties:
System:
Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 2

Intel (R) Celeron (r) D CPU 3.20 GHz
3.20 GHz 624 MB of RAM
Physical Address Extension

I have a Radeon 9250 (it shows Radeon 9250 and Radeon 9250 - Secondary under Display Adaptors)

When I do F2 at startup, and look, it shows 256 memory in slot 0, and 512 in slot 1.

Now, one question that comes to mind. When I had 2 512's in it, it read only 880 memory. Now that I have a 512 and a 256, it shows 624. is there not a setting I am doing?

Second, now that I am looking at the "other devices" in Device Manager, the video controller (vga compatible) has a ! over it).

Drivers should be up to date, as I usually d/l straight from the manufacturers website, and I just re-formatted the computer a month ago.

I cannot afford new memory/processor/motherboard, as right now, we are even having a hard time making ends meet, so would like to make the best of what i have ATM.

would appreciate any help anyone can give, even someone who would be willing to sit on skype with me. It has had me tearing my hair out at times...would appreciate any help.

Thanks!
Kittyn

((can find me in world most times as Kittyn Fuhr...just realized i logged in under kittyn petshop, but don't want to run the risk of losing this post by changing accounts))

Ok, first couple things I see are your video cards. ATI is not going to give you the best experience with SL. You really want an Nvidia card. As it is, the ATI cards you have are pretty much as low-end as you can get for SL.

So I would reccomend an Nvidia 6600 at a minimum, 7600 or higher preferably.

It also appears that you have an on-board video card. The on-board video will take some of your RAM away. Often there is a way to shut it off in the BIOS (F2). If you dont' know how to do that, the company that built your computer should be able to help you so you can get some of that RAM back.

The RAM is ok, but really I'd reccomend as much as possible, If you still have that other 512, I'd put it back in. If you can afford more RAM, I'd put as much as possible in your machine, but I'd upgrade your video card first at this point.

Those are the two biggies. For the immediate short-term, you can try the Omega Drivers. They have helped a lot of ATI users with SL. But right now, your video is your weakest link.

More memory would help a lot but you should be able to run SL on that PC..

The problem has been happening since August or it used to work ok then started to behave badly?

Don't worry about the 100% CPU thing - SL will use as much CPU as it can.

Do you have things like Virus Scan or Zone Alarm or anything like that on the PC?

it's been this slow since i go tthe computer. there is no noticable slowdown...not even when i run other programs.

McAfee is running, i don't think i have the others running...will ahve to look.

will check out the omega drivers.

I did have that 512, when i dropped it down to the 256, i didn't notice any change in speed/etc.

but question is, why does it only read a portion of the second RAM? is it because of the onboard?

will look to find out how to disable the onboard...

thanks!

Kittyn

The ram report thingie only reports the memory you are currently using, not what you have if I remember correctly.

I'm gonna give it to you straight.

Celron D processor -- sucky and crippled compared to a regular Intel chip.

ATI 9250 -- utter dog meat (if it is reported as a 9200, it just means it is a 9200 series card) and if it is onboard video it shouldn't be running if you have an ATI X200 in the PCIE slot. That means the onboard video needs to be disabled in the bios. The ATI X200 is slightly better dog meat and that is only because it has it's own video memory.

As was mentioned earlier, more ram the better but you need to make sure you are using the memory recommended for your machine. If you have some available cheap or free, add what ya can but if you have limited funds, save your money and buy an Nvidia 6600GT or 7600 or better video card. That would be your biggest bang for the buck with your business class machine.

Start saving your money a little each month and buy you a real SL computer:

Intel Core Duo 6300 or better or AMD 4400+ X2 or better (AMD is getting cheap and runs SL well)
1 gig ram minimum
SATA3 Hard Drive
Nvidia 7800GT PCIE video card

That will make for a useful computer that you can run SL and Photoshop at the same time and will remain current for several years to come. The one you have now makes a great business machine and web surfer but not an SL machine. You will also find it isn't as expensive as you might think.

question...i thought the ati x200 was the onboard, and the 9250 was the one that i bought. th one that is 256k of video memory. I tried to find where to disable the onboard video card...will continue to look.

downloaded the omegas as suggested, plus atitools...still no real appreciable difference.

guess I am just going to ahve to live with it. eh? *giggles*

thank you so very much for your help...it is much appreciated.

kittyn

FSB shouldnt matter too much , mines like 133mhz and screams in SL

things to look for

NVIDIA, doesnt really matter what series you get, but get a fast one
you can tell by the model number, ie in a 6 series theres the 6200 and a 6600 and a 6800, guess which one is the slow budget card... yep the one with the lowest number

in the upper end models theres usually a "GT" option when it comes to this something like a 6600GT is faster than a 6800 but slower than a 6800 GT. with regards to ram i dont really feel that its a major deal most modern cards run with 256-512 mb of ram ... i run with 128 mb of ram with zero issues, if its a battle between speed and ram go for speed

CPU avoid budget processors, celeron, seperon.. when it comes to brand i choose AMD, the next person will choose INTEL .. it all depends on the model of the cpu, if your really wanting the biggest bang for your buck goto someplace like toms hardware and look at some benchmarks (they are in bar graph format) maby today a AMD X64D2Y78LMNOP will be faster than the equivalent INTEL cpu, but with the next batch of cpus it may change ... they are always 1 uping eachother

RAM get a crapload of it, and get the fastest, i avoid "gaming" ram its usually a nanosecond faster for about 8x the price

CHIPSET if your buying off the shelf you dont have much choice but look for nvidia nforce or VIA, i can take my machines guts slap it on a cheap-o mainboard with a crappy chipset (SIS im looking @ you) and loose half the speed ... alternatively chipsets made by intel or amd are usually the 2nd best in speed if its even noticable

HARD DISK, get a big fast one (SATA 7200 + rpm) it wont really help your SL performance but they are cheap and make your general computer experiance more snappy + if you do any media you will appreciate it

get a soundcard, like a soundblaster or roland .. those onboard soundcards A suck B leech cpu power

try to get a case with LARGE slow moving fans, they are quiet move just as much air and dont blow as much dust in your computer ... heat kills speed, my buddys computer hadnt been cleaned out in too long, after toothbrushing all the heatsinks and cleaning out fans he gained 10 fps instantly

or if thats too much to ask your local techno supermart trainee ...

ibuypower.com

thank you very much, everyone, for your help. Just wish i could do the new computer stuff...that won't be for a while. was just trying to figure out what was wrong with the computer i have, and how to make the best of what i have. *sighs*

have some reference points, for if/when i can afford anything...for now, will keep plodding on...

kittyn

I'd recommend reading some reputable websites for Windows Optimization and trying some of their tips, since you can't change hardware.

Cutting the fat that is loaded everytime you reboot will help you - look for programs that load at startup that you dont need while playing SL. These will be minimized in your system tray to the right. Printer programs, instant messagers, all matter of junk can be running if you dont tell them not to.

Look at the names of the running processes and find out what they are on the internet by searching for them by name. Don't do any thing you don't understand after reading thoroughly.

Another thing to look for is "fast find" "office shortcut bar" from Microsoft Office - dunno if the newer version do it but the older ones used to install those two wastes of time/resources in the startup menu by default.

Make sure you do a restore spot each time you try something different -- so if its not good you can recover from it.

Don't even bother with the 6200. A lot of the 6200s use what is called TurboCache. TurboCache uses the better two-way communication of PCI-Express to use your system ram to supplement it's on-board ram. What this usually means is that a 6200 with TurboCache will only have 64M or less on-board RAM and use 256 or so of your system ram. (Some will be labeled as 256M cards with only fine print to tell you otherwise.)

So really, a 6600 or better 6-series, 7600 or better 7-series, or 8600 or better 8-series should be your list. Don't even consider anything les than the ?600s.

Also... when was the last time you defrag'd the hard drive?

I defrag both before and after using SL, the programme spend a great deal of its time defragging the sl cache. After a defrag, it helps.

When you installed the new memory, did you buy the same memory speed?