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Resolved Question

12G of RAM on old CPU with low performance. Suggestions?

Jan 20, 2015 4:18PM PST

I'm runnning Win 7 Pro 64bit on an ADM A6 -5400K with Radeon HD 3.6G and got 12G of installed RAM. I also got a 60G SSD where all OS files are installed and got a second drive where all applications are being installed. I recently added an upgrade to my RAM and increased it to 12G (was 6) however i have not seen much increase in performance. To be more precise i often notice in task manager the CPU graph to limit up while memory remains under 50% (~4G of use). I had disabled pagefile but with not much success and now re-enabled it. Is there any suggestion from you in order to take advantage more of my new memory or i should definately replace my CPU?
PS Its my work PC, mainly run Office Apps, no games

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georgepal13 has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

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Re: RAM
Jan 20, 2015 5:16PM PST

If the programs you're don't even use 6 GB, effectively you have just added 6 GB of unused RAM. That's great. It proves that you (like most people) don't need more than 8 for your job mix. In fact, I doubt if going back to 4 would have a noticeable effect.

Replacing the CPU (if that's possible with your motherboard) is a better idea. But quite often you also need a new motherboard and new RAM for that new CPU and, well, that amounts to a practically new PC. But you can keep your SSD and HD.

Kees

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Answer
You can hit CPUBOSS to compare CPUs.
Jan 21, 2015 12:28AM PST

This is not a high end CPU (or rather APU). Try to stick at or above the AMD A8 to get close to the Intel i3 performance. I don't see anything wrong with an A6 being sluggish. You can kick it a little with a SSD.
Bob

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you wasted some money
Jan 21, 2015 4:10AM PST
I recently added an upgrade to my RAM and increased it to 12G (was 6) however i have not seen much increase in performance.

You should have turned off pagefile.sys, then opened every program you normally use together in the workday, and THEN checked to see how much RAM was used. You would rarely need more than what that showed.

For instance, on this day I was running Linux Mint 17 as my host system, with Firefox, Terminal and Thunderbird programs active, I had Oracle's Virtual Box program running and inside it on a virtual drive I was running Windows 10. I had around 128 or 256 MB shared RAM to the video chip. I'd shared 2 GB RAM to the windows 10. In spite of that I never reached my 4 GB of RAM, more like 3GB used, as seen in the terminal program using "inxi" command.
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Ram
Jan 21, 2015 6:25AM PST

It looks like 8GB should be plenty for your needs.
If I was setting that up I would install a 2x4GB kit @ 1866.
Think max ram speed.
Think dual channel.

After that I don't think you can do more with the ram.

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Something you can try
Jan 21, 2015 7:39PM PST

My best experiences have been with perfectly matching RAM in pairs plugged into paired sockets. RAM comes in size increments that double...2, 4, 8, 16, etc. Mixing sizes may cause problems. You may find that a matching pair of 4 gig modules work better than 12 gigs of mixed size RAM. If you have such a matching pair, remove the other modules and see if there's a noticeable difference one way or the other.