RAM question

[matt819]

I have a 3-year old Dell Precision T1700 desktop with 8 gb memory. I try to keep it clean and updated, but it's still slow sometimes. Maybe it's memory, maybe it's age, maybe it's just computers (my first, btw, was an IBM PC AT in 1983).

Is it worth the $50 to add 8 gb ram?

Thanks.

[Egnever]

1. Nope

Best speed upgrade you can do is swap out the old hard drive for an SSD

[matt819]

2. Why is that? (nt)

[GeorgeGist]

3. They are extremely fast ...

compared to disk drives.

[Egnever]

6. 8 gigs is plenty of memory

I would be amazed if you ever even come close to using it.

Like taking a 24 ounce cup of coffee and making it a gallon of coffee so you can drink it faster when 24 oz was already more than enough coffee.

[Eko]

4. It depends on what it is being slow at.

Videos, games, loading software, content creation?

[ManiacJoe]

8. This.

You cannot fix it until you have diagnosed the problem.

[Eko]

9. Yup.

Ive got an intel d945 cpu from 2006. Throughout the years I have been upgrading parts of the computer, its just in the last 6 months that it has gotten that the processor and MB cant keep up and I need to replace them. Have to say that it is a workhorse cpu that it has lasted this long even doing audio recording, processing, games, and just normal use.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. I *assume* you're using Windows (you didn't say) ? which version ?

Whichever version you're using, somewhere you should be able to find an accessory called "Performance Monitor" (or maybe just "Performance&quot . It can give you some clues as to what the bottleneck is, since you can view CPU, RAM, and HD usage in near real-time. Unless you're running really demanding software, it's unlikely that you're using all 8GB of RAM anyway.

That i7 processor sure as heck shouldn't seem "slow". Makes me wonder about how clean your system really is.

[Eko]

7. I believe those came with the

Xeon® E3-1200. Still fairly good processor.

[Sunlei]

10. Windows 7 , here's link to stats on his named PC ... Dell Precision T1700

https://www.cnet.com/products/dell-precision-t1700-core-i7-4770-3-4-ghz-8-gb-1-tb-english-us/specs/


seems to me like it should be fast? perhaps its video 'card' isn't powerful or he has ad-malware or to many programs running. ? not sure.

[Eko]

11. Can be either.

Whether you’re building 2-D or 3-D models or multitasking with demanding applications, the Dell Precision T1700 workstation can power through intensive tasks easily:

Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v3 processors or 4th Generation Intel® Core™ processors enable fast and stable processing.
Powerful graphics options include AMD FirePro or NVIDIA® Quadro professional-grade discrete graphics or integrated Intel® graphics.
Dell Precision Performance Optimizer helps your professional software run at its peak performance
automatically.
http://www.dell.com/learn/us/en/04/shared-content~data-sheets~en/documents~dell-precision-t1700-spec-sheet-tab.pdf

Should be plenty fast for most things, depends on what they are doing and countless other things. Till we know more we cant really help out much.

[BadgerKid]

12. Try reducing "eye candy"

of your desktop window theme and behavior.One doesn't need settings on for items like "show contents when moving windows".