Will adding RAM to my system decrease demand on CPU?

Question

I've only got 512 megs of ram. My compy is normally almost painfully slow. When using as a media server, for example, my CPU utilization will normally show somewhere between 90% and 99% utilization. I have a 2 gig processor. Does having such a small amount of RAM place more strain on the CPU, or are the two totally unrelated?

Answer 1

No, it won't decrease the demand on your CPU so much as increase your overall capability.



They aren't entirely unrelated. When you max out your system RAM, the CPU pushes all the extra data it can to the hard drive itself, which reads and writes thousands of times slower than RAM does. This will slow you down considerably.



But if you're using that much of your CPU to play media, you really just need a new CPU as WELL as more RAM.



That said, adding more RAM is always an upgrade. Currently RAM sells for $30 / 2GB, so it's never been cheaper. Get a 2GB stick and have fun!

Answer 2

It's not always just the utilization on the cpu that can slow things down. If you have a virus or spyware or loads of services running in the background that could also cause a slow down. Also if your hard disk if is full.

Ram will always help up to a point. You should really have about 2 Gb these days if you are running XP as all the latest software tends to use up all your ram more than it did a few years ago.

If the hard drive is full or fragmented and the 512 Mb of ram has been used up with loaded modules and services the system will start to use "Virtual memory" from the hard disk which in the above situation will bring your system to a crawl.



Add as much ram as you can, defrag your hard disk and run a full virus scan and then see how she runs.

Good luck.

Answer 3

Possibly. But, it's just as likely that it won't help. You can check the RAM usage in Windows by pressing "Ctrl+alt+delete", which opens up your task manager. Select the performance tab. Look under the box labeled "Physical Memory," then look at the box labeled "Commit Charge." If the total commit charge exceeds the total physical RAM installed, then you need to upgrade.



The CPU utilization could be caused by two things in this case: (1) the applications running on your machine are CPU-intensive and may require a faster CPU or (2) your need for more RAM is causing your CPU to have to access the hard drive while trying to run applications. If your RAM usage is not to full capacity, it may be time for a CPU upgrade.



Of course, before you initiate any hardware upgrades you ought to wipe your system of any viruses, spyware, and malware.