DDR2 Memory

I have a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard which I bought over a year ago to
support the Core2Due (2.4GHz). Back then, I paid quite a bit ($180, I
think) for 2 pieces of Kingston KVR800D2N5, 512MB DDR2-800 memory. It has
latency CL=5. I noticed I can get them now for under $30 a piece, but I
was wondering whether there is a better memory I might choose instead. The
most heavy-duty thing I do is running NetBeans (Java Development). I mostly
run office applications, but I appreciate quick response. I noticed my
systems seems a little slower in recent months...maybe I need to turn off a
bunch of services? There seem to be a lot running. Is doing that mostly
fool-proof? Thank you for comments

-Bill

Bill wrote:
I have a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard which I bought over a year ago to
support the Core2Due (2.4GHz). Back then, I paid quite a bit ($180, I
think) for 2 pieces of Kingston KVR800D2N5, 512MB DDR2-800 memory. It has
latency CL=5. I noticed I can get them now for under $30 a piece, but I
was wondering whether there is a better memory I might choose instead. The
most heavy-duty thing I do is running NetBeans (Java Development). I mostly
run office applications, but I appreciate quick response. I noticed my
systems seems a little slower in recent months...maybe I need to turn off a
bunch of services? There seem to be a lot running. Is doing that mostly
fool-proof? Thank you for comments

-Bill


If you're a software developer, you know more about the software side than
we do. Services are there for a reason, and arbitrarily turning them off
can be a recipe for disaster. (Ask the guy who could no longer log into
Windows, just how clever that is.)

For performance appraisal, you can start with CPUZ.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

That program will show you your clock speeds for things.

To a first order approximation, performance depends on clock_speed times IPC.
IPC is instructions per clock, and is a function of the CPU architecture.
So most of your performance comes from clock_speed (the IPC is fixed by the
cleverness of the processor design).

Intel processors have EIST, or SpeedStep for short. The processor has a high
multiplier, that gives the rated core clock speed. When the OS is idle, and
ACPI is in play, the OS can tell the CPU to run at a slower rate to save power.
If, for any reason, you are stuck in the slow mode of operation, then that
could account for poorer performance.

Memory is a secondary effect. From poorly tuned, to well tuned, maybe you'd
see a 10% improvement. In most cases, you'd have to measure that with a
stopwatch to see it.

One thing you can check, is whether the sticks are installed in the right
sockets or not. On some motherboards, using slot 1 and 2 would run the
memory in single channel mode, while using slot 1 and slot 3 would run in
dual channel mode. CPUZ may have a field on the memory tab, showing what
mode you are in. You can also consult your motherboard manual, or even
use the color keying of the DIMM slots, to get hints about how to do it
right. Generally, the two DIMMs should go in slots of the same color,
if you want them to run dual channel.

Your DDR2-800 CAS5 is pretty well standard speed for that stuff. If
the memory is working well, I'd just leave it as is. I would look
elsewhere for things to adjust. Such as checking whether my disk
was in DMA mode or PIO mode. If in PIO mode, that can suck the life
out of the OS and make it seem slow.

To test the disk, benchmark with this. You would expect to see 60MB as
the starting point on the left of the graph, and 40MB on the right,
at the end of the disk. This benchmark does reads, to check the transfer
rate. (If you get a horizontal flat line in your graph, and a value of
about 4MB/sec, then you're stuck in PIO mode. Fix it.)

http://www.simplisoftware.com/Public...request=HdTach

HTH,
Paul

As has been said;
Turning off services can be 'fool-proof' method of totally screwing your sys
If by Office apps you mean MS Office then addins and AV apps are the most
likely cause of 'slowness'
Another general cause can be using winupdate for drivers

"Bill" wrote in message
. ..
I have a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard which I bought over a year ago to
support the Core2Due (2.4GHz). Back then, I paid quite a bit ($180, I
think) for 2 pieces of Kingston KVR800D2N5, 512MB DDR2-800 memory. It
has latency CL=5. I noticed I can get them now for under $30 a piece,
but I was wondering whether there is a better memory I might choose
instead. The most heavy-duty thing I do is running NetBeans (Java
Development). I mostly run office applications, but I appreciate quick
response. I noticed my systems seems a little slower in recent
months...maybe I need to turn off a bunch of services? There seem to be a
lot running. Is doing that mostly fool-proof? Thank you for comments

-Bill

"Kenw" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 4 Oct 2007 20:20:58 -0400, "Bill"
wrote:

I have a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard which I bought over a year ago to
support the Core2Due (2.4GHz). Back then, I paid quite a bit ($180, I
think) for 2 pieces of Kingston KVR800D2N5, 512MB DDR2-800 memory. It
has
latency CL=5. I noticed I can get them now for under $30 a piece, but I
was wondering whether there is a better memory I might choose instead.
The
most heavy-duty thing I do is running NetBeans (Java Development). I
mostly
run office applications, but I appreciate quick response. I noticed my
systems seems a little slower in recent months...maybe I need to turn off
a
bunch of services? There seem to be a lot running. Is doing that mostly
fool-proof? Thank you for comments

-Bill

If you are going to stop services, better learn how to use the
Recovery Console. Been there DONE that !!
There are some good and accurate sites for services.
Might want to set them to manual rater than disable.


KenW


Thank you for this important bit of advise and to everyone else who has
responded!

-Bill

In article ,
says...
I noticed my
systems seems a little slower in recent months...maybe I need to turn off a
bunch of services? There seem to be a lot running. Is doing that mostly
fool-proof? Thank you for comments

-Bill


Hi Bill, yes, turning off services can make a huge difference. So can de-
fragging your harddrive, making sure no harddrive is fuller than 85% and
running several adware/spyware removal tools and a couple of virus scanners
over your system.

There are several websites, which I cannot refer you to at the moment that give
advice on which windows services to turn off, also with regard to security.
I have found that simply copying and pasting the names of different services
into google will lead to several websites that explain comprehensively what
each service is and does and if you need it or not.

Apart from adware and spyware, one big hog is the "Symantec Security" suite.
Sheer bloatware.

Getting your ram from cas5 to cas4 isn't going to make a lot of difference,
i.m.o. unless you are doing very comples ray tracing or huge compiles or
similar computation super-intensive stuff. If you had stability issues I'd
recommend going to Crucial or Corsair, but you don't need to do that for speed,
I feel.

h.t.h., -Peter

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

"Peter Huebner" wrote in message
t...
In article ,
says...
I noticed my
systems seems a little slower in recent months...maybe I need to turn off
a
bunch of services? There seem to be a lot running. Is doing that mostly
fool-proof? Thank you for comments

-Bill


Hi Bill, yes, turning off services can make a huge difference. So can de-
fragging your harddrive, making sure no harddrive is fuller than 85% and
running several adware/spyware removal tools and a couple of virus
scanners
over your system.

There are several websites, which I cannot refer you to at the moment that
give
advice on which windows services to turn off, also with regard to
security.
I have found that simply copying and pasting the names of different
services
into google will lead to several websites that explain comprehensively
what
each service is and does and if you need it or not.

Apart from adware and spyware, one big hog is the "Symantec Security"
suite.
Sheer bloatware.

Getting your ram from cas5 to cas4 isn't going to make a lot of
difference,
i.m.o. unless you are doing very comples ray tracing or huge compiles or
similar computation super-intensive stuff. If you had stability issues I'd
recommend going to Crucial or Corsair, but you don't need to do that for
speed,
I feel.

h.t.h., -Peter

Thank you for your reply. I've got the Symantec Security Suite. I
defragged my disk this weekend and that made a difference. I used one of
the disk performance benchmark programs someone recommended here, and my HDD
appears to be running about where it should be (never fast enough...). It
takes about a minute and a half for my computer to be ready to use after I
press the start button. I'm not sure how much of that is due to Symantec.
What do you prefer to use rather than Symantec?

-Bill

In article ,
says...

Thank you for your reply. I've got the Symantec Security Suite. I
defragged my disk this weekend and that made a difference. I used one of
the disk performance benchmark programs someone recommended here, and my HDD
appears to be running about where it should be (never fast enough...). It
takes about a minute and a half for my computer to be ready to use after I
press the start button. I'm not sure how much of that is due to Symantec.
What do you prefer to use rather than Symantec?

-Bill


I use the Sygate Personal Firewall Pro - nice, sweet, SLIM, moderately
powerful. Unfortunately Sygate have been bought up and shut down by Symantec (I
have a very good idea why - a better program that doesn't lock the user into a
never-ending spiral of renewals and updates; with a FREE version available) --
but you should be able to track down a download site somewhere. The non-pro
version is/was totally free to use, for the pro version you might need to find
a key generator these days. Also, it won't work with Vista.
Alternatively you could try Sunbelt Kerio firewall which is also very
good (the old predecessor-Kerio Firewall used to be very slim as well; haven't
tried the Sunbelt version yet) it is a commercial proposition, but I think they
have a 30 day trial. I may switch to that if I ever install the Vista Ultimate
I have sitting on the shelf here.
Both of these are more geared towards computer literate users rather than
sheeple like the Symantec stuff that doesn't tell you half of what it does, and
loads umpteen services that have no visible function other than making sure
that you don't violate Symantec's DRM in any way. Several competent people have
found the 'security suite' can be about as hard to remove as a clever trojan.
Very highly rated is the Comodo firewall, which is also a free solution,
but some people (including me) encounter the odd random blue screen of death
with it, which makes it a no-no for me.

I rely on Grisoft's free AVG antivirus solution, Avira is also recommended by
many powerusers and sysadmins I talk to. As a Firefox and Pegasus Mail and
Gravity user I have a lot fewer concerns about malware turning up on my
harddrive through browser/email exploits than Outlook/MSIE users ought to have
;-)

I run a couple of adware/spyware/trojan removers over my computer every 2 years
or so, and they never turn anything up except for alexa (that is actually a
part of Windows indexing/searching) and a few suspect cookies. See absolutely
no need to run any such on a _continuous_ basis.

cheers, -Peter

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com

Thank you for all of the information. I printed it out and will attempt to
follow up on it. -Bill


"Peter Huebner" wrote in message
t...
In article ,
says...

Thank you for your reply. I've got the Symantec Security Suite. I
defragged my disk this weekend and that made a difference. I used one of
the disk performance benchmark programs someone recommended here, and my
HDD
appears to be running about where it should be (never fast enough...).
It
takes about a minute and a half for my computer to be ready to use after
I
press the start button. I'm not sure how much of that is due to
Symantec.
What do you prefer to use rather than Symantec?

-Bill


I use the Sygate Personal Firewall Pro - nice, sweet, SLIM, moderately
powerful. Unfortunately Sygate have been bought up and shut down by
Symantec (I
have a very good idea why - a better program that doesn't lock the user
into a
never-ending spiral of renewals and updates; with a FREE version
available) --
but you should be able to track down a download site somewhere. The
non-pro
version is/was totally free to use, for the pro version you might need to
find
a key generator these days. Also, it won't work with Vista.
Alternatively you could try Sunbelt Kerio firewall which is also very
good (the old predecessor-Kerio Firewall used to be very slim as well;
haven't
tried the Sunbelt version yet) it is a commercial proposition, but I think
they
have a 30 day trial. I may switch to that if I ever install the Vista
Ultimate
I have sitting on the shelf here.
Both of these are more geared towards computer literate users rather than
sheeple like the Symantec stuff that doesn't tell you half of what it
does, and
loads umpteen services that have no visible function other than making
sure
that you don't violate Symantec's DRM in any way. Several competent people
have
found the 'security suite' can be about as hard to remove as a clever
trojan.
Very highly rated is the Comodo firewall, which is also a free solution,
but some people (including me) encounter the odd random blue screen of
death
with it, which makes it a no-no for me.

I rely on Grisoft's free AVG antivirus solution, Avira is also recommended
by
many powerusers and sysadmins I talk to. As a Firefox and Pegasus Mail and
Gravity user I have a lot fewer concerns about malware turning up on my
harddrive through browser/email exploits than Outlook/MSIE users ought to
have
;-)

I run a couple of adware/spyware/trojan removers over my computer every 2
years
or so, and they never turn anything up except for alexa (that is actually
a
part of Windows indexing/searching) and a few suspect cookies. See
absolutely
no need to run any such on a _continuous_ basis.

cheers, -Peter

--
=========================================
firstname dot lastname at gmail fullstop com