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#1
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
System info
2.66 Intel Celeron D processor 2 gigs of RAM 80 GB HD - 25 GB of free space Windows XP SP3 No router A week ago I had some changes made to my cable / internet package. Got a bill today and noticed that not only was the bill higher than it was supposed to be, but I've had standard Road Runner (7 Mbps) instead of RR Lite (768 Kbps) for a week now. Over the past week, I noticed NO difference in surfing speed. It would seem to me that there would be a huge difference especially since I didn't even know that I had been upgraded. And yes, they did make the change to my service. I ran a speed test while I was on the phone with them today. So my question is, how come I didn't notice a difference in surfing and webpages loading faster? I haven't downloaded any new programs in the past week, so I couldn't notice a difference there. One thing to note, I built this computer in Feb '07 and 13 months later the computer would just cut off and reboot. Found out that I didn't tighten the fan over the processor correctly and the processor was overheating. Is it possible that I damaged the processor, therefore connection speed wouldn't make any difference? From the first day that I built this computer I haven't noticed any difference in speed, even after the fan was tightened. Sometimes when I open certain programs , there is a delay. When I open programs like Webroot Spy Sweeper for instance, the outer frame of the program loads, but it takes several seconds for the inner box to fill in. I also have a similar problem with VSO ConvertXtoDVD. It loads half of the program, and then after about 10 seconds the rest of the program loads. Both of these programs were installed after the fan incident....so I don't know if that is normal behavior. I wouldn't think so. Is it possible that I damaged the CPU from day one and it's been dying a slow death? |
#2
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
On Jan 20, 11:13*pm, Ron wrote:
System info 2.66 Intel Celeron D processor 2 gigs of RAM 80 GB HD - 25 GB of free space Windows XP SP3 No router A week ago I had some changes made to my cable / internet package. Got a bill today and noticed that not only was the bill higher than it was supposed to be, but I've had standard Road Runner (7 Mbps) instead of RR Lite (768 Kbps) for a week now. Over the past week, I noticed NO difference in surfing speed. It would seem to me that there would be a huge difference especially since I didn't even know that I had been upgraded. And yes, they did make the change to my service. I ran a speed test while I was on the phone with them today. So my question is, how come I didn't notice a difference in surfing and webpages loading faster? I haven't downloaded any new programs in the past week, so I couldn't notice a difference there. One thing to note, I built this computer in Feb '07 and 13 months later the computer would just cut off and reboot. Found out that I didn't tighten the fan over the processor correctly and the processor was overheating. Is it possible that I damaged the processor, therefore connection speed wouldn't make any difference? From the first day that I built this computer I haven't noticed any difference in speed, even after the fan was tightened. Sometimes when I open certain programs , there is a delay. When I open programs like Webroot Spy Sweeper for instance, the outer frame of the program loads, but it takes several seconds for the inner box to fill in. I also have a similar problem with VSO ConvertXtoDVD. It loads half of the program, and then after about 10 seconds the rest of the program loads. Both of these programs were installed after the fan incident....so I don't know if that is normal behavior. I wouldn't think so. Is it possible that I damaged the CPU from day one and it's been dying a slow death? Also, I've noticed that when I play videos from CNN, I have to pause the video for a while and then play it after it has run for a while. I always thought it was my connection speed, but since I've had a MUCH faster connection for a week now, it didn't make nay difference. Which is making me think that there is indeed something wrong with the processor unless someone has another answer. Hell, even YouTube has become sluggish in the past few months. |
#3
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
Ron wrote:
System info 2.66 Intel Celeron D processor 2 gigs of RAM 80 GB HD - 25 GB of free space Windows XP SP3 No router A week ago I had some changes made to my cable / internet package. Got a bill today and noticed that not only was the bill higher than it was supposed to be, but I've had standard Road Runner (7 Mbps) instead of RR Lite (768 Kbps) for a week now. Over the past week, I noticed NO difference in surfing speed. It would seem to me that there would be a huge difference especially since I didn't even know that I had been upgraded. And yes, they did make the change to my service. I ran a speed test while I was on the phone with them today. So my question is, how come I didn't notice a difference in surfing and webpages loading faster? I haven't downloaded any new programs in the past week, so I couldn't notice a difference there. One thing to note, I built this computer in Feb '07 and 13 months later the computer would just cut off and reboot. Found out that I didn't tighten the fan over the processor correctly and the processor was overheating. Is it possible that I damaged the processor, therefore connection speed wouldn't make any difference? From the first day that I built this computer I haven't noticed any difference in speed, even after the fan was tightened. Sometimes when I open certain programs , there is a delay. When I open programs like Webroot Spy Sweeper for instance, the outer frame of the program loads, but it takes several seconds for the inner box to fill in. I also have a similar problem with VSO ConvertXtoDVD. It loads half of the program, and then after about 10 seconds the rest of the program loads. Both of these programs were installed after the fan incident....so I don't know if that is normal behavior. I wouldn't think so. Is it possible that I damaged the CPU from day one and it's been dying a slow death? Connection speed past a certain point becomes unnoticeable, for browsing. The computers on the other side of the connection become the main factor, and no increase in transmission speed will improve things. Only on download, and then only for a fast downloadsite, will you see big differences. So, if you mainly browse, very high speed is only useful for the income of your provider. |
#4
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
On Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:13:56 -0800 (PST), Ron
wrote: System info 2.66 Intel Celeron D processor 2 gigs of RAM 80 GB HD - 25 GB of free space Windows XP SP3 No router A week ago I had some changes made to my cable / internet package. Got a bill today and noticed that not only was the bill higher than it was supposed to be, but I've had standard Road Runner (7 Mbps) instead of RR Lite (768 Kbps) for a week now. Over the past week, I noticed NO difference in surfing speed. That is common, most websites don't have enough bandwidth to serve each client at their ISP's allotted bandwidth, and most ISPs claim "up to" a particular speed but won't guarantee you get that speed continually. Since you don't notice the difference, I'd have them switch you back to the lower cost plan if it's possible. It would seem to me that there would be a huge difference especially since I didn't even know that I had been upgraded. And yes, they did make the change to my service. I ran a speed test while I was on the phone with them today. I sometimes wonder if ISPs prioritize packets to the most popular speed-test websites, but that is an aside as few if any websites can deliver data above 1MBps, as they wouldn't feel the small change worth the increasing costs from their host. So my question is, how come I didn't notice a difference in surfing and webpages loading faster? I haven't downloaded any new programs in the past week, so I couldn't notice a difference there. I think at times you might notice a little benefit from roughly double the 768Kbps you had, but seldom 7Mbps. Even directly downloading files I rarely see over 2MB/s except things like MS patches, university servers for linux distros, or peer 2 peer connections. One thing to note, I built this computer in Feb '07 and 13 months later the computer would just cut off and reboot. Found out that I didn't tighten the fan over the processor correctly and the processor was overheating. Is it possible that I damaged the processor, therefore connection speed wouldn't make any difference? It's possible your processor was damaged, but that would have nothing to do with lack of perceived downloading speed. Even if it were throttled down to a few low speed from immediate overheat condition it would still have far more performance than needed to maintain more than 768Kbps. Also if the CPU were damaged you would see this manifest in other system instability still, the odds are your CPU is fine, although if it overheated frequently enough it could cause thermal stress that eventually shortens it's lifespan, but you would have a far clearer indication of the problem at that point, like the system failing to run at all. From the first day that I built this computer I haven't noticed any difference in speed, even after the fan was tightened. Sometimes when I open certain programs , there is a delay. When I open programs like Webroot Spy Sweeper for instance, the outer frame of the program loads, but it takes several seconds for the inner box to fill in. That's just a sign the program is doing something time intensive (like loading files into memory from the hard drive) or compute intensive. If the hard drive is the bottleneck you should find subsequent launches of the program are faster. If it's compute intensive you should see a spike in Windows' Task Manager for CPU utilization... or it could be a little of both. It's nothing to be concerned about, same situation as always you can opt to benchmark the CPU, hard drive, and upgrade either or both if you want more performance... though I almost forgot memory, if you're running out you might be seeing some paging activity when programs launch but I seldom think about memory these days since most modern systems are pretty well endowed due to memory being cheap as dirt over the past couple years... and the 2GB you have is enough to get quite a bit running well on WinXP. Your 80GB HDD, assuming it isn't an SSD, it bound to be a bottleneck. A modern ~ 1TB SATA drive could be expected to be roughly twice as fast, but of course it won't do much to improve your web surfing, though maybe slightly snappier assuming your browser does as most do, puts temporary internet files on the hard drive. Personally I set Firefox to use only system memory, no hard drive space as there seems no point to it today with so much system memory available for the task. I don't recall if IE can be set to do that, though you could always set up a ramdrive and direct it to put the files there. I also have a similar problem with VSO ConvertXtoDVD. It loads half of the program, and then after about 10 seconds the rest of the program loads. Both of these programs were installed after the fan incident....so I don't know if that is normal behavior. I wouldn't think so. Is it possible that I damaged the CPU from day one and it's been dying a slow death? Doubtful, but there are plenty of CPU benchmark programs you could use to test it and compare with online data about what you should expect it to score. You might also try running Prime95's stress test, the large in-place FFTs setting will put the CPU at peak load and elevate the temperature which can reveal faults, and as importantly it checks the calculation results so you'll know if there are any errors. You might want to also have a program like CPU-Z open while that runs, as it will show CPU clockspeed that might decrease if the CPU were overheating. Overall I doubt you have any real problems, though you might seek replacement programs that run more efficiently and upgrade the computer if any benchmarks make it look weak... though any 2 year old system will look slow compared to the best of today's hardware and it starting out as a Celeron with less cache won't help. It could be a good time to upgrade the CPU, before socket 775 CPUs become rarer and more expensive as Intel starts phasing them out, though you'll have to do a bit of research about what your motherboard supports (and/or whether a newer bios improves CPU support which is likely). |
#5
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
"Ron" wrote in message
... System info 2.66 Intel Celeron D processor 2 gigs of RAM 80 GB HD - 25 GB of free space Windows XP SP3 No router A week ago I had some changes made to my cable / internet package. Got a bill today and noticed that not only was the bill higher than it was supposed to be, but I've had standard Road Runner (7 Mbps) instead of RR Lite (768 Kbps) for a week now. Over the past week, I noticed NO difference in surfing speed. As Sjouke (and Kony) has pointed out, it might simply be that you haven't noticed. It probably is worth checking that you are on 7mbps - because they might be billing you without having upgraded your speed. There are number of sites which claim to be able to measure your broadband speed, find one which is local-ish to you (same country at least) and use that but only treat this as a guide. Alternatively you should be able to log into your router (if you know the username and password) and see what connection speed it thinks you have. It would seem to me that there would be a huge difference especially since I didn't even know that I had been upgraded. And yes, they did make the change to my service. I ran a speed test while I was on the phone with them today. So my question is, how come I didn't notice a difference in surfing and webpages loading faster? I haven't downloaded any new programs in the past week, so I couldn't notice a difference there. One thing to note, I built this computer in Feb '07 and 13 months later the computer would just cut off and reboot. Found out that I didn't tighten the fan over the processor correctly and the processor was overheating. Is it possible that I damaged the processor, therefore connection speed wouldn't make any difference? Yes its possible you damaged the processor (small likelihood because that is why they have a thermal cut-out) but if everything has worked fine since then then its reasonable to assume your processor is fine. In any event I very much doubt that this would have any bearing on your perceived or actual connection speed. -- Brian Cryer www.cryer.co.uk/brian |
#6
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
On Jan 21, 12:25*am, kony wrote:
On Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:13:56 -0800 (PST), Ron wrote: System info 2.66 Intel Celeron D processor 2 gigs of RAM 80 GB HD - 25 GB of free space Windows XP SP3 No router A week ago I had some changes made to my cable / internet package. Got a bill today and noticed that not only was the bill higher than it was supposed to be, but I've had standard Road Runner (7 Mbps) instead of RR Lite (768 Kbps) for a week now. Over the past week, I noticed NO difference in surfing speed. That is common, most websites don't have enough bandwidth to serve each client at their ISP's allotted bandwidth, and most ISPs claim "up to" a particular speed but won't guarantee you get that speed continually. Since you don't notice the difference, I'd have them switch you back to the lower cost plan if it's possible. It would seem to me that there would be a huge difference especially since I didn't even know that I had been upgraded. And yes, they did make the change to my service. I ran a speed test while I was on the phone with them today. I sometimes wonder if ISPs prioritize packets to the most popular speed-test websites, but that is an aside as few if any websites can deliver data above 1MBps, as they wouldn't feel the small change worth the increasing costs from their host. So my question is, how come I didn't notice a difference in surfing and webpages loading faster? I haven't downloaded any new programs in the past week, so I couldn't notice a difference there. I think at times you might notice a little benefit from roughly double the 768Kbps you had, but seldom *7Mbps. *Even directly downloading files I rarely see over 2MB/s except things like MS patches, university servers for linux distros, or peer 2 peer connections. One thing to note, I built this computer in Feb '07 and 13 months later the computer would just cut off and reboot. Found out that I didn't tighten the fan over the processor correctly and the processor was overheating. Is it possible that I damaged the processor, therefore connection speed wouldn't make any difference? It's possible your processor was damaged, but that would have nothing to do with lack of perceived downloading speed. Even if it were throttled down to a few low speed from immediate overheat condition it would still have far more performance than needed to maintain more than 768Kbps. Also if the CPU were damaged you would see this manifest in other system instability still, the odds are your CPU is fine, although if it overheated frequently enough it could cause thermal stress that eventually shortens it's lifespan, but you would *have a far clearer indication of the problem at that point, like the system failing to run at all. From the first day that I built this computer I haven't noticed any difference in speed, even after the fan was tightened. Sometimes when I open certain programs , there is a delay. When I open programs like Webroot Spy Sweeper for instance, the outer frame of the program loads, but it takes several seconds for the inner box to fill in. That's just a sign the program is doing something time intensive (like loading files into memory from the hard drive) or compute intensive. *If the hard drive is the bottleneck you should find subsequent launches of the program are faster. *If it's compute intensive you should see a spike in Windows' Task Manager for CPU utilization... or it could be a little of both. It's nothing to be concerned about, same situation as always you can opt to benchmark the CPU, hard drive, and upgrade either or both if you want more performance... though I almost forgot memory, if you're running out you might be seeing some paging activity when programs launch but I seldom think about memory these days since most modern systems are pretty well endowed due to memory being cheap as dirt over the past couple years... and the 2GB you have is enough to get quite a bit running well on WinXP. Your 80GB HDD, assuming it isn't an SSD, it bound to be a bottleneck. *A modern ~ 1TB SATA drive could be expected to be roughly twice as fast, but of course it won't do much to improve your web surfing, though maybe slightly snappier assuming your browser does as most do, puts temporary internet files on the hard drive. *Personally I set Firefox to use only system memory, no hard drive space as there seems no point to it today with so much system memory available for the task. *I don't recall if IE can be set to do that, though you could always set up a ramdrive and direct it to put the files there. I also have a similar problem with VSO ConvertXtoDVD. It loads half of the program, and then after about 10 seconds the rest of the program loads. Both of these programs were installed after the fan incident....so I don't know if that is normal behavior. I wouldn't think so. Is it possible that I damaged the CPU from day one and it's been dying a slow death? Doubtful, but there are plenty of CPU benchmark programs you could use to test it and compare with online data about what you should expect it to score. You might also try running Prime95's stress test, the large in-place FFTs setting will put the CPU at peak load and elevate the temperature which can reveal faults, and as importantly it checks the calculation results so you'll know if there are any errors. You might want to also have a program like CPU-Z open while that runs, as it will show CPU clockspeed that might decrease if the CPU were overheating. Overall I doubt you have any real problems, though you might seek replacement programs that run more efficiently and upgrade the computer if any benchmarks make it look weak... though any 2 year old system will look slow compared to the best of today's hardware and it starting out as a Celeron with less cache won't help. It could be a good time to upgrade the CPU, before socket 775 CPUs become rarer and more expensive as Intel starts phasing them out, though you'll have to do a bit of research about what your motherboard supports (and/or whether a newer bios improves CPU support which is likely). Thanks. Great info as usual. One question, do you know about how many hours it takes to run Prime95? |
#7
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:46:02 -0800 (PST), Ron
wrote: You might also try running Prime95's stress test, the large in-place FFTs setting will put the CPU at peak load and elevate the temperature which can reveal faults, and as importantly it checks the calculation results so you'll know if there are any errors. Thanks. Great info as usual. One question, do you know about how many hours it takes to run Prime95? Forever, it just loops and starts over at the end in test mode. Set it to Stress Test Mode, Large In-Place FFTs (setting). It will just keep running until you terminate it (or the computer crashes badly enough it stops running. The bare minimum to run it would be an hour, before that period has elapsed your system should have reached peak temperature, that is ignoring that the room ambient temperature in some buildings fluctuates at different times of day or different seasons, but you are dealing with the environment the system sees now so it is still an appropriate enough environment. It will just show line after line of calculations completed, or it will show errors. If it shows any errors it is a sign of instability that will need corrected. Ideally I would run it for at least a few hours but with a single core system that will slow the system down a fair amount, perhaps start it up at night and check on it when you wake up in the morning. No real need to run it more than a day unless you are actually looking for prime numbers in non-test mode. If you do find errors, see if any hardware monitoring utility will work on your system to display temperatures while it runs, as often such errors occur when the CPU gets too hot, or actually even if the CPU doesn't overheat from a perspective of causing physical damage, all else being equal the hotter the CPU gets the more voltage it needs to remain stable so there is a balance point for any CPU, though running at stock speed you should never encounter that point, it is a point that with a properly designed and functional system only an overclocker would reach. |
#8
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Connection Speed - Possibly OT
On Jan 23, 1:25*pm, kony wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jan 2010 12:46:02 -0800 (PST), Ron wrote: You might also try running Prime95's stress test, the large in-place FFTs setting will put the CPU at peak load and elevate the temperature which can reveal faults, and as importantly it checks the calculation results so you'll know if there are any errors. Thanks. Great info as usual. One question, do you know about how many hours it takes to run Prime95? Forever, it just loops and starts over at the end in test mode. Set it to Stress Test Mode, Large In-Place FFTs (setting). It will just keep running until you terminate it (or the computer crashes badly enough it stops running. The bare minimum to run it would be an hour, before that period has elapsed your system should have reached peak temperature, that is ignoring that the room ambient temperature in some buildings fluctuates at different times of day or different seasons, but you are dealing with the environment the system sees now so it is still an appropriate enough environment. It will just show line after line of calculations completed, or it will show errors. *If it shows any errors it is a sign of instability that will need corrected. *Ideally I would run it for at least a few hours but with a single core system that will slow the system down a fair amount, perhaps start it up at night and check on it when you wake up in the morning. *No real need to run it more than a day unless you are actually looking for prime numbers in non-test mode. If you do find errors, see if any hardware monitoring utility will work on your system to display temperatures while it runs, as often such errors occur when the CPU gets too hot, or actually even if the CPU doesn't overheat from a perspective of causing physical damage, all else being equal the hotter the CPU gets the more voltage it needs to remain stable so there is a balance point for any CPU, though running at stock speed you should never encounter that point, it is a point that with a properly designed and functional system only an overclocker would reach. OK, I ran it for 9 hours and it passed the test, so I guess the CPU is fine. |
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