Desktop appears slow and stuck!!

christy4290

christy4290

Member
Hi All,

My desktop when opening multiple tabs on Chrome gets stuck and in overall behaves slow. I feel the RAM has become old and need to be replaced. I use desktop mainly to watch classes on YouTube. So when I play a YouTube video it appears stuck in between(Not because of streaming). I assume its not the issue with SSD. Please refer the attached screenshot and advise.

Specs:
i3 3rd gen, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 128GB SSD(OS), 1 TB HDD
 

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johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
It's because your system specs. Low end cpu, not enough ram and 128 gb ssd is quite small these days. Time for upgrade whole system
 
C

Couriant

Member
You haven't given much detail on your machine, but JohnB is correct. The biggest culprit here IMO is the 4GB memory, which I assume you are on Windows 10, and it's not enough. At bare minimum you should be on 8GB. On top of that, when the physical memory is used up, the computer would turn to the storage drives for help with memory functions. This in turn (at least with the older mechanical drives) would make the storage drives work harder.

The other culprit is that you may have not had a clean install for some time. I see that you have a secondary hard drive which I assume you store your data there so in theory the SDD should work, but that may also need to be replaced if you are currently out of room.
 
christy4290

christy4290

Member
Yes, I am on Windows 10 and its time for upgrade. I have 100 GB free space left in C drive(SSD) and mechanical drive is where I store my documents and tutorial videos. But it was working fine until last week. I am busy with exams and can't upgrade right now. So if you could narrow down the issue to SSD or RAM, I will do the needful. But again I think investing on a DDR3 RAM is not wise as I intend to upgrade.
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Your main issue right now is the ram. Having multiple chrome tabs open doesn't help either. How can you still have 100gb free space when 20gb is needed for Windows 10 alone. I'm sure you have other programs installed as well. A 128gb drive will only have about 119gb of actual useable space. Downloading and running Malwarbytes and Ccleaner may help with your slowness as you may have malware and/or unnecessary files on your system. Also stop any unnecessary programs from running at bootup by using the startup tab in task manager.
 
C

Couriant

Member
IMO I would start with the memory. Please confirm what is your make/model of your machine, and if possible the serial number so we can confirm what memory it needs.

Also, I would suggest refraining from keeping multiple tabs open if possible, and check your Start Up Items (which is located in Task Manager > Startup Tab) and see if there are any programs that are there that does not need to be open on startup.
 
christy4290

christy4290

Member
Oops, its my mistake. The SSD is of 256 GB. The startup only has required items. Updated antivirus. So I booted today and didn't open any applications and still the RAM seems fully occupied. Please see screenshot.

I am sorry I couldn't understand - make/model of your machine. I have already provided the specs(updated today) as below:

i3 3rd gen, 4GB DDR3 RAM, 256GB SSD(OS), 1 TB HDD
Gigabyte H61 MS Motherboard

Meanwhile, I will check with my friend to see if there is a spare RAM(of 8GB) available.
 

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christy4290

christy4290

Member
I got an 8GB DDR 3 and the performance is better now. But now I face another issue. The HDD disconnects automatically some time after booting up. A restart fixes the issue temporarily. What could be the reason?
 
C

Couriant

Member
Can you show a new screenshot of the RAM usage? Just curious :)

What do you mean by disconnected? Does it not show in File Explorer? Do you get any messages?
 
johnb35

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
When you put the new ram in you might have accidentally hit a cable. Check to make sure the sata data cables and power cables are secured at each location.
 
beers

beers

Moderator
Staff member
Late to the party but 4GB is going to be brutal on any modern Windows installation.

Glad you got some more for it, I'd double check the connections to your drive on both the motherboard side for data as well as the drive side for data and power.
 
christy4290

christy4290

Member
Couriant said:
Can you show a new screenshot of the RAM usage? Just curious :)

What do you mean by disconnected? Does it not show in File Explorer? Do you get any messages?
Click to expand...
Its fixed now. May be the wires were not intact. It wasn't shown in file explorer earlier.
 
christy4290

christy4290

Member
Last day the desktop didn't boot and I replaced with a new SMPS and it worked fine for hours. But today it turns off randomly.
I don't think its an issue with RAM or SMPS. I was running only a single browser with two tabs open. What could be the reason? Please reply soon.
 
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