is flash media media slowing my pc?

double b26

double b26

New Member
any time im on a web site that has a lot of flash media on it, my processor pegs itself to 90-100% usage. usually it will handle one or two tabs at a time, but beyond that, it stays maxed out. it gets so slow that it even looks choppy (for lack of a better term) when i scroll down the page.

im talking about my dell computer (specs in sig)... i dont seem to have the problem with the compaq. i have plenty of ram... usually only runs at 20-40% used. i keep the computer well maintained (virus scans, registry repair, etc).

do you guys think this could be solved by adding a cheap video card? it acts similar when i watch movies in wmp11, so i was thinking that the flash and video might be too much for my onboard graphics to handle... though it didnt do this until the past few months. perhaps because there is more flash on pages now than before...?

thanks for the help!
 
it's probably just a combination of no dedicated graphics card, and the weak processor. my computer strugles a lot nowdays too, and it's a step up in processor from a celeron to a pentium 4 from yours,,, and mine is 3ghz opposed to 2.66ghz. just keep it as lean and cleaned out as you can, and maybe put a cheap dedicated gpu in it, but i wouldn't spend much money into that system.
 
just a noob said:
more ram would probably be the answer
Click to expand...

i have 2GB in there already, and it uses 50% at the most. it usually runs at ~30%.

thebigdintx said:
it's probably just a combination of no dedicated graphics card, and the weak processor. my computer strugles a lot nowdays too, and it's a step up in processor from a celeron to a pentium 4 from yours,,, and mine is 3ghz opposed to 2.66ghz. just keep it as lean and cleaned out as you can, and maybe put a cheap dedicated gpu in it, but i wouldn't spend much money into that system.
Click to expand...

thats what i was thinking too. its an old single core celron, so i dont expect too much. it works good for what i do with it though.. or did. the clunky web browsing is getting old.

i think a video card would help it out. other than that, the only thing i have put into it was $100 for the memory. and that worked out so i could use the old memory in my other pc, so i got 2 upgrades for that price... not too bad, i though. ive decided on building my next one, but wanted to hold off for another year or so... if possible.

so, does anyone have a suggestion about a decent and cheap video card? i might as well get one that can handle vista while im at it. ive been thinking about installing it as a second os (just to play around with). id be willing to spend ~$50 on one. i dont want to put much more than that into this old pc though.

edit: if you click the link in my sig that says 'dell....' it will take you to the specs of the motherboard.
 
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yeah i got a similar specced pc. Pentium 4 HT 3ghz and 2.5gb ram. Getting rid of the intel integrated video , and getting a low end card (geforce 7400) made a world of diffference.
 
jdbennet said:
yeah i got a similar specced pc. Pentium 4 HT 3ghz and 2.5gb ram. Getting rid of the intel integrated video , and getting a low end card (geforce 7400) made a world of diffference.
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thanks for the suggestion!

EDIT: i cant find a geforce 7400 on newegg. which one of these cards would be the best for a cheap video upgrade?? ill be connection via vga to a plain-jane 17" lcd monitor. looking to spend ~$30, but am willing to go as high as $50 if the benefits are worth the extra cash.
 
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Essentially, each flash file is its own little, media heavy program where each frame is a vector graphic that has to be rendered. This means a heavy load and there by low performance. Also, if you are using IE, it will eat a quite a bit of memory, possible pushing you into the paging file which would also result in low speed. Try closing other programs, getting more RAM, or installing Firefox to see if it handles better.

(you could also use this as an excuse to get yourself a really nice new computer)
 
johnb35 said:
Either this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161010

or this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814145136

and thats even if the dell will boot with a 128 mb video card. The dimension 4500 won't boot with anything higher than 128mb. Might wanna call dell and verify what the max video card would fit.
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thanks for the suggestions. i will give dell a call soon to find out if it will work with a 128mb card. i might look in their web site first... just cause i hate calling customer service for anything, unless i absolutely have to.

youre right though... it only has pci. now the question is which card to swap out for the video card! i never use the modem, so it will probably be the one to go. i need the network card and usb hub card (although i could use an external hub instead, and leave the modem.... hmmmm). i guess i will just wait and cross that bridge when i come to it.

bragr said:
Essentially, each flash file is its own little, media heavy program where each frame is a vector graphic that has to be rendered. This means a heavy load and there by low performance. Also, if you are using IE, it will eat a quite a bit of memory, possible pushing you into the paging file which would also result in low speed. Try closing other programs, getting more RAM, or installing Firefox to see if it handles better.

(you could also use this as an excuse to get yourself a really nice new computer)
Click to expand...

its pretty lean as far as running programs go. and i have plenty of resources until i get into some flash-heavy pages... then it just bogs the cpu down, but doesnt really tax my memory (see pics below). i have 2gb of ram, and the motherboard cant handle any more. i use firefox, not ie, but its still the biggest resource hogging program listed in the task manager.

cd990e7e.jpg


here are some pics of my system resources...

before flash...
f2304d47.jpg


...and during the 'bogging' down from flash.
9988b85a.jpg


EDIT: since its using less than half of the memory, is there some way that i could increase the memory usage to take some of the load off the processor?
 
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alright... since im pretty much broke at the moment, i decided to try using an older version of firefox. it did seem that the problem became much worse when i updated to the new v3. i have v2 and v1.5 on my hdd, so i went back to v2.

wow! what a difference that made! the cpu doesnt peg itself out on just a couple tabs any more... even flssh-heavy ones. now, if i open a lot of tabs, it will began to slow down, which is to be expected. but all in all, going back to v2.0.0.2 made a world of difference.

i would still like to get a video card though.. it still strains the processor when i watch videos. a used card is a good idea. ill have to keep my eye out in the 'for sale' section of this forum.

thanks again, for the help and advice.
 
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