Old Laptop, New User

T

TheExodus

New Member
Hey guys! I'm new in the forums so please bear with me if I do anything wrong :)

So recently I got an ASUS K43SJ from my cousin. He got this laptop back around 2011, so it's pretty old. Overall I find it's performance great. I can play The Sims 4 all fine, Dota 2 @ 50-70fps(rarely 100) at low settings, 100%render. I also have Warcraft III Frozen Throne and Counter-Strike Source installed. It's all good that I can play these games with ease. But sometimes I notice the performance kind of drops.

For example, there are times when I play Dota 2 that I get around 30fps only, usually it can run it at a stable 60fps. I'm not one to complain but it kinda bothers me a bit.

It has the following specs:

Intel(R) Core(TM) i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz (4CPUs), ~2.2GHz
2048 MB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520M
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit

So I'd just like to ask...

1. Do you think because the laptop is old, hence performance degrades? Or what are the reasons?
2. For an old laptop like this, what would you guys suggest on how I take care of this baby?

Hoping to see some helpful answers, thanks and God bless!
 
Increase ram to 4gb or more, only having 2gb is killing you. The cpu is really only a dual core with 4 threads so really not a quad core cpu. It also could be overheating a little. Are the latest video drivers installed?
 
Yeah the chugging is likely the system using the swap file. Additional memory should smooth that out a lot.
 
johnb35 said:
Increase ram to 4gb or more, only having 2gb is killing you. The cpu is really only a dual core with 4 threads so really not a quad core cpu. It also could be overheating a little. Are the latest video drivers installed?
Click to expand...

Copy that on increasing ram.
Yeah it does heat up, not to mention here the season is hot.

I assume that I have installed the latest drivers. I used Windows Update to check and Nvidia GeForce Experience as well, and they both come up positive

beers said:
Yeah the chugging is likely the system using the swap file. Additional memory should smooth that out a lot.
Click to expand...

Could I ask what do you mean by "the system using the swap file."?

Thanks so much sirs, will note these suggestions :) Hopefully looking for more suggestions :)
Also you think it's just the ram I should adjust right now?
Lastly does the laptop being old affect the performance?
 
Look in the exhaust vents to make sure they aren't clogged and not keeping the cpu cool.

That laptop maxes out at 8gb of ddr3 1333mhz. I would definitely upgrade to 8gb.
 
TheExodus said:
Could I ask what do you mean by "the system using the swap file."?
Click to expand...

When you start running out of RAM the system will store some of the existing RAM data onto the hard drive. This is known as 'virtual memory' or 'swap'. Usually when this happens you take an enormous performance hit as traditional storage is orders of magnitude slower than RAM.
 
johnb35 said:
Look in the exhaust vents to make sure they aren't clogged and not keeping the cpu cool.

That laptop maxes out at 8gb of ddr3 1333mhz. I would definitely upgrade to 8gb.
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks for the info John. I'll see soon if I can get an upgrade for the RAM :)

beers said:
When you start running out of RAM the system will store some of the existing RAM data onto the hard drive. This is known as 'virtual memory' or 'swap'. Usually when this happens you take an enormous performance hit as traditional storage is orders of magnitude slower than RAM.
Click to expand...

Oh I see, thanks for this beer :)
 
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