[Windows 7 SP1 x64] 16GB R.A.M.

[leesmithg]

My mobo supports 16GB r.a.m. (15.7 usable).

So I installed 16GB r.a.m. (15.7 usable).

All the same make all configured correctly.

However, I donated my last system to my son, that is exactly the same OPS and has exactly the same start-up items.

It has 4GB r.a.m. and feels quicker and boots quicker.

Anyone have an idea why 16GB r.a.m. (15.7 usable). is slower than 4GB (all usable)?

Thanks in advance for suggestions.

[Semtex]

It is more about Your HDD then RAM in that case....

[zeke009]

Semtex has a good point. Can you post the HDD info and whether you're using a SATA II or III drive?

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

yep. hard drive

[Joe User]

It is more about Your HDD then RAM in that case....

Exactly. I'm betting there's a 16GB hibernate file and a 16GB pagefile in play.

[Astra.Xtreme]

Semtex has a good point. Can you post the HDD info and whether you're using a SATA II or III drive?

If he has a regular mechanical HDD, SATA II or III won't matter at all. But yeah, depending on the brand of HDD, some will be definitely faster than others.

As for boot time, that's not too much of a concern. Some BIOS will fly right through all the checks really quickly, and some will take there dear time. You could go into the BIOS and make sure "Quick Boot" is enabled, and there there aren't any diagnostic timers that are sucking up a few seconds.

[daniel_rh]

Yep, the hard drive could be the problem, look how many RPM the drive has, 7200RPM would be nice, 5400rpm is way too slow, if you get a SSD would be perfect- The loading times is affected by many things like drivers and software installed, hard drive speed...

[+LogicalApex MVC]

Your question makes very little sense... You're asking why two separate machines used by two different people "feel different"... Maybe it is because you both have different usage patterns?

For starters, what does "feel faster" even mean? What programs do you both have starting up? Etc...

My desktop feels fast. It has 24GB of RAM and a regular old magnetic HDD in RAID 5 that it boots from. It obviously boots slower than an SSD based system, but feels just as snappy in day to day usage. You have to do more to explain your problem if you're hoping for a real solution.

[Guest]

There's also obviously start processes, are you running anything you don't need at startup? If it's a standard HDD, maybe defrag it and if you're only using a single HDD for all your storage, partition it so that you can reduce fragmentation between apps and data.

[Joe User]

Just for fun, you can turn off virtual memory and hibernate and see if there's any difference.

I wouldn't recommend doing it long term, but I bet you'll see an improvement.

[Guest]

I'd set something low for the pagefile, like 2GB, I only have 8GB of RAM and never have any issues. I say this because anything more would be wasted space, it's unlikely you'll run out of RAM with 16GB

[Semtex]

For 8GB RAM I've 1024 MB min. and 1024 max. SWAP, moved to other SSD, working perfect...

I don't use hibernation (with SSD this have no sense IMO) ....

[medium_pimpin]

Same CPU?

[neufuse Veteran]

Your hard drive controller comes down to play a huge part in this, and ontop of that the hard drive itself.

[leesmithg]

Hard Drive Info:

Name, Value

Hitachi HDS5C1010CLA382 ATA Device

Disks: C:, D:, E:, F:, G:, H:, I:, J:

Model: Hitachi HDS5C1010CLA382 ATA Device

Firmware Revision: JC4OA3MA

Serial Number: XXX930HXXXXX

Device Type: IDE-device, hard drive

ATA Version: SATA-2

CPU same clock speed 2 extra cores.

Name, Value

CPU Properties

Physical Processors: 1

Logical Processors: 4

Name: AMD Phenom II X4 840 Processor

Description: AMD64 Family 16 Model 5 Stepping 3

Manufacturer: AuthenticAMD

Frequency: 3200 MHz

External Clock Frequency: 200 MHz

Processor ID: 17XXXXXX - XXXXXXX

Cache Properties

L1 Instruction Cache: 64 KB

L1 Data Cache: 64 KB

L2 Cache: 512 KB

Extended Details

Architecture: x64

Stepping: 3

Number of Cores: 4

APIC ID: 0

Address Width: 64 bit

Data Width: 64 bit

Socket Designation: AM3R2

[karko05]

Hi,Using 4 memory slots instead of 2 makes your system run at 2T which causes that you loose 2% to %5 performance maybe that,s your problem cause i asume your using 4 sticks,

2 sticks feels snappier but loading times on games are faster with more ram and about boot times maybe your have many programs loading on startup,"msconfig" is your friend. :)

[Raa]

Once you pass around 2gb of ram, you won't notice much difference in booting times. It's the hard drive, and/or CPU.

[Kelxin]

On Windows 7:

Open the Control Panel, click on "Action Center", click on "View Performance Information" on the left panel, click "Advanced Tools" on the left panel, and finally click "View Performance details in Event Log".

That will show you any performance degrading issues with software / drivers / etc that will make two seemingly identical machines feel quite different.