Upgrading ram to fix 100% CPU usage?

spagboll

hi

i get 100% CPU usage for about 10 minutes on start up and then randomly every few minutes, slows everything down and causes loud fan

it has an AMD athlon Neo x2 dual core processor ~1.6Ghz and 4gb ram

i can't upgrade the processor because it's embedded (am i right?) so would going to 8gb ram help?

many thanks

Genghiz Cohen

spagboll wrote: »

hi

i get 100% CPU usage for about 10 minutes on start up and then randomly every few minutes, slows everything down and causes loud fan

it has an AMD athlon Neo x2 dual core processor ~1.6Ghz and 4gb ram

i can't upgrade the processor because it's embedded (am i right?) so would going to 8gb ram help?

many thanks

How well do you know computers?
There could be a lot of processes starting with your computer, I could tell you how to stop them but its not really suitable for a novice.

yoyo

spagboll wrote: »

hi

i get 100% CPU usage for about 10 minutes on start up and then randomly every few minutes, slows everything down and causes loud fan

it has an AMD athlon Neo x2 dual core processor ~1.6Ghz and 4gb ram

i can't upgrade the processor because it's embedded (am i right?) so would going to 8gb ram help?

many thanks

Check Task Manager to try and isolate what is actually using the CPU so much, unless the 4 gig of RAM is being maxed out I doubt the problem has anything to do with memory (unless you run out of physical memory and virtual memory takes over which may lead to increased CPU useage).
Embedded CPUs are generally not great at heavy performance tasks, designed for low power consuption devices. What OS are you using? What software is running on your machine? Anti virus that kind of stuff...

Nick

sf80

Do you know how to check the ram usage? A memory upgrade probably won't do you much good, unless the CPU usage is related to the processor swapping stuff in and out of memory a whole lot when the system uses all the memory.

The first thing to do it try find out what process is causing the spikes, then start googling to see if there are any know issues with the program that might solve the problem.

Google how to stop unnecessary start up programs too, you might have a load of crap starting up the you could do without.

spagboll

really appreciate the reply

I'm OK, I can end processes and would be familiar with the important ones (thanks windows 98)

thanks

yeppydeppy

There is no point in upgrading your RAM beyond 4GB unless your running a 64bit OS. You need to find out what's causing the 100% usage and either stop it or look for a fix.

spagboll

yoyo wrote: »

Check Task Manager to try and isolate what is actually using the CPU so much, unless the 4 gig of RAM is being maxed out I doubt the problem has anything to do with memory (unless you run out of physical memory and virtual memory takes over which may lead to increased CPU useage).
Embedded CPUs are generally not great at heavy performance tasks, designed for low power consuption devices. What OS are you using? What software is running on your machine? Anti virus that kind of stuff...

Nick

I'm running Sophos protection provided by UCD and windows 7 home edition premium, all i ever use is chrome and MS office

thanks guys

spagboll

yeah its 64bit windows 7

spagboll

svchost.exe is maxing out the CPU

yoyo

spagboll wrote: »

svchost.exe is maxing out the CPU

Use process explorer to find out which services are using most CPU time (expand svchost.exe),

Nick

yeppydeppy

This still shouldn't be happening. Maybe at start up for a couple of minutes but not 10mins and not on going. Adding memory won't resolve this problem for you either. svchost processes are generally processes used by windows however I have seen malware disguised as this. Do a full scan with malwarebytes - just google it to download.

yoyo

yeppydeppy wrote: »

This still shouldn't be happening. Maybe at start up for a couple of minutes but not 10mins and not on going. Adding memory won't resolve this problem for you either. svchost processes are generally processes used by windows however I have seen malware disguised as this. Do a full scan with malwarebytes - just google it to download.

I would tend to agree but I've seen Atom and such CPUs in low end aio pcs and the performance is shocking, it wouldn't suprise me if OP needed to uninstall their AV and stop lots of stuff from running,

Nick

spagboll

yeah I have a feeling my processor is seriously letting me down, has a 2gb radeon HD and decent ram but a ****e cpu

k.p.h

Chrome and MS Office. I you were willing to use Open Office you could ditch windows and install Ubuntu, problem be solved.