Can someone help me learn about CPU's & Memory?

[traylor1]

I have a Gigabyte Technology M68M-S2P MB running an AMD Athlon 5000 Dual Core Processor and 8 GB of Ram. Video is an ATI Radeon HS 5400 Series with 2 gb of memory. OS is 64 bit Windows 7.

So, to start out here is where I was at. When I was running 32 bit Windows 7, I was obviously having issues with the CPU hitting 100% in different meters such as Task Manager for example. So, I updated to 64 bit Windows 7. One of the main reasons I did this was because the local computer store guys said this would help immensely with that problem. Once updating, I have seen a difference in the performance of my system. I had a lot of lagging going on previously with programs such as iTunes or even Chrome. The lags have stopped.

However, I am still seeing quite a bit of CPU usage around 60-100% on multimedia type programs and ram staying around 25-30% usage. Now the way he explained it to me was that with the 64 bits, it would hit RAM first and then CPU.

So this is where I need some training...

Was this information backwards or was he correct?

Should the amount of CPU usage be that high or is that pretty normal?

Finally another CPU related question is this, If I wanted to upgrade the CPU to a better CPU that could handle media files a little better, how would I know what to get? Is there a website that can make recommendations for my MB?

Thanks for all of your help.

 

[payturr]

64 bit helps if your CPU + hardware support it, because it allows data to move better. The CPU manages processes, RAM just holds application information.
You probably just needed to dust your heatsink fan, that probably would help A LOT in usage. Then again, it is an older processor.
If you were to buy a new CPU, you have to see which ones have a better architecture, clockspeeds, features, support, and then when you select your CPU you have to select a motherboard that supports it with the needed features you want (SATA 3, PCI-e 3.0, etc) - buy them from big name manufacturers like MSI, ASUS, ASrock and Gigabyte.

 

[miggtt699]

I have a Gigabyte Technology M68M-S2P MB running an AMD Athlon 5000 Dual Core Processor and 8 GB of Ram. Video is an ATI Radeon HS 5400 Series with 2 gb of memory. OS is 64 bit Windows 7.

So, to start out here is where I was at. When I was running 32 bit Windows 7, I was obviously having issues with the CPU hitting 100% in different meters such as Task Manager for example. So, I updated to 64 bit Windows 7. One of the main reasons I did this was because the local computer store guys said this would help immensely with that problem. Once updating, I have seen a difference in the performance of my system. I had a lot of lagging going on previously with programs such as iTunes or even Chrome. The lags have stopped.

However, I am still seeing quite a bit of CPU usage around 60-100% on multimedia type programs and ram staying around 25-30% usage. Now the way he explained it to me was that with the 64 bits, it would hit RAM first and then CPU.

So this is where I need some training...

Was this information backwards or was he correct?

Should the amount of CPU usage be that high or is that pretty normal?

Finally another CPU related question is this, If I wanted to upgrade the CPU to a better CPU that could handle media files a little better, how would I know what to get? Is there a website that can make recommendations for my MB?

Thanks for all of your help.

Well, TBH that is a fairly old CPU by now, so its sort of expected(?) to run a bit slow on today's applications. About the usage, try to not have as much background processes, it will help. If you're only using a single app that needs the processor attention, you can always download "Gamebooster" as it closes the unnecessary background applications, and maybe boost your performance on the current app a little bit.

 

[payturr]

Well, TBH that is a fairly old CPU by now, so its sort of expected(?) to run a bit slow on today's applications. About the usage, try to not have as much background processes, it will help. If you're only using a single app that needs the processor attention, you can always download "Gamebooster" as it closes the unnecessary background applications, and maybe boost your performance on the current app a little bit.

In my opinion, gamebooster is kinda garbage, and I'm using a Pentium 4 and it still runs very fast, most likely he just needs to dust out everything inside, put on new thermal paste, maybe defrag his hard drive, stuff like that.

 

[traylor1]

64 bit helps if your CPU + hardware support it, because it allows data to move better. The CPU manages processes, RAM just holds application information.
You probably just needed to dust your heatsink fan, that probably would help A LOT in usage. Then again, it is an older processor.
If you were to buy a new CPU, you have to see which ones have a better architecture, clockspeeds, features, support, and then when you select your CPU you have to select a motherboard that supports it with the needed features you want (SATA 3, PCI-e 3.0, etc) - buy them from big name manufacturers like MSI, ASUS, ASrock and Gigabyte.

So, how do I know what a good processor is? I keep the inside pretty clean, so I know the dusting/defragmenting, etc. is not a major thing. I don't want a speed demon, but I would like something that would help me to rip my church DVD's for editing a little faster and then again process the converted files a little faster. I would also like to be able to run Photoshop and iTunes without iTunes lagging.

I feel that for the majority of what I use it for, this machine is good, I would just like to improve it if I can.

 

[traylor1]

Well, TBH that is a fairly old CPU by now, so its sort of expected(?) to run a bit slow on today's applications. About the usage, try to not have as much background processes, it will help. If you're only using a single app that needs the processor attention, you can always download "Gamebooster" as it closes the unnecessary background applications, and maybe boost your performance on the current app a little bit.

Trying the gamebooster right now, but not seeing much difference. Thanks for the suggestion though.

 

[miggtt699]

Trying the gamebooster right now, but not seeing much difference. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Does your processor have any kind of throttling technology? If it does, it might be what payturr is saying, maybe your processor is hitting a higher temperature and its throttling down it's core clock, resulting on bad performance.

 

[traylor1]

Does your processor have any kind of throttling technology? If it does, it might be what payturr is saying, maybe your processor is hitting a higher temperature and its throttling down it's core clock, resulting on bad performance.

I thought I had responded to this already and I don't see my response, so here it is again. I am not sure if there is any throttling technology on this. This was a machine my Dad built and I don't have any of the documentation on it. That is part of the reason I am so lost on this. How would I be able to find out if it has any sort of throttling tech?