[SOLVED] Improving PC performance

[dnupokerface]

Hi,

I've been using an Optiplex 790 SFF, which I upgraded with 8gb ram and 500 GB SSD, as my home studio PC and it's worked well for me. However lately I've been using more applications that are cpu intensive and I've been having some stability issues. So I added more RAM and it's up to 16 GB. This helped with speed some, but it also introduced glitches. Things like keyboard shortcuts will randomly not work, and the weirdest was yesterday when PC time jumped an hour by itself. I'm going to have to get a whole new PC, but I was hoping I could extend the life of this one for a bit as my cash flow is not great at the moment. I looked into upgrading graphics card and there's a lot of restrictions because the 790 is an office PC. Also I'm not even sure if that would help performance. Are there any other upgrades that I can do? Is it even worth it for this unit?

Extra info: I swapped out different combinations of sizes and brands of ram, but it seems the glitches only pop up when it's loaded 16gb is installed. Also I'm using an older tascam us 1641 audio interface, but I don't perceive any problems with it.

Thank you friend in advance for your help

 

[Grobe]

You should test integrity of ram. There might be an issue with one or more of your ram modules.

To check for RAM, you should use Memtest86+. Make an bootable media (cd or usb stick) and boot up your computer with that.

 

[Fix_that_Glitch]

Daylights savings time just occurred in the U.S. so that would account for the hour change. If you mixed the ram, meaning they were all not bought in same package at the same time, that could cause problems. Are they all the same model, speed, and same timings?

 

[dnupokerface]

Daylights savings time just occurred in the U.S. so that would account for the hour change. If you mixed the ram, meaning they were all not bought in same package at the same time, that could cause problems. Are they all the same model, speed, and same timings?

Hi. They were all bought at the same time with the exact same specs.

 

[dnupokerface]

You should test integrity of ram. There might be an issue with one or more of your ram modules.

To check for RAM, you should use Memtest86+. Make an bootable media (cd or usb stick) and boot up your computer with that.

Thank you. I will try this. Need to buy a flash drive, I thought it would work with an external HDD.

 

[M3rKn]

Windows has a built in Memory Diagnostic. Type "windows memory diagnostic" into search (assuming you have windows 10, if not google memory diagnostic for your version of windows.) You should get a pop-up. Click "restart now and check for problems." it takes about 30 minutes and after that you should get a report when windows reboots. If you don't get a report at reboot, go to "event viewer," then "windows logs," then "system" and the memory test should be saved there.