Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk

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  1. Posts : 12
    Windows 10 Pro x64
       #1

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk


    Hello, wondering if anyone can shed some light onto my problems. I have recently just had my computer completely wiped and upgraded from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

    Edit 1 - I was having these problems previously. Not just since I have upgraded to Windows 10.

    My CPU, memory and disk are not always nearly maxed out at the same time, but can be when running simple programs.

    When I am not doing anything on my pc I hover around 58-60% memory usage. I have 4gb of RAM.

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-memorynothing.png

    Another problem I have is with my CPU. Doing simple tasks such as opening Chrome can push my CPU to basically 20% for a short burst. Slowing everything down. Just opening up a website can sometimes push it to basically 100% CPU. I opened up Kongregate for this test and that went to 68% CPU. Youtube took it up and when opening a video that also went to 60% odd.
    I have quad core Intel Core i5 CPU. 650 @ 3.20GHz

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-cpukong.png

    Edit 2 -

    Just managed to clock my disk at 100%. Is that supposed to be normal?

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-diskfull.png
    Last edited by RyanM94; 02 Jun 2020 at 13:09.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 42,738
    Win 10 Pro (22H2) (2nd PC is 22H2)
       #2

    Hi, what is your PC please? Click 'My computers' under my post for comparison.
    Tutorials on specification available.

    About how old is is?
    Is it approved for Win 10?

    What is the maximum transfer rate for your system disk? Try copying a large file from and to the disk and observe this:
    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-1.png

    Just looked at your last screenshot and it looks as if that should be ok though, but your task manager isn't showing what's using your disk.

    However the last screenshot suggests it's busy being defragmented.
    If that's a continuing problem, try disabling the scheduled maintenance task (task scheduler) for now.

    How much free space do you have on C: ?

    Please check your disk: Download and run HD Tune v2.55 free, Health and Error scan tabs and post the results.
      My Computers


  3. Posts : 12
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    My computer is pretty old now. I think it is around 6-8 years. Yeah. No taking this ole beast back anywhere.

    Just to clarify again I had this problem while on Windows 7, I thought after wiping the system and such and having no fix, I would take the step up and upgrade to 10 and see if that did anything. But no, same as before.

    I have added some parts of my system like you have. I don't know what brand my memory I have is. If you need this I can try find it at some point.

    I have 192GB free on C.

    While running HD Tune my disk went to 100% but in the image below this time there is at least a reason for it. Whereas in my third image on my first post there doesn't appear to be anything?

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-hdtunehalfway.png

    Here is the health tab

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-hdtunehealth.png

    Error tab

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-hdtuneerror.png

    I have not cropped anything just in case you see anything on the other tabs.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 30,125
    Windows 11 Pro x64 Version 23H2
       #4

    You may wish to consider bumping memory up 8 or 12 GB. You might find the memory reasonably price.

    That or go through and see what is starting with boot and do a real prune.

    I start a lot of stuff and general hover around 5GB's in use. When my Chrome starts it also spikes my CPU. As does Firefox.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 12
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #5

    Caledon Ken said:
    You may wish to consider bumping memory up 8 or 12 GB. You might find the memory reasonably price.

    That or go through and see what is starting with boot and do a real prune.

    I start a lot of stuff and general hover around 5GB's in use. When my Chrome starts it also spikes my CPU. As does Firefox.
    So the CPU usage that I am experiencing is normal then? I didn't realise opening a couple things could whack CPU usage right up like that. I will have to re download Steam and try out a couple lower end games and see if it taxes my CPU out.

    I guess the 4 GB memory is pretty low these days? I just don't understand why it says that I am using 50% of my memory when on task manager if you add all of it up out of 4 GB it would be around 20%? Is there a way to check through the system without opening my PC to see what memory I would need to buy? I may look into bumping it up then and seeing if that does anything.
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 30,125
    Windows 11 Pro x64 Version 23H2
       #6

    Memory usage is an art.

    64 Bit Windows 10 has a minimum recommendation of 2GB.

    Head to crucial.com. They do an excellent job documenting machine.

    Since it is a desktop I would also look at an SSD for system / programs. Between the two you should see a real change.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 30,125
    Windows 11 Pro x64 Version 23H2
       #7

    It is always good to match memory as close as possible. ( I might go as far as just using new.)

    hwinfo.com and use HWinfo64 will tell you about memory you have.


    I went to crucial and looks like you can go as high as 16GB
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 12
    Windows 10 Pro x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Caledon Ken said:
    It is always good to match memory as close as possible. ( I might go as far as just using new.)

    hwinfo.com and use HWinfo64 will tell you about memory you have.


    I went to crucial and looks like you can go as high as 16GB
    Sorry to be messing about here to you and the previous person helping. I by pure chance managed to get another 2 x 4 GB of memory from my brothers previous PC. I know they aren't new either but now my PC is at 12 GB of memory. With the browser open I now am around 22%. Is that looking about right now? A lot better that.

    Nearly Maxed CPU, Memory, and Disk-12gbram.png

    If I want to go for the SSD will that website help me know which one? --- Anyway just noticed it does offer ones once I found my PC on there. Thanks for showing me that website. Does the SSD just swap over with my current one or do I need any extra items to install it?

    I will have a look and get myself a new hard drive then. When you say for system/programs do you mean make sure I have the operating system on that one? Then say games and all that too?

    From what you can tell the CPU and that seems to be all fine really?

    Edit - I ended up ordering this Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 inch 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal SSD | CT500MX500SSD1 | Crucial.com since that was one of the suggested ones and at a price I don't mind paying currently for my PC.
    Last edited by RyanM94; 02 Jun 2020 at 18:19.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 41,413
    windows 10 professional version 1607 build 14393.969 64 bit
       #9

    This scanner may be useful:

    Crucial System Scanner
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 161
    Windows 10
       #10

    The performance you get is all relative to the specs of your computer. It rarely has anything to do with what you are doing on the computer and more to do with what the computer can handle. For example, a laptop with an entry level dual core processor and 4GB of RAM will never exceed a particular performance capability. You could just happen to not do so much for a long period and time and then run something that is resource heavy and really get to see the capabilities of the computer you are using.

    FYI browsers use A LOT of resources. This is because they have to continuously keep A LOT of data in memory. All your windows, tabs, extensions, themes, settings etc these all have to be accessible by the browser at any one time and as you may know memory R/W speeds are far faster than hard drive R/W speeds. And so browsers take full advantage of this and put A LOT of data into memory. So it's not unusual to see potentially gigabytes of used memory on processes run by your browser alone. Firefox right now is using 1GB of RAM for me. If I opened several more tabs and visited websites this data has to be stored in memory too which could boost the total to 1-2GB!

    A gaming computer for example will handle lots more and this is because of the specs of the computer. You get what you pay for. It's never a case of an entry level machine having superior performance but then when it's being used it's all of a sudden crap. It's crap because, well, it's crap. It's not made for that particular job, or jobs, more specifically.

    You could add another 4GB of RAM and this in most cases if you're already starting out with 2-4GB is more than ample for most intensive tasks. That being said you may encounter a bottleneck where your CPU cannot handle processing so much stuff but the RAM might be capable of storing it in memory. One can effectively do the job whereas the other cannot. So you might just be better getting a new computer. You mentioned it's old and so that will be why.

    I always err on the side of excess when it comes to computers. I believe you should have a gaming level processor, a decent SSD, at least 8GB of RAM and a decent'ish graphics card to start off with. Because then your foundations are solid and your ceiling is high in terms of how much your computer can handle. I've had entry level gaming laptops pretty much steaming at the vents with games playing in full HD and on sub-max settings while browsers are running in the background, virtual machines etc. At one point I had two instances of GTA 5 loaded at the same time. Because it was a quad core i5 and had 20GB of RAM the laptop even though it was sweating was still lapping up the demand. Even an entry level laptop if the specs are right will tolerate lots of hard work. Again, you're starting from a positive and not a negative. And the better your computer is usually the more experimental you become and the more you try and throw at it to get the best out of it.

    So try to see your computer as having limitations. And then determine whether those limitations match or do not match your expectations and go from there. The limits are always there but it's just a case of knowing they exist before you expect so much from a computer. I always shop around for computers based on what will simply fall to bits under what circumstances and in this way you're not sucked in by glossy ads and buzz words that milk most people for their hard earned cash because they sound like they mean something great. I'm using a laptop that boasted about dual core processing power but upon doing a simple benchmarking check the processor itself is ranked among the lowest in terms of performance. In fact, processors from 5-10 years ago are better than this.

    You get what you pay for. Never leave it down to chance. You'll only get frustrated when you get to doing some real work one day and find your computer's soul decides to depart half way through whatever it is you are doing!
      My Computer


 

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