My 7 year old desktop tower is running slow and want to add more RAM. How do I find out if it is going to be compatible with my motherboard ?

This worked for me http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/systemscanner

Consider getting an SSD if you haven’t got one already.

crucial is your best option

How much does it have now?

Crucial to tell you about what memory to buy, but go check prices elsewhere before buying from them 😉
Bear in mind if you running an older 32bit version of windows (7 yr old desktop..saying nothing of the “is it still supported ” question), then it’s limited to 4gb’s if ram, so adding more is a waste of money.. Unless you have, or are going to upgrade to a 64bit o/s. System properties in the control panel will tell you which you have.
SSD would be good too

OP Windows is terible for slowing down as users (unknowingly) add tons of crap programms which slows the machine down, virus checkers and “utilities which run constantly / keep checking the internet.

What machine do you have, how much RAM
What version of windows
How full is the hard drive (have you done a defrag ?)
What are you using it for ?

IME an SSD can make more difference than RAM, I think a lot of the thinking about more RAM = faster comes from the days when all disks where the same speed. If RAM is tight then an SSD helps that too as swapping to disk is much faster.

FYI just did this excerize for my BIL, 6 yr old Dell Inspiron with 4gb RAM. First thing we did is clean out bloatware (already upgraded to Win10 so no anti-viris is required), next said SSD if he wants faster startup and RAM upsize not needed. As his use is very basic, doc creation, scanning, web email and browsing the machine isn’t even using the 4gb RAM he has. The biggest difference was a 27″ screen to replace the 17″ he was using.

What he said /\ +1

If it’s seven years old it’s no surprise it’s running slow, tech moves fast. It might even be running DDR2. just open it up and look, pull out the dimm and read it. You best bet is to buy some second hand from cex or somewhere

Skids I upgraded the RAM in my wife’s 2012 Mac Book Pro from 4gb to 10gb and it may pretty much zero difference. Added SSD and that change was massive. It depends on usage etc.

Thanks for the replies so far
It’s currently got 4GB of RAM, Windows 7, 64-bit operating system, hard disc hardly anything on it as its been formatted recently

At the moment it’s only used for basic use, some web use, and some older games such as Starcraft 2.
Seems like Anti Virus software in particular slows it down.

I hesitate recommending w10 but that would allow you to skip any third party anti-virus (edit maybe w7 has that included too in which case use one of those bloatware cleaners)

Spend £ on an SSD, clone the existing drive. Never wasted money as you could reuse it if you replaced the machine.

£80 for 250gb should be enough / ample from what you say about usage.

Some of the windows bods here could help with a utility to monitor memory usage

Task manager – performance tab – resource monitor will tell you where your bottle neck is, just monitor it when you are doing your most intensive tasks. Will let you know if it’s processor, HDD, or ram you need to upgrade. Could be any or all of them. If the latter look at buying a new computer

Seems like Anti Virus software in particular slows it down.

Entirely likely. Uninstall it and let Windows take care of itself.

On windows 7? I’d want anti virus on that. Agree it a a hog though.

I went down the route of trying to incrementally update an old Win7 machine, ended up binning everything and building a new machine in the end. If the motherboard and CPU are reasonable, 8 GB RAM and Win10 should be an improvement.

seosamh77 – Member
On windows 7? I’d want anti virus on that. Agree it a a hog though.

Windows defender on Win 7.

Simple stuff, Windows 10 gave me a decent speed boost even on the upgrade though I’m not sure if that is still available

I hesitate recommending w10 but that would allow you to skip any third party anti-virus (edit maybe w7 has that included too in which case use one of those bloatware cleaners)

Unless you are dealing with seriously old bespoke hardware win 10 is about as good as it gets these days. You can check if stuff won’t run on it.
The SSD is a decent idea, but simply you can do a fresh win 10 install on the SSD and the licensing should be picked up, Then it’s a case of backing up files and wiping the original drive as a data storage one.

The big problem with an SSD is capacity, windows by default puts everything on the main drive so you need to be a bit sharper on keeping stuff moved off that etc.

As said so long as it’s a 64bit processor you will get above 4gb. If not it might be time to go for a new box.

Pretty certain you need better for w7 though. Wasn’t really till w8 where you could rely on the system?

Pretty certain you need better for w7 though. Wasn’t really till w8 where you could rely on the system?

Nope it was solid on Win 7. Used it since launch until I went Win 10 last year with zero issues.

Fair enough, I’ll defer to your memory been a long til since I had to worry about w7. Still use it in work. But security is ITs problem on that. (3rd party)

OP, ‘slow’ in what way? Slow on a PC can mean any number of things, and hence be caused by any number of bottle necks. Give us some info on what seems slow.

MSE for W7. Defender is W8+.

OP, ‘slow’ in what way? Slow on a PC can mean any number of things, and hence be caused by any number of bottle necks. Give us some info on what seems slow.

Slow in terms of loading times in general use. Especially when there is an Anti Virus installed. It doesn’t seem too slow without it, but the Anti Virus is an absolute hog. It’s just not very responsive when that is up and running. I could click on something and it often takes ages to respond.

what AV are you using? First port of call does seem to be replace that. then monitor the bottlenecks as I’ve mentioned above. Then see where you are at..