PC Health.

[pr3ddd]

Straight to the point, how can I check and make sure my PC is healthy? I recently built it and though it seems to work great, I'd like to know why my CPU is spiking. Perhaps everything is not in such swell conditions? Another thing, how many processes is normal? I'm running 45 right now. Any help or recommendations would much appreciated.

Computer Specifications:
-OS Windows XP Professional 64-bit Version
-AMD Dual-core 3.2GHz Processor
-MSI K9N2 Diamond Series nVidia 780a Chipset
-4GB of DDR2 Corsair Dominator RAM
-500GB Seagate Hard Drive
-ASUS 9800GX2 Graphics Card
-Creative Sound Blaster Elite Pro

 

[[t..o..m]]

You can download a program call HWMonitor (Hardware monitor) which can give you your temps for cpu, gpu, hardrives, system and such, good for finding out if anything is hotter than normal.

45 processes isn't that bad (I have around 23, but thats because i don't like anything running in the background that isn't necessary) Usually if you have virus scanner, firewall, and some other programs running they will cause the cpu to spike if doing updates or scheduled scans and the like.

You could go start --> run --> type 'msconfig' --> startup and check how many startup programs you have running, disable a few which arn't necessary.

 

[QuadCore88]

With 4GB of RAM, you shouldn't need to worry about processes. For example, I'm running 74 processes and I have no problem, and I have the same amount of RAM.

 

[Luke]

^holy **** dude, 74 is a lot, you should try to bring it down to about 40, the lower the better. Also processes are called processes because the processor handles them (called back ground tasks).

pr3, spikes are normal (unless it goes from 0% to 100%) go threw add and remove and delete any un-used programs to try to cut down on processes.

 

[QuadCore88]

^holy **** dude, 74 is a lot, you should try to bring it down to about 40, the lower the better. Also processes are called processes because the processor handles them (called back ground tasks).

pr3, spikes are normal (unless it goes from 0% to 100%) go threw add and remove and delete any un-used programs to try to cut down on processes.

Seriously, as I am typing right now, running Live Messenger, listening to music, and recording a TV program, I am using 3% CPU usage. I'll admit that the guy there has a Dual-Core, not Quad-Core, but still, he can have alot more processes and not worry. Even on my old Celeron 500 which had Windows 2000, I ran 55 processes and it never ran that slow.

 

[Luke]

^more processes will slow you down, not majorly but enough. They could be explaining his spikes but it is unlikely, still he should try to remove some, as should you. Even though you have a quad it will still slow you down. At the moment i am running with 38.

 

[KSoD]

Hello,

More Processes will not slow down a machine of that caliber. I run with over 60 Process at any time and have never, EVER experienced any slowdown.

That is only a personal preference thing. That i have never seen to be proven in any way shape or form.

Cheers,
Mak

 

[Lexluethar]

You should be fine with 40 to 60 processes on that computer. I would venture to say even 70 processes he would be fine, it is a decent computer. Usually spiking is caused not by the fact that your computer can't handle the load, but that program (usually 3rd party) is eating up memory (usually when it isn't supposed to).

If it happens semi regularly I would keep task manager open, and sort by memory usage, then see which program is spiking. This will narrow your issue down to which program is eating up memory. Then you can take proper action.
That helps.

Ya for my first post!

 

[Luke]

More Processes will not slow down a machine of that caliber. I run with over 60 Process at any time and have never, EVER experienced any slowdown.

That is only a personal preference thing. That i have never seen to be proven in any way shape or form.

Cheers,
Mak

When i have a crap load (45 and up) of processes running on other computers it does slow me down a bit, but maybe it is just me.

 

[Hybrid_WinZ]

If you want to make sure that your PC Health is in real good shape
or in better shape
1. Start
2. All Program
3. Accesories
4. System Tools
5. Do Disk Cleanup
Then when thats all done make sure u check everything to clear it, it would clear up
a little space for you.
6.Then on the same steps from 1-5 click on Disk Deframegator i done know if i spelt it right because im on a mac right now but do that then when that opens click defrag* other than that I know something u can do to improve startup porfamce.

1. Start
2. Run
3. Type in msconfig press enter
4. Click on startup tag
5. Uncheck everything only on startup tag
7. Click apply
7. Close
8. Restart

When the computer reboots i think u need to uncheck or check the pop-up box when u boot up so it doesnt come up every time.

If you have any questions reply I typed this on a laptop and i need to go so i might of misspelled a few things. ok ttyl