Ram makes the computer slower....

[Sigal&John]

Hi to all,
We are using Video editing software, and rendering our movies to VCD (mpeg format). The computer used to get stuck in the middle of the rendering (with short movies it worked well) and the software didn't respond. We decided to increase the Ram memory.
2 days ago, we added DDR SDRAM Kingston 512mb 333Mhz PC2700. Now we've got 2 new problems:
1. The computer works slower....
2. Rendering still gets stuck (not immidiatly like before)....

The questions are:
1. should we replace the RAM memory to faster and bigger? or,
should we get a new powerful video graphic card?
2. Why does the computer work slower with the new additional RAM?

Pentium 4 2Ghz Dell Dimension 4550.
DDR SDRAM Samsung 512mb 266Mhz PC2700.
DDR SDRAM Kingston 512mb 333Mhz PC2700.
64mb Gforce4 MX 420 AGP X4 256bit 2048X1536.
40gb ATA-100 7200 rpm.

Looking Forward for your answers. Sigal&John.

 

[Campee]

I think you neglected to mention one of the most important factors... the name of your operating system. Sometimes if you add too much memory to a system, like over 512mb, you get to the point of diminishing returns and the system actually works slower than before. This was definitely the case with earlier versions of Windows, and I've heard that it's still the case... but 1GB of RAM doesn't seem like too much, but perhaps it is. Anyways, if it's Win2K or XP, I suggest you try checking your performance logs and alerts for what the exact problem may be.. such as excessive CPU usage, memory usage, hard disk usage, etc etc. Start/settings/control panel/administrative tools/performance. Try that out.

 

[Sigal&John]

Thank you for your answer,
OS is XP, now we`re out and writing from pocket pc phone, we`ll try the perfomences and let you know.

 

[XT]

new vid card for sure. That is no good for whatching movies editing graphics etc. But the reason sometimes more ram makes the systme go slower is because it random acess meaning if u have only few bits of data it takes longer to find over a bigger surface. but it shouldn't be a problem for you up to 1.5gb is when it starts to cycle slower unless your running a server

 

[Sigal&John]

OK,
Went to Start/settings/control panel/administrative tools/performance, like you said, and there are no alerts or trace logs, BUT there is something in Counter Logs called "system overview" and it can be started or stopped. I have no idea if it is good or bad... and what am i looking for...
If it says something for you, please let me know.
Wanted to clarify that our main problem is with video editing software (Ulead Video Studio) to render (movies that we create) to VCD files. The problem is that the software freezes and deos not respond after 60% of rendering.
Thanks for the help we've got so far. looking forward for help.
Sigal and John.

 

[preet2u]

I would suggest to get another stick of the "DDR SDRAM Kingston 512mb 333Mhz PC2700" for a matching set and see if that improves the system..

I totally agree .. I think u should try that ..

Also It would help if u could mention the approx size of the file ur trying to encode n' check the free space on ur harddrive where the temp files r being created ..
If the drive does not have sufficient free scape ..it could freeze the app ..

Another suggestion .. download a trial edition of WinDVD Creator or Producer n' try encoding the same file with that .. check if it works fine then ..If so a simple reinstall of ulead might help.

 

[Inaris]

Micro hit the nail on the head.... Miss matching cause tons of issues. When doing video editing, it's go nothing to do with your graphics card. You can take a gen 1 AGP and render huge videos (pretty fast) as long as your proc and ram is fast. All of the work is in the Processor and the Ram. Ram for quick access and the processor for crunching the data.
That is why true video editing setups run with dual processor systems. It's faster.

 

[ekÆsine]

i think his problem is more obvious than that, he said he had this software problem before upgrading ram also. it is proably a incompatability with his software.

try another software like pinnalce instantcopy for dvd to SVCD conversion. else dvdx2.2 is a free software, very advanced interface though and can be difficult or not work if you use the wrong settings.

 

[Sigal&John]

Hi to all,
We agree that it might be something about the space for temp files or cpu usage.
The size of file that we are trying to render is 700mb more or less (typical avi movie).
Does anybody know how can we define the size of space for windows temp. files?

 

[Inaris]

What do you mean by:

Does anybody know how can we define the size of space for windows temp. files?

if you are asking to change the location of the Temp folder do this.
Change the path variable to point to another location.
Right click my computer then properties (windows key and pause/break) then go to advanced. Click the environment vaiables button at the bottom. Then under system variables were it says TEMP and TMP change the path to a different drive or something.

I thought your problem was something more along the lines of the Ram miss matching... but then maybe that is me...