Memory Leakage???

[Professor Brensec]

I have long 'suspected' that my PC may be suffering from what I've heard called 'Memory leak'.

I downloaded a 'Memtest86' ( www.memtest86.com )program that was recommended in another post about Memory, in the hope that I might use it to 'diagnose' at least, if there is memory leak.

I have an 800 Mhz P3 which came with 64mb of Ram.

In the beginning (two years ago) my CFS2 would run for about 1-2 hours really well at medium type settings.
I added a 128mb strip which gave me 194mb Ram.

After that, for a while, it would go all night and not even slow down a bit.
Then one day I just noticed I was back to the old, 1 or 2 hours then it slows down to a crawl (unplayable).

I have now just updated to 384mb SD Ram and it goes faster at higher settings, but still is only good for a couple of hours, then it slows right down.

I've been told this is indicative of memory leakage.
Firstly, is that so?

Secondly, I don't understand how to use this memetest program. I followed the instructions which were to hit the 'Install.exe' icon and reboot with a floppy in the drive, but there are no further instructions as to how to test.
How can I find out if I do, in fact, have this 'Memeory leak' thing.

P.S. You may have noticed I am not very computer literate, just the basics. So talk to me as if I were a six year old.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[deadnight]

It sounds to me like it's your computer getting to hot. You might want to look for a program called 'motherboard monitor' and see what your processor temperature is running at before you play the game and then after. Do some searches in google about the maximum temperature for your processor and see if the temperature is going to high. If that is the case then it's time for a new fan. I wouldn't waist money on liquid cooling for that system though.

[Professor Brensec]

It sounds to me like it's your computer getting to hot. You might want to look for a program called 'motherboard monitor' and see what your processor temperature is running at before you play the game and then after. Do some searches in google about the maximum temperature for your processor and see if the temperature is going to high. If that is the case then it's time for a new fan. I wouldn't waist money on liquid cooling for that system though.

Thanks Mate.

I know the system is not worth anything more than the extra Ram, I got for it (some of the younger blokes, still at school might not even agree it was worth that), but $80 so I can play CFS for more than 2 hrs, is worth it to me.

I'm thinking very seriously of upgrading soon anyway. I've got a good quote for my PC man to put together a good system for me. Some blokes have suggested I build it myself, but when I priced the parts through a couple of sites, it turns out he's doing it for about the same as I could do it myself.

The extra RAM seems to have made it possible for me to at least, have a couple of missions on CFS3 (in the 1 graphics setting). I couldn't do that before. It's also made a big difference to the frame rates in FS2002.
It only seems to be CFS2 that 'runs out of steam'. But I know that's more graphics and AI intensive.

Thanks for the tip. I'l have a look for the program you mentioned.

Steve  ;D

[deadnight]

Good luck to you. It's a good idea to have a nice high powered fan on the processor and at least 1 fan on each end of the case to help airflow. Have him throw some thermal grease on the processor too. That stuff can decrease temperate by about 10 degrees on average If I remember right.

cya

[Daz]

the higher the RPM on the fan the more cooler it will be...fans dont cost much so spend a good bit if you dont intend to upgrade too soon

[Ivan]

fans are nothing when your heatsink is bad...

cooling paste helps a little, as well as buying the largest capacity cooler (Coolermaster X-dream or Thermaltake Vulcano)

[Chi_San]

Um, defrag your harddrive. :p Easy one.

Use cacheman's "recover RAM now" feature. It helps a little.

Um, 130 megs of RAM being used isn't bad. You remember that Windows takes up RAM, right?

I suggest you put the maximum your motherboard will take (probably 512 megs) in there and upgrade to XP. You'll see vast improvements all over the board.

If you are using Windows 98/ME, I can guarentee I know what is happening. Bad Memeory Management. The resource stacks aren't large enough for 384 megs of RAM. Over time, the OS gets overrun and starts losing track of resources. 2000 Pro and XP have fixed those problems, pretty much completely in XP.

Don't even bother with your CPU fan. It's a premade thing, like a Compaq or HP, right? Most companies that used the PIII 800 put adequate cooling on them. Indeed, my Dell runs cool to the touch. RAM and OS, those are your two things. Get more, of both. :p

[congo]

Win ME and XP both use around 120mb of RAM if it's available, Win '98 about half that.

Acouple hours of gaming and your system is frazzled, it's normal on the puter you have.

If you install Win XP you'll need to cut your effects on windows back a bit on that system, or it'll drag a bit slower.

You still have that ol' mother in law system Brensec HEHE!  ;D

Save the money for the new one, you can't imagine the difference it will make!