iMac performance recently started to suck
Sep 13, 2010 | 07:14 PM
#1
Thread Starter
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Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,255
From: Texas
iMac performance recently started to suck
Recently, my iMac performance started to suck. Not sure what changed that triggered this, but there has been a noticeable performance drop that requires me to restart the system every day or two. It reminds me of the performance issues I used to have on Windows machines when the RAM wasn't sufficient.
If I open Safari with 4 or 5 tabs, Firefox with 4 or 5 tabs, and Mail, then watch some streaming video, the system slows down to a crawl, with the beach ball constantly spinning. Is this likely a memory issue? I currently have 4GB.
Running Version 10.6.4.
Would upgrading to 8GB be beneficial?
If I open Safari with 4 or 5 tabs, Firefox with 4 or 5 tabs, and Mail, then watch some streaming video, the system slows down to a crawl, with the beach ball constantly spinning. Is this likely a memory issue? I currently have 4GB.
Running Version 10.6.4.
Would upgrading to 8GB be beneficial?
Sep 13, 2010 | 07:30 PM
#2
Because I said so.
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,976
From: Seattle area
That could be the problem or your logicboard is gonna be toast... my iMac started having issues with performance until it completely stopped working (new logicboard was $620 just for the part)... I stopped using a Mac just because if something goes wrong out of warranty, it costs almost the same as buying a new one to fix it. No thanks.
Sep 13, 2010 | 07:34 PM
#3
TEAMSPEED.COM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 4,457
From: Pittsburgh, PA
Stupid question, do you turn it off/put it to sleep at night? If so, various maintenance scripts, some of which may have a profound effect on performance, wouldn't be running. I figure we'll start simple before getting you freaked out over logic boards 
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Sep 13, 2010 | 07:39 PM
#5
TEAMSPEED.COM
Joined: Aug 2007
Posts: 4,457
From: Pittsburgh, PA
That's ok . I mean, if you turn it off religiously, the scripts won't be able to run (though you can do 'em manually through the terminal).
. I mean, if you turn it off religiously, the scripts won't be able to run (though you can do 'em manually through the terminal). 
Sep 13, 2010 | 10:33 PM
#7
Banned
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,264
As it happens, there's a thread for this.
If all of the above doesn't fix it, it's probably a hardware issue, and if it is it's almost certainly the hard drive. They go, that's life.
Logic boards and memory rarely if ever release the magic smoke. I can count the ones I've seen over the years on one hand with fingers left over.
If all of the above doesn't fix it, it's probably a hardware issue, and if it is it's almost certainly the hard drive. They go, that's life.
Logic boards and memory rarely if ever release the magic smoke. I can count the ones I've seen over the years on one hand with fingers left over.
Sep 13, 2010 | 10:41 PM
#8
Banned
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,264
The best method for system health is to never let it shut off or sleep, but to have your hard drives sleep after a given time. I use 1 hour. That way all the periodic scripts run when they like, software update runs when it likes, etc.
Sep 13, 2010 | 11:08 PM
#10
Because I said so.
Joined: May 2008
Posts: 1,976
From: Seattle area
As it happens, there's a thread for this.
If all of the above doesn't fix it, it's probably a hardware issue, and if it is it's almost certainly the hard drive. They go, that's life.
Logic boards and memory rarely if ever release the magic smoke. I can count the ones I've seen over the years on one hand with fingers left over.
If all of the above doesn't fix it, it's probably a hardware issue, and if it is it's almost certainly the hard drive. They go, that's life.
Logic boards and memory rarely if ever release the magic smoke. I can count the ones I've seen over the years on one hand with fingers left over.
