Why does my CPU max out during simple tasks?

Question

I started playing a game that supported my pentium 4 2.8 GHz processor. The specs on the game says it requires 500 MHz to play. When I start up the game it sucks up 99% of my processor and acts as if it is only getting a fourth of what it needs. Any idea what I need to do to correct this? It does this with most of my games now. I am running XP SP2 with everything updated via Microsoft update.

Thanks
-Simba

my cpu is more than 5x as powerful as it needs to be, I have 6x the required ram (I have 770 mb), I have a 126 MB graphics card (Nvidia gforce FX 5200, the game only needs 64 mb).

any other ideas as to what the problem could be?

Answer 1

It says that is what is required but usually the specs are different for what is actually needed. Windows xp I believe says it will run with 128mb of memory but it won't, will but very slow.

Answer 2

A computer game is definitely not a simple task. If you don't have a dedicated video card, that could be the reason. Games usually do take up most of the processing power.

Answer 3

In addition to the graphics card, check if you have enough RAM. (And the virtual Memory is set up to the correct levels). Too much !/O on the disk might be slowing down performance,

Answer 4

It sounds to me like you need a new graphics card, because often times you'll find that it is a weak graphics card, and even a basic upgrade will improve performance drastically.