2007-09-25 17:45:13 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Add-ons
Things to do:
1. Double your RAM.
2. Disable unnecessary startups in msconfig, especially those that tend to use a lot of RAM.
3. Lower your resolution and/or game quality settings.
2007-09-25 18:00:50 · answer #1 · answered by Karz 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The memory is only half of it. Your processor is the really important part if you want speed. And they're a bit more complicated to upgrade than RAM. It's hard for me to advise you with just that much information-- go to Start>Run> Type:dxdiag. This will bring up a bunch of hardware specs that people will ask you for. Here's what I can tell you.
Your GPU is the primary factor for GFX card speed. If it's nVidia, I'd suggest having around a geForce 6600 or higher for decent render speed on modern games. If its Radeon, the equivalent is around 1300 (I think-- not certain about that). Your CPU is also important. Find out stuff about your mobo. If it's a socket 478 (celeron, pentium 4) mobo, that's last generation, and even with the best processor you can drop in there it won't be able to hand much more than games after 2005 or 6. If it's 775 (pentium D, celeron D, Core Duos), it's newer-- your processor is probably pretty good for modern games if you bought at a computer electronics store or online (better if someone custom built it). My suggestion? Find a computer geek who can do some hands on help-- there's only so much to do online. Hope this helps you out.
If not, add a note-- I'll check back, because I don't think this will really resolve your issue without some of your computer's info.
As for the answer above me-- msconfig is a REALLY helpful trick. Just make sure you know how to come up under safe mode in the remote chance that killing one of the processes messes you up. Again, saving processor time is key. Get some spyware cleaner software (Search and Destroy is good) and check to make sure you don't have invisible scans running in your background (ctrl+alt+delete will show all your open processes, and check out any ones using a lot of CPU time, but not SystemIdleProcess, because that's just your free CPU time, one a good idle computer it will hover around 99%).
Oh, and lastly, if you're using Vista, talk to a geek about the benefits of rolling back to XP or installing a second partition for it.
2007-09-26 01:04:45 · answer #2 · answered by Hyren 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If your graphics card is the one that plugs into the PCI slot yank it out and put a AGP Video card in.
The PCI video card is only as good as you secondary bridge on the motherboard and will not really perform better and may be worse than the onboard grahics.
Get the Video card that plugs into the AGP slot. The AGP is the different looking slot(s) toward the top. The advantage of the AGP Video card is it doesn't have to go through the smaller secondary host controller to communicate but just goes through the larger primary host controller before it accesses the memory and processor. The PCI Video card has to go through the smaller secondary host controller and the larger host controller before it accesses the memory and processor.
The smaller host controller also is what communicates with the hard drive and sound card and plug-ins in the back of the computer including the printer, scanner, usb devices, power management, etc. It really already has a load on it.
The AGP Video card will more than likely be more expensive but I think you will be disappointed with the PCI Video card. I was. In fact I think I have two of them I don't have any need for. They are stored in a box.
I will get the AGP Video card next no matter the cost.
2007-09-29 20:42:30 · answer #3 · answered by Tina 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
do u mean when playing games or just regular use try putting a antivirus program in it i suggest panda 2007 or panda 2008 or avast 4 just google it and its free for 60 days but it sounds like u need more ram upgrade to 1gb or 2gb cause xp is stander on 512mb itts not much memory for xp
2007-09-26 00:49:40 · answer #4 · answered by jrocks_420_69 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
if your talking about online gamming, it could be your connection to the specific server.
Also 512 isnt alot of ram, but it should be good enough depending on the type of ram.
2007-09-26 00:53:30 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, you get lags while open what porgram??? if you play game and feel lagging, it's very likely that you need more ram.
2007-09-26 00:52:34 · answer #6 · answered by falconsport 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋