How can i speed up my computer?

[FlamingTeddiz]

what do u recomend for a video card. i only have a couple hundred at most. i dont want to spend over 100 but i could get it for a christmas present maybe.

 

[chrönik04]

flamingteddiz- check this. however the price (last i heard) was anywhere from $150-$180. soo..

 

[FlamingTeddiz]

ok thanks every one for the help

 

[zerozero]

I played neverwinter nights with a video card similar to your RADEON. I had an NVIDIA MX 2 with only 32 M of memory.

My system was a 750 MHz with only 256 M of RAM without any problems.

Here are a few tips.

Shut down any software resident programs running from your windows (anything in your system tray such as anti-virus etc...) this will free up some system memory.

You may try to increase your virtual memory as it may help.

In your BIOS (hit DEL on boot up to go to the BIOS window) check your video memory aperture size and make sure that it's set to 1/2 of your system memory (e.g. set to 128 M if you have 256 etc...)

Download the latest driver for your video card model

In the video card settings (right click on windows, then properties, advanced, settings) make sure that AA (anti-aliasing) is off. Some cards will offer you different options so go with the ones who will increase performance (you will lose some graphic quality)

In the game option menu, play with the game resolution. Try 1024 X 768 or 800 X 600.

Also disable some of the more graphic extensive options such as shadows etc.... again this will increase performance at the cost of some eye candy.

Hope this helps.

 

[FlamingTeddiz]

ok thanks again

 

[Apokalipse]

I like the Radeon 9600 Pro's, they can play pretty much every game available

 

[Soloman02]

another way to get rid of those programs in the tray(other than uninstalling them) is to go to the system cofiguration utillity. go to run and type msconfig then select startup. and look at the command part, i never touch anything that has .dll files or is related to windows. just stuff like realplayer, AIM, MSN, etc. i just start them up when i want them on and turn em off when i play games.

 

[Pygmy]

Radeon 9600 or Radeon 9500pro are great buys for your price range. If you want to go nvidia you can find GeForce TI 4600's for alot cheaper, but they are not as good as the other two I mentioned.

www.pricewatch.com

 

[HeddaLora]

Make sure that you defrag your hard drive, too. I prefer Diskeeper , particularly since you can let it run on automatic in the background (set-it-and-forget-it) and not think about it. If your hard drive is heavily fragmented, it can significantly affect performance.

 

[FlamingTeddiz]

i just reformated all my drives except a video drive which has all my video stuff on it which takes up about 40gb and my data drive with all my information. i reformated the other ones because i just installed windows xp. i installed the game in a clean drive. so i dont think the defragmenting is that big of a problem but i might be wrong.