I'm a noob with hardware... please bear with me...

My PC has been a total BITCH when it comes to being used for some hardcore games (DotA doesn't even count was a hardcore game, yet it lags on my fucking PC, thus, its removal)

The specs of my PC is:


Also, you guys know the part when even your mouse also lags slightly? Yeah, I get that a lot... not to mention the music I play also becomes choppy, as if someone was constantly pressing the pause/play button like a semi-automatic AK47...

What do I have to do to achieve PC-quality goodness >_<

Look here: https://www.fakku.net/viewtopic.php?t=39048

What type of processor do you have? You might be able to just get a motherboard with PCI-Express that supports your processor and buy a new graphics card, then you can start saving up for a whole new computer and keep the graphics card when you do eventually upgrade.

My Hard drive isn't bad; having a nice 240 GIG space (Got 60 Gigs of free space left for mor H-games :)... but guess what... I don't have a DVD drive... I'm still sticking to the age-old CD drive... -_-"



Intel Pentium 4...

That's some really old tech you got there..

I'll just go booth up one of my old P4 comps and count the time from boot up to internet

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4 minutes and 22 seconds



I do recommend that you get a Core2Quad (since it's now the time to say bye-bye to Core2Duo and the like). If you want a future proof high-end comp like mine, go at least for i7 (the 930 one).

Woops. Guess I forgot to tell you that my PC is also quite the fossil...

Edit:... waitaminute... there was this one time that my PC was better than this, sped-wise, despite the age-old dipshit-of-a-processor... I'm guessing it's the Video card... But, does the video card have anything to do with anything else other than the Video quality?

Dude, a DVD BURNER will cost you all of $30, so long as you've got a mobo that can connect via the SATA interface.
That P4 is indeed a pain. Scratch what I had suggested earlier, put together a cheap computer that satisfies the following criteria:
* Motherboard that uses LGA 775 socket, has integrated graphics, and at least one PCI Express slot (should be able to get one under $80)
* Depending on what mobo you go with you need serviceable memory, should cost about $30-50
* Get an Intel Core2 processor that consumes 65 watts, DO NOT go for the 95 watt models. For the sake of this discussion, let's say you get a E5400 Wolfdale, about $70.
* Your hard drive isn't bad, but you'll probably need something SATA, and hard drives with 3 or 4 times your current capacity aren't terribly expensive, you could get a 640GB Western Digital Caviar Blue for about $70.
* Find a well-reviewed power supply, since a bad one could destroy everything; spend about $50 on one.
*Find a case for about $40, make sure it matches your motherboard's form factor.
Get a graphics card down the road, it's not a necessity like some of the other things. Pay about $360 now and buy a nice $90ish graphics card later.



Some games will actually run faster on older machines when you TURN UP the graphics settings, because you're shifting the game's resources more to the graphics card than to the processor.
Some graphics cards have drivers/software that allow you to adjust the hue of your image easier/better than others, such that things you're viewing (images, movies) are closer to however they were intended to look.

You need to clean up you pc before doing anything else. You mention DotA your self, and that is a game(mod) that can practically run on anything without lagging.

I am very sure you should be able to play DotA on your current hardware without any problems, any computer will run slow if you do not take care of it

Whatever, I was throwing out ideas based on five minutes' searching, I'll post the jist of what I was getting at below, but to counter your AMD fanboyism, 5 minutes' more searching suggests the Core i5 is a good deal more power efficient than what you or I were suggesting :P

Lastly, manufacturer support ain't shit but hoes and tricks.
If parts are cheap and in good enough supply, the DIY community will be the best tech support you ever had.

So Rober, if case you are reading here's what I would do
* Upgrade the graphics card LAST. If you've survived this long without a good one, what's a little longer? Definitely get a motherboard with PCI Express, but also look into something that may have AGP alongside PCI-E (if those exist) or something with integrated graphics.
* Get parts that don't consume a lot of power. Computers can eat up more energy than refridgerators if I'm not mistaken, get a 400-ish Watt high-efficiency power supply (look for the "80 PLUS" branding) and find a processor with low wattage
* Pay close attention to the form factors of your current equipment an AGP graphics card, SCSI hard drives/dvd drives, various types of RAM, are all things you'll have to completely replace in the next couple years, pay attention to stuff you could theoretically keep (PCI Express graphics cards, SATA hard drives/dvd drives, various more recent types of RAM).
* Research shit first. Look up forum entries, reviews, blogs on parts you're interested in for reliability and ease of use. It helps a lot.

I am actually in the process of putting together a HTPC for my brother and this is what I've come up with after a few days of research.

It uses the Clarkdale core for maximum energy efficiency, and because its has an H55 chipset it can use the graphics chip thats on a core i3/i5 processor for watching 1080p movies as well as output 1080p and bitstream dolby digital dts over the HDMI out. The case is also extremely badass and has a lacquor finish with flipdown front panel memory card reader with usb, firewire, and hd audio jacks. Also has optical out for his older receiver which doesn't have hdmi support. The remote control can put the computer to sleep and wake it up as well as have all the playback functionality and menu navigation that you want. I'm not sure what OS I'm gonna put on it yet but its going to be using XBMC as the media center. And of course it has a Blu-Ray drive for movies. Also all you need to do is add 2 gigs more RAM and get a dedicated graphics card and you can do some serious gaming on it if you wanted but my brother doesn't game on computers and just wants something mainly for watching his backed-up movie collection on his hard drives over his network. It also has a USB ATSC QAM 64/256 tuner for catching the digital channels that comcast can't filter out of his cable line which is supplying his internet and I'm sure with software I can set it up to record shows.

Awesome-looking Micro ATX version
Low power, not as awesome-looking Mini ITX version (which is $80 cheaper)

I'm also wondering if there isn't a cheaper AMD alternative thats low power and has the same capabilities (graphics on processor, HDMI video out with bitstream dolby digital) which I haven't had the time to look into yet.

I don't think the original poster had any intention of buying a new computer. He wanted suggestions to increase performance.

In any case, a few suggestions

1. Download CCleaner, and run a clean up.

2. Uninstall all programs you don't use. They make your computer slower

3. Defragment your hard drive: You can do this by going to "My Computer", and clicking "Properties" on your main drive. Click on the tabs until you find it. This will take a while. Also you can download My Defrag which can do it for you.

4. Download the latest graphics drivers. http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_175.19_whql.html. Install these These are for Windows XP 32 bit

5. Go to "run" and type "msconfig". Then uncheck some things (you don't need) in the "Startup", and "Services" tabs. Use your judgment on this one, you can always change them back if you realize you need a startup process.

6. Virus/Malware/Spyware scans tend to find bugs which reduce performance. Scan your computer up.

7. (OPTIONAL) Overclock your processor, RAM, and graphics card. This may or may not be possible with your computer. You can overclock your graphics card with
Coolbits. You want to increase your Core and Memory (by a few MHz each) frequencies here. If you overclock it too much, it will cause your card to crash. This doesn't hurt it, you'll just need to restart your computer and try again.

7.1Most factory built computer's can't overclock their CPU and RAM, so don't worry about this if you can't find anything. To overclock your RAM and CPU, boot up your computer. Just before it boots into windows, it will say something like "Press (F4) for Startup". Press whatever key is required, and a really old-style blue/gray screen will appear. Then see if there are any settings which let you play with the FSB/Core/Nib frequency. If you see settings like the ones I have described, find a more detailed guide about this. It takes a lot of time and effort to overclock CPU and RAM.

Your computer is old. I still have a P4 2.2GHz, and and I understand it's really slow sometimes. Do as I suggested, and you'll probably see a noticable performance increase. However, you'll probably experience the same type of lag you always have. The only way to fix that is to upgrade, or buy a new computer altogether.

Because you replied to three specific posts, all so you could say AMD was better than Intel. Sounds like a fanboy to me. By the same coin, if you wanna call me an Intel fanboy, I won't argue (if it quacks like a duck...).



No, I don't, because I think if rober is going to buy new parts (which I suppose he isn't), he should opt for a passable quick fix computer which he could use until he has the money for something substantial, by which time all the stuff you're primping will very likely be in the "quick fix" category. I'm also pushing for energy efficiency and Intel seems to be the better of the two for whatever price pranges you're throwing out there.

I second that.. I noticed too that you (Solidus) are an AMD fanboy.

I don't know if that's the case. Last I checked, my Drive wasn't even close to being a quart full and the game was ALREADY laggy... but I'll double-check once I get the game back on my PC.



1. What's the diff with the PC's given Disk cleanup?

2. I do that...

3. I know that...

4 below. Will check later.

and everyone, no, I really have not thought of buying a new PC altogether... but I AM going so far as to buy a video card and processor if it helps.