How to best improve performance on my computer?

Question

Hey. Ny computer is great for day-to-day activities. However, if I want to play modern games, I'm usually forced to play on the lowest graphical settings if I want to get (what I consider) acceptable frame rates. For example, I can only achieve 40 FPS+ in Starcraft II if I have nearly single thing on the lowest settings. Here are my computer specs:

Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP3)
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU
E8500 @ 3.16GHz
3.17GHz, 3.25 GB of RAM

NVIDIA GeForce 9300/ nForce 730i

(feel free to tell me if I am missing any important information)

I would like to at least improve upon what I have right now. What can I do to improve performance (hardware, software or Windows settings)? From there, what would be the most cost-effective purchase?

Answer 1

Simple - you need a real video card, not an integrated one, for good gaming. Your CPU and RAM are fine for all but the most demanding games.



The best graphic card you can insert into that system is whatever fits your case, wallet and power supply. Higher end cards require more current than stock 300W power supplies can deliver.



A Radeon HD 5570 video card will fit nearly any PC with a PCI Express x16 expansion slot, won't require a power supply upgrade, and is the recommended graphic level for SC2.

$80 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127481



If you want a video card that can run the most demanding modern games, you're looking at a GeForce GTX 460 or Radeon HD 6850 and a new 550+W power supply for ~ $300

Answer 2

your base it pretty good. I checked your video card and it only has 256 MB of ram this is why your getting such a low frame rate. You card can't keep up with the game. The Recommended requirements for Starcraft II is a video card over 512 MB of video ram. This is different from system ram. So I would recommend a video card with 1 GB of video memory because this will cover many games and will show them is stunning picture. Any gaming card that is good will cost around 80 $ so I found this one for you

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102851&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-Sapphire+Tech-_-14102851



This will get your games looking life like. By the way close any other application while playing games this will give you the best performance. Happy gaming

Answer 3

everything but the Ge Force 9300 is up to par so you may need a new graphic card





a gtx 460 would be overkill and make the CPU the bottleneck of his computer



yes you need a graphics card with at least 512 MB of ram and at least 128 bit interface

Answer 4

Everything rhyled said, except the gtx 460 you could find for 180-220, nowhere near $300 lol, and hd 6850 which beats the 768mb and 1gb version of the gtx 460 you can fidn for $185 at newegg.

Answer 5

Well, I could suggest a new videocard but with that being said, your videocard would only be as good as the CPU. All I can suggest is upgrading the video card and in time look into updating the CPU to squeeze more juice out of the card.

Answer 6

If it quite is a computer workstation, you would be able to desire to consistently only purchase a extra robust high quality exhibit to advance high quality. The overall performance concerns concerning to the situation of your hard-power. There, i assume you would be able to desire to attempt to interchange your hard-power yet i think of this is fairly costly (or you would be able to desire to purchase a sparkling workstation). in case you're conversing approximately information superhighway velocity nevertheless, this is all approximately your connection and information superhighway source. desire this enables

Answer 7

Make sure you don't have any apps that launch on startup. If they do, then get rid of them!

Replace GPU - a GTX460 is a reasonable mix of price/performance - most decent new cards will be enough.

Answer 8

change your video card to a

ATI Radeon HD 6870