Speed up the old Desktop?

Concordedly

Concordedly

New Member
My system is a Dell Dimension Desktop 2350 and here are my specs:

CPU: 2.9 GHZ Intel Pentium 4
RAM: 1 GB PC2100 DDR SDRAM (2x512MB -- Maxed out)
HDD: 160 GB - I don't know what kind but IDE obviously.
Video: Integrated Intel 3D Extreme Graphics -- 64MB(fail)
Audio: Integrated Audio
Net: Netgear WN111 v2 Wirless USB Adapter
PCI: 3 - 33 MHZ Slots - All open
Media: DVD-ROM Drive, CD RW+ drive (Soon to have a DVD-RW+ from Sedah :D)

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Now, I have decided that I'm not going to build a intermediate build, but I'm going to save money up and buy the best build I possibly can. This being said, I need to make my current system as efficient and powerful as I can. I am running a 32-bit XP OS modified to look/feel like Win7 but I have access to several OS discs.

What I want is some tips/steps to optimize my PC for video performance. All I do is play WoW and surf the net. This wasn't such a bad system back in the day, but it seems like it's just getting slower and slower (or the computers I use at work are just faster and faster :P).

Please assist. I have considered purchasing a PCI video card that may be compatible with my new build? I don't really know. Just open to feedback and suggestions.
 
First thing, get rid of whatever this is: "modified to look/feel like Win7".

Next, click on the link in my Signature "Slow Windows?"
 
well it is pretty slow, acceptable processors now are effectively twice as fast as that one being dual core mininimum. 2gb of ram should be minimum anyone has nowadays for basic computer use, but you said you cant put anymore in. Audio doesnt matter, sure better audio component will have better sound but any audio at all is still plenty usuable. It looks like the socket 478 Pentium 4 CPU's go up to 3.4 ghz, but the documenation says your motherboard only supports up to the P4 2.5 ghz. Maybe the documentation came out before the P4's went past 2.5 ghz. I would guess that you could upgrade to the P4 3.4 ghz processor but it wont make that much of a different going from 2.9 single core to 3.4 single core. The highest priced PCI video card on newegg.com is $190, but I saw some with 256mb video memory for less then $50. I'm not sure how your computers 33mhz PCI bus speed is gonna affect that.
 
I admit that I dabbled in the world of modified OS's but I never felt bad for doing such since I have actual OS discs. And so that's where the 'modified look/feel 7' comes in. I was thinking about completely starting over, just using good old Windows XP Professional Edition SP2. Do you think, with my specs that a video card would be a decent investment? I don't need anything super fancy, but clearly 64mb of Vid memory is just not enough for WoW. I can only play on really low settings and 800X600 otherwise I get as little as 3fps or worse.

Thanks for the feedback so far. I really appreciate it.
 
Excuse my ignorance, but the list items all mention 64-bit DDR PCI Video Cards.. These will work on my 32-bit system? Also, I notice everyone warns about the PSU's a system has. Is there a way to tell if any of these will cause an issue for the stock PSU on the Desktop?
 
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I have a 448bit graphics card in my machine.

Has nothing to do with your system or OS.
That number represents the size of the memory interface on the graphics card itself.

Pick out a card and we'll go from there. Power requirements vary drastically between series and brand, but I wouldn't worry too much as PCI cards are lower spec and shouldn't need much power.

I have yet to see one that needs an external power plug from the PSU.
 
Thanks for the response yet again Bodaggit. I appreciate it. I'm going to buy a
EVGA 512-P1-N402-LR GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI 2.1 Video Card - Retail

And I also purchased Sahed's Pioneer DVD-RW+ so I've got some goodies to work on this weekend. Thanks for your help.
 
Concordedly said:
I'm going to buy a
EVGA 512-P1-N402-LR GeForce 6200 512MB 64-bit DDR2 PCI 2.1 Video Card - Retail

And I also purchased Sahed's Pioneer DVD-RW+ so I've got some goodies to work on this weekend. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...

Let us know how it goes. :good:
 
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