Older PC Problems

Hi i've noticed that my PC is running quite slow with SL i was just wondering if anyone could give me some tips or ideas of how too speed it. My specs are as follows:-

CPU: AMD Athlon (Thunderbird core) (1410 MHz)
Memory: 512 MB
OS Version: Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
Graphics Card Vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
Graphics Card: GeForce3/AGP/3DNOW!
OpenGL Version: 1.5.7
LLMozLib Version: 1.1.0 (Mozilla GRE:1.8.0.12_0000000000)
Packets Lost: 1107/5406 (20.5%)
Viewer Digest: 41ccb983-6e44-d29b-d1ea-1bf18862d0a9

Would appriciate any help at all.

Thnx very much

You need another 1000-1500 Mb of RAM. Windows XP takes up most of the 512 you currently have.

mmmmm so ur saying i need to upgrade my pc, i'm not really sure if my pc is updateable and i cant afford to buy a new PC at the moment. Is there anything else u can suggest?

You might have programs loading at startup that are bogging the system down.

You might be about to run out of hard drive space. If so free up some space.

Once you get some free space on your hard drive, defrag it.

In SL lower your draw distance as low as you can stand. Set the detail level on trees as low as it will go. Set the detail level on flexiprims as low as you can stand.

If you are using high prim hair or other attachments, stop doing that.

Fiddle with the network settings for maximum bandwidth and cache size. Tey them both at different values and see if you can tell if one combination of settings works better than another.

Possibly your computer has some settings for the video that could be changed, like it might have the anti-aliasing turned on, which makes things look better but slows the video down. Check that such video settings are set in a reasonable way, i.e. , towards the performance end of things rather than towards the quality end of things.

What brand and model is your computer?

RAM is the easiest and cheapest upgrade to make. I don't see any reason why your machine wouldn't be upgradeable.

Only things I could see stopping a RAM upgrade:

1. No room. All 2 (most likely) slots would each have a 256Mb stick in them. If not then Good!

2. RAM-BUS RAM, a.k.a. RDRAM. A failed attempt by Intel to create a new type of memory. Expensive RAM- if you can still find it. Usually had to be installed in pairs.

If it's case #1 then just replace the 2 with 512's, No?

Yep! You got it!

Just check with the manufacturor- some of these older systems seemed to have a "limit" to how much memory they could handle. Even if the OS could handle 4 GB, the motherboard might only recognize 2.

yes my PC has two slots with two 256mb Ram in them, the PC i'm not sure where it was made, it's custom built i bought it off a friend. So should i maybe take it too a PC shop and ask them?

see how many proccesses you have running ..i make sure i only have about 30 running before i start SL..
just make sure you don't shut anything off you need..
there are plenty of windows xp tweak sites..look for one that tells you how to turn off the system proccesses that you don't need..it takes some time but your system will run much better and sl won't be nearly as bad..

i had a greast site for it called black dragons windows xp tweaks or something like that..if i can find the link i will post it in here..i need it myself for a few other things..

30 I don't think I have that many all together, and I get it down to 14 I think before I start SL.

I have a Dell Dimension 8250, with 512 mbs of RAM, currently. To upgrade that to just 1 GB is very expensive. (Dell evidently put memory in this particular model that you just can't buy cheaply, no matter where you look) My husband and I figured it out, and to go to 2 GB (which is what I wnt) and a new graphics card, well, it's actually cheaper for me to go ahead and buy a new computer, which I'm planning to do sometime within the next few months. Besides, my PC is 5 years old, and there doesn't seem much sense in spending over $600 for more memory and a better graphics card when I could get a whole new system for a little over $800 with 3 GBs of RAM. A little over $600 for 2 GBs.

You can go to this website and let it scan your system to see what kind of ram it uses and see what the maximun amount of ram is.


http://www.crucial.com/index.aspx?gclid=cnts79ph2pecfq06awodrhv9fa#


If you've uninstalled any programs you don't need and done a Defrag of your hard drive, and if your Virus scanner/Spyware killer is up to date, make sure their is no spyware/virus on the system.

Another thing you can do is run chkdsk. >>>right clik C drive and choose tools and error checking...check boxes to repair if their are problems>>>then tell it yes to do it on next reboot---this is incase there is some corruption on the hard drive.

it all depends on your system and the things you have to have running..the minimum i can go without threat is around 29 to 30..everyones configuration is different to thier needs..


Serina, here is that website i was speaking about..it looks like a cheap site but it is an older site that works great for just about every tweak you would need for xp..i used to play on the Unreal tournament circuts awhile back so we had to have every bit of our system running the best they could be..i used this site all the time and it still gets updated ..i hope this helps

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/supertweaks.htm

thnx for all your help, i'll look into getting some Ram and i'm going to try removing some of the Processes like you suggested Ceka Cianci, again thnx for all your help

Was Intel's attempt to mainstream a higher bandwidth memory type that still exists today. RDRAM was only used on Intel CPU systems.

Adding more memory is the first thing you should do, but with only 2 slots you'll need to replace the ones you have with higher capacity ones. Should be PC-133 SDRAM, 168 pin, 3.3volts, unbuffered. This is an old memory type and may be hard to find, and might be more expensive than it should be due to it's not really being produced any more. Newegg and Staples both have them online.. if you're Euro/UK, check the big pc parts distributor you guys have (can't remember the names).

Second upgrade option should be the video card.
The good news is thats an AGP graphics system, so you can still upgrade as high as a GeForce 6 series video card (6600 & 6800 series) and I believe there's also some ATI Radeons (x600,x800,x????) that will be a nice upgrade.

Unfortunately, there are no more upgrades for your processor... you have the fastest one ever made for the socket it fits in.
The AMD T-bird 1400 processor is a hot little sucker.. make sure you clean the dust from the heatsinc and fan on this regularily! Too much dust = not enough heat transfer = CPU overheats and goes pop. First hand experience.. yes

I just opened my PC to have a look inside, i'm not sure but i think i may have 4 Memory slots inside is this possible?

yes..
the 4 slots on the front of this motherboard are the memory slots..the slots to the top left are for your cards like sound card .vidio card modem and things like that..most memory slots have tiny little handles on each side so you can lock in the chips..the two slots closer to the front of the motherboard are for your ide drives which are your hard drive or dvd player and things like that..hope this helps

Thanx very much it does and yes all 4 of the slots have little locks on them so they must be for memory, i've also noticed though i a place i just got a job it makes my PC Lag terrible the Place is called Sidhe when something lags does that mean anything about Ram or my Graphics Card?.

I once had a machine with that processor and from what I can remember, it uses PC100 RAM, and it most likely will not support more than 1GB of RAM (two 512MB sticks). Getting more RAM is a good place to start, but you may also want to upgrade the video card if its in your budget. At the low end, try for at least a Nvidia GeForce 6200 card. Avoid anything with the suffix LE.

Edit: If there are 4 slots on the motherboard, the most you RAM you can get is 2GB. PC100 modules (If I remember correctly) max out at 512MB.

Hi Serina,

Regarding the processes; while in Windows, do Ctrl-Alt-D once, and you'll pull up the Windows Task manager. Click the Processes tab, and then 'User Name.' Look for the stuff under user "Owner." Disable all the stuff like iTunesHelper.exe, GoogleToolbar, Skype, etc. Do NOT disable taskmgr.exe or explorer.exe!

LOL!! I have 52 running

Thats without anything else. Add on Photoshop, GIMP, Poser, SL.... yea, I have a kick-ass system.

I can hardly wait for income tax returns! Gonna add more RAM and 1 or 2 Terabyte hard drives. Or maybe dual 8800s? Not sure yet. But my fiancee will be getting Windows XP Pro. She's been running Windows 2000 for quite a while. Time for her to get an upgrade.

Serina: If you're in the USA, try Newegg.com for parts. I have yet to be disappointed with them. There's also Tigerdirect, but they tend to be a bit higher priced.

Also, a quick Google of "Windows Processes" turns up some helpful sites.

Ctrl-Shift-ESC, actually

Actually, once SL is running you can shut down explorer.exe. (windows explorer)

DOH I must have been thinking of something else while I was typing.