General Perfomance improvement

[Kelzúl]

So I am going on travels for two years, so there is no point in me upgrading anything else as I will be getting a whole new system when I return, Just thought i'd ask here for any help to improve the performance of my PC. I bought this PC a good few years ago, upgraded the RAM, GPU and PSU (650w).
Thanks in advanced.

Info:

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1 (6001.longhorn_rtm.080118-1840)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: KX733AA-ABU a6511.uk
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4600+ (2 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Memory: 3070MB RAM <------------------ Thats actually 4GB...
Page File: 1948MB used, 4403MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found

DISPLAY
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce GT 220
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Display Memory: 1745 MB
Dedicated Memory: 466 MB
Shared Memory: 1279 MB
Current Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll,nvwgf2um.dll,nvwgf2um.dll
Driver Version: 8.17.0012.8562 (English)
DDI Version: 10.1
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/15/2011 09:53:00, 13205312 bytes

[DeltrusDisc]

There is really no way to help that rig much, first gen Athlon dual core, NVidia GT220, 3-4GB of RAM, your best bet is to just stick it out and look forward to the upgrade, because it will be a night and day difference.

In essence though, never buy GPUs like the GT 220 for a gaming rig, they are quite simply very weak and I can assure you, you did not need to upgrade the PSU to a beefy 650 watt for something like the GT 220.

I guess your best bet is to keep your HDD defragmented and all that, the OS you're running is not friendly with home computers and the fact you have so little RAM and an arguably very weak CPU, does not help either, so really I don't have too many suggestions for you other than to just replace it asap. =|

[Kelzúl]

I wasn't expecting much! :P Just curious if there was anything to do for the next two months. And yes the GT 220 does rather suck. Thanks for the quick response

[DeltrusDisc]

I guess a good option is to not move up the monitor resolution chain until you get new parts, 1440x900 is probably a good resolution to stick at, but if you try going any higher, your rig will just be like...

"Q.Q WHY DO YOU DO THIS TO US?!!!"

[Kelzúl]

Ahaha! Yes it has done that a few times when trying to overclock my GPU. It wasn't happy!!

[DeltrusDisc]

Yeah I would not classify the GT 220 as either a gaming GPU or one that is friendly to overclocking... x_x

I can tell you though, when I went from a Vista 64 bit Gateway with an Intel E5200 dual core, 6GB of DDR2, and a GeForce 9800 GT Green Edition (PNY), to my current setup (link in my signature "what I game upon") it was a literal night and day difference and you'll likely see an even bigger improvement!

[Deleted]

Id install Windows Xp on it.

Vista 64 is a huge buggy heavy hole of an Os and even on decent computers will run rough.

[DeltrusDisc]

Yes, I would not say he should invest in XP at this point....

[ebah]

Play @ 1280 x 800 reso, everything low, multisampling 1x, dx9 + three lagfix macros and u should be able to play wow without problems!

[Emberhelm]

Play everything on low, reduce the res. a bit, and really just wait it out until you can upgrade!

Good luck mate!

[Kelzúl]

Thanks for replies guys! One question thought, what is a lagfix macro?

Play @ 1280 x 800 reso, everything low, multisampling 1x, dx9 + three lagfix macros and u should be able to play wow without problems!

Also I'm going to try run at a lower res. And one more question, if I am able to get my hands on a cheap gtx 260, should I go for it? Really not going to bother with a new CPU and I can't find anything for an AM2 socket, gets a little confusing. Cheers!