Computer dying? Can't afford a new one yet

[HolyNoz]

I got the same cpu like you
i run on iminmal addons and i have reduced graphics
my pc also came with this graphics card, its crap in my opinion.
I switched to a sapphire radeon 3600 a year ago or so, the card is outdated but cheap but a brand new card is a waste and wont maybe even run on yout pc.

Luckyly I just bought a new one and I'm just waiting for it to arrive

so tipps :
change graphics card
disable virus protection while playing
disable all other programs while playing

get the ccleaner
http://www.ccleaner.com/
its freeware run it and check for unnecesesary programs in your autostart

defragment your drive

you can try to increase process priority ow wow

hm ...

but I realy would recomend switching pc, amd is cheap ! intel is iluminati !
only buy a graphics card if you are 100% sure you are not updating your system in the next 12 month or so or its a complete waste of your money,
but even then Its no guarantee your pc will be able to survive the next addon or wow patch .

[Nixia]

Another 2 gigs of ram? XP can only use 2gigs or am i misinformed?

Aye, there's no point in getting more RAM if you're on XP. Only 64-bits Vista and/or Windows 7 benefit from larger amounts of RAM. (32-bits OSes cap at some weird point. Can't quite recall exact numbers.)

A 32 bit operating system can handle up to 4 gigs of ram but both the graphic card and the processor have built in memory that will count towards the cap, so most computers with a 32 bit OS and a decent graphic card can't handle more that 3 gigs of ram.

[Shmiles]

I'll try the latency fix for sure.
I cleaned out everything in my pc as i noticed it was running a little hot, its fine now though.
Just checked my config.wtf and there's nothing in there about directx, where should that be?
I'm running AVG Antivirus, either i'm not going to dodgy sites, or it never seems to pick up anything.
Not running anything in background while i'm raiding. WoW and Ventrilo and that's it!

[Kharay1977]

Yes latency, this will make higher costs for your cpu.

From the site:

Are there any down sides to running Leatrix Latency Fix?
Your PC will process acknowledgements faster so it will have to work a bit harder. This may produce a small drop in framerates.

Well, truth be told... worst case scenario, a VERY minor drop in framerates. Like, a 0.01 drop, if that. Thing is, it's not some complex set of calculations that needs to be done for the ACK. Takes a few clock cycles at best. It's really nothing.

However, you do have a good point for another reason - latency has nothing to do with FPS.

[Warxen]

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en

Get lastest Directx there.

[Nixia]

Do you have high latency or low framerate?
Latency is affected by your internet connection while low fps is caused by a crappy computer ^^.

[Nikiforos]

Got a Pentium 4 @ 3 Ghz., 3 GB RAM, GPU ATI HD 3850 AGP...
Very good at 10m, struggling a bit at 25 man, but its ok when we do not all just nuking one target from sec 1 or AOEing onyxia whelps.. With your CPU u should not have any problems m8, u can just buy 1-2 more GB of ram (anything needed to run at dual channel), and perhaps a better GPU.. If u got a good mobo try OC just a bit.. i OC at 3.3Ghz and got no problems..

[Shmiles]

Latency is on par for Aussie servers, normally between 200-400, so its just my computer.

[HolyNoz]

Got a Pentium 4 @ 3 Ghz., 3 GB RAM, GPU ATI HD 3850 AGP...
Very good at 10m, struggling a bit at 25 man, but its ok when we do not all just nuking one target from sec 1 or AOEing onyxia whelps.. With your CPU u should not have any problems m8, u can just buy 1-2 more GB of ram (anything needed to run at dual channel), and perhaps a better GPU.. If u got a good mobo try OC just a bit.. i OC at 3.3Ghz and got no problems..

wow does not make much use of multiple cores.
wow performance realy depends on the single Ghz of every core.

so 1.8 Ghz is really low.
buying a 64bit operating system (if you mmhm buy it) is also expensive and instead of buying a new operating system and graphicscard just invest in a new lower buget PC.

before buying more ram make sure your motherboard even supports that.

you said that your system is running hot and not so stable so I suggest NOT to overclock or you perhaps kill it.

ah and the latency thing tipp wont effect your framerate...

[Shmiles]

I've reduced the amount of clutter in the background, ran a few cleaners, will run a defrag while i'm sleeping as well. Hopefully all this sorts this out!
Thanks so much for your help all, really appreciate it.

[HolyNoz]

http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

use defraggler for defragmentation, I like it more then windows defrag and its free

[Belajas]

Shouldnt be your comp at all... I played with amd 3800+ singlecore, geforce 7300gt and 4gb ram until motherboard broke (i guess) a month ago... Ok, had to play on low graphics and so on but was still running 45-50 fps, dropping mostly only during massive AoE sessions...

[Deleted]

wow does not make much use of multiple cores.
wow performance realy depends on the single Ghz of every core.

so 1.8 Ghz is really low.
buying a 64bit operating system (if you mmhm buy it) is also expensive and instead of buying a new operating system and graphicscard just invest in a new lower buget PC.

before buying more ram make sure your motherboard even supports that.

you said that your system is running hot and not so stable so I suggest NOT to overclock or you perhaps kill it.

ah and the latency thing tipp wont effect your framerate...

A p4 3ghz with hyperthreading would still be horrible though, there is so much more to look at than that. Also, 64-bit OS's need to be compatible with your proc, which I guess is not the case with such an old CPU. Motherboards generally support more ram, you just have to have the free slots Or replace your probably 2x1 gig chips with 2x2 gig. 32 bit OS's can use up to 3,5gig of ram (lowest being 2.7) depending on hardware.

Also, go to start > run > msconfig and look at the tab "startup". Try and remove all programs that are not mandatory, that way they won't start at all, saving your ram. If you're not sure, don't disable it.

[zomglol]

play fullscrean if fps is bad

[HolyNoz]

If he has an "intelcore 2 duo" 64 bit operating systems should be compatible ^^
well, my motherboard for example can only handle 2 Gigs of ram ... dont ask why ... thats why I just stated this tip *G

and again a single core with very high freq. is better for wow than a dual core with low frequ. ...

what resolution do you play at ?

[Pokemaster]

Did you reinstalled windows? It may be the problem.

[misazadia]

Hey guys,
I can run 10mans fine on my current computer, and i USED to be able to run 25mans. Yes my computer is getting old and some parts are probably worn out and dont work as well as they used to. But is there anything anyone can suggest that could improve performance in 25mans without saying reduce graphics (i already have) and reducing amount of addons running (i've done that too)
Any help would be fantastic and VERY helpful to my dps in raids haha
Cheers,
Shmiles.

edit: yes my last one got locked, when others asking similar questions were not.

Do you know your way around hardware? If not... ignore what I'm about to write, as you can cock up your comp even more.

What I usually do myself once it starts coughing is opening it up and give it a good vacuum, being careful not to bump any components etc.
The most important thing being the heatsink on the CPU. You might think you're able to vacuum it while attached to the cpu... but that's not entirely true.
So, if you do know what you're doing. Remove the fan from the heat sink. If you built the thing yourself you should be able to remove the heatsink as well, just be ready to apply new paste to the thing before inserting it again.
I was amazed to see how much crap and be lodged in that heatsink even though you do a superficial cleaning now and again.

After I had vacuumed mine, the overall temperature went down in the computer and suddenly it was pulling off things I had forgotten it could do xD
Mine is an old piece of shit from 2004/05 or something like that and a mere P4 single core, but still running. Only thing I had to replace was a harddrive (too small) and at some point I got a new graphics card.

That was one thing atleast...

[Deleted]

Did you reinstalled windows? It may be the problem.

Aye, NEVER buy new stuff if you haven't entirely cleaned your computer (thus formatted!) and reinstalled everything.

[skrump]

Video and motherboard drivers are the latest available. Latest service packs available on XP installed.

Specs:
Core 2 Duo 1.86ghz
2gig ram
nvidia 9600gt

This computer used to run wow fine until about 6 months ago, and started to slow down considerably, but even still it should run on my current specs.

There is nothing wrong with that computer and it really is not that old either Computer parts generally have a very long lifespan 10+ years on just about everything other than the hard drive which lasts maybe 3 if your lucky

After a format you should be running at peak performance and by running Defragmentation and spyware removal software monthly your performance should not deteriorate (make sure it is a good spyware remover tons of really good free ones malwarebytes.com is the one I use

My guess is your running Windows Vista so should add more ram as well.

Truth is wow will run on a single core processor and any Gforce card made in the last 5 years and if your graphics settings are all the way down you will still push above 24fps in a raid.

(edit) None of the above applies if you have comcast you might as well still be on dialup

[Kuenai]

What type of internet connection do you currently have?

DSL?

Cable?

Dialup?

Sattelite?

You might want to look into this, as it's possible you can upgrade to something like cable or even fiber for more bandwidth.


Also, whatever you do, don't use a normal vaccum cleaner to clean your pc. Use a anti-static vaccum cleaner. You can order them online or pick one up at Fry's.