Enhancing pc performance

[StressedNeuroti]

what i mean is....

i have a pentium mmx 200mhz, 64 RAM no video card 3d accelerator and a 256 kbps connection.... its pure shit this pc

i would like to know wether is there any way or not of having a better perfomance when playing TAO from this pc.

thx

[Snarr]

I'm gonna resist my intial urge.

There is no graphics quality level control to the best of my knowledge, but do correct me if I'm wrong.

[insignifiGant]

ok...

1. You do have a video card... if You didn't have a video card... you wouldn't be able to use a Montior... and you wouldn't be able to see much, would you?

2. You could... possibly... overclock the computer... it could maybe get to say... 400 Mhz or so...

3. Add more RAM... this is the number one way to make your computer run better... cheap, and it helps oh-so-much. Um... 128 MB might be enough... and I wouldn't buy too much RAM for a pos box like that...

4. Eat some cheese... this improves everything... just do it, you will be pleasantly surprised.

[drakonfire]

uhhh overclocking it that much might pose a slight problem, more RAM would be a surefire way to improve ur entire PC performance... but my number 1 suggestion would be go get urself a cheap Dell for 500 bux

[insignifiGant]

You're right... just take a sledge hammer to that thing... it will be the most entertainment it will ever bring... to anyone... ever... end of message.

[Johnny Chimpo]

128MB of RAM in a 200MHZ box is pretty pointless, the limiting factor here is the CPU, not memory.

I would recommend a new PC. You can get a rig probably 4-5 times "better" than yours for the price of a Gameboy. In fact, buy a Gameboy it would probably outperform your machine.

[Omega_Paladin]

For the first time ever, Chimpy is right.

[Johnny Chimpo]

You know what they say about first time's for everything.

[S_K_O_F]

I wonder when will be the first time you are attracted to a girl chimpo?

[KWarrior]

Originally posted by insignifiGant
1. You do have a video card... if You didn't have a video card... you wouldn't be able to use a Montior... and you wouldn't be able to see much, would you?

You are...incorrect... His motherboard probably has integrated video. It sucks for video gaming, but it gets the job done. I doubt this even affects Flash gaming at all. Video accelerators accelerate rendered graphics, not pixel graphics (or vector, but that doesn't matter much).

Originally posted by insignifiGant
2. You could... possibly... overclock the computer... it could maybe get to say... 400 Mhz or so...

That is...impossible... He wouldn't be able to get it over 250. Overclocking is not as easy as you think. Even if he can get up to 250, his processor's going to be pretty unhappy about it.

Originally posted by insignifiGant
3. Add more RAM... this is the number one way to make your computer run better... cheap, and it helps oh-so-much. Um... 128 MB might be enough... and I wouldn't buy too much RAM for a pos box like that...

This is a good option. 128 is probably your best size too (depending on OS and your motherboard).

Originally posted by insignifiGant
4. Eat some cheese... this improves everything... just do it, you will be pleasantly surprised.

This is...superb!

Originally posted by Johnny Chimpo
128MB of RAM in a 200MHZ box is pretty pointless, the limiting factor here is the CPU, not memory.

I would recommend a new PC. You can get a rig probably 4-5 times "better" than yours for the price of a Gameboy. In fact, buy a Gameboy it would probably outperform your machine.

This is not always true. If his OS is eating up most of his memory, then he's doing hard drive virtual memory for all his other apps (including IExplorer for flash). More ram never hurts. He probably doesn't want to buy anything in the hundreds if his box is this outdated.

I recommend opening this up in FlashPlayer (instead of IEexplore's flashplayer plug in) and reducing the quality. It might speed things up a bit.

[ArcPaladinZero]

I've seen a Palm faster than that thing, seriously though, I would consider just buying a new computer, as opposed to modding your current one. If you have a few hundred to spare you could buy a machine at least 4 times that speed.

[StressedNeuroti]

Originally posted by ArcPaladinZero
I've seen a Palm faster than that thing, seriously though, I would consider just buying a new computer, as opposed to modding your current one. If you have a few hundred to spare you could buy a machine at least 4 times that speed.


not that easy here in argentina

3 pesos = 1 dollar... the original relation was 1 peso = 1 dollar

now stuff is much more expensive



btw: thx for the help... Im getting some ram with disccount from a friend :D

[Omega_Paladin]

The ram will help but if you really want more speed try using higher voltage :D Thats what helped Arc...well that was kind of a different application....

anyway, you can usually find something like a used 500 mhz PII pretty cheap....lol, try ebay...but other than the ram I don't think there is much you can do to your current rig. At some point you just have to have more to work with.

[Rogue_Wolf]

I don't understand what everybody just said, but my computer works real nice when I pet it like a kitty. *Pet* *Pet* *Computer Explodes* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ! !

-Rogue_Wolf

[plusminus]

I'm going to go against the grain and say your computer is plenty fast enough to play this game. New PCs are nice, but sometimes you just can't afford them, and I imagine if you could you would have a new one.

More RAM is always good, so that's a good start.

Flash has three levels of graphics quality, but I think TAO defaults to the lowest one if you've got a slow computer. Besides which, you can't change it unless you type in the URL to the flash file (not the html with the flash embedded) in a different window.

What OS are you using? This could affect different ways of optimizing your computer. I'm going to assume it's a Windows variant?

In your display mode, put the colours down to as low as you can stand them. Put the resolution down to 800x600, if it's not already, and remember to press F11 when the pop-up window opens so you can see the bottom of the screen. Take off any background image in favour of a boring plain colour. Close any apps running in the task bar that you don't need, and make sure there aren't loads of background processes running.

Last but certainly not least, consider other (http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/) web browsers. (http://www.opera.com/) They may or may not work better for you but it's worth a shot.

I would not recommend overclocking your computer, as the speed difference wont be tremendous, and it will reduce the lifespan of the chip.

[insignifiGant]

Originally posted by Rogue_Wolf
I don't understand what everybody just said, but my computer works real nice when I pet it like a kitty. *Pet* *Pet* *Computer Explodes* NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! ! !

-Rogue_Wolf


I think you might have petted it like a dirty old man.

[S_K_O_F]

Originally posted by KWarrior
That is...impossible... He wouldn't be able to get it over 250. Overclocking is not as easy as you think. Even if he can get up to 250, his processor's going to be pretty unhappy about it.

Actually it isn't impossible

a 200MHz pentium is easily overclocked to 250 with a slightly upgraded heat sink...getting to 300MHz could be achieved with the right airflow through the case and a high RPM fan on the heatsink

400-550 Mhz could actually be accomplished by using a water cooler...the CPU could actually survive that type of overclocking as long as a very expensive water cooler was used to dissipate the heat

now...600 -700 Mhz might possibly be achieved by using a liquid nitrogen cooler...this however is so impractical it is ridiculous to even think about

but none of this would really do a whole lot for the pc...with a 200Mhz pentium the memory (more than likely SDRAM) would not be able to send the data through the bus (which is another limiting factor) to the processor fast enough to utilize the extra boost

my only recommendation for you is this...boost your ram to 256 MB and then turn off virtual memory...I am assuming you have windows 9x...this being the case the OS actually cannot utilize more than like 320 MB and having the virtual memory turned on actually slows the machine down...if you turn it off it forces the OS to utilize every bit of RAM it has and this actually boosts the performance of the machine...

a couple years ago i had a celeron 466 mhz machine and was having problems because of low memory (128 MB) while i was running multiple programs at once...so i upgraded my memory to 320MB assuming that would fix my problem...it did a little but not what i was expecting...then i turned off virtual memory and BAM!!! my machine ran twice as fast as before...i was actually able to keep my machine running for 23 days straight before i even noticed any ill affects (i had windows 98-1st addition)

with the proper tweaking it turns out that windows 98 could actually be stable


then i upgraded to windows ME and all hell broke loose on my machine...but that is another story...i promptly put win 98 back on

[Johnny Chimpo]

Overclocking a Pentium 200MHZ would certainly not be "easy." Pentium chips that old are very unforgiving to be messed with at all. It might be "possible," but certainly not easy by any stretch of the imagination.

That said, it's pointless to discuss anyway. Overclocking a 200MHZ is like getting NOS and rims for your donkey.

[insignifiGant]

Hey Chimpo... are you a new member, or an older member with a new account?

Something seems familiar about you(Not the name...)

Oh well... you're cool enough to not get flamed by me.

*tosses Chimpo a banana*

[NeuteredHamster]

instead of turning virtual memory off, set it to 2 or 3 times your current ram.... or so it says in this book i got o.O

to change your virtual memory
right click my computer > properties > performance

and there's a little button at the bottom of the window

(this is for windows 98se so it might be a little differnt for what ever os your using)

[ArcPaladinZero]

Well personally I would keep it simple. If all you want is cheap upgrade and you're willing to spare about $40 you can get a Celeron 700 and I'm guessing you're either running PC100 or 133 for the RAM. The processor would cost you about $30 and about 64 megs more of RAM would cost you about $10. That's not to much money to part with especially for an upgrade that's going to really boast your speed.

[Johnny Chimpo]

Hey Chimpo... are you a new member, or an older member with a new account?

Definitely new, but thanks for the banana.

*retires to corner of cage for private time*

[insignifiGant]

With all these people leaving... it's good to have people like Chimpo here joining... he's cool >_<

[KWarrior]

Originally posted by S_K_O_F
Actually it isn't impossible

a 200MHz pentium is easily overclocked to 250 with a slightly upgraded heat sink...getting to 300MHz could be achieved with the right airflow through the case and a high RPM fan on the heatsink

400-550 Mhz could actually be accomplished by using a water cooler...the CPU could actually survive that type of overclocking as long as a very expensive water cooler was used to dissipate the heat

now...600 -700 Mhz might possibly be achieved by using a liquid nitrogen cooler...this however is so impractical it is ridiculous to even think about

I don't know if you are trying to make a joke or if you are just bullshitting, but you're wrong either way.

Overheating is not the only problem when you're trying to overclock something. The only two ways to increase processor clock speed are either increasing the clock multiplier or the memory bus speed.

For a Pentium 200, I am pretty sure that the multiplier is 3 and the bus speed is 66Mhz. Realistically, you can up the multiplier to a max of 3.5. Depending on his board, which probably doesn't support this, he can also up his bus speed to 75Mhz or even 83Mhz. So that's a max of 290Mhz with severe stability problems. And this is all assuming you already have the cooling under control. Since he doesn't want to spend much money anyway, getting any kind of cooling system would cost more than getting a new mobo/processor combo.

Originally posted by S_K_O_F
but none of this would really do a whole lot for the pc...with a 200Mhz pentium the memory (more than likely SDRAM) would not be able to send the data through the bus (which is another limiting factor) to the processor fast enough to utilize the extra boost

When we talk about overclocking, bus speed mismatches shouldn't be a problem to begin with. You either have the ability to increase the bus memory bus speed, which would void any problems with the memory, or you would just increase the multiplier, which gives a performance boost regardless of bus speed.

Originally posted by S_K_O_F
my only recommendation for you is this...boost your ram to 256 MB and then turn off virtual memory...I am assuming you have windows 9x...this being the case the OS actually cannot utilize more than like 320 MB and having the virtual memory turned on actually slows the machine down...if you turn it off it forces the OS to utilize every bit of RAM it has and this actually boosts the performance of the machine...

I'm not familiar with the limits of windows 9x, but his motherboard might not support up to 256mb. Given that his current config is only one stick at 64mb, he can add maybe another at 64 or at 128, yielding a max of 192.

[plusminus]

Originally posted by ArcPaladinZero
Well personally I would keep it simple. If all you want is cheap upgrade and you're willing to spare about $40 you can get a Celeron 700 and I'm guessing you're either running PC100 or 133 for the RAM. The processor would cost you about $30 and about 64 megs more of RAM would cost you about $10. That's not to much money to part with especially for an upgrade that's going to really boast your speed.

I could be wrong, but I don't think a board with a P MMX 200 chip will support a Celeron 700?

[GeneralBenedict]

This thread is way beyond me lol :rolleyes:

[ArcPaladinZero]

Originally posted by plusminus
I could be wrong, but I don't think a board with a P MMX 200 chip will support a Celeron 700?

Honestly I'm not real sure, I don't work with stuff that old lol. But the RAM should be fairly easy to upgrade without any compatibility issues.

[Omega_Paladin]

I know there is organizations in the US and other countries (UK mostly I think) that rebuild older computers and send them to schools and libraries and so on in, ahem, "less advantaged" countries. Just tell them its for kids then DL yourself into the next time zone :D