Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Need some computer help please

I ran into a problem with my computer last week, and I ended up having to reinstall windows, and all the software that came with my computer. Now when I play games I've noticed that my comp. is considerably slower. I play High Heat Baseball 2002 alot, and I never had any problems before. I used to have the graphics settings set to maximum and The game rarely ever had difficulty performing. Now I have the graphics settings a bit lower and the game is having some speed issues. I've heard of overclocking the cpu and the video card, but I don't know how to go about this. I'm fairly dumb when it comes to computers, and I could really use some help. Do any of you know how to do this, or is there some other way I can speed things up? BTW my comp is a Dell dimension 8100. P4 1300 mhz with 128 mb of ddr ram "I think" and it has a geforce 2 32 mb video card. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Vinny

This is a can of worms.

I don't know that you can overclock that system. A lot of your PC companies (Dell, Compaq, Gateway, etc.) will supply a PC w/ a motherboard that has no jumpers or BIOS ability to change the CPU voltage, frequency, multiplier and so on. Maybe someone here can help you on that part.

Regarding your games being slower, are you sure you have the latest and greatest drivers for all of your hardware (specifically video)? If Windows loaded a default driver from it's d-base it may be outdated. Check the manufacturer's website for some reference drivers. These typically aren't supported by the manufacturer if you didn't get the item directly from them, but sometimes are quite a bit ahead of the supplied files.

There are a zillion things you could check, but I'd make sure the system properties are all tweaked out (UDMA enabled on drives, refresh rate for video adapter/monitor, etc.). It's possible you had tweaked something before and forgot about it.

Also, check your version of DirectX. 8.1 is the latest and greatest.

Last, but not least, you could fool around in your BIOS if you're comfortable and tweak it out as well. If you have an ATA/100 hard drive, make sure that feature is Enabled, ensure AGP is set to 4X if that's what your card supports, etc. Don't touch the BIOS unless you're comfortable doing so.

Hope this helps. I just solved a problem I was having w/ an XP install that was related to my DIMMs being 2 different speeds

First thing I would do is visit www.microsoft.com and get any updates you might need. Something like that DirectX issue could be causing slower performance than before.

If you are running Windows XP, you really need at least 256MB RAM. The rest of the system should be capable for gaming.

When reinstalling windows...it could have installed the wrong video driver. This would cause the problem you are discribing. If you know the right video drivers are installed then make sure they are the latest version. Also since you reinstall all the software that came with your machine you may have some programs auto starting when you boot up your machine. These should be turned off when playing you game. If you have anti-virus software, turn it off before you start you game. If Dell has any kind of system monitoring software running turn that off also.

You could use some more memory. That would make a noticable difference.

Shaun G. brings up a heckuva point. When you reinstalled, did you use a type of recovery disc supplied by Dell that automated the entire thing or did you use a standard MS Win2k CD? If you used a Dell CD, more than likely you have about 30 different things starting up and sitting in your system tray that you don't even need. They're only good for sucking up memory.

Thanks for your responses. I had never tweaked anything before, because honestly I wouldn't know how to do it, "like I said I know crap about comps " After I reinstalled windows "millenium" i installed a bunch of software that came with my comp, but I checked and nothing is starting up when I reboot. i'll have to check for updated drivers, and see if that helps. Thanks again, Vinny

Get new detonator drivers for your Geforce2 at www.nvidia.com.

I would look into getting more ram as well for your system, at least another 128 MB, though the more the merrier .

I own a Dell 8200, P4, 1.7 Ghtz, 256 Ram with the same OS and Video card. The advice that the others have given is right on the money. If you did not do a clean install, you may also be in for trouble because ME is bad in that way (amongst others).

Run: msconfig

Check this site out to see what needs to be running on your PC.

http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm

Stephen

I think we found the problem

:rolleyes: windows "millenium" :rolleyes:



Micah

The proble is "windows" period!