WHY Am I running so slow?

coolbian57 · Aug 30, 2013

I recently got back into PC gaming, and pulled out my old gaming computer to play some Quake, Unreal Tournament, etc. I was surprised to see my old system running slow as molasses, with no chance at any sort of framerate in games that I used to play on this machine with no problem.

This has me stumped. How can a computer slow down so much over time? I deleted all old files, ran CCCleaner, Defragged, and even dusted out the inside of my computer but none of it helped.

Here is what I'm running on:
originally an HP Pavillion a000, added 1gig ram, new Video card.

2 gigs of ram
Radeon X1300
AMD Athlon xp 3200+

Does anyone know what might be causing this to happen? I am very frustrated with my old device. I can't even type this text without the computer lagging!

John Bauer · Aug 30, 2013

Its because your computer is out of date, not because it slowed down.

swifty_morgan · Aug 30, 2013

not to mention, what have you been using inre to a computer since you put that one away? even a new ipod is faster......... LOL

I've been playing some older games recently. how fast do they need to be? that 3200 was a great performer when those games came out.

coolbian57 · Aug 30, 2013

But I am trying to play games which are Out of date as well... these games are from the same time period of which i purchased the computer. That is the key point here. I used to be able to run this applications at near 60 fps, why can't I do so now? There must be another explanation. What are some solutions? I'm thinking about getting rid of windows, and installing a version of Linux instead.

scout_03 · Aug 30, 2013

you could try to put on all the latest update you could find for it,but i will start to look a get a new system .when was the last time did you defrag the hdd and clean all the temp files and cookies ?

coolbian57 · Aug 30, 2013

I have a new system, it's not for playing games it's for doing work.

There has to be a solution to this problem, I want to solve this.

Martell1977 · Aug 30, 2013

Have you tried turning off background programs? Also, what AV software is there on it, if any?

MSconfig, Startup tab, turn off unneeded programs
Services tab, Hide all Microsoft services, then disable everything left

Also make sure Windows is up to date, older machines tend to lag badly when they are trying to check, download and install updates in the background.

photonboy · Aug 30, 2013

If you install Linux, then you won't be able to run those games...

Perhaps your computer is slow, since you imply it could run those games at 60FPS. Installing a newer version of Windows won't likely help since XP, Vista, Win7/8 all run games about the same provided the DRIVERS are up to date.

The only time I've heard of a PC running games much slower is:
a) when the graphics card was stuck in idle mode, or
b) a program was using up CPU resources

I doubt it is the graphics card, and you can easily check CPU usage in the Task Manage (CTRL-ALT-DEL).

*Don't invest any money into that old machine. If you are really broke, spend $100 on an HD7770 1GB (not 2GB as you likely have 32-bit Windows XP).

So my advice is as follows:
1) Reinstall Windows if possible (don't buy). Install the proper drivers.

2) Buy an HD7770 1GB (no better as it's not worth investing much in this machine, plus you'd be CPU bottlenecked).

3) Consider a new machine.

alexdh01 · Aug 30, 2013

Maybe you're pulling the graphics from the CPU and not the GPU?

coolbian57 · Aug 30, 2013

I think I may be pulling the graphics from the CPU and not the GPU. How do I stop this?

coolbian57 · Aug 30, 2013

There are no program hogging up my memory. I think this has to do with my graphics card somehow.

alexdh01 · Aug 30, 2013

Run dxdiag and see if your computer even sees the card. If it doesn't come up under Display then check inside the case and see if everything's connected properly. Then try and re install the drivers.

coolbian57 · Aug 30, 2013

There are no program hogging up my memory. I think this has to do with my graphics card somehow.

photonboy · Aug 31, 2013

coolbian57 :

The best thing would be to reinstall Windows.
If you don't have any discs, you probably can restore using the appropriate F-Key during bootup to restore the hidden backup Image of Windows. This will wipe any data on the main Windows partition.

Reinstalling Windows:
1. Copy any data, write down names of programs etc.
2. Restore backup Image or Install from disc.
3. Install drivers (Main Chipset especially) from support site for that model. Some drivers like Realtek audio or AMD video can be from their main sites.

4. Reinstall programs, Microsoft Updates etc.

swifty_morgan · Aug 31, 2013

clear cmos. put machine back to stock".

go to windows update as suggested.

.. what video card did you install? what is the power supply and how much power does it supply?

the thing about graphics card memory......... has nothing to do with 32 or 64bit opsys.

swifty_morgan · Aug 31, 2013

now that I had my morning coffee..................... you said you added another gig of ram.............. if it isn't the same exact thing there's a good chance that could be the problem. I try not to ever mix and match ram anymore. as a matter of fact I never do. I always buy them in pairs and put the old ones in storage.

photonboy · Aug 31, 2013

swifty_morgan :

It was my understanding that he hasn't changed a thing since it was working better. I believe the RAM and Video card were added years ago (it is an X1300).

photonboy · Aug 31, 2013

chriss000 :

The relevant point of this post is to discover why his computer isn't performing as well as it was before. My advice was to reinstall Windows, drivers etc since his issue is likely software and troubleshooting that would be very time consuming.

WHY Am I running so slow?

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