How can I speed up my computer for video gaming?
by admin on Friday, January 16th, 2009 | 2 Comments
I'm playing Rome Total War and it get's very slow when I recruit a lot of units and espacially if I zoom into them to see how they are fighting. It's fine if theres only fewer units so I don't think it's the video card but I think its the ghz because mine is only 1.1. How can I speed up my computer to play the game faster? Are there any programs that speed up computers? Any software I can download or purchase? Anything I can do to my computer?
There are several things that affect overall "game speed," and none of them will be solved by a "simple program."
1) GHz. This is the raw processor speed. 1.1ghz these days is barely adequate, but that's also the most expensive thing to change.
2) Memory. This is NOT the same as HARD DRIVE space, which is separate. You should have at LEAST 512Mb of MAIN MEMORY (the DDR) stuff. The reason you need as much memory as you can get is that windows will run programs bigger than will fit into main memory by "swapping" space on the hard drive. Swapping takes a lot of time, so the more you swap, the slower you run. If your hard-disk is "thrashing" – constantly running while playing the game – MEMORY will be the cheapest upgrade you can make that will ACTUALLY FIX your problem.
3) Video Card – A new video card will take some of the work off of your CPU, but again this can be expensive. Think 2 to 3 hundred dollars for a GOOD video card. However, this won't fix your problem as much as more memory – IF memory is the problem.
4) Shut down ALL un-nescessary programs while you play. Many people have a dozen or more applications running when they boot their computers (Y!M, AIM, QuickTime, the list goes on and on). ALL of these take memory, and can increase THRASHING.
5) Run a good anti-spamware program on your system to make sure that you don't have any spyware or spamware infections – these take memory AND processing power away from your game. Adaware (www.adaware.com) is a good, free program for identifying spyware/spamware.
6) Make sure you are running a good Anti-Virus program and scanning at least once a week (middle of the night is good, when you have nothing else to do, as this will really slow your pc down while it's actively scanning the disk.)
These are just the basics…..good luck!
If you lack finances (it does get expensive to upgrade, or buy new PC), memory, processor speed, video card speed, then you might want to try “Game Booster” by Avira Anti-virus. When you put your PC in gaming mode it will shut down all programs and processes (except those vital to continue to run) in the background. It helps me on my older XP system. When you’re done playing just put it back into Normal Mode and all your programs and processes will go back to running as usual. It does not interfere with WiFi connection at all. And, you will (should) be able to connect to any online server without a problem. This is a BETA program, it is in no way a miracle cure. I only speak from my experience with my system. Best to ya!