What to do to make my computer faster?

[Kung Karl]

HI

I just got a new computer. A fujitsu Siemens Scaleo T. It is a P4 3Ghz, 512Ram, Radeon X600.
In 3D Mark 03 I get a score of 3150 wich to me seems very low.

I have the newst sound and video drivers installed. Is there anything else I should do or check to make it run faster? Or is this normal for a computer like his?

[EricGuitarJames]

That does seem rather low but then that's a very 'synthetic' test. Try playing a game (or it's demo) that needs a fairly beefy setup and see how that runs. That'll give you a better idea of your machines capabilities.

[Kung Karl]

Well i've treid and on 800*600 with high settings I get about 40 frames in Bf: vietnam with actoins going on.

[Jane Doe]

I would definitely put my priority on the RAM memory

[Mac_MatrixForum]

Since the X600 is almost the same as 9600 your score is about right. You didn't specify whether it is an X600 XT or not so I assume it is not. The XT model could score around 4K. I myself have an Athlon XP 1800+, 512 MB and Radeon 9600 Pro and I get about what you get. Then again 3DMark 2003 is very GPU intensive. You might want to compare your results using the online browser in 3DMark and see what similar systems get.

Increasing the memory doesn't matter unless you do something excessive, perhaps play some massively multiplayer games or do graphics.

[Owlwatcher]

Xp does run better with a gig of ram. Sorta the sweet spot.
Adding more ram midht not improve your performace ,It just runs smoother.
Better bet would be to clean up your system.
Check for tracking software and viruss. Most likly you will find quite afew of these on your machine.
Delete what you do not use in XP. Get advise on this . There is quite afew sites that can advise you on this.
On the drivers, you need to find what divers work best with the games you play. The latest and greatest some times is not the best solution.
This process of cleaning the system takes some time and is well worth the effort.
The idea is to have a minium of tasks running in the back ground while you play.

Good luck

[freeboy]

ok, get rid of all the background programs, set the windows controls to best performance , I regularly clean my prefetch folder , a windows folder that windows uses to "find" active stuff, makes a difference if you are doing a lot of different stuuff, then want a lot of speed in the game. Finally, get the best ati/nvidia card you can afford and look at the games for alis/anti alias running and how they do. my p4 512/1.5 runs fantastic on the new RTW.. rome and ok with witp and very well on the not tooo intensive BIN///

[Owlwatcher]

Finally, get the best ati/nvidia card you can afford and look[

With the games that are being played here I really see no reason for a better VC.
Just a good cleanup wuld boost the performace quite abit.

[Mac_MatrixForum]

The memory makes less difference than you may think. My work computer is 3 Ghz and 2 Gb mem and is not any more responsive than my home computer. I would also recommend cleaning your system regularly but in this case the computer is all new!

[Owlwatcher]

I would also recommend cleaning your system regularly but in this case the computer is all new!

I think if you go on line these days without a fire wall ,Anti virus and cleaners these days you have about 15 minutes before stuff starts to screw things up.

[Mr.Frag]

3Dmark 03 is not real numbers. Everyone on the planet does stupid things to crank their numbers up to fake values.

Get the 04 version that only allows real tests so you can compare real results.

Whoops, make that the 05 version [:D]

[Mac_MatrixForum]

Just FYI, results from same manufacturer are comparable. And if you use approved drivers you will get comparable results across manufacturers as well. That 3k+ score doesn't tell much how well games run but it will tell you your card is not faster than mine. And that tells me you will run most games well but don't expect miracles.