How Do I Make An Old 2000 Computer Faster?

Okay so I have this computer that I got...From 2000, or 1999, I'm not at home to check. It's old, but it runs Maplestory and it's windows XP.

The problem is that it's slow, even at a noob Zakum run with six people, the second Zak is summoned, 3 min lagtime until I get control of char back, and even then it's very laggy. I want the computer to stand up to HT and let me survive lagfree or almost no lag.

The reason why I also need this computer is because I went to best buy yesterday and asked for a desktop with XP, but they said the only thing they had was one netbook, and I want a desktop. They said they would have to order one from microsoft to see if they could even do it, but I don't want to go through that pomegranate.

Sooooooo. I am asking how to speed up an old computer. But one of the main things is when I checked before vacation, the computer said it had 585 MB (I guess of Ram, I checked the bottom of "My Computer and it said that), and I'm no expert but that is fucking low.

Will upgrading the 585 MB be enough to speed it up enough for HT, or is there something else I need to buy? Or can a 2000 computer never be fast enough for HT? Thanks for the input guys.

Good luck finding cheap enough RAM for the system.

RAM from that era used PC100, PC133 or RDRAM. The first two can be had for dirt cheap ($60 for 512MB). RDRAM is almost impossible to find while Rambus, the company that made it, is currently in litigation battles with half the RAM market (hahaha).

But I don't think your problem is going to be RAM. Your problem is that you're using integrated graphics (585MB of RAM gives it away). You'll need a graphics card that works with an old PCI slot, and those tend to be more expensive since everything these days runs on an incompatible graphics card slot (PCI-E).

Why are you trying to buy a desktop with XP? Just get a cheapo laptop (not a netbook, a laptop). A netbook may not have the horsepower required for Maplestory. I generally do not recommend using integrated graphics with Maplestory. Anyway, any PC you find you can also install XP on it no problemo.

You can check the hardware (motherboard, video card and sound card are the most important) from those win7/Vista Desktops at best buy and double check for hardware compatibility with windows XP drivers then just buy a windows XP Professional, you can search at sites like amazon.com, nextag.com, ebay, etc. Just be aware that your windows XP 32bits will only "see" 3Gb ram in case the Desktop you looking has 4Gb+ memory. Unfortunately is not easy to find a good desktop with windows XP it is officially out of market. I built my PC from scratch: mother board for ddr3 memory , got 6Gb ram but at windows XP only 3gb is working the whole memory is ok at my win7 64bits and Debian Lenny 64bits, video card is old but still good GTS250.

Good luck, Terry.

Ah okay. You guys are too smart F4. In any case, thanks for the information, it really helped.

Wait wait. Let's say I walk into bestbuy or some place and ask for a desktop/labtop/netbook/whatever. What should be looking for? Like what gghz and gb and processor speed and graphic card and stuff?

I think you can look for these ram / graphics on craigslist / ebay easier than best buy
what is the budget for you? maybe buying an entire set of new/2nd-hand system will be more cost efficient...

it will be easier if you can tell the model of the computer
eg. Dell Dimention 2400, Gateway whatever, which is usually labeled on the case of your computer


EDIT: here is a handy tool for listing the hardware configuration of your system
http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/pc-wizard.html <- CPUID

I'm willing to pay like $800 or $1000. The cheaper the better, but if something really fits the bill (desktop with XP that prob will never lag) then I'm probably going to spend a good amount to get it.

You could also try turning off programs that are hogging memory under the task manager (often there are useless things running you weren't aware of). Shutting off explorer.exe notably helps me out--you can turn it back on by going to start new task-> type in explorer.exe.

And I second Fiel's notion for a graphics card. When I got one it made a world of difference for maple (unlike you, however, I'm was lucky enough to have a pci-e slot).

I tried doing that once on my labtop but then Blue Screen Of Death happened, and since then I didn't bother with any more of that.