So a few years ago we got what was, at the time, a very impressive computer. I mean, it was awesome. It was an Elonex Exentia. Anyway, over time it aged like all machines do, but I think of myself as pretty damn good at getting an old computer running again just fine.

This beast won't be tamed, however.

My dad still uses the computer because he can't afford a new one. Fair enough, right? So he's stuck with it for a while and we've been musing over just why it's so chokingly slow.

So the computer started out with Media Centre. After a few years I formatted and upgraded to Windows 7. There was no performance again, in fact the computer hated it and now it's back on XP Media Centre.

Despite being a totally fresh install of XP, the computer is still disgustingly slow. It hitches, crashes, coughs, splutters and dies. It's hardly handling Diablo II.

Here's the actual specs:
512MB RAM
Pentium 4 2.8GHz Hyperthreading
Nvidia 6xxx

For XP, and Diablo II, that should be perfect. Right? Why isn't it? What could possibly be choking this thing to death? I do not understand. I cannot figure it out. I can't put it down to being old, because it's running old software. I just can not see any logic here.

I want the computer to be as bearable as possible for my dad while he still has to use it. Don't deny him of his Diablo II!

More RAM......just a thought.

It's not a low memory problem, that doesn't cause chronic slow downs on boot (unless you have something ridiculously tiny.

Or maybe it is? I just don't know for sure.

XP recommends a minimum of 512MB of ram to run.......I'd upgrade to 1GB.

XP recommends 64MB.

Is it overheating?

The ideal range(to allow for everything XP loads to run smoothly) is between 512-1024MB....depending on what you're running.

Low performance?
Buy more RAM!
Still low performance?
Buy new CPU!
Low performance again?
Get yourself a brand new videocard!

Screwdat.

That was one of the reasons for me to install Linux. And do you know what? I've traded my desktop computer. I just didn't need it. I have my little old netbook — and it's totally enough for me. Although I'm, you know, a gamer. Yeah, a Linux gamer.
Who said "paradox"?

Without the right hardware that Linux box isn't going to be playing much(even with wrappers/emulators) either...thus making it not good for a serious gamer.

The RAM is what's killing you. You have just enough RAM to run Win XP alone.

But your system is new enough that you should at least be able to upgrade to one gig.

I've got an eight-year-old Presario with
AMD 2400+ SSE (NO Hyperthreading))
1 Gig RAM
nvidia GeoForce 7300 GT 512 MB

And I'm able to run games like Borderlands and Last Remnant.

1. Make sure your power supply unit isn't dying. They're fairly cheap and easy to replace and if they're old and not putting out enough power, they'll keep drop rebooting your PC.

2. I think you said that you have a fresh install after a format. If not I run cleaning and defrag software quite frequently. IObit Security 360 does wonders because it manages to clean out most adware and most junk files.

3. DUST. Dust can really mess things up. Open the case, remove the cards and suck out all the dust with a dust buster (avoid using a vacuum because it can throw off static).

4. You're in the UK so I assume you have indoor air. Here in NZ and other countries where a/c isn't absolutely necessary, our PCs overheat and drop boot a lot. Adding a stronger CPU fan and then an additional CPU fan to the inside of the case over top of the vents (to suck the hot air out) helped me alot.

Well, that's less true nowadays as it was, say, a few years ago. I agree that ATI cards are still a great headache, especially if you want to play an AAA title or something like this.
But as long as we're on GOG, it's more likely to be about some old titles — which don't cause any problem as long as there's no DRM.

Just suggestions, don't know that they will help but I have found it helped some systems.

I unplug and pull all the cards, clean the edge connectors with an eraser and reinstall (some say a white eraser, I never could tell the difference in the cleaning) Unplug and re-set all the ribbon cables and power connections. Make sure you are grounded before doing any of the above. Pull, clean and reset the memory as well being careful to not create any static while doing so.

Use canned air to blow out any dust accumulation in the CPU cooling fins and fan. Also give the power box a good cleaning while you're at it.

I upgrade every XP system to 4 GB's if the system will take it. Noticeable improvement up to about 3 GB's with little increase after that. I max it out anyway as I want all the RAM I can get.

To find out what memory you system takes, I suggest using the [url=http://www.crucial.com/ ]Crucial Memory site[/url]. I don't necessarily recommend that you buy from them but look for local deals on the memory you system requires. I have had good luck with their memory BTW.

I would do a good defrag as well, the MS defragger is super slow so I use the Auslogics defrager since it is fairly fast compared to the MS defrager and it's free. (Don't spring for any of the upgrades) If it is XP you can also use the Defrag & Optimize option, takes a while but seems to help on XP. DO NOT use that option on Vista or Win 7 as it causes these OS's to do a repair (my experience anyway, never on XP though)

I would also do a error check on the hard drive as well. Double click My computer, right click the C drive icon, click Properties in the resulting dialog, click the Tools tab and click the Check Now button under Error-Checking. Check both disk options (takes a while and should not be interrupted so make sure you let it run it's course). It will tell you it can't do the check while the disk is in use and ask if you want to schedule an disk check. Click Yes and reboot. Should go to a MS blue error checking screen during the reboot. After it finishes it will boot into windows as usual. Hope this helps . . . =)

Oh yeah, I'm downloading The Guild . . .finally going to try it . . . someday . . . =D

Hummn, looks like I was Ninja'd again. . .

That's another good point. The Radeon HD cards between series 1 and 4 are currently a crash-fest because available drivers cater to HD 5 series and above.

I use the Auslogics diskdefrag utility on Win7 64bit and I've never had any issues with the defrag & optimize command. It works perfectly on my system, and helps speed up read/write times immensely. It may be interacting with your antivirus software or somesuch, but that seems very odd.

To the OP:
Is Diablo running slower now than it used to before your OS switch? Or are you just noticing it more now than before?

I had the OS's do a OS repair on several Vista, Win 7 systems. Seems these two OS's write some random system files to disk for better security. The Optimize defrag moved these files and cause the repair as Windows expected to find them at a certain location. Never had the problem on XP.

Anyway, it may have been fixed in the newer versions of Auslogics and you should not take my warning as a criticism of Auslogics. I use it on all my systems regularly, I just don't do the optimize on Vista and Win 7, might give it another try as I do like what it does . . . =)