"Slow" is a very complex problem that can means many things.  overview, a
"slow" problem is caused by slow platform.  which could mean everything and
anything inside your box.

In your case, when you say gaming is slow, you are looking into RAM, OS,
mobo, graphics, CPU, software setting, background tasks ...

Let's start from OS, win98 should be ok together with 192M RAM, you didn't
say what RAM, but I think it should be PC133. the mobo is ok as well as I
know it pretty well.  I don't know if you are running any background tasks
such like anti-v, if so, you may need to disable them all, especially if you
have any "system monitor" or "system accelerator" kind of software, just
remove them, they are nothing but pure trouble makers. You may also check
all windows settings (eg. make sure HDD is under UDMA, all drivers are
updated, defrag HDD ...).

Now we should come down to CPU and graphics card, which play very important
role in gaming performance.  First of all, your ATi card is out of date, and
cannot handle games anymore, it is your current biggest "enemy" if you want
to stay in gaming business.  what you need to look for, is something at
Geforce3 level (anything more than that, your mobo and RAM can't take it to
full power), you have a lot of choices, both ATi and nVidia offer good
solutions in this area. your best bet might be the new ATi R9000 or good old
nVidia G3Ti200.  Do not consider ATi readon 7500 or nVidia MX cards, as they
do not support DX8.

You also need to upgrade CPU, however, the mobo is limited to 100mhz FSB, so
you may get a Duron 1.3G.

total upgrade cost (CPU+video card) won't break your bank, as the price is
coming down.  However, keep in mind that the max you can get from upgrade
will still be "mainstream performance level", so don't push it too hard.

Jun Qian

----- Original Message -----
From: "andre chiasson" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 10:50 PM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Computer slow with games but not with Digital Audio


> Hi,
>
> I also tried to replace the Duron 650Mhz by a Athlon 900Mhz.  This didn't
> help.  The games are always as slow.  I also pulled out the network card,
> but this didn't help either.

                         PCBUILD's List Owners:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>